Did the Ring Speak to Gollum on Mount Doom?

Q: Did the Ring Speak to Gollum on Mount Doom?

ANSWER: One of the most hotly debated scenes in The Lord of the Rings is that where Gollum seeks to dissuade Frodo from carrying out his mission. They struggle briefly and during that struggle Sam’s perception of the confrontation is altered. Tolkien wrote the scene thus:

A sudden weight smote him and he crashed forward, tearing the backs of his hands that still clasped his master’s. Then he knew what had happened, for above him as he lay he heard a hated voice.

‘Wicked masster!’ it hissed. ‘Wicked masster cheats us; cheats Sméagol, gollum. He musstn’t go that way. He musstn’t hurt Preciouss. Give it to Sméagol, yess, give it to us! Give it to uss!’

With a violent heave Sam rose up. At once he drew his sword; but he could do nothing. Gollum and Frodo were locked together. Gollum was tearing at his master, trying to get at the chain and the Ring. This was probably the only thing that could have roused the dying embers of Frodo’s heart and will: an attack, an attempt to wrest his treasure from him by force. He fought back with a sudden fury that amazed Sam, and Gollum also. Even so things might have gone far otherwise, if Gollum himself had remained unchanged; but whatever dreadful paths, lonely and hungry and waterless, he had trodden, driven by a devouring desire and a terrible fear, they had left grievous marks on him. He was a lean, starved, haggard thing, all bones and tight-drawn sallow skin. A wild light flamed in his eyes, but his malice was no longer matched by his old griping strength. Frodo flung him off and rose up quivering.

‘Down, down!’ he gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of his leather shirt he clasped the Ring. ‘Down you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot betray me or slay me now.’

Then suddenly, as before under the eaves of the Emyn Muil, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.

‘Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.’
The crouching shape backed away, terror in its blinking eyes, and yet at the same time insatiable desire.

Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his breath coming in great gasps, and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground.

The earlier scene referred to reads thus:

‘Sméagol,’ said Gollum suddenly and clearly, opening his eyes wide and staring at Frodo with a strange light. ‘Sméagol will swear on the Precious.’

Frodo drew himself up, and again Sam was startled by his words and his stern voice. ‘On the Precious? How dare you? ‘ he said. ‘Think!

One Ring to rule them all and in the Darkness bind them.

Would you commit your promise to that, Sméagol? It will hold you. But it is more treacherous than you are. It may twist your words. Beware!’

Gollum cowered. ‘On the Precious. on the Precious! ‘ he repeated.

`And what would you swear? ‘ asked Frodo.

`To be very very good,’ said Gollum. Then crawling to Frodo’s feet he grovelled before him, whispering hoarsely: a shudder ran over him, as if the words shook his very bones with fear. ‘Sméagol will swear never, never, to let Him have it. Never! Sméagol will save it. But he must swear on the Precious.’

‘No! not on it,’ said Frodo, looking down at him with stern pity. ‘All you wish is to see it and touch it, if you can, though you know it would drive you mad. Not on it. Swear by it, if you will. For you know where it is. Yes, you know, Sméagol. It is before you.’

For a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum had shrunk: a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud, and at his feet a little whining dog. Yet the two were in some way akin and not alien: they could reach one another’s minds. Gollum raised himself and began pawing at Frodo, fawning at his knees.
‘Down! down! ‘ said Frodo. `Now speak your promise!’

`We promises, yes I promise!’ said Gollum. ‘I will serve the master of the Precious. Good master, good Sméagol, gollum, gollum!’ Suddenly he began to weep and bite at his ankle again.

These two scenes reflect Frodo’s own experiences when he confronts the Nazgul while wearing the One Ring at Weathertop and later at the Ford of Bruinen. Tolkien shares a little bit of information about what Frodo saw in his conversation with Gandalf at Rivendell:

‘Yes, fortune or fate have helped you,’ said Gandalf, `not to mention courage. For your heart was not touched, and only your shoulder was pierced; and that was because you resisted to the last. But it was a terribly narrow shave, so to speak. You were in gravest peril while you wore the Ring, for then you were half in the wraith-world yourself, and they might have seized you. You could see them, and they could see you.’

And also:

‘I thought that I saw a white figure that shone and did not grow dim like the others. Was that Glorfindel then?’

‘Yes, you saw him for a moment as he is upon the other side: one of the mighty of the Firstborn. He is an Elf-lord of a house of princes….’

Where “the other side” to which Gandalf refers is the “wraith-world” he mentions above. It is not a wholly separate world but rather is a dimension closely related to the physical world, one where the spirits of the living and the dead can meet. It was this wraith-world that Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam stepped into when they put on the One Ring and became “invisible”. The Ring itself had a presence in that wraith-world, which Frodo described to Sam:

‘Well no, not much, Sam,’ Frodo sighed. ‘That’s away beyond the mountains. We’re going east not west. And I’m so tired. And the Ring is so heavy, Sam. And I begin to see it in my mind all the time, like a great wheel of fire.’

And later:

‘No, I am afraid not, Sam,’ said Frodo. ‘At least, I know that such things happened, but I cannot see them. No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.’

And there is one more critical scene that helps to explain all of this. When Frodo fled from Boromir on Amon Hen, and he was wearing the One Ring, he approached the High Seat there which the Numenoreans of Gondor had built in ancient days to use to watch the lands. Tolkien writes:

Soon he came out alone on the summit of Amon Hen, and halted, gasping for breath. He saw as through a mist a wide flat circle, paved with mighty flags, and surrounded with a crumbling battlement; and in the middle, set upon four carven pillars, was a high seat, reached by a stair of many steps. Up he went and sat upon the ancient chair, feeling like a lost child that had clambered upon the throne of mountain-kings.

At first he could see little. He seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only shadows: the Ring was upon him. Then here and there the mist gave way and he saw many visions: small and clear as if they were under his eyes upon a table, and yet remote. There was no sound, only bright living images. The world seemed to have shrunk and fallen silent. He was sitting upon the Seat of Seeing, on Amon Hen, the Hill of the Eye of the Men of Númenor. Eastward he looked into wide uncharted lands, nameless plains, and forests unexplored. Northward he looked, and the Great River lay like a ribbon beneath him, and the Misty Mountains stood small and hard as broken teeth. Westward he looked and saw the broad pastures of Rohan; and Orthanc, the pinnacle of Isengard, like a black spike. Southward he looked, and below his very feet the Great River curled like a toppling wave and plunged over the falls of Rauros into a foaming pit; a glimmering rainbow played upon the fume. And Ethir Anduin he saw, the mighty delta of the River, and myriads of sea-birds whirling like a white dust in the sun, and beneath them a green and silver sea, rippling in endless lines.

But everywhere he looked he saw the signs of war. The Misty Mountains were crawling like anthills: orcs were issuing out of a thousand holes. Under the boughs of Mirkwood there was deadly strife of Elves and Men and fell beasts. The land of the Beornings was aflame; a cloud was over Moria; smoke rose on the borders of Lórien.

Horsemen were galloping on the grass of Rohan; wolves poured from Isengard. From the havens of Harad ships of war put out to sea; and out of the East Men were moving endlessly: swordsmen, spearmen, bowmen upon horses, chariots of chieftains and laden wains. All the power of the Dark Lord was in motion. Then turning south again he beheld Minas Tirith. Far away it seemed. and beautiful: white-walled, many-towered, proud and fair upon its mountain-seat; its battlements glittered with steel, and its turrets were bright with many banners. Hope leaped in his heart. But against Minas Tirith was set another fortress, greater and more strong. Thither, eastward, unwilling his eye was drawn. It passed the ruined bridges of Osgiliath, the grinning gates of Minas Morgul. and the haunted Mountains, and it looked upon Gorgoroth, the valley of terror in the Land of Mordor. Darkness lay there under the Sun. Fire glowed amid the smoke. Mount Doom was burning, and a great reek rising. Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him.

And suddenly he felt the Eye. There was an eye in the Dark Tower that did not sleep. He knew that it had become aware of his gaze. A fierce eager will was there. It leaped towards him; almost like a finger he felt it, searching for him. Very soon it would nail him down, know just exactly where he was. Amon Lhaw it touched. It glanced upon Tol Brandir he threw himself from the seat, crouching, covering his head with his grey hood.

He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring!

The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger. He was kneeling in clear sunlight before the high seat. A black shadow seemed to pass like an arm above him; it missed Amon Hen and groped out west, and faded. Then all the sky was clean and blue and birds sang in every tree.

A lot of things happen in this scene. Because he is wearing the One Ring, Frodo is able to see things far away that a normal man could not see. When Aragorn sits in the same High Seat only a little while later he does not perceive all those far-away activities. Also, when Frodo looks upon Barad-dur and sees the “Eye of Sauron” it is clear that Sauron is immediately aware of him and begins seeking him; as Sauron searches the world (with his thought) both Frodo and the Ring cry out together; Frodo says “Never, never!” and the Ring says, “Verily I come, I come to you”. The narrative voice obscures this distinction for two reasons: first, so as to reveal only enough to show that Frodo is struggling with a will other than his own; second, to provide an opportunity for the reader to see the Ring with greater clarity later on in the story.

The personality of the Ring slowly emerges throughout the story. At first it is only an inanimate object which confers invisibility on Bilbo. Then it becomes a troublesome thing that Bilbo must attach to a chain so that he does not lose it as Gollum once did. And then it becomes so precious to Bilbo that he is reluctant to part with it, doing so only with considerable help and influence from Gandalf. And then it begins to draw the Nazgul toward itself as they search for it, and it attempts to compel Frodo to put it on when they are near. The Ring finally succeeds in tricking Frodo into putting it on at Weathertop, where he betrays his presence to the Nazgul by doing so.

Throughout the story the Ring chooses more powerful people to tempt in a strategy to transfer itself to a keeper more easily capable of transporting the Ring back to Sauron. The Ring tempts Tom Bombadil but not Goldberry for he has the greater power; but because of Bombadil’s personality the Ring fails to create a compelling temptation. Only Sam appears to pass the test with similar ease much later on when the Ring is nearly in Mordor. Gandalf (prior to Bombadil), Aragorn, Elrond, Galadriel, Boromir, and Faramir are all presented with opportunities to take the Ring from Frodo. Sometimes he offers to give them the Ring; sometimes they are merely tempted to take it. Except for Boromir all pass the test; and Boromir (fortunately) recovers from the Ring’s influence once Frodo takes it away and he repents of his failure to resist its allure. Having faced that test himself, Aragorn easily forgives Boromir’s lapse because he understands how hard it is to resist what the Ring has to offer.

So by the time we are standing with Frodo, Sam, and Gollum on the slopes of Mount Doom — having shown the reader that Frodo has been stepping into and out of the wraith-world, partially fading under the influence of the Morgul-blade by the time he reached Rivendell (only to be brought back by Elrond), and then subjected to months of demonic torment (Cf. Letter No. 246: “I do not myself see that the breaking of his mind and will under demonic pressure after torment was any more a moral failure than the breaking of his body would have been…”) — Tolkien revisits the wraith-world in a new way, transporting the reader through Sam’s eyes. If there were only the one scene on Mount Doom, we could say that Sam was influenced by the Ring and his interpretation of what he saw was also influenced by the Ring. But his first gift of “other vision” came before he ever wore the Ring. Hence, what the reader sees on Mount Doom is free of the Ring’s influence and that vision occurs in spite of the Ring, not because of it.

With this gift of “other sight” Sam sees Frodo, the Ring, and Gollum as they appear in the wraith-world. Frodo has grown great, purified and hardened by his long suffering — an image quite contrary to his physical condition. Gollum has grown weak and insignificant for he has been almost completely consumed by the Ring’s malice at this point. But the Ring itself — the wheel of fire that Frodo clutches at his chest — has returned home and is very close to its maker, Sauron; the Ring has become extremely powerful and capable of influencing events even more than it has in previous scenes.

And so after Frodo speaks and tells Gollum to go away the Ring — the wheel of fire — speaks in a “commanding voice” to Gollum and warns him that if he should ever touch it again he will be thrown into the fire. It is the Ring speaking for Frodo is incapable of uttering such a curse. In fact, in explaining what might have happened had the Nazgul reached Frodo before Gollum took the Ring, Tolkien wrote (in Letter No. 246):

Frodo had become a considerable person, but of a special kind: in spiritual enlargement rather than in increase of physical or mental power; his will was much stronger than it had been, but so far it had been exercised in resisting not using the Ring and with the object of destroying it. He needed time, much time, before he could control the Ring or (which in such a case is the same) before it could control him; before his will and arrogance could grow to a stature in which he could dominate other major hostile wills. Even so for a long time his acts and commands would still have to seem ‘good’ to him, to be for the benefit of others beside himself.

It is clear from this passage that Frodo never controlled or commanded the Ring; he was, at the time Gollum struck him outside the Sammath Naur, incapable of using the Ring to command anyone. He had instead only used the Ring indirectly by making Gollum swear by the Ring. Had Frodo indeed used the Ring — as Sauron used it — he would not have elicited any oaths from Gollum. He would simply have commanded Gollum to do his bidding, crushing Gollum’s will in the process, just as Morgoth and Sauron crushed the wills of their servants.

There are people who insist the Ring could not have spoken to Gollum but they have been unable to reconcile (or explain away) all of these scenes where Tolkien shows how Frodo’s relationship with the Ring over time provides greater clarity to the reader about what is happening with and around the Ring. The real conflict was not between Frodo and Gollum, it was between the Ring and the choices of those around it. The Ring had no further use for Gollum and so it arrogantly dismissed him. Frodo had no further use for Gollum but he had no desire to hurt or punish Gollum.

Hence, it was clearly the Ring that spoke to Gollum on Mount Doom, and Sam was the witness of that event — a reliable and trustworthy witness who had not only resisted the Ring’s temptation (unlike Gollum) but who had already been touched by a powerful spiritual gift previously, thus allowing him to see everything that was going on at the most critical moment. By showing the reader that it was the Ring speaking to Gollum Tolkien reassures his audience that Frodo is indeed still holding faithfully to his mission and purpose. Frodo’s moment of failure came shortly thereafter but still lay in the future. The Ring was not yet in full control of Frodo and therefore it had to speak for itself to Gollum.

See also:

• Why Did Elrond Let Isildur Take the One Ring?
• Did Bilbo Have Any Legal Right to the One Ring?
• Who did the One Ring Try to Corrupt in The Lord of the Rings?
• How did the One Ring Corrupt Saruman?
• Why Did Sauron and the Nazgul Not Know When Bilbo Wore the Ring?
• Why Do You Say Tom Bombadil Was Affected by the One Ring?

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