Irony. . . or not?
 

After my mom read LotR, she pointed something out that I hadn't noticed. Isildur takes the ring from Sauron by cutting it off his hand, and Gollum gets the ring by biting it off Frodo's hand. Is it just me, or is that a little ironic?

I think it's an ironic coincidence.

I'm also wondering if Tolkien did it on purpose.

I'd say that's probably the only way to get the Ring off of a finger it's comfortable on.

You try taken a ring off some one's finger who's fighting you. unless you are stronger then him or he is wounded cuting it off is the only way.

Well Nev, how else are you going to get the Ring? I mean, it's on a finger, so natrally you would either cut/rip the hand or the finger off.
~M

And if the ring refuses to come off, you pretty much have to use force.

Yeah, like the others, its hard to get the ring off since a ring is usually intended to be worn on the finger. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

That's not the only way to get the ring off a finger. Anotaher option was tried in both cases and failed both times- that being to just flat-out kill the ringbearer and remove the ring from his dead hand.

It was more than irony. It was by design.

Thank you, Greycloak! Actually, my mom came up with the idea, and when I told her everyone else's reaction, she replied, "I don't care, I still think it's symbolic." Hm.

Coincidental. Intriguing. Perhaps even thought-provoking. Not ironic. A sadly misused word and concept.

Oblo has it, IMO, the Ring will stay on the finger if it so desires, so a rudimentary amputation seems the only answer.

Symbolic, however, is an interesting suggestion. It does seem that the Ring becomes integrated into its bearer to some extent, and the separation of bearer from Ring seems to injure them, as is often dicussed in threads about Frodo. Does this injury consist of taking a part of them away? Is the loss of a finger or hand a physical manifestation of that? Is this what you're getting at?

--Belin Ibaimendi, waiting for someone to mention Beren. Or Gollum.

[ July 17, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]

Hey ~
I think that Tolkein might have done it on purpose but of course we will never know [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] Okay, well g2r. Laters~! http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/serv...sun_smiley.gif http://www.uniquehardware.co.uk/serv...sun_smiley.gif