“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,” (55). The One Ring controls Gollum, Bilbo, Boromir, and Frodo in attempts to return to Sauron, Its Creator, the Lord of the Rings, and the utmost evil present in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. But the Ring never achieves Its goal because each character possesses a unique set of skills which resist the evil temptations of the Ring. Gollum is the first victim of the Ring, with no knowledge of Its powers or guidance away from Its control. Bilbo is the second ring bearer, with an almost complete knowledge of the Ring’s power still has difficulty resisting the Ring’s temptation. Gandalf guides Bilbo to constantly resist the evil of the Ring. …show more content…
He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful,” (58). Gollum only got more evil the longer he had the Ring, forming more bad habits. “They kicked him, and he bit their feet. He took to thieving, going about muttering to himself, and gurgling in his throat,” (58). After his grandmother expelled him from the family Gollum was lonely except for the company of the Ring. With no one to talk to, he began to depend solely upon the Ring, searching only for more power because, “The Ring had given him power according to his stature,” (58). Bilbo’s knowledge of the Ring was limited but quickly he became attached to Its powers, luckily Gandalf was around to help Bilbo resist temptation. “’It is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious,’” (35). Gandalf warns Bilbo of the Ring’s powers telling him, “It has got far too much hold on you. Let it go!” (35) and “Stop possessing it,” (37). But Bilbo often has a hard time resisting the Ring, “’It has been so growing on my mind lately. Sometimes I have felt it was like an eye looking at me. And I am always wanted to put it on and disappear, don’t you know, or wondering if it is safe, and pulling it out to make sure,” (36). Gandalf threatened Bilbo to give up the Ring because he had complete knowledge of Its powers. “He [Gandalf] took a step towards the hobbit, and he seemed to grow tall and menacing,” (36). The Ring possessed Bilbo so strongly than giving up the Ring was even
By putting his life in danger Bilbo shows a true example of heroism. Though the dwarves were still skeptical of his abilities, they were starting to take into consideration of what Gandalf had said about this little hobbit. Continuing their adventure the group is attacked by goblins where they are eventually saved by Gandalf. Throughout the turmoil of the attacking goblins Bilbo gets lost in the caves and finds himself alone in the darkness. It is in this event when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring. Gollum was a sickly looking creature that had been dwelling in the caves for many years. Bilbo used his wits to outsmart the creature by playing a riddle game with him and eventually made it to safety. Having Bilbo win the riddle game shows that his smart and witty mind aids him in becoming the hero. Bilbo wasn’t some tough strong stereotypical super hero, he used his smarts to outwit his foes and to triumph over evil. Though Bilbo at the time did not know the power of the ring that he had retrieved from Gollum’s lair (the power of invisibility), it was his heroic fate that he found it as it assist him in becoming the hero of the story. Fate has it that Bilbo will become a hero, but Bilbo also has the courage on top of his fate to get the dwarves out of life threatening situations.
Fact 1: Bilbo Baggins went through several tasks that made his character grow. Through countless excursions into the wild it was obvious that Bilbo developed greatly into a wonderfully cheerful hero. After Bilbo beat Gollum in a game of riddles he became more confident in himself. Bilbo’s task was to solve a riddle that Gollum gave him. If he got the answer he lived. If he was wrong, Gollum would eat him. Bilbo was good at riddles and he defeated Gollum. Then Bilbo used his ring to escape. This event made him even more confident. Bilbo realized that he had accomplished a very tough task when he beat Gollum. This event also made Bilbo more skilled in being stealthy when he had his ring on.
In chapter 5, the hobbit stumbles upon Gollum, who is clearly a threat to Bilbo, but although he stays aware, he plays Gollum’s game in order for him to survive and escape. Gollum uses literally uses language to try and kill Bilbo, but Bilbo uses it to save his life in the game of riddles they play. However, Bilbo isn’t a master of language yet, who runs out of riddles to ask so instead asks a casual question “What have I got in my pockets?”. Gollum’s demand to know what is in Bilbo's pocket, and Bilbo’s refusal to reveal it is a example of perseverance although he’s life in at stake. When Bilbo wears the ring he inadvertently stole, he had the opportunity of killing Gollum, but refuses because he’s kind and sympathizes with the weak and pitiable. At times like this, it’s clear that Tolkien made Bilbo a moral character; and this morality and kindness is what establishes Bilbo as a hero in the
Tolkien creates the ring as the epitome of evilness to give it a mind of its own. With this symbolism, the ring is able to maneuver itself and corrupt whom it pleases. It takes on the evilness of the beholder and enhances their evil thoughts to the point in which evilness is the only thought that consumes them. As described by another hobbit, Frodo, the ring has “an unwholesome power that sets to work on its keeper at once.” In Sméagol’s instance, the ring is able to take a strong hold of his soul with just a look at “the bright and beautiful” gold that it entails. Such evilness is personified by Tolkien because Tolkien sees it as something that takes action, not something that is acted upon. The power that the ring possesses eats away at him until he is an entire different creature. The ring destroys Sméagol and creates Gollum, an outcast and a murderer. The theme of temptation displayed by Tolkien coincides with the temptation that evilness
In conclusion, we can now see that Bilbo is in fact a dynamic character. He gains many qualities he can use in the future, like courage, learning to use his wits, and letting out the adventurous side in him. He used to be almost paranoid, to himself, and strict. But now he has turned into something much bigger, an adventurer. So the adventure changed him for the better. This is how Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit we thought would never do anything
He offers him guidance and advice on many occasions. Gandalf helps to protect Frodo from outside forces and inside temptations. When Gandalf is around, Frodo feels stronger. He learns how to control the power of the ring with Gandalf’s help. Frodo faces many tests and trials along the way to Mount Doom. He is kidnapped, attacked, and imprisoned along the way. He narrowly survives many situations that would break lesser hobbits. In addition to the outward trials, he also faces the constant temptation to use the ring to gain power for himself and for others. He finds support in the travel companions that join him along the way to help him in his quest to destroy the ring. These warriors become his allies. He also meets enemies along the way. He encounters characters that want to use the ring for their own gain. His greatest enemy is Sauron, the Dark Lord who wants to get the ring so he can rule all of Middle
It’s not just the ring that gives him power, it is his overwhelming strength and courage he possesses. He defies all odds and takes on a daunting evil force with nothing but an army of dwarfs, a tiny sword, and a ring of invisibility. Many believed such a small, feeble creature could not do such a task, but throughout his quest he had companions that tested his boundaries and unlocked his power. The courage and leadership he took on brought him from the Shire, to the land of the elves, to the land of mortals, and to the land of the dwarfs. He fought ogres, trolls, goblins, and a dragon with just his courage and wits. The power he had was unmatched throughout the whole story, even when the strongest of the strong and the biggest of the big faced against him, Bilbo still prevailed victor. He didn’t use his size or strength to fight, he used his own unique abilities to fight. The power he weld was not with a sword or magic, but with his wits and courage. This is the most important lesson Tolkien wanted the reader to learn, whenever you are up against hardship courage and wits prevail against brute strength and
Evil. This portrayal represents the battle Gollum has between his good and evil self. Moments we see Gollum battling through the decision whether or not to take the ring from Frodo. We see a more darker side of him speaking to take “precious” back. “ Kill them both! And then we take the precious… And we be the master!” States Gollum. (Jackson, LOTR) The way he is consumed over the ring brings his evil self out. Gollum has to chose in the end what he wants more, the ring or being loyal to master. Other than portraying his evil self, we also see Gollum being true Smeagol, helping and showing the destination to Mordor. Smeagol once being a hobbit knows that the ring is very dangerous and can change personalities. When he comes to his senses he try's to do the good part in telling Gollum to get out of his head. “Leave now, and never come back!” ( Jackson, LOTR) Smeagol showed his strength to overcome the temptation to take the ring back for
First, Bilbo is selfless. He shows this to be true during many troubles on this journey. As he travels with twelve dwarves and a wizard, who has now left them, through many lands, their journey brings them to Mirkwood, a very large, dark wood with many dangerous and horrifying creatures. In this forest, the company encounters giant spiders and the dwarves are captured and wrapped in spider silk, while Bilbo hides by using a magical ring that he had found earlier in their travels. He then uses his sword to fight the beasts and save his friends. After this, they notice that Thorin, the king of the dwarves, was missing. They searched for him and the path which they had lost before their quarrel with the spiders. Then, Wood elves with bows and swords surrounded them and captured all but Bilbo, for he had once again used his ring to ‘disappear’. The elves took the dwarves to their palace and locked them away in the king’s dungeon, where Thorin was also.
In the book, Bilbo was in complete darkness when he found it. He found it by accident, brushing up against something small that was cold and felt like metal. Without hesitation Bilbo slipped the ring into his pocket and continued on. In the movie, Bilbo wakes up in an unfamiliar place but he is still able to see. Hiding in the shadows, Bilbo witnesses a goblin get taken away by Gollum. But before Gollum fully succeeds in dragging him away he beats the goblin to stop its suffering. During the beating, the ring flies out of Gollum’s pocket without Gollum knowing. Gollum then takes the goblin away leaving the ring behind. Bilbo then waits and makes sure the coast is clear before he takes the ring. A change in this scene that stood out to me was that there is a major difference between what happened in the book verses what happened in the movie. In the book he has no idea where the ring came from, what it is, who’s it is, and why he now has it. He just threw it in his pocket without thinking about any of those things. While in the movie, Bilbo watches the ring fall out of Gollum’s pocket. In the film he also thought about the ring a little bit instead of putting it in his pocket immediately. In the book he is unaware of where he is and what he is putting in his pocket. In the movie he can see, he somewhat knows where he is and what type of situation he is in, and knows who and what he is stealing
The ring makes him invisible, but he doesn’t know that yet. He then comes across a little shriveled up hobbit named Gollum. He knows the way out of the cave so he made a bet with Bilbo. If you can beat me in a game of riddles I will show you the way out, but if I win I get to eat you. Bilbo bravely accepts his challenge. Bilbo then wins the challenge by pure luck. “What have I got in my pocket?” (Tolkein, 78) That was his last riddle that Gollum didn’t get. Gollum gets mad and thinks Bilbo is trying to trick him. He then puts on the ring. Gollum then goes to the exit of the cave unknowingly followed by Bilbo. Bilbo then jumps over Gollum and out the door. He was very brave to face Gollum.
evil. An example of when Gollum was evil is found on page 105. The text say’s “and still sometimes he put it on … when he was very, very, hungry, and tired of fish. Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins.” You can see in this quote that Gollum uses the rings power for evil. Gollum hides in the shadows until he finds a right target to capture and eat. This also shows that Gollum is very sly. Another example of when Gollum was evil is found on page 96. The text say’s “He was anxious to appear friendly, at any rate for the moment, and until he found out more about the sword and the hobbit, whether he was quite alone really, whether he was good to eat ...” Gollum thought. You can tell by the tone of Gollum’s thought that he was trying to be sly, and evil. Gollum was trying to get to know more information about Bilbo, so then perhaps he can eat Bilbo. One more example of Gollum portraying evil and greed can be seen on page 108. The text say’s “Bilbo could not guess what had maddened the wretched creäture, but he saw that all was up, and that Gollum meant to murder him (Bilbo) at any rate.” You can see by the tone and mood of the atmosphere and the narrator that Gollum was so attached to his precious ring, that he got so angry and; wanted to kill Bilbo. As he thought that Bilbo had his ring in his
This ring has the power to turn the wearer invisible but can also corrupt their brain. This led to Bilbo being so addicted to it that it drove him to kill for it. He ended up feeling sorry for it and they went on with the quest. Some things had hindered his ability to finish his adventure, one of them being the fact that he missed his home and that he almost quit quite a lot of times. The way he was able to get pass that weakness was because he realized what the quest was really for, so the Company of 13 could get there home back. He was scared most of the time as well which slowed down his ability to overcome those obstacles. The way he was able to overcome that was with the help of his
Gollum, previously known as Smeagol, is one of the first bearers of the ring of power, and when he comes into the ring’s presence for the first time, the power makes him so corrupt that to get his hands on it he kills his friend Deagol. “‘ Smeagol had been watching him from behind a tree, and as Deagol gloated over the ring, Smeagol came softly up behind. “Give us that, Deagol, my love,” said Smeagol, over his friend’s shoulder. “Why?” said Deagol. “ Because it’s my birthday, my love, and I wants it,” said Smeagol. “I don’t care,” said Deagol. “I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I’m going to keep it.” “Oh, are you indeed, my love,” said Smeagol; and he caught Deagol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful. Then he put the ring on his finger’” (Tolkein Pg. 52). This text shows that Gollum, or Smeagol, is corrupt due to the rings power only by being around it. The need for the ring was so great that it pushed him to kill, a devastating act on its own, but he kills his own friend. This proves that with the power of the ring Gollum becomes immensely corrupt. After Gollum first obtains the ring he grows to feel a great hatred
"Three Rings for the Eleven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his Dark throne, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie(Tolkien)." Master of storytelling J.R.R. Tolkien continues the lives of the fictitious creatures that he introduced in The Hobbit, in his modern classic The Fellowship of the Ring. He artfully illustrates the truths of the evil that plague the hearts of man. He tells a story of greed, destruction and how mortal men are enslaved by