25 March 3019 TA
My servant,
Our subject is now standing at the top of the fires. Until then, he has been grinding and grinding taking your Ring to Mordor with only one other subject, his servant, friend and loyal companion. His deed in taking the Ring to Mordor was seen as the greatest sacrifice that he could do for the love of his home and Middle-earth according to our Enemy. However, despite fighting against our powers, the hobbits at home don’t see it as this great sacrifice that it is, especially compared to the deeds of the other characters and hobbits. Just because the Ring would be gone doesn’t mean you will, as you are immortal, though you also need the Ring to be at your peak.
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While the Ring is gone, you will remain a weakened spirit, and good for nothing! This is what we have feared. What would happen if the most powerful thing in your life is no longer there? Life would be a mess!
I’ve always mentioned to you that our goal is to stop Frodo from taking the Ring to Mordor. This is still our goal, though unfortunately, the probability of this is getting less and less. But there is still one final moment! Say it with me: “I have come. But I do not choose now to do what I set out to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is Mine!” (Return of the King, “Mount Doom”) Ask him to do the same. He will say it along with you, put on the Ring, and vanish! As he should.[1] Unfortunately, our Enemy recognizes Frodo’s pity for Sméagol as he orchestrates the idea of having Gollum fall into the fire with the Ring after recognizing his plea for one last moment with his precious. After Frodo says the words, the Enemy intervenes, as Gollum fights for one final moment with it, his precious, and falls unwillingly into the fire with the Ring, marking your downfall.
Let’s move on to the subject of recognitions. Frodo and Sam will be recognized shortly after in the Field of Cormallen,[2] this Ringbearer will not be remembered in his homeland as the attention will be more on the other three hobbits and their deeds, especially Samwise Gamgee. Sam will be pained that little attention was paid towards his friend and master, Mr. Frodo, for his deed in taking your Ring to Mordor. This is the deed of our Enemy, as he rewards his efforts due to his pity and mercy. That is, pity of Gollum, for wanting to put on the Ring and disappear! Bilbo also had this same pity. That is our greatest joy! We laugh in this matter! The other hobbits will be recognized as making more of an effort or having more love for their world than Frodo.
For example, Sam will be the only one to stick by Frodo along the way as he falters (thanks to our powers), save Frodo from Shelob, and carry Frodo on his back, and is referred to by many subjects as the “true hero,” as he embarks on a journey that was not his own. The other two, Merry and Pippin, will have battles of their own and will be seen in their own ways. Our Enemy doesn’t want us comparing their efforts and recognizes Frodo for the deed that he did, in doing what he was tasked: to take the Ring to Rivendell, before taking it to Mordor. While Sam was revered for going on a journey that was not his own, along with his numerous deeds for Frodo, Frodo’s journey was for everyone in Middle-earth. But we don’t want anyone to know this! We compare their efforts, to see which ones are better or more heroic than the others.
The issue is that Frodo’s story is just not as interesting as the other three hobbits. See, our Enemy views Frodo as the one who saved Middle-earth by carrying your Ring to our lands in Mordor. I have convinced the hobbit townsfolk (in the Shire) that despite carrying your Ring to Mordor, he was just an odd hobbit, and his story is just boring. This is partly my convincing, and partly human instinct…thanks to my convincing. We’ve convinced them that it’s just not as interesting of a story to tell as say, destroying a spider like Sam did, or willfully giving up the Ring, and it’s just not easy for an average hobbit-next-door to relate to someone who would be performing such a great deed in taking the Ring to Mordor. Our job is to bring him down to that thought, as I have convinced him that he couldn’t do it earlier (causing him to give it up to larger subjects such as Gandalf, Aragorn, and Galadriel), and now, he has to prove himself worthy to have his journey be remembered, and to be seen long after by making it into the Red Book of Westmarch started by his “uncle.”
So, we must instigate the point of comparison. Comparison of which deeds are the most important ones. While our Enemy deems that of the Ringbearer as a very important quest, and adds grace to his pity for Sméagol, we must make him forget that. It is also a time to get in his head of his deeds. First, we tried to stop Frodo from taking the Ring to Mordor, and I got him to question his deeds, to see what he had done as a broken failure, by replaying that final moment where he puts on the Ring and disappears.[3]
Then, we get through to him by his injuries. Frodo was injured on October 6th in Weathertop, and again on March 13th by the spider Shelob. Even though he recovered from it very well during his quest, our goal is to not only have him mentally but also physically brood over it, by giving him these injuries again. What’s left of you would be evident by his nightmares of these injuries, last glimpse of pride, and a desire of the Ring (and regret of its destruction), as it was with Bilbo.
“’Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same, for I shall not be the same.’ That was actually a temptation out of the Dark, a last flicker of pride: desire to have returned as a ‘hero’, not content with being a mere instrument of good. And it was mixed with another temptation, blacker and yet (in a sense) more merited, for however that may be explained, he had not in fact cast away the Ring by a voluntary act: he was tempted to regret its destruction, and still to desire it. ‘It is gone for ever, and now all is dark and empty’, he [would say as he wakens from his sickness].” (Letters,“Letter # 246”)[4]
Lastly, Frodo was never meant to go back to the Shire. This was his companion, Sam’s trajectory, with whom I’ve clouded his judgement with. Frodo’s path is evident by his dreams in Crickhollow and at the house of Tom Bombadil. However, I have made him forget about it or at least put it to the wayside. Our Enemy views Bilbo and Frodo as special kinds of hobbits who have exceptional relationships with the Eldar. Our goal is to pigeon-hole him into the hobbit box once he gets home, and to remind him of who he was before, and that he’s only supposed to go back to the Shire to live his life like a normal hobbit. It would just be weird to do anything but!
Rule on,
Melkor Morgoth
[1] Return of the King, “Mount Doom”
[2] Return of the King, “The Field of Cormallen”
[3] Letters, “Letter # 246”
[4] Ibid.
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