The Addictive Ring

[Pervinca Took]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Yep. And I think it's symbolic in this context that the act by which Gollum took possession of the Ring, and thus the Ring of him, was murdering Déagol, his friend. He put his lust for the shiny thing above the bonds of friendship. And yes, he was outcast by his clan, as Morth reminds us, but only after he had stopped interacting with them as a kinsman and neighbour but turned against them:


Same with Frodo. Observe his reactions when he feels that others threaten to take the Ring from him, whether it's Bilbo in Rivendell wanting to touch it one more time, or Sam offering to carry it for him in Cirith Ungol. His first reaction is to lash out at his friends like a junkie defending his drug or a game addict if you try to take away his Nintendo. And I'm not sure we can blame it all on Sauron's power reaching out through the Ring, for what did it matter to Sauron whether one halfling or the other held the Ring?

Frodo felt a desire to strike Bilbo at this point, but he didn't act upon it. He also felt distress and amazement at the feeling. He similarly felt appalled and aghast after calling Sam a thief. Yes, he still felt and said those things, but did Gollum feel appalled at himself for such feelings and behaviour? Well, to a point, I think, but he lied to himself and tried to hide from it. The sun and daisies riddle reminded him of a time 'when he had been less sneaky and nasty, which made him bad-tempered.'

As for the second instance, I don't really think the circumstances are similar. Sméagol actually murdered for the Ring, and he had not at that point borne it or undergone any of the suffering which that entailed. Frodo had. He woke deprived of the Ring he had borne and resisted for a long time, not to mention traumatised and disorientated by sickness and orc-capture. Sméagol at that point hadn't had it in the first place. And what overcame Frodo is described as a delusion, a distortion of reality: 'The hideous vision had seemed so real to him, half-bemused as he still was with wound and fear'

As for blaming Sauron or not, I think the Ring was somehow hardwired to defend and preserve itself at any cost, including driving mad and immobilising anyone who tried to carry it to its destruction. Not that Sauron thought anyone would every try to destroy it. As for not caring which hobbit held it - Sauron knew nothing of hobbits when he forged his Ring. Their differences from each other, or from other races, wouldn't have entered into his calculations. The Ring itself may have sensed a difference, because it 'knew' it had an increasing hold on Frodo. It also seemed to 'think' carefully before taking a new bearer - 'Maybe ... a last trick of the Ring before it took a new bearer' (referring to the Ring falling off Bilbo's finger when he put it on to escape from Gollum and the orc-tunnel.