Tolkien Tuesday: Reading "The Lord of the Rings: The Tower of Cirith Ungol"
Samwise Gamgee proves his mettle once again, managing to turn away from the temptation of the Ring and to rescue Frodo from the fastness of Cirith Ungol and its Orcs.
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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!
Well, dear readers, we’ve done it. We’re now in the home stretch of The Return of the King. We’re now at the point where the most important action takes place, as Frodo and Sam begin to make their long and weary way to Mordor, Mount Doom, and the end of their quest. In this chapter, we rejoin Sam who, the last we saw of him, was standing outside of Cirith Ungol, seemingly stymied in his efforts to save his master from the grasping clutches of the Orcs. However, he is not to be so lightly turned aside from his mission, and he finally makes his way inside the horrible fortress, with a little help from the Phial of Galadriel. After facing down several Orcs he is reunited with Frodo and, together, they set out on the next stage of their journey.
It’s no secret that I believe, like many, that Sam is one of the most extraordinary and heroic characters to have ever emerged out of epic fantasy, and this chapter reminds us of why. Despite the fact that he is but one little hobbit, and despite the fact that he is miles away from anything remotely resembling home or safety or allies, he still keeps going, even though he has no guarantee that he is going to succeed in saving Frodo from the Orcs. Given that Sam had already made sure that the Ring was in his possession, it would have been easy for him to just go on without Frodo, to put the Quest above anything else. Indeed, it might even have been expected of him to do so, since to do otherwise would be to risk letting the Ring fall into the hands of the Enemy. Such is his love of Frodo, however, that he doesn’t make this choice. Instead, he goes on as he always has: by serving his master and making sure that he is safe.
As if all of this weren’t enough to prove Sam’s heroism and selflessness, there is also the fact that Sam–like Frodo, like Isildur, like Gollum–faces the siren call of the Ring, which calls out to him even as he stands on the threshold of Mordor. It’s in this moment that this malevolent force, so adept at enslaving others to its will, meets its match in the face of something far more powerful, if far more humble: love. It is, in large part, Sam’s love for Frodo that brings him back from the precipice, despite the fact that the Ring promises him the power to be able to remake the ruined land of Mordor, turning his skilled and loving gardener’s hand to the bring it back to a state of fruitfulness and beauty.
At the same time, it must also be acknowledged that Sam remains, in his heart, a simple hobbit of the Shire, with the kind of common sense that often eludes those of greater and higher stature. As the narrator so simply puts it, “the one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” There’s something a little conservative about this, in that Sam is implicitly praised for recognizing that he has a place in the world and it’s his duty to fill it. At the same time, there’s also something more than a little subversive about the idea of a hobbit succeeding where so many other mightier figures–be they men of martial renown like Boromir, political acumen like Denethor, or magical might like Gandalf–would almost certainly have failed. It is, in the end, his homely wisdom that allows Sam to turn away from the blandishments of power. A garden in the distant Shire may be a simple thing, but it is unexpectedly mighty in its own right. In Tolkien’s view of morality, at least as this is expressed in Middle-earth, there is strength in simplicity and vulnerability.
If there’s one thing that spoils this heartfelt and warming reunion, it’s the power of the Ring which, reunited with Frodo, once again begins to influence his mind. Indeed, so great is its hold that, just as he seemed to see Bilbo transform into a horrible, twisted, and grasping thing back in the safety of Rivendell, he now sees Sam become something similar. Of all of the things that the Ring does to Frodo during his long journey to Mount Doom, it seems to me that this is one of the worst and most tragic. Given all that they have endured together, and given how much Sam has sacrificed for his master, it’s easy to see why he would be so devastated by Frodo’s abrupt change. While I don’t think this was Tolkien’s intention, this is a scene that is sure to resonate–and equally devastate–anyone who has ever had an encounter with a loved one going through an addiction or mental health episode.
Yet Sam, despite all of this, stays loyal, and together the two hobbits manage to find their way out of darkness. Their unshakeable bond and love for one another is truly one of the most inspirational things about this chapter. If “The Black Gate Opens” left us in doubt as to whether Sam and Frodo managed to escape the clutches of the Dark Lord, “The Tower of Cirith Ungol” tells us that yes and that, moreover, they have now been stripped of almost everything beyond their inner strength. There’s still a very long way to go, but one can never lose faith in hobbits.
This chapter obviously reveals a great deal about Sam and Frodo and the bond between the two hobbits, but it also shows a great deal about the Orcs. It once again demonstrates the extent to which this race is very prone to destroying one another at the least provocation. As is so often the case in The Lord of the Rings, evil is often its own worst enemy. Moreover, as Frodo points out, for all that they might seem beyond the ken of hobbits, they are still beholden to the same laws of physiology and biology of the other created things of the world (which seems to imply, to return to the scandal of a few months ago, that Orcs can and do reproduce and have children like humans and Elves do).
I’ll close with just a brief word about the mysterious Watchers. Like so many of Tolkien’s other sinister creations, these beings aren’t really given an origin story, which makes them all that much more terrifying. All we know is that they’re evil–hence their fury at being thwarted by the Phial of Galadriel–and their inscrutability is a key part of their menace.
That’s all for this week’s Tolkien Tuesday. Until next week, friends!