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Originally Posted by Mister Underhill
I'd echo Pervinca (Hi! Don't think our paths have crossed yet.) and Inzila that Frodo in Mordor is a bit of an exceptional case, though as Pervinca points out, the question of whether the Ring is somehow complicit in the "darkening" of Frodo is an interesting one. Is it a direct effect of the Ring? Or is it simply a very human reaction to his overall experience? I usually come down on the side of an interpretation which favors humanity and complex human reactions over characters being the victims of magical effects. It's one of the things, I think, that sets Middle-earth apart from other fantasy creations, where one can often detect a whiff of roleplaying and videogame influence in the treatment of magic. Tolkien's magic is, by and large, more subtle, more ethereal, less direct. It nudges rather than bludgeons.
As an example, I really didn't like the way Jackson interpreted Théoden as being literally under Saruman's spell, rather than having been manipulated and cozened by Wormtongue acting as Saruman's agent. I recognize that there's a continuum here though.
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Hi Mr Underhill! The "darkening" of Frodo
in Mordor, I think, is the deliberate effect of the Ring trying to save itself from destruction - somehow or in some way sensing its increasing proximity to the place where that might happen. As if that were part of the "design" that Sauron put into it, as a safeguard.
Potter haters - don't jump on me for this - but I always felt the way the locket horcrux (protected from being taken, let alone destroyed) was hidden under a potion that was terrible torture to drink (and could
only be removed by one forcing another to drink it, so that one alone could not remove it) was similar, in a sense, to the
impossibility of the Ring being cast away (except, as Tolkien said, by one of the Wise) by act of will at its point of maximum power. There is definitely powerful magic here, but much less obvious. However, Sauron was called the "Necromancer" in "The Hobbit," and seems to have used magic of a very dark kind to safeguard his precious Ring.
It's interesting that you use the word "darkening" - since it acts both by moral corruption and by cruelty (darkening pleasure, tainting peace of mind, becoming painfully heavy) - trying to break down the bearer's resistance by both physical and mental cruelty - and using that cruelty to help break down the purity of the bearer.
The after-effects that Frodo felt from this experience were probably just by-products of being exposed to all this for so long. How much is attributable to permanent damage done by the Ring at and near its point of maximum power is difficult to gauge. A huge part of the damage is the fact that he claimed it at the end, of course. But the things that trigger specific periods of illness don't refer to the time of maximum exposure in Mordor. One of the triggers is the memory of being
parted from it, since he falls ill on the anniversary of Shelob's bite, when the Ring is taken from him, and when awakens in Cirith Ungol, believing all lost. The other is from the Morgul-knife ... which would probably have continued to give him trouble even if he hadn't gone any further than Rivendell (I think only one other survivor of a Morgul splinter (not a hobbit, but still), is actually recorded, and he died within about 12 years).
So, difficult to say, but I think the Ring's power in Mordor was its own survival mechanism. It pulls out all the stops not to get destroyed and will use any amount of cruelty to do it (it was made by Sauron, after all), but I don't think it "intended" (as far as Sauron could give it "intention") or thought of damage beyond that. I wonder if Sauron ever thought of another even wielding it, and how much of his thought and power he put into the Ring being able to create trouble to another who possessed it? Frodo does not desire power, but he has a natural fatalism. This is what the Ring latches on to in him, turning it to despair. (In Sam, it would have latched on to his positive side, his desire to do things, and put things right, corrupting good deeds to bad).
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As an example, I really didn't like the way Jackson interpreted Théoden as being literally under Saruman's spell, rather than having been manipulated and cozened by Wormtongue acting as Saruman's agent. I recognize that there's a continuum here though.
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I think Jackson probably favours the bludgeon over the nudge.
