Reading “The Lord of the Rings”: "The Breaking of the Fellowship"
In which the Fellowship reaches a crossroads and several characters reveal the truth about themselves.
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Welcome to Tolkien Tuesdays, where I talk about various things that I love about the lore and writings of Tolkien, whether in a chapter reading or a character study or an essay. I hope you enjoy reading these ruminations as much as I enjoy writing them and, if you have a moment, I’d love it if you’d subscribe to this newsletter. It’s free, but there are paid options, as well, if you’re of a mind to support a struggling writer. Either way, thank you for joining me!
And so we come at last to the end of The Fellowship of the Ring. It’s been a fun journey going through one of my favorite books, doing a deep dive into what makes each chapter work. Now, as the Fellowship finally reaches the end of their time on the Anduin, they have to decide where they will go next and how they will go about getting Frodo to Mordor.
It very quickly becomes clear that no one in the Fellowship has a really clear idea of just what they should do at this point. There's some ambiguity as to whether Gandalf, arguably the best-informed of all of them, had a very strong idea of what they were going to do once they reached this particular point. It’s yet another reminder that, for all that the (supposedly deceased) wizard might have been one of the Wise, even he couldn’t see all of the ends that the Fellowship might face on their journey.
The centerpiece of the chapter, of course, and the agent of the breaking, is Boromir, who tries to seize the Ring from Frodo after failing to convince him to surrender it to him willingly. There is something manifestly terrifying about this scene, as both Frodo and we as readers are brought face-to-face with what the Ring can do to even those with the noblest of intentions. We saw a glimmer of its influence with Bilbo–the memory of him transforming, in Frodo’s mind, into a Gollum-like creature is one that remains seared in my brain, thanks in no small part to Peter Jackson’s interpretation of the scene–but here it is brought to terrible fruition. As Tolkien evocatively describes it, “his fair and pleasant face was hideously changed; a raging fire was in his eyes.” The Man who has for so long been one of the most stalwart, if conflicted, members of the Fellowship has now been undone by the dark and terrible power of the Ring
Of all of the characters of The Lord of the Rings, it’s Boromir who is arguably the most tragic. Like so many of those who live in this fallen age of the world, he is desperate to hold onto the past, even as he also envisions a future in which Gondor is no longer besieged by the overwhelming might of Mordor. This is an understandable desire, considering the fact that he has devoted much of his life to the defense of his homeland. Yet, as Gandalf and Galadriel have both pointed out at different times, the most insidious power that the Ring possesses is its ability to twist the noble desires of others to its own sinister purposes. And so it is that ensnares Boromir in its web, leading to his downfall. It is just fortunate that the shadow passes over him, though arguably this only happens because Frodo has the wit to put on the Ring and flee. I shudder to think what might have happened had Boromir managed to lay hold of him.
The chapter then gives us an evocative look through Frodo’s eyes as his perception is changed by the Ring. This is a further indication that its hold on him is growing and, with his vision amplified by the power of the Seat of Seeing, he is able to see the Dark Tower itself, looming up in all of its fearsome majesty. Thereafter follows an equally powerful scene in which Frodo feels himself caught between two powerful forces, one urging him to keep the Ring on and surrender to the power of Sauron and the other crying for him to take it off. It’s a remarkable moment, particularly since it’s not clear at this point that it’s none other than Gandalf that’s the voice telling him to take it off (though this makes sense in hindsight, since it sounds just like something he would say). Tom Shippey, one of the best writers on Tolkien, has a lengthy discussion of this exact subject in The Road to Middle-earth.
As so often in The Lord of the Rings, the darkness and sinister parts of this chapter are more than counterbalanced by light and goodness embodied, of course, in the figure of Sam, who once again shows his mettle when he refuses to let Frodo get away cleanly and leave him behind. While everyone else is running around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off, he uses his good old-fashioned hobbit sense to deduce that his master is trying to get away. By this point, of course, it has become abundantly clear that Samwise Gamgee is the one person in the entire Fellowship that Frodo can completely count on, the one person who will follow him into the jaws of a dragon if that was what was required. And so it proves to be, and for me this is one of the most emotional parts of the whole book. Who doesn’t feel a tear well up at the absolute devotion that Sam shows to Frodo and who, for that matter, isn’t moved by his obvious hurt at Frodo’s attempt to leave him behind?
Frequent book readers will know, of course, that Sam’s decision to intercept Frodo is one of those events which will radically reshape the entire history of Middle-earth. However, it’s not just that he will prove useful to Frodo during his attempt to take the Ring to Mordor–though there’s no doubt that he wouldn’t have made it very far without Sam–as important as that is. Just as importantly, Sam also has an optimistic spirit that gives him the strength they will both need to see this through to the end. While Frodo takes the pessimistic attitude that they probably won’t see the other members of the Fellowship, Sam prefers to hold out hope, and there is something remarkably touching about his simple statement, “We may yet, Mr. Frodo. We may.” In Tolkien, hope always springs from the darkest of times.
Now that we’ve finished with Fellowship, it’s time to turn our attention to The Two Towers. I hope that you’ll all join me on the next step of this extraordinary journey!