The Lord of the Rings: The Passage of the Marshes (Part Two)

 

The Tale

When Sam wakes up, he realizes by the dimness in the sky that he has fallen asleep for at least nine hours, never waking Frodo for his watch, and with Gollum right by their side. But Gollum is nowhere to be seen. Sam starts calling himself a batch of reproachful names ‘drawn from the Gaffer’s large paternal word-hoard. But then he realizes Gollum has done them no harm.

‘Poor wretch!’ he said half remorsefully. ‘Now I wonder where he’s got to?’

‘Not far!’ Sam looks up and behind him and sees Gollum’s big head and ears against the evening sky. Sam’s suspicions come flooding back and he raises his voice, asking the gangrel creature what he is doing. He replies that Smeagol is hungry, but will be back soon, and leaves over Sam’s protests.

Frodo wakes at the sound, and Sam explains the situation. Frodo tells him not to worry. Gollum’s promise will hold a while yet, and anyway he won’t leave his precious. He makes light of the fact that they slept with a very hungry Gollum beside them all day; as it is, things all turned out well. Now they are both rested and ready for the hard road ahead.

Sam is also worried about the food. How long will this road take? He estimates that the lembas, if used sparingly, will only last three weeks. And what about the journey home?

‘Samwise Gamgee, my dear hobbit – indeed, Sam my dearest hobbit, friend of friends – I do not think we need give thought to what comes after that. To do the job, as you put it – what hope is there that we ever shall? And if we do, who knows what will come of that? If the One goes into the Fire, and we are at hand? I ask you, Sam, are we ever likely to need bread again? I think not. If we can nurse our limbs to bring us to Mount Doom, that is all that we can do. More than I can, I begin to feel.’

Sam nods silently at Frodo’s solemn words, and he takes Frodo’s hand, tears falling on it as he does. To cover his feelings he wipes his nose, gets up, and starts trying to whistle, saying now and then, ‘Where is that dratted creature?’

Gollum actually returns soon thereafter, fingers and face dirtied with mud, still chewing something, ‘Worms or beetles or something slimy out of holes,’ thought Sam. ‘Brr! The nasty creature; the poor wretch!’ Gollum washes up and then asks the hobbits if they are ready to go. They’ve slept well. ‘Trust Smeagol now?’

They travel down the gully for the rest of the night. It grows shallower and more earthy as it twists and wanders under cloudy skies. A thin grey light is the only indication of the new day as they reach the end of the water-course, which gurgles at last into a brown bog and is lost. ‘Dry reeds hissed and rattled though they could feel no wind.’

In front of them and on either side are fens and mores stretching south and east, mists curling and stinking like smoke on the air. Far away south they can see the Mountains of Mordor ‘like a black bar of rugged clouds’ on the horizon.

The hobbits are now totally in Gollum’s hands. Frodo asks him if they must cross these marshes, and Gollum tells them with grim humor that they could go back a little and then east, where there are many hard cold roads and plenty of Orcs who will be only too happy to take them straight to Him. That’s where Gollum himself was caught long ago. But he’s learned since then. Other ways, slower, not so quick, through the mists. ‘Follow Smeagol very carefully, and you may go a long way, before He catches you, yes perhaps.’

It is a windless and sullen morning, with overcast skies and marsh-reeks covering the fens. Gollum is anxious to continue their journey, so they off into the ‘shadowy, silent world.’ ‘They went slowly in single file: Gollum, Sam, Frodo.’

Frodo seems the weariest of the three, and the way is a maze of ‘pools, soft mires, and winding, half-strangled water-courses.’ But Gollum’s cunning finds them a way, crouching, sniffing, testing the path with fingers and toes, or listening with one ear to the ground. The way is dreary and tiring, still cold and clammy with winter, haunted with scum and dead grass and rotting reeds.

The day grows brighter with the rising sun and the mists thinner, but the sun gives no heat and shows no color. But Gollum scowls and flinches even at this pale hint. He halts them and they rest, crouching in the borders ‘of a great brown reed-thicket.’ There is no sound except the faint quiver of empty seedpods and broken grass-blades. Sam mourns, “Not a bird!’

‘No, no birds,' said Gollum. He licks his lips at the thought. Lots of snakes and worms and things in pools. But sadly, no birds. ‘Sam looked at him with distaste.’

Bits and Bobs

Long ago, when I still read Stephen King books, I noticed that he would reference something from The Lord of the Rings at least once in every book; it made a deep impression on him, it seems. I recall once (in a short story, I think) he says it would not appear to be improbable to see Frodo, Sam, and Gollum passing through the mist. There seems to be something primal to this image: I remember having a dream where I saw the three wearily passing through our neighbors the Coor’s yard. I don’t habitually dream things from Tolkien’s work.

Sam continues his developing ideas about Gollum. He seems to like him better when he’s not there, but his appearance snaps Sam back into his suspicions. In one sentence he calls Gollum a nasty creature and a poor wretch. And he is not best pleased when Gollum mentions eating ‘the nice birds’ that Sam only wishes to have around to cheer him up.

While Gollum’s diet does seem pretty nasty, it is necessary and no more ‘evil’ than soldiers having to scavenge off the land when they are cut off from supplies. He is proving to be resilient, resourceful, and crafty. Even Aragorn, ‘greatest tracker in the North’, only caught him by mere chance, and he is even warier than ever the nearer he is to Mordor.