The Lord of the Rings: The Council of Elrond (Part Three)

 

The Tale

Galdor of the Havens takes up Frodo’s words, asking for more of Gandalf’s proof that it is the Ring. And what about Saruman? He’s an expert in Ring-Lore. Where is he and what does he say? Elrond calls on the grey wizard to tell his tale.

Gandalf says the fact that Sauron is seeking for this ring is a fairly good proof. They know the Dark Lord holds the Nine Rings, and so he has power over the Ringwraiths. The Seven Rings of the Dwarves are taken or destroyed. The Three Elven Rings are hidden and accounted for.

Years ago, Gandalf himself infiltrated Dol Guldur (‘Hill of Dark Sorcery’), the Necromancer’s hold, and discovered that he was indeed Sauron returned. Saruman had advised the White Council (a group of Wizards and High Elves) to watch and wait a while. But finally, as Sauron’s shadow grew, even he yielded and they attacked and drove him from Dol Guldur in the very year that Bilbo found the Ring – ‘a strange chance, if chance it was’.

‘Sauron also had watched us, and had long prepared against our stroke, governing Mordor from afar through Minas Morgul, where his Nine Servants dwelt, until all was ready. Then he gave way before us, but only feigned to flee, and soon after came to the Dark Tower and openly declared himself.’

Although Sauron seemed to be intensifying his search for the ring, Saruman still said there was nothing to worry about; it had long rolled down the River Anduin where it was lost and into the Sea. For a while Gandalf was lulled by Saruman’s words, but he still wondered about the hobbit’s ring. He set a watch out for Gollum, guessing that he would leave the mountains in search of his Precious. Gollum came out, but his tracks were lost, and there the matter lay.

Gandalf’s fears were awakened by Bilbo’s actions on the night of Birthday party and by the increase of spies that were gathered around the Shire. He called for the Dunedain Rangers to double their watch, ‘and I opened my heart to Aragorn, the heir of Isildur.’ Aragorn advises that, late though it seems, they hunt for Gollum. They tracked him to the very borders of Mordor, but never found him.

Then in desperation Gandalf remembers the words of Saruman, of a test that a ring might be put to, to determine if it was the One. He told no details, but how would he know? The only hand that held it beside the Dark Lord was Isildur. Gandalf goes to Minas Tirith to look for records there, for it was known to the Wise that Isildur stayed there a while before heading North, to his doom.

Lord Denethor begrudgingly lets him into the archives where Gandalf finds a document in Isildur’s own hand, describing the Ring. He transcribes the fiery letters that are even now fading on it, missing perhaps ‘the heat of Sauron’s hand, which was black yet burned like fire, and so Gil-galad was destroyed’. The inscription uses Elvish letters, but in the language of Mordor. If it is heated it might shine out again.

 Gandalf leaves immediately, but even as he heads north messages come to him that Aragorn has found and captured Gollum. The wizard turns aside to Mirkwood to hear his tale in Thranduil’s kingdom.

Aragorn tells the Council that he had given up and started to head home when he found Gollum’s tracks, not leading into Mordor, but out of it. He caught him on the edge of the Dead Marshes, gazing into a pool, covered in green slime. Gollum bit him, and Aragorn was not gentle with him. He drove him with a halter on his neck and gagged, until he delivered him into the care of the Elves in Mirkwood, where he and Gandalf had agreed beforehand he should be kept, if found.

Gandalf questions Gollum long and wearily. He finds out that Gollum found the Ring near the Gladden Fields, where Isildur was lost, and that he had possessed it for ‘many lives of his small kind’, proving that it was indeed one of the Great Rings. But Gandalf has also performed the final test of placing the Ring in the fire and has read these words of the Ring-spell in the Black Speech of Mordor:

‘Ash nazg durbataluk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakataluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.’

As Gandalf recites the words, his voice becomes harsh and menacing and a shadow seems to pass over the sun. The Elves stop their ears at the evil sound.

And though Gollum was evasive, it is clear to Gandalf that when the creature went to Mordor that he was captured, tortured, and all he knew about the Ring was wrung out of him. Thus, Sauron knows that the Ring is found, that it was long in the Shire, and, since the Nazgul chased it almost to their doorstep, he probably already knows that it is in Rivendell.

At that grim thought, everyone grows silent. Then Boromir asks what did they do with Gollum? ‘To what doom did you put him?’ Aragorn says that he is imprisoned by the Wood Elves but no worse. Even he, though bitten by him, pities the poor tortured creature. Still, he’s glad he’s safely put away, for Gollum is full of malice and was obviously let loose by Sauron on some evil mission. At these words Legolas, the Elf from Mirkwood, cries out. The news that he has come to tell is that ‘Smeagol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped’!

The Elves also felt sorry for him and feeling that if kept ever in a dungeon that he might fall back into his old dark thoughts, let him out on nice days to visit the woods, where he would climb up a high tree to feel the free wind, though they guarded him underneath. One day he refuses to come down even until it grew dark, and a party of Orcs attacks his guards. When they are finally driven off, it is found that Gollum has gone with them. The Elves track the attackers, but they lose the trail as it grows close to Dol Guldur at the lower end of the forest. Gollum is gone again.

Gandalf regrets the news, but there is no time to seek him again. Gollum must do what he will, though the wizard’s heart tells him that the creature may play a part yet that no one foresees.

‘And now I will answer Galdor’s other questions. What of Saruman? What are his counsels to us in this need? This tale I must tell in full, for only Elrond has heard it yet, and that in brief: but it will bear on all that we must resolve. It is the last chapter in the Tale of the Ring, so far as it has yet gone.’

Bits and Bobs

We learn a little more about the rings; that all the other Great Rings have a jewel, that the One Ring was unadorned, and that wearing a Great Ring extends the wearer’s life (a feature that would not affect, say an Elf or a Maiar, who are already effectively immortal).

Gandalf has been in Dol Goldur twice – first when he found the dying Thrain and received the map and key that started the quest for Erebor, and then again to find out the Necromancer’s identity. And he was part of the White Council that drove the Necromancer out – in the same year the Ring was found, another ‘chance’.

There has been both a card game and a short film titled “The Hunt for Gollum”, based on the episode of Aragorn’s quest, and a yet-to-be released video game “The Lord of the Rings: Gollum” is said to deal heavily with parts of Gollum’s story only hinted at here. Although it becomes apparent that Gollum was let loose on purpose so that his search for the Ring might lead Sauron’s spies to the Ring, Gollum himself seems to think he escaped on his own.

In Gandalf’s visit to ‘the hoarded books and scrolls’ in Minas Tirith, we are giving a glimpse of the proud and summary nature of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. Isildur’s Scroll is portrayed in this ‘translation’ as being in an archaic mode, by using words such as ‘seemeth’ and ‘fadeth’, and obscure words like ‘glede’ (an ember or live coal). Isildur also uses the ominous term ‘precious’ to describe the Ring.

Although Gollum’s escape from Mirkwood appears to be coordinated, it is never quite revealed how. But dark things have been creeping back into the woods. Despite his later-shown affinity for spiders, it is unlikely that the Elves would allow one near the tree. The most likely agent was a spy-bird of some kind, but I’m rather amused by the idea of Gollum chattering with a black squirrel.

Everyone seems to pity Gollum, even though they agree that he is a nasty piece of work. It is not just the pity of Bilbo, but the pity of many, that spares Gollum for his ultimate purpose.

Rock and roll bands, especially heavy metal groups, love to reference Tolkien’s work, particularly its darker elements. In the satirical animated series Metalocalypse there is even a burger franchise called ‘Burzum’s’, among other names that they use from the Legendarium.

And on that note, I reveal that my brothers and I used to use the term ‘Bataluk’ for any Ragnarok-like playing we would stage with our action figures.