Welp, I'm back, having read the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, because I'm cool like that. Really, I am. I love this series so freakin' much. What a fool I was to have avoided it for so long, and what a good person Marky Mark was for forcing us to read the book!
Anyway. Again, you've probably seen the movie. I'm going to assume so. The book starts off at the scene near the very end of the first film, when Boromir's basically fighting his last. What I really like, actually, is that in the beginning of the book there's a brief synopsis of the previous book. Sooo. Yep. Let's fire ti up, I guess.
"...On the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal. 'I have not seen these tokens before,' said Aragorn. 'What do they mean?' 'S is for Sauron,' said Gimli. 'That is easy to read'" (6). Hahahaha, that is great! Can you imagine, as a little kid, reading one of those little alphabet books and running into that? As in, A is for Apple, B is for Bee, C is for Cookie, D is for Dog, E is for Elephant, F is for Forest, G is for Giraffe, H is for Helicopter, I is for Igloo, J is for Jam, K is for Kite, L is for Lion, M is for Monkey, N is for Nickel, O is for Orange, P is for Pea, Q is for Quarter, R is for Rooster, S IS FOR SAURON!!!, T is for Tiger, U is for Umbrella, V is for Violin, W is for Whale, X is for Xylophone, Y is for You, Z is for Zebra.
Oh man, there's this fantastic scene in the book that I can't remember as to whether or not it's actually in the movie. It's after Sam and Pippin are taken by the Orcs. Now, viewers of the movie might note be aware of this, but the reason Gollum came to (sometimes) be called Gollum is because he made a noise that sounded like gollum in his throat after he took the Ring. I'm not entirely sure what kind of noise that'd be (or why the Ring would usher it on) but I imagine it'd be a very unpleasant gulping noise. Anyway, it occurs to Pippin that these Orcs want to find the Hobbit with the Ring. And Pippin whispers under his breath that it won't be that easy to find 'it' (meaning the Ring, of course) and an Orc asks him what he's talking about. This is what follows: "For a moment Pippin was silent. Then suddenly in the darkness he made a noise in his throat: gollum, gollum. 'Nothing, my precious,' he added" (55). Pippin never even touched the Ring. He's not well-versed with it, not at all like Frodo, but look at that! It just shows how corrupting the thing is, or how much weaker Pippin is than Frodo, or perhaps both. Either way, this was a scrumptious tad bit. I'd take my hat off to Tolkien, but in my insanity I might try to take the Ring and fall into the fires of Mount Doom, so...
Grandmother Willow is an Ent. 'Nuff said.
"'I must cool myself and think; for it is easier to shout stop! than to do it'" (77).
Marky Mark told us of how Tolkien as a boy had lived in some idyllic little countryside, clean and fresh and lovely--until the Wars came, and suddenly all turned to industry and filth and machinery, and his lovely little home had been almost literally eaten by the production. Sounds like someone named Saruman's doings, eh? Isengard, pre-Saruman's industrialization: "Once it had been green and filled with avenues, and groves of fruitful trees, watered by streams that flowed from the mountains to a lake. But no green thing grew there in the latter days of Saruman. The roads were paved with stone flags, dark and hard; and beside their borders instead of trees there marched long lines of pillars, some of marble, some of copper and iron, joined by heavy chains" (174). I believe it's safe to assume that this is a description of his home and what it had become. There will be more on this topic when I finish The Return of the King.
"'But I should like to know--' Pippin began. 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The names of all the stars, and of all living things, and the whole history of Middle-earth and Over-heaven and of the Sundering Seas,' laughed Pippin. 'Of course! What less? But I am not in a hurry tonight'" (226). Hobbits are so adorable. Can I just marry one? Or all of them? Except for Sam, because he made me soooo mad in this book! Gurgh! But we'll get to that later on, I suppose.
Gollum, as you know, guides Sam and Frodo for a while. (It's weirdly adorable, too, as Gollum acts weirdly dog like and excitedly over Frodo--well, I don't know, like I said, weirdly adorable, emphasis on the weirdly.) Now, in The Hobbit, as I assume you know/remember, Bilbo and Gollum have their riddle game. Gollum resurrects one of his riddles: "Alive without breath; as cold as death; never thirsting, ever drinking; clad in mail, never clinking" (253). It continues a few more lines, though I feel that is as far as it goes when it is in The Hobbit. Of course, I cannot check, being that I am in school, but we'll pretend. I'll throw in an edit if I ever remember. For the record, I didn't guess that riddle either. I got zero percent of the riddles asked, except for the 'dark' one. But yeah... I just thought that was cool... Gollum even says "'Baggins guessed it'" (253).
Sam, like I said, made me incredibly mad in this book. He was incredibly mean to Gollum. Okay, so Gollum was kind of a slimy little jerk. But he's such a pitiable character! But, I momentarily forgave Sam at one point because he talks about how much he'd like to see 'oliphaunts', of course, elephants. And he stands up and says a little poem and it's just another 'Hobbits are so cute can I just marry them all' moment.
Okay, scene coming up is long, three or four pages long, so I will fracture it as much as I possibly can. Marky Mark read it to us in class, and it's probably the best scene of the book. His point was, well, one was, that Sam and Frodo sort of 'step out' of the story and comment upon it. "'The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have just been landed in them, usually--their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on--and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. you know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same--like old Mr Bilbo. But those aren't always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we've fallen into?... Beren now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it--and the Silmaril went on and came to Earendil... You've got some of the light of it in the star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales ever end?' 'No, they never end as tales,' said Frodo. 'But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later--or sooner'" (363). I believe the word I'd use to describe this bit is 'fascinating'. Very... comfortable, if you get my meaning. Like you're there with them, really there, like when I was kid and I'd read books and pretend I was some extra character added in, the main character's little sister or some such. Only there's no need for this, because you're actually there with Sam and Frodo, listening.
"'Still, I wonder if we shall ever be put into songs or tales. We're in one, of course; but I mean: put into words, you know, told by the fireside, or read out of a great big book with red and black letters, years and years afterwards. And people will say: 'Let's hear about Frodo and the Ring!' And they'll say: 'Yes, that's one of my favorite stories. Frodo was very brave, wasn't he, dad?' 'Yes, my boy, the famousest of the hobbits, and that's saying a lot.' 'It's saying a lot too much, said Frodo, and he laughed, a long clear laugh from the heart... 'But you've left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. 'I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn't they put in more of his talk, dad? That's what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam, would he, dad?'" (363).
"'Why, even Gollum might be good in a tale, better than he is to have by you, anyway. And he used to like tales himself once, by his own account. I wonder if he thinks he's the hero or the villain? Gollum!' he called. 'Would you like to be the hero--now where's he got to again?'" (364). Again, just an interesting little note, that sort of leads into my next bit: Gollum's chance for redemption, a scene quite upsetting and makes me have a bipolar Mansfield Park-ish relationship with Sam. Fact about it: Tolkien actually wept while he wrote it.
So, the scene before is Sam is complaining to Frodo about Gollum, and speaking his paranoia unto him, that he is scared Gollum will come back and find them sleeping and try to kill them because he wants his Precious back. So Sam promises to protect Frodo, and Frodo uses Sam as a pillow to sleep, and of course Sam nods off as well, and Gollum comes back from hunting to see both of them: "Sam sat propped against the stone, his head dropping sideways and his breathing heavy. In his lap lay Frodo's head, drowned deep in sleep; upon his white forehead lay one of Sam's brown hands... Peace was in both their faces. Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee--but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing. But at that touch Frodo stirred and cried out softly in his sleep, and immediately Sam was wide awake. The first thing he saw was Gollum--'pawing at master,' as he thought. 'Hey you!' he said roughly. 'What are you up to?' 'Nothing, nothing,' said Gollum softly. 'Nice master!' 'I daresay,' said Sam. 'But where have you been to--sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain?' Gollum withdrew himself, and a green glint flickered under his heavy lids. Almost spider-like he looked now, crouched back on his bent limbs, with his protruding eyes. The fleeting moment had passed, beyond recall" (366). Thus, Gollum can't be redeemed and it is inevitable that he will betray them. It really is a heartrending scene (I have only given you what is the most important part, not the whole thing).
"'It's a trap!' said Sam" (371). Should have listened to Admiral Ackbar.
One thing I don't understand is when Gollum first leads the hobbits to Shelob, the giant spider. "In past days [Gollum] had bowed and worshiped her, and the darkness of her evil will walked through all the ways of his weariness beside him, cutting him off from light and from regret. And he had promised to bring her food" (376). I don't--is it saying that he worshiped her? Strangely enough, loved her? When would they have met? How? Why wouldn't she have eaten him right off? Not enough meat on his bones? Perhaps Marky Mark can solve this mystery.
Anyway. I'm rather excited to read the next book, which should attest to how good this and the first were. I'm totally in love with this series. My dorkiness, like Saruman's evil, does nothing but expand. Also, I figured out how to change the timestamp on posts, so that's cool and all.
EDIT: Marky Mark, believe it or not, is not the Oracle of Delphi and does not know everything. However, his theory on why Shelob didn't eat Gollum is the same as mine (he actually used the same phrase as I did--in that there wasn't "enough meat on his bones"). Gollum was really thankful in his dog like pawing way and promised he'd bring her food, and now it's finally being fulfilled. (Marky Mark didn't have a clear answer as to exactly when they first met, just when Gollum went to Mordor for the first time, because apparently he did?) So... yeah... that's... that's about it, there. Yup.
No comments:
Post a Comment