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Lyta_Underhill · 04-27-2003, 09:38 AM

This is a great topic that makes me think! I dredged it out with a search for "Cirith Ungol." One never knows what strange tangents one will find, whether guided by intuition and stream of consciousness or a rigid, logical programmed search function! (But that's neither here nor there...)

Anyway, as for the defining moments for the Hobbits, I've gone into depth about Pippin's epiphany with the palantir before (it forms the axis for my essay on Pippin in the Essay contest). Without that experience, he probably would not have had the strength and initiative to pledge himself fully to Gondor. With that experience, his eyes are opened to the enormity of the events of which he has, until then, been only dimly aware.

Merry, on the other hand, seems lost for a much longer time, although he is very aware of the needs of the journey, having studied the maps of Rivendell and prepared himself for the physical part of the journey much more thoroughly than Pippin did. He does not come into his own until he pledges himself to Theoden and Rohan and subsequently defies Theoden's command to ride to war with Dernhelm/Eowyn. Merry finds his definition through love for Theoden and the ability to transcend common sense (which he has much more of than Pippin!) to perform heroic deeds.

Sam, I think, is slightly, but not significanly torn between his love for the Shire and his love for Frodo. I think that he realizes, in Cirith Ungol after Frodo is stung and seemingly dead, that the worries of Frodo have become his worries (replacing his worries FOR Frodo). He is charged with the terrible decision to complete the Quest or to save Frodo. In this moment, he realizes that he does not have the strength to carry Frodo's burden and that his true purpose has been all along to carry Frodo through and help him complete the quest. Sam also has an epiphany when Gollum attacks him at the Sammath Naur. He discovers he cannot kill him, for he feels the same pity that Frodo did for him. Sam's insight and better nature overcome his roused anger and he becomes a much more seasoned hobbit, now wiser than before, much removed from his days in the Shire.

Frodo has so many defining moments I cannot begin to list them. Certainly Weathertop is one of them, but also he finds his strength beyond what he had believed it to be when he is pursued at the Ford of Bruinen. ("You shall have neither the Ring, nor me!") Frodo is tested to the very limits of his spiritual being in many instances. There is also an innate understanding in Rivendell, confirmed in Lothlorien, that he is doomed to carry the Ring to the end. The discord between those in the Council of Elrond and then his test of Galadriel (and her analysis of how it is for her bearing Nenya) at the Mirror show him the extent of the Ring's corrupting influence. After this, he truly realizes how alone he is. OK, I have gone on too long now. I know there is more, but I must close! Thanks for the great topic, Kasia!

Cheers,
Lyta

04-27-2003, 09:38 AM	#12
Lyta_Underhill Haunted Halfling Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: an uncounted length of steps--floating between air molecules Posts: 841	This is a great topic that makes me think! I dredged it out with a search for "Cirith Ungol." One never knows what strange tangents one will find, whether guided by intuition and stream of consciousness or a rigid, logical programmed search function! (But that's neither here nor there...) Anyway, as for the defining moments for the Hobbits, I've gone into depth about Pippin's epiphany with the palantir before (it forms the axis for my essay on Pippin in the Essay contest). Without that experience, he probably would not have had the strength and initiative to pledge himself fully to Gondor. With that experience, his eyes are opened to the enormity of the events of which he has, until then, been only dimly aware. Merry, on the other hand, seems lost for a much longer time, although he is very aware of the needs of the journey, having studied the maps of Rivendell and prepared himself for the physical part of the journey much more thoroughly than Pippin did. He does not come into his own until he pledges himself to Theoden and Rohan and subsequently defies Theoden's command to ride to war with Dernhelm/Eowyn. Merry finds his definition through love for Theoden and the ability to transcend common sense (which he has much more of than Pippin!) to perform heroic deeds. Sam, I think, is slightly, but not significanly torn between his love for the Shire and his love for Frodo. I think that he realizes, in Cirith Ungol after Frodo is stung and seemingly dead, that the worries of Frodo have become his worries (replacing his worries FOR Frodo). He is charged with the terrible decision to complete the Quest or to save Frodo. In this moment, he realizes that he does not have the strength to carry Frodo's burden and that his true purpose has been all along to carry Frodo through and help him complete the quest. Sam also has an epiphany when Gollum attacks him at the Sammath Naur. He discovers he cannot kill him, for he feels the same pity that Frodo did for him. Sam's insight and better nature overcome his roused anger and he becomes a much more seasoned hobbit, now wiser than before, much removed from his days in the Shire. Frodo has so many defining moments I cannot begin to list them. Certainly Weathertop is one of them, but also he finds his strength beyond what he had believed it to be when he is pursued at the Ford of Bruinen. ("You shall have neither the Ring, nor me!") Frodo is tested to the very limits of his spiritual being in many instances. There is also an innate understanding in Rivendell, confirmed in Lothlorien, that he is doomed to carry the Ring to the end. The discord between those in the Council of Elrond and then his test of Galadriel (and her analysis of how it is for her bearing Nenya) at the Mirror show him the extent of the Ring's corrupting influence. After this, he truly realizes how alone he is. OK, I have gone on too long now. I know there is more, but I must close! Thanks for the great topic, Kasia! Cheers, Lyta __________________ “…she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”