The Lord of the Rings: The Council of Elrond (Part Five and Last)

The Tale

 

At last Elrond speaks. The news about Saruman is very serious; he was long in their trust and knew all their counsels. But such betrayals have happened before. What has surprised him more is the adventures of Frodo.

The Barrow-wights are known by many names and the Old Forest is but a remnant of which it once was. ‘Time was a squirrel could go from tree to tree from what is now the Shire to Dunland west of Isengard.’ Elrond journeyed through those lands of old, but he had forgotten about Bombadil, who has had many names over the ages. Perhaps he should have summoned him to the Council, but Gandalf says he wouldn’t have left his land.

Erestor, Elrond’s counsellor, asks if maybe they should call him now? He seems to have a power even over the Ring. Gandalf says it’s better to say that it has no power over him. Bombadil can’t alter the Ring or break its power over others. Erestor asks if he couldn’t take the Ring and keep it safe and the wizard says he might, but such things hold no power over his mind. He’d probably just throw it away. Glorfindel adds that even if he did take it, Sauron would undoubtedly find out and bend all his power to reclaim it, and then Tom would fall, Last as he was First.

Galdor of the Grey Havens asks if any power still remains with the Elves, at Rivendell or the Havens or at Lorien, that could keep the Ring safe, and Elrond says he certainly doesn’t, and neither do they. Glorfindel says there are only two alternatives that remain: to send it over Sea or to destroy it. Elrond points out that none of them possess the power to destroy it, and if they tried to send it over Sea, those there would reject it; it is Middle-earth’s problem to deal with.

Then, says Glorfindel, let us cast it into the Sea, and make Saruman’s lie come true. Gandalf points out that that will not destroy it, and that in time or by strange chance it could return. And Sauron would endure. They must seek a final end to this threat. Galdor points out that, anyway, if they take the path to the Havens, as the Elves have done so many times, it will likely be expected and the Ring taken.

‘Then,’ said Erestor, ‘there are but two courses, as Glorfindel has already declared: to hide the Ring forever; or to unmake it. But both are beyond our power. Who will read this riddle for us?’

Elrond says the road before them is now clear, a road unforeseen. ‘To walk into peril – to Mordor We must send the Ring to the Fire.’

Everyone falls silent again. Frodo notices Boromir fidgeting and frowning. Finally, he speaks up. Why don’t they simply use the Ring to defeat Sauron? It seems it was put into their hands right at the time they need it most. Elrond points out that they cannot use the Ring. An ordinary person cannot wield it, and those who already have power are in graver peril, for even if they overthrew Sauron, they would become a new Dark Lord. Boromir backs down, but doubtfully. Gondor must trust in such weapons as they have, and it would be a comfort to know that others fought with all they have as well.

Gloin agrees, and all must act in league with what they have. Though Gandalf tells him that all the Dwarven Rings are gone, he asks what of the Elf Rings then. Very powerful Rings, they say.

Elrond replies that they are hidden, and that their powers were not made as weapons of war. Though Sauron had no hand in their making, still they are subject to the One Ring. If the Dark Lord gets the Ring, everything that has been done by their power will be turned against them. And even if the One is destroyed, those same things will fade. But, says Glorfindel, the Elves are willing to take that chance, if the dominion of Sauron is broken forever.

Erestor asks what strength have they to get the Ring to the Fires of Mt. Doom, anyway? It seems like a path of despair or folly. Gandalf says it is not despair ‘for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt.’ And if it’s folly, then let folly be their cloak. Sauron will never imagine that they’ll try to destroy the Ring, because it’s something he’d never do himself. If they try this it will put him out of all reckoning, at least for a while.

‘The road must be trod,’ Elrond says, ‘but it will be hard. And neither strength or wisdom will carry us far upon it. The quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.’

Bilbo pipes up, says he sees where Elrond is heading, and volunteers for the mission, although he’d already written the end of his book, ‘and he lived happily ever afterwards, to the end of his days’. Boromir almost laughs until he sees that the others are taking him seriously. Gandalf gently says the Ring has passed beyond him.  But keep the ending of his book: it might still come true. Bilbo laughs and says that was the only pleasant advice the wizard every gave him, so he wonders if it is any good. But who will be sent with the Ring?

The noon bell rings. But all are silent and do not move. ‘A great dread fell on [Frodo], as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo’s side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.'

‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, 'though I do not know the way.’

Elrond raises his eyes and says that if he understands all they’ve heard today, he thinks that this task is appointed for Frodo, and if he does not find a way, no one will.  Would any of the Wise have expected it? But if he will accept the task, Elrond will say he could sit among all the mighty Elf-friends of old.

Then Sam, who has been sitting quietly up to now, jumps up and asks that they won’t send him alone, surely? Elrond smiles. ‘You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not.’

‘Sam sat down, blushing and muttering. ‘A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo!’

Bits and Bobs

Ans so we come at last to the end of “The Council of Elrond". I may say it is a masterpiece of the compression and presentation of information, skillfully interweaving many voices and with enough characteristic interruptions to add to the interest and give rest to the reader, instead of simply presenting great chunks of unbroken stories one after another (like this sentence, in fact). The fact that it is a single chapter but has required so much retelling and so many wholesale quotations is evidence of its compaction.

The phrase about a squirrel leaping from tree to tree without touching the ground for a great distance occurs several times in the Medieval Era. In Tolkien and E. V. Gordon’s edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, they quote: “From Blacon Point to Helbree, a squirrel may leap from tree to tree.” The use of such old folk sayings adds a flavor of age and authenticity to the telling.

Boromir’s willingness to use the Ring as a weapon, and his reluctant acceptance of reasons not to, is a foreshadowing of the struggle that he will have with the Ring later. Simple desire of it corrupts the heart, as it has corrupted Saruman. Elrond points out that they must destroy the Ring because it is a danger even to the Wise, ‘For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so.’ In another of his letters, Tolkien points out that his world is not a simply Manichean universe, a balance between Good and Evil. ‘I do not believe in Absolute Evil, because that would be Zero.’ Evil cannot exist on its’ own in the same way as Good.

When all other possibilities have been considered and rejected, only one remains: to destroy the Ring in Mt. Doom, where it was made. This seems to be foolishness as opposed to the ‘wise’ policies of Sauron, and the weak are as likely to succeed as the strong. This strongly suggests to me the passage from 1 Corinthians, especially “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are”.

Elrond says this is the hour of the Shire folk at last. Tolkien in one of his letters points out that Gandalf chose Bilbo and later Frodo because they had all the better qualities of the Hobbits, while also having a extra ‘spark’ that can lead them to extraordinary virtue. They are, to that extent, chosen, but they had ’lots of chances … of turning back, only they didn’t.’

On this subject, some people have suggested that Frodo is being used by Eru, that when he “wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice,” that that  is ‘the still, small voice of God’, choosing for him. This is contrary to Tolkien’s own philosophy of Free Will. The key words here are ‘as if’. I think the better way to understand this dichotomy of his mind is that his ‘higher self’ is overwhelming his lower desires for comfort and safety, to his own astonishment. In some way this is an even freer choice, since it is above self-interest. There is no compromise with the ‘nagging Flesh’.  

Sam ends the chapter with some of his simple common sense. You can make a list of the times we get Sam’s down-to-earth comments on higher matters that bring things down to brass tacks, and which will flower as the Quest continues. His rather gloomy observations remind me in a certain degree of C. S. Lewis’ Puddleglum; but despite their pessimistic outlooks, still their faith is great. “I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it.” – The Silver Chair. But Sam is, to a certain degree, comic relief sometimes. He even gets to use the word “pickle” (here meaning 'another fine mess'), which most comedians have described as being one of the funniest words in the English language, though few have used it to its best effect.