[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

One minor aspect I find interesting is the statement that "Frodo the Halfling" (how much remoter from the story we all know and love can you get?) "threw the Ring into the fire in which it was forged" (or words to that effect; I'm retranslating from my German version here). Clearly the author of this text had no access to an unredacted copy of the Red Book.

The English version runs thus:

For Frodo the Halfling, it is said, at the bidding of Mithrandir took on himself the burden, and alone with his servant he passed through peril and darkness and came at last in Sauron's despite even to Mt. Doom; and there into the Fire where it was wrought he cast the Great Ring of Power, and so at last it was unmade and its evil consumed.

From that I would think the author to be a Man, and most likely a Gondorian, judging from the use of "halfling". It's odd though, that Frodo was said only to have gone to Mordor "with his servant". No mention of Boromir son of Denethor, Captain of the White Tower, or King Elessar himself being part of the party in which Frodo traveled. Perhaps the events of that time were still fresh enough in the minds of many for the author to feel comfortable with giving only the Cliff's Notes version of the War of the Ring.

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

(Also, being a nutter for language, I can't help noting that this text alone AFAIK gives us the Quenya word for Nazgûl: Úlairi, the un-living; same as 'undead', only the other way round - an interesting way to put it, if you care for such things.)

"Unliving" to me is a much more negative term than "undead", emphasizing that the state of the Ringwraiths was not at all to be envied.
What I find ironic about the Nazgûl, especially those of Númenórean descent, is that by their subjection to the One, they finally achieved the nearest thing to immortality they could possibly have obtained, and yet found it to be everlasting torment, just as their people were warned by the Eldar long years before.

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Hm, I don't think he repented of evil as such, or he wouldn't have minded humiliating himself before Manwë; what he repented of was joining the losing side in the previous conflict and letting himself be put into such an embarrassing position in the first place. As soon as he figured out he could return to his bad old ways without immediate retaliation from the West, he went back to emulating Morgoth's example, probably with the ambition to do better than his master and succeed where Morgoth failed. Like Gandalf said: Wise fool.

I agree. It was said that Sauron's real motivation when he contemplated turning his back on evil was fear, brought on by seeing his mentor laid low. Once he'd had a taste of the power he'd possessed under Morgoth, dominating and controlling, it's hard to see him laying that aside and going back to the West where he would have been just another "servant" to the Valar, and one who would have been watched carefully, on "probation" for who knows how long. What's the saying about preferring to "rule in Hell than serve in Heaven"?

Overall, I do like the chapter, especially the Ring-lore, where some juicy details are given of the effects of the Nine upon those who received them. I get a lot of insight there of what "life" must have been like for those poor devils.