**RotK - Mount Doom**

[pandora]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR> I'd compare the book ending to movieBoromir tripping on a pile of leaves when chasing Frodo. Convenient, yes. Believable, not really. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>You might but there is a deeper meaning in the book's ending. The points made by the ending as written has several layers:<P>1. Evil destroys itself; it is self-destructive. Gollum's greed is his undoing.<P>2. Gollum falls because his entire mind is concentrated on the Ring. This is perhaps an allusion to the Fool of the Tarot cards who is depicted in the act of stepping off a cliff because he is looking up at his distant goal in the same way Gollum is looking up at the Ring. Even if (as seems likely) JRRT was not specifically thinking of the Tarot the idea of missing things of vital import due to being wrapped up in your own affairs is an ancient one.<P>3. It fulfills Gandalf's prophecy that Gollum would in the end be important. Holding the Ring while being pushed in is hardly a great Doom, is it? <P>4. Gollum is there because Sauron not only released him but also had him "rescued" from Rivendell. If he had held on to him Frodo would have failed unless Sam had intervened in some way. Regardless, Sauron unwittingly freed the creature, the very small pathetic creature that in the end destroys him. That's a great piece of literary irony.<P>5. Most importantly, pushing Gollumn (or Denethor, for that matter) suggests that murder is sometimes acceptable even when it is avoidable; Frodo's earlier mercy is shown to have been a thing of convenience, to be recinded when it became an obstacle to his ends. That's very definitely not what this story is about.<P>Note: I haven't seen the film; I'm just saying why this particular scene is not a weak point in the book and certainly not just a "throw away" notion that Tolkien had for an easy ending. In many ways it epitomises what Tolkien was saying and I can't imagine any fiddling with it being an improvement even it it appeals more to a modern and cynical audience who want to see people wreak their revenge on their enemies rather than forgiving them their sins.