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between_time_and_42Alright, y'all. There's a LOT of ground to cover in this portion of the book so let's get into it. Here are my thoughts on some of the last chapters of The Two Towers:
So, I mentioned before in an earlier post that as soon as Faramir came on the scene, I forgot all about how upset I had been over Boromir's death, and began to hail him as the superior brother. Why did I feel this way? Well, let me gather together an assortment of quotes to illustrate just how awesome he is:
"'But, Frodo, I pressed you hard at first about Isildur's Bane. Forgive me! It was unwise in such an hour and place. I had not had time for thought."
"'And this I remember of Boromir as a boy, when we together learned the tale of our sires and history of our city, that it always displeased him that his father was not king [...] Alas! poor Boromir. Does that not tell you something of him?'"
"'But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not win for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.'"
"'War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Numenor, and I would have loved her for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom. Not feared, save as men may fear the dignity of a man, old and wise.'"
"'Even if I were such a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, and be held by them. But I am not such a man. Or I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee. Sit at peace! And be comforted, Samwise. If you seem to have stumbled, think that it was fated to be so. Your heart is shrewd as well as faithful, and saw clearer than your eyes.'"
"'Frodo, I think you do very unwisely in this [...] I do not think you should go with this creature. It is wicked.'"
Aaaand I think I've made my point. Oh my god. Faramir just came out of nowhere and became one of the best characters in the books. He is fair, he is considerate, he is generous, he is kind, he speaks fondly and is understanding of Boromir and he's quick to put Sam's mind at ease when Sam makes a blunder... Where's my Faramir spinoff? I can't wait to read more about him in Return of the King.
Unfortunately, the meeting with Faramir is not my boy Sam's finest hour:
"Once, looking suddenly back, as if some prickle of the skin told him that he was watched from behind, he thought he caught a brief glimpse of a small dark shape slipping behind a tree-trunk. He opened his mouth to speak and shut it again. 'I'm not sure of it,' he said to himself, 'and why should I remind them of the old villain, if they choose to forget him? I wish I could!'"
Why, you ask, Sam? Because you know that Gollum is plotting against you and it's best to keep an eye on him, isn't it?! And then there's:
""'[I]t's my opinion that in Lorien he first clearly saw what I guessed sooner: what he wanted. From the moment he first saw it he wanted the Enemy's Ring!'"
This part actually made me yell "NO, SAM, NOOOO!" out loud. :'D Only to immediately feel bad for him when he started quoting one of the Gaffer's insults, and then to cheer him on when he immediately confronted and challenged Faramir over what he had accidentally revealed. A real roller-coaster of emotions, that one page was. And right after the preceding page had given us this:
"I am only a hobbit, and gardening's my job at home, sir, if you understand me, and I'm not much good at poetry-- not at making it: a bit of comic rhyme, perhaps, now and again, you know, but not real poetry-- so I can't tell you what I mean. It ought to be sung [...] But I wish I could make a song about her. Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with diasies in her hair in springtime. But that's a lot o' nonsense, and all wide of my mark."
So basically, Sam just went "Oh, I could NEVER find the words to describe the beauty of Galadriel! I'm not nearly smart enough or well-spoken enough or creative enough for that!" and then he went and spewed a bunch of beautiful poetry at Faramir. And then he had the nerve to call his own words "nonsense." SAM. BUDDY. When are you going to start believing in yourself?? (On that note, I wonder if that's why he looks up to Frodo so much- maybe Sam has such little sense of self-worth that he looks to Frodo to provide the validation and affirmation that he needs. Maybe he's bound himself to Frodo's service because he doesn't see himself as being worthy of holding any high position of his own. Oh no, I just made myself sad. Poor Sam. :( )
Anyway. Moving on from my love for Sam & Faramir... let's take a brief moment to focus on our hero, Frodo.
"Frodo stirred. And suddenly his heart went out to Faramir. 'The storm has burst at last,' he thought. 'This great array of spears and swords is going to Osgiliath. Will Faramirget across in time? He guessed it, but did he know the hour? And who can now hold the fords when the King of the Nine Riders comes? And other armies will come. I am too late. All is lost. I tarried on the way. All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be in vain.' Overcome with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge."
I thiiiiink this is the first time- well, first time that I can remember, anyway- that Frodo cries in this book? Other than the scene following Gandalf's death where everyone was crying... And honestly, I'm surprised it took him this long to absolutely break down. Although the catalyst for this moment of "weakness" is thinking about Faramir and the likelihood of Sauron's army overwhelming him and his forces (and that alone speaks greatly to Frodo's character, that his immediate thought upon seeing the army isn't fear for himself and wondering how in the world he's going to get past the Gates, but fear for the ally he just met along the way), I think that in this moment, everything that Frodo's experienced up to this point is hitting him all at once, along with the ramifications of what's to come afterwards. He and Sam have come all this way, only to find a foe that they cannot conquer, and that Frodo can't imagine anyone else having a shot of conquering. And now it's all up to him to save the ones he loves and the world as a whole from being conquered themselves, but he has no idea how he's going to do it and besides, even if he does manage to pull off this feat, it might already be too late and all his friends might be killed before he can do anything. Victory would be declared... but at what cost? What's the point of enjoying a victory if there's no one left with whom to enjoy it? All that to say... man, I really feel for Frodo here. Thank god he's got Sam, however:
"Then at a great distance, as if it came out of memories of the Shire, some sunlit early morning, when the day called and doors were opening, he heard Sam's voice speaking. 'Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up!' Had the voice added: 'Your breakfast is ready,' he would hardly have been surprised."
Sam is Frodo's lifeline here, providing him with a link to reality, throwing him a life preserver when the flood of self-pity arrives. This is just one of the many ways that he helps Frodo (and it's not the last time he does something like this). I've said it so many times before already, but I love their relationship so much.
I love Sam's little speech about adventures and the reality of being a hero. I wonder how much he knows about Bilbo's great adventure, and whether he was thinking of Bilbo when he postulated that when it comes to "the tales that really matter," "folks seem to have been just landed in them." Because that certainly describes Bilbo's adventure to a T. (Side note, I understand that The Hobbit is more lighthearted than The Lord of the Rings, but I still wouldn't necessarily categorize Bilbo's adventure in the way that Sam describes the stories he used to hear about adventures- Bilbo did after all see three friends of his die and also got caught up in a massive battle that he inadvertently had a hand in causing- so I always... idk, tilt my head a little bit like a dog when I hear people say "The Hobbit is Bilbo's version of events, it's made to sound more lighthearted than it actually was!" when I'm like, tell that to the scene where Bilbo is mourning Thorin's death. Anyway...)
AHHHH the "I want to hear more about Sam, dad." "Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun. I was serious." "So was I. And so am I" exchange is in the book as well as in the movie!! I absolutely LOVE this quote because it encapsulates Sam & Frodo's friendship so well. Only here it comes off even better in my opinion because Frodo's respect and admiration for Sam has been established more strongly by this point than it had been by this point in the movie. (I have to say, I feel like their relationship came across as a little one-sided in the movie... which I sort of get, because Frodo had A LOT on his mind, but I wish we could have seen more scenes of him being as kind as he is to Sam in the book.)
Okay, at last Sam & Frodo are having a talk about Gollum. While Sam doesn't come out and tell Frodo what he's overheard from Gollum's end (and it still lowkey pisses me off that he never said anything), Frodo does at least give his verdict on what to do about Gollum. What's his verdict?
"'It's no good worrying about him now. We couldn't have got so far, not even within sight of the pass, without him, and so we'll have to put up with his ways. If he's false, he's false.'"
FRODO. IF HE'S FALSE, YOU COULD END UP DEAD. BUDDY. USE YOUR HEAD!! It's even more infuriating that they agree that Gollum is definitely plotting something... and then they just... decide there's nothing that they can do about it?? I get that they're caught between a rock and a hard place, because either Gollum gets the Ring or Sauron gets it should harm befall them, and Gollum is definitely the lesser of both evils... But I'm sorry, I can't stop wanting to bang my head against the wall during this scene.
"'Not but what it would be safe for you to have a wink now, master. Safe, if you lay close to me. I'd be dearly glad to see you have a sleep. I'd keep watch over you; and anyway, if you lay near, with my arm round you, no one could come pawing at you without your Sam knowing it.'"
I. AM. SCREAMING AND CLAWING AT THE WALLS. THEY LOVE EACH OTHERRRRR!!!! (And I just love how secure they are in their friendship by this point that Frodo readily agrees to laying down beside Sam and having Sam hold him in his sleep. Of course, they were friends before they went on this journey together, but now they've become the best friends they could possibly be. It even seems as if the boundaries of master/servant have been blurred. I. LOVE. THEM.)
And then... Gollum arrives while Sam & Frodo are still sleeping. And guess what? He doesn't do anything to harm them. In fact, while watching them, he almost seems... wistful?
"Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee- but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing."
So... This part right here took my breath away. Because... oh my god. In this one single moment, it seems as if Gollum almost could have been... redeemed. When he looks back up at the pass, he's probably contemplating if it's right to take Sam & Frodo to Shelob's lair as he intended to do after all. When he touches Frodo, it's almost as if he's seeking kindness- as if one compassionate gesture would be enough to convince him to abandon not only his plan of getting Frodo & Sam killed, but of taking the Ring from them. And it's the sight of Sam and Frodo cuddling that makes Gollum reconsider his plan, if only for a moment. Does their open display of love remind him of the companionship he used to have with his friend Deagol and his grandmother and all the other hobbits with whom he used to live? Does it remind him that hey, he doesn't have to rely on the Ring to provide the love he seeks, because Frodo's love for Sam may suggest that he has love to spare? Everything hinges on the response to this one little "caress." And then Sam wakes up and sees Gollum doing exactly what he'd hoped to protect Frodo from:
"'Hey you!' [Sam] said roughly. 'What are you up to?'"
"'Nothing, nothing,' Gollum said softly. 'Nice Master!'
"'I daresay,' said Sam. But where have you been to- sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain?'"
And with that, the damage is done. With all the love I've been heaping on Sam, I should say- he sure ain't perfect. His devotion to Frodo is a double-edged sword in that it makes him the perfect ally for Frodo to have, but it also makes him a bitter enemy for anyone who opposes Frodo. Which is to say, anyone whom Sam perceives as a threat to Frodo. It's completely understandable why he would be so hostile to Gollum, since Gollum's entire character is just a long series of red flags. But Sam is so blinded by his mistrust of Gollum, refusing to see that there's a real possibility of change in him (which I now wonder if that's something that Frodo sees in him, and if it's that rather than pity or kinship that makes him want to keep him around), that he ends up alienating Gollum, and the chance that Gollum had of turning a new leaf is lost forever. And that just breaks my heart. I've felt a little less sympathetic towards Gollum throughout this volume than I did in The Fellowship of the Ring, but I still so deeply wish that he could have been redeemed.
(And now I wonder, since I mentioned Frodo feeling a strange sort of kinship with Gollum, because he understands Gollum's addiction to the Ring more than anyone else, and since I mentioned Frodo maybe seeing a possibility for change in him... I wonder if it's because of that kinship that Frodo sees a possibility for change. Or maybe he just wants to believe that Gollum can change, because he's afraid of becoming just like Gollum should the Ring take hold of his mind and if Gollum can change and come back from that, then maybe all hope is not lost should he fail in his quest. Hm... food for thought.)
I think I'm going to have to wrap this up in another post, so... see ya there!
"'But, Frodo, I pressed you hard at first about Isildur's Bane. Forgive me! It was unwise in such an hour and place. I had not had time for thought."
"'And this I remember of Boromir as a boy, when we together learned the tale of our sires and history of our city, that it always displeased him that his father was not king [...] Alas! poor Boromir. Does that not tell you something of him?'"
"'But fear no more! I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory. No, I do not win for such triumphs, Frodo son of Drogo.'"
"'War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend: the city of the Men of Numenor, and I would have loved her for her memory, her ancientry, her beauty, and her present wisdom. Not feared, save as men may fear the dignity of a man, old and wise.'"
"'Even if I were such a man as to desire this thing, and even though I knew not clearly what this thing was when I spoke, still I should take those words as a vow, and be held by them. But I am not such a man. Or I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee. Sit at peace! And be comforted, Samwise. If you seem to have stumbled, think that it was fated to be so. Your heart is shrewd as well as faithful, and saw clearer than your eyes.'"
"'Frodo, I think you do very unwisely in this [...] I do not think you should go with this creature. It is wicked.'"
Aaaand I think I've made my point. Oh my god. Faramir just came out of nowhere and became one of the best characters in the books. He is fair, he is considerate, he is generous, he is kind, he speaks fondly and is understanding of Boromir and he's quick to put Sam's mind at ease when Sam makes a blunder... Where's my Faramir spinoff? I can't wait to read more about him in Return of the King.
Unfortunately, the meeting with Faramir is not my boy Sam's finest hour:
"Once, looking suddenly back, as if some prickle of the skin told him that he was watched from behind, he thought he caught a brief glimpse of a small dark shape slipping behind a tree-trunk. He opened his mouth to speak and shut it again. 'I'm not sure of it,' he said to himself, 'and why should I remind them of the old villain, if they choose to forget him? I wish I could!'"
Why, you ask, Sam? Because you know that Gollum is plotting against you and it's best to keep an eye on him, isn't it?! And then there's:
""'[I]t's my opinion that in Lorien he first clearly saw what I guessed sooner: what he wanted. From the moment he first saw it he wanted the Enemy's Ring!'"
This part actually made me yell "NO, SAM, NOOOO!" out loud. :'D Only to immediately feel bad for him when he started quoting one of the Gaffer's insults, and then to cheer him on when he immediately confronted and challenged Faramir over what he had accidentally revealed. A real roller-coaster of emotions, that one page was. And right after the preceding page had given us this:
"I am only a hobbit, and gardening's my job at home, sir, if you understand me, and I'm not much good at poetry-- not at making it: a bit of comic rhyme, perhaps, now and again, you know, but not real poetry-- so I can't tell you what I mean. It ought to be sung [...] But I wish I could make a song about her. Beautiful she is, sir! Lovely! Sometimes like a great tree in flower, sometimes like a white daffadowndilly, small and slender like. Hard as di'monds, soft as moonlight. Warm as sunlight, cold as frost in the stars. Proud and far-off as a snow mountain, and as merry as any lass I ever saw with diasies in her hair in springtime. But that's a lot o' nonsense, and all wide of my mark."
So basically, Sam just went "Oh, I could NEVER find the words to describe the beauty of Galadriel! I'm not nearly smart enough or well-spoken enough or creative enough for that!" and then he went and spewed a bunch of beautiful poetry at Faramir. And then he had the nerve to call his own words "nonsense." SAM. BUDDY. When are you going to start believing in yourself?? (On that note, I wonder if that's why he looks up to Frodo so much- maybe Sam has such little sense of self-worth that he looks to Frodo to provide the validation and affirmation that he needs. Maybe he's bound himself to Frodo's service because he doesn't see himself as being worthy of holding any high position of his own. Oh no, I just made myself sad. Poor Sam. :( )
Anyway. Moving on from my love for Sam & Faramir... let's take a brief moment to focus on our hero, Frodo.
"Frodo stirred. And suddenly his heart went out to Faramir. 'The storm has burst at last,' he thought. 'This great array of spears and swords is going to Osgiliath. Will Faramirget across in time? He guessed it, but did he know the hour? And who can now hold the fords when the King of the Nine Riders comes? And other armies will come. I am too late. All is lost. I tarried on the way. All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be in vain.' Overcome with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge."
I thiiiiink this is the first time- well, first time that I can remember, anyway- that Frodo cries in this book? Other than the scene following Gandalf's death where everyone was crying... And honestly, I'm surprised it took him this long to absolutely break down. Although the catalyst for this moment of "weakness" is thinking about Faramir and the likelihood of Sauron's army overwhelming him and his forces (and that alone speaks greatly to Frodo's character, that his immediate thought upon seeing the army isn't fear for himself and wondering how in the world he's going to get past the Gates, but fear for the ally he just met along the way), I think that in this moment, everything that Frodo's experienced up to this point is hitting him all at once, along with the ramifications of what's to come afterwards. He and Sam have come all this way, only to find a foe that they cannot conquer, and that Frodo can't imagine anyone else having a shot of conquering. And now it's all up to him to save the ones he loves and the world as a whole from being conquered themselves, but he has no idea how he's going to do it and besides, even if he does manage to pull off this feat, it might already be too late and all his friends might be killed before he can do anything. Victory would be declared... but at what cost? What's the point of enjoying a victory if there's no one left with whom to enjoy it? All that to say... man, I really feel for Frodo here. Thank god he's got Sam, however:
"Then at a great distance, as if it came out of memories of the Shire, some sunlit early morning, when the day called and doors were opening, he heard Sam's voice speaking. 'Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up!' Had the voice added: 'Your breakfast is ready,' he would hardly have been surprised."
Sam is Frodo's lifeline here, providing him with a link to reality, throwing him a life preserver when the flood of self-pity arrives. This is just one of the many ways that he helps Frodo (and it's not the last time he does something like this). I've said it so many times before already, but I love their relationship so much.
I love Sam's little speech about adventures and the reality of being a hero. I wonder how much he knows about Bilbo's great adventure, and whether he was thinking of Bilbo when he postulated that when it comes to "the tales that really matter," "folks seem to have been just landed in them." Because that certainly describes Bilbo's adventure to a T. (Side note, I understand that The Hobbit is more lighthearted than The Lord of the Rings, but I still wouldn't necessarily categorize Bilbo's adventure in the way that Sam describes the stories he used to hear about adventures- Bilbo did after all see three friends of his die and also got caught up in a massive battle that he inadvertently had a hand in causing- so I always... idk, tilt my head a little bit like a dog when I hear people say "The Hobbit is Bilbo's version of events, it's made to sound more lighthearted than it actually was!" when I'm like, tell that to the scene where Bilbo is mourning Thorin's death. Anyway...)
AHHHH the "I want to hear more about Sam, dad." "Now Mr. Frodo, you shouldn't make fun. I was serious." "So was I. And so am I" exchange is in the book as well as in the movie!! I absolutely LOVE this quote because it encapsulates Sam & Frodo's friendship so well. Only here it comes off even better in my opinion because Frodo's respect and admiration for Sam has been established more strongly by this point than it had been by this point in the movie. (I have to say, I feel like their relationship came across as a little one-sided in the movie... which I sort of get, because Frodo had A LOT on his mind, but I wish we could have seen more scenes of him being as kind as he is to Sam in the book.)
Okay, at last Sam & Frodo are having a talk about Gollum. While Sam doesn't come out and tell Frodo what he's overheard from Gollum's end (and it still lowkey pisses me off that he never said anything), Frodo does at least give his verdict on what to do about Gollum. What's his verdict?
"'It's no good worrying about him now. We couldn't have got so far, not even within sight of the pass, without him, and so we'll have to put up with his ways. If he's false, he's false.'"
FRODO. IF HE'S FALSE, YOU COULD END UP DEAD. BUDDY. USE YOUR HEAD!! It's even more infuriating that they agree that Gollum is definitely plotting something... and then they just... decide there's nothing that they can do about it?? I get that they're caught between a rock and a hard place, because either Gollum gets the Ring or Sauron gets it should harm befall them, and Gollum is definitely the lesser of both evils... But I'm sorry, I can't stop wanting to bang my head against the wall during this scene.
"'Not but what it would be safe for you to have a wink now, master. Safe, if you lay close to me. I'd be dearly glad to see you have a sleep. I'd keep watch over you; and anyway, if you lay near, with my arm round you, no one could come pawing at you without your Sam knowing it.'"
I. AM. SCREAMING AND CLAWING AT THE WALLS. THEY LOVE EACH OTHERRRRR!!!! (And I just love how secure they are in their friendship by this point that Frodo readily agrees to laying down beside Sam and having Sam hold him in his sleep. Of course, they were friends before they went on this journey together, but now they've become the best friends they could possibly be. It even seems as if the boundaries of master/servant have been blurred. I. LOVE. THEM.)
And then... Gollum arrives while Sam & Frodo are still sleeping. And guess what? He doesn't do anything to harm them. In fact, while watching them, he almost seems... wistful?
"Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee- but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing."
So... This part right here took my breath away. Because... oh my god. In this one single moment, it seems as if Gollum almost could have been... redeemed. When he looks back up at the pass, he's probably contemplating if it's right to take Sam & Frodo to Shelob's lair as he intended to do after all. When he touches Frodo, it's almost as if he's seeking kindness- as if one compassionate gesture would be enough to convince him to abandon not only his plan of getting Frodo & Sam killed, but of taking the Ring from them. And it's the sight of Sam and Frodo cuddling that makes Gollum reconsider his plan, if only for a moment. Does their open display of love remind him of the companionship he used to have with his friend Deagol and his grandmother and all the other hobbits with whom he used to live? Does it remind him that hey, he doesn't have to rely on the Ring to provide the love he seeks, because Frodo's love for Sam may suggest that he has love to spare? Everything hinges on the response to this one little "caress." And then Sam wakes up and sees Gollum doing exactly what he'd hoped to protect Frodo from:
"'Hey you!' [Sam] said roughly. 'What are you up to?'"
"'Nothing, nothing,' Gollum said softly. 'Nice Master!'
"'I daresay,' said Sam. But where have you been to- sneaking off and sneaking back, you old villain?'"
And with that, the damage is done. With all the love I've been heaping on Sam, I should say- he sure ain't perfect. His devotion to Frodo is a double-edged sword in that it makes him the perfect ally for Frodo to have, but it also makes him a bitter enemy for anyone who opposes Frodo. Which is to say, anyone whom Sam perceives as a threat to Frodo. It's completely understandable why he would be so hostile to Gollum, since Gollum's entire character is just a long series of red flags. But Sam is so blinded by his mistrust of Gollum, refusing to see that there's a real possibility of change in him (which I now wonder if that's something that Frodo sees in him, and if it's that rather than pity or kinship that makes him want to keep him around), that he ends up alienating Gollum, and the chance that Gollum had of turning a new leaf is lost forever. And that just breaks my heart. I've felt a little less sympathetic towards Gollum throughout this volume than I did in The Fellowship of the Ring, but I still so deeply wish that he could have been redeemed.
(And now I wonder, since I mentioned Frodo feeling a strange sort of kinship with Gollum, because he understands Gollum's addiction to the Ring more than anyone else, and since I mentioned Frodo maybe seeing a possibility for change in him... I wonder if it's because of that kinship that Frodo sees a possibility for change. Or maybe he just wants to believe that Gollum can change, because he's afraid of becoming just like Gollum should the Ring take hold of his mind and if Gollum can change and come back from that, then maybe all hope is not lost should he fail in his quest. Hm... food for thought.)
I think I'm going to have to wrap this up in another post, so... see ya there!
