Connection. - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Eve · 12-24-2001, 03:55 PM

Maybe something to do with the way the Ring protected its current wearer, at least until it got sick of him? Admittedly Frodo didn't have the friendliest relationship with the Ring, but at the moment when Gollum bites it off he is actually claiming its power for himself etc., so could be seen to be (albeit briefly) on the Ring's side.

And after all, the Ring was not the nicest of objects: even when it liked you, its way of protecting you wasn't terribly healthy (the "thin and stretched" thing). Or you could just argue that there was a rather nasty fate attached to it. or something like that. i'm half-asleep tonight.

another one to add, not quite the same but still: Boromir attempts to grab the ring and meets a sticky end pretty sharpish, also involving some sort of physical mutilation. I could probably brood over the symbolism of the cutting off the finger thing, but too tired right now. it does remind me of that grisly bit in "The Changeling" (can't remember who wrote it, Jacobean chap, don't think it was Ford or Webster) when what's-his-face needs the ring of the man he has just killed, can't get it off his dead finger, promptly cuts (bites?) it off, and then hops straight into bed with the dead man's fiancee to boot.

12-24-2001, 03:55 PM	#2
Eve Pile O'Bones Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 13	Maybe something to do with the way the Ring protected its current wearer, at least until it got sick of him? Admittedly Frodo didn't have the friendliest relationship with the Ring, but at the moment when Gollum bites it off he is actually claiming its power for himself etc., so could be seen to be (albeit briefly) on the Ring's side. And after all, the Ring was not the nicest of objects: even when it liked you, its way of protecting you wasn't terribly healthy (the "thin and stretched" thing). Or you could just argue that there was a rather nasty fate attached to it. or something like that. i'm half-asleep tonight. another one to add, not quite the same but still: Boromir attempts to grab the ring and meets a sticky end pretty sharpish, also involving some sort of physical mutilation. I could probably brood over the symbolism of the cutting off the finger thing, but too tired right now. it does remind me of that grisly bit in "The Changeling" (can't remember who wrote it, Jacobean chap, don't think it was Ford or Webster) when what's-his-face needs the ring of the man he has just killed, can't get it off his dead finger, promptly cuts (bites?) it off, and then hops straight into bed with the dead man's fiancee to boot.