Q: What do you think would have happened if Frodo had put on the One Ring in Mount Doom and claimed its power to himself – and Gollum hadn't been there, of course? If the Nazgûl were slaves to the Ring's will, they would have become Frodo's slaves, right? Could a hobbit such as Frodo become the next Dark Lord? Thanks so much, Love your site.

–Silmarien

A: No, Frodo could not have replaced Sauron nor would the Nazgûl become obeisant, even with the Ring. Tolkien answered this exact query himself in a letter to Mrs. Eileen Elgar (Letter No. 246). Here I will quote his words:

....They [the Nazgûl] would have obeyed or feigned to obey any minor commands of his [Frodo’s] that did not interfere with their errand – laid upon them by Sauron, who still through their nine rings (which he held) had primary control of their wills. That errand was to remove Frodo from the Crack.... I think they would have shown ‘servility.’ They would have greeted Frodo as ‘Lord.’ With fair speeches they would have induced him to leave the Sammath Naur – for instance ‘to look upon his new kingdom and behold afar with his new sight the abode of power that he must now claim and turn to his own purposes.’ Once outside the chamber while he was gazing some of them would have destroyed the entrance.... In any case a confrontation of Frodo and Sauron would soon have taken place, if the Ring was intact. Its result was inevitable. Frodo would have been utterly overthrown: crushed to dust, or preserved in torment as a gibbering slave. Sauron would not have feared the Ring! It was his own and under his will.... In his actual presence none but very few of equal stature could have hoped to withhold it from him.

–Quickbeam

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Q: Please share your more learned views. I've been re-reading The Hobbit and it says that Gollum calls himself my precious: "That is how he got his name, though he always called himself 'my precious,'" but he also calls the Ring my precious when he says "Curse us and crush us, my precious is lost!" and also in LOTR when he didn't have the Ring. How is it possible that he "lost" himself and yet also addresses himself in plural and singular form alternatively in LOTR? Was the Ring so long with him that it formed within him a dual personality or are there two preciouses? Then why weren't the personalities manifest until LOTR when Sam found out about Stinker and Slinker?

–Young Dee

A: "He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all."

"What do you mean?" said Frodo. "Surely the Ring was his precious and the only thing he cared for? But if he hated it, why didn’t he get rid of it, or go away and leave it?"

"You ought to begin to understand, Frodo, after all you have heard," said Gandalf. "He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter."

I believe that over time, Gollum began to associate the Ring with himself. Therefore when he said "my precious," as long as the Ring was with him, it didn’t really matter much whether he was talking to himself or to the Ring. Later, after he lost the Ring, the only one to talk to was himself, but undoubtedly that "Ring-produced" personality was still with him. I believe that over his time with Frodo and Sam, when he realized the Ring was a separate entity, nearby but not with him (because it was with Frodo), the two personalities (himself, Sméagol, and the Ring-produced personality, Gollum, or Slinker and Stinker) became more divisive. Sméagol had begun to reassert himself, but the proximity of the Ring affected Gollum, so instead of them being hopelessly tangled up inside his head, I believe they became more definitive. Obviously, this is all my own theory, but I believe it fits the facts as we are given them.

–Anwyn

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Q: If it's true that whoever wears the One Ring is aware of the possessors of the Three Elven rings, and it's true that the Elven rings are aware of him, shouldn't they have known that Gollum had the Ring all those years? Is that why he (or the Ring) wanted to stay in the dark, so the Elves couldn't get a handle on him? Frodo and Galadriel seemed to know each other as ring bearers.

–Ken Bohlin

A: Galadriel knew Frodo was the Ringbearer because it was not kept secret from her, but Frodo did not realize that Galadriel, Elrond, or even Gandalf bore a ring until he was told. At that point it was the Ring that enabled him to see hers, when Sam could not.

Even if the elven-rings gave knowledge of the possessor of the One, I don’t think it works like a homing beacon. It’s possible that Gandalf, Elrond, or Galadriel could have recognized Gollum as the Ringbearer if they had come face to face with him, but there was no signal telling them to check out a certain cave under the mountain.

–Anwyn

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Q: I believe Aragorn, as Thorongil, served Rohan and was a trusted "captain" of the King at that time (Theoden's father I think). Even though he was "in disguise" as Thorongil (whatever that means), do you think Théoden would have recognized him when they met again in Edoras during the War of the Ring? If not, what to you think was the manner of his disguise? Even though Aragorn and Denethor didn't meet during the War of the Ring, I believe Denethor recognized that this Strider guy was the heir to the kingship and indeed Thorongil, his good old rival in the time of Ecthelion. Your thoughts please.

–MHorbachevsky@Related.com

A: Okay. "Tale of Years" gives the dates of Denethor’s and Aragorn’s births as one year apart, while Théoden was born 17 years after Aragorn. Aragorn was 26 years old when he "undertook his great journeys and errantries. He served in disguise both Thengel of Rohan and Ecthelion II of Gondor." Théoden would have been nine years old at the time–probably went right over his head. No need for him to remember just another sword in his father’s service. But of course Denethor was Aragorn’s age. It’s hard to speak to whether or not Denethor knew, once Aragorn had been revealed, that he was Thorongil. Perhaps. But it is certain that he knew who Aragorn was. Remember that Aragorn had revealed himself to the Enemy through the Palantír, and perhaps the news came to Denethor in that way, but who can forget his bitter, impassioned speech: "So! With the left hand thou wouldst use me for a little while as a shield against Mordor, and with the right bring up this Ranger of the North to supplant me." In any case, he was no stranger to rivalry, and perhaps the Thorongil episode had planted the seed in his thinking that he was going to have to be on the watch for any one of that "ragged house long bereft of lordship and dignity."

–Anwyn

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Q: I have herd several times that Tolkien derived the elven languages from the Finnish language. However I don't see any resemblance between Finnish and the elvish languages and since I live in Finland and have a decent knowledge of the language. Could it be that someone with poorer knowledge of Finnish has made this up or is there truth in the claim.

–Tony

A: In a letter to W. H. Auden (Letters, #163), Tolkien wrote that the discovery of Finnish "was like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before ... and my `own language' – or series of invented languages – became heavily Finnicized in phonetic pattern and structure."

The invented language he refers to here is Qenya (ca. 1915-1917), a language that would one day become the "Quenya" language seen in Lord of the Rings. In the introduction to Tolkien's "Qenya Lexicon," Christopher Gilson writes: "The influence of Finnish can be seen in particular word-forms and their associated meanings. For example, "poya" ‘northern’ seems to be inspired by Pohja ‘the North,’ a name from the Kalevala ... There are also Finnish word-forms with new meanings, such as leminkainen ‘23,’ resembling the name Lemminkäinen, one of the heroes of the epic poem. The phonology of Qenya is very close to that of Finnish, especially in the set of consonant sounds and their permissible patterns within words."

In later years, as Tolkien's linguistic tastes change, Qenya (and finally Quenya) became more Latin-like in its "flavour."

–Ostadan

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Q: Hello, my question is simple: what jobs did the Hobbits have? We know that Sam was a gardener like his father before him, but what about Pippin, Merry and Frodo, or even Bilbo for that matter? Bilbo had a fair stash of gold after the There and Back Again thing, but how did he make ends meet before that? We know that other hobbits had jobs or trades, and a lot were farmers, but I can't recall any mention of the main hobbits (besides Sam) having a profession. What do you think?

–Rubin Darkstorm

A: Any profession that exists in an agrarian, non-industrial society (except, of course, shoemaking!) would be one that a Hobbit would hold. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker, farmer, miller, grocer, Sheriff, curator at Michel Delving, Bounder of Buckland, vintner, pipe-weed farmer, hog farmer, dairy farmer, schoolteacher, innkeeper… the list is endless. But as for Frodo, Bilbo, Merry, and Pippin, I touched on this in another question about why Sam always seems subservient to them. It’s because he is. In the England where Tolkien lived as a small boy, the gentry made their money the old-fashioned way: they inherited it. Thousands and thousands of pounds, invested in a bank, would turn interest enough to live on, and the estates the rich owned would bring in more income. Bilbo inherited money from his rich Baggins father and his richer Took mother. Merry and Pippin were from the first families of their region–same deal. They had no jobs. Just like any landed character from a Jane Austen book, their money was just always there to draw on.

–Anwyn

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Q: Who, specifically, did Sauron give the Nine Rings to? It is obvious that he gave the Seven Rings to each of the heads of the Seven Houses of Dwarves, but who were the men-kings Sauron gave the nine to? Did he give them to the Númenorean kings, who, after they died, became Ringwraiths, or did he go into the east and ensnare some of the kings over there?

–AM

A: Perhaps not even the Wise can say. We have no conclusive information, sorry to say. The only useful tidbit comes from Unfinished Tales (again we recommend that anyone who is a true-blooded Tolkien fan pick up a copy). There we learn that Khamûl the Easterling was the Nazgûl "second in command," and in certain notes he is named "the Second Chief (the Black Easterling). In The Silmarillion, we simply have this: "Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old." I personally enjoy the mystery that Tolkien kept around these nefarious figures.

–Quickbeam

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Q: Well, I have a nagging question. If Gandalf, Aragorn, or any of the Wise could use the immense powers of the Ring, merely by having the will to do so, then how come the hobbits couldn't? I mean, it only made them invisible and lengthened their lifespans. Hobbits strike me as the strongest willed of all the Free Peoples, mainly because of their ability to handle the Ring. Bilbo even gave It away, even though he had Gandalf's help. Not even Gandalf I gather could have done that.

–Merlin

A: The short answer is in the actual ambition of the bearer. Don’t confuse a person’s capacity, (i.e., "will power") with his lust for greatness. Frodo and the other hobbits have tremendous innate will but initially they are not disposed to the typical wielding of the Ring as Sauron would have used it: control, coercion, and manipulation. That’s just not the Hobbit way. Frodo would not initially, as Galadriel described, "train [his] will to the domination of others." She also says, "The Rings give power according to the measure of each possessor." A little later in the story we see the first seeds of Frodo’s ability to really wield the Ring where he effectively uses it to tame Sméagol.

–Quickbeam

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Q: If the Istari were Maiar, who are like angels, then how were they capable of choosing constantly between good and evil rather than choosing jut once? I'm probably not making sense to you. But in the creation story Tolkien believed in, the angels chose at the beginning of time whether they would follow God or not, and once their decision was made, they could not change their minds. Is this one of those things that are bad questions because it is not an exact parallel?

–Crazed Tolkien Fanatic #1

A: Ah, but did the angels choose at the beginning of time? Surely the beginning of time is farther back than the creation of earth. The Bible implies that there were giants on earth at the beginning, the result of angelic matings with human mothers. I don’t think that was in God’s plan and probably resulted in said angels descending even farther to be reunited with their buddy Lucifer. However that may be, though, the fact remains that in Tolkien’s system it is possible for them to choose on a daily basis. Just because he took the biblical creation as his model doesn’t mean he was obliged to stick to it, so even if it is true that angels made their choice once and had done with it, we see that the Maiar and even the Valar do not necessarily. Though they do not seem to have been created with free will just exactly like that of humans, still it is obvious they have a certain measure of it–and as we see with Melkor, Sauron, and Saruman, they certainly do make use of it.

–Anwyn

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Q: Hello. At the bottom of Weathertop, Aragorn tells Frodo that the Ring draws the Nine Riders towards it. If this is so, how could Frodo bring the Ring towards Mordor and into it, (and with the Ring growing in power as it comes closer to Mount Doom) without the Nazgûl knowing about it and its whereabouts? Thanks.

–Jamie

A: The Riders are drawn because they are already nearby and can catch the Ring's "scent" more easily (there's more to be found on this in Unfinished Tales) The whole point of Aragorn precipitating the attack on Gondor is precisely to distract the Nazgûl (and Sauron) from what's going on behind their collective backs.

–Ostadan

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Q: I was just reading through the new Q&A and saw that there were a lot of questions about the Rings of Power. My question came up as I was reading through them. If the Rings of Power, when they were first made, were not made with a specific race in mind, how is it possible for Sauron to make the inscription at the time he forged the One Ring? Or did the poem already exist and Sauron simply took one portion and used it (sort of a fulfillment of a prophetic statement, maybe)? If the poem already existed, then were the Rings of Power intended for specific races from their inception and after perverting them, Sauron simply gave them out to the races they would work with/for?

–Ken Chaij

A: There is no need to suppose that the poem existed when the Rings were made. Sauron spoke only the couplet when he first put on the Ring. It may even have been the capstone to magical rituals involved in the forging of the Ring. In any case, the rest of the verse was written later.

–Ostadan

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Q: Dear Sirs/Madame, I have wondered this for a while now: If Glorfindel was able to kill a Balrog all on his own when Gondolin was attacked, why couldn't Gandalf take Durin's Bane? After all, Gandalf is a Maia and Glorfindel was an elf. I know that Glorfindel got killed too, but it only took him at most a couple of hours to kill the Balrog while (if I recall correctly) it took Gandalf a couple of days. Gandalf even had the sword of Turgon, (I think) Glamdring along with his staff. Shouldn't he be able to take the Balrog of Moria relatively easily?

–Andrew B.

A: Perhaps there is no better answer than to simply quote Gandalf himself. "A Balrog. Now I understand. What an evil fortune! And I am already weary."

–Ostadan

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Q: In The Hobbit, If Bilbo had the Ring before he entered Mirkwood why did Gandalf leave them knowing that Sauron was also in the forest? Wouldn't the Ring attract him as it did the Nazgûl, making Bilbo and the dwarves an easy target?

–Jacobus Potgieter

A: Remember, at this point, nobody had any idea that Bilbo’s ring was the One Ring! Gandalf did not assume dangers would waylay the travelling company beyond the typical terrors and troubles of Mirkwood. Also, Sauron still assumed his Ring was destroyed, at this point in the tale. And as far as geographic distance is concerned, Bilbo had over 300 miles of impenetrable forest (and mountains, rivers, etc.) between him and Dol Guldur; farther than the distance from Barad-dûr to Amon Hen on the shores of Anduin.

–Quickbeam

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Q: It's always seemed odd to me that when Treebeard decided not to step on Merry and Pippin for being orcs, and talk to them, that one of the first things he does is ask "What is Gandalf doing?" Why would he think that the two apparently insignificant travelers even know who Gandalf is (although, it does seem as if everyone in LOTR knows him)? Even if he does suspect that they might know something of him, isn't this question, well, a bit hasty?

–Roberto

A: Treebeard is clearly eager for news about what is passing in the outside world. We later are told that he has "often wondered lately what [he] should do about Saruman," so evidently he was much troubled by Saruman. So, when he asks about all the other news, he hopes specifically to learn of what Gandalf, "the only Wizard who cares about trees," is up to.

–Ostadan

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Q: Why was Tuor allowed to join the Noldor and be "sundered from the fate of men" when Beren was not allowed to become Elven? It is mentioned in many places that the Valar cannot withhold the "gift" of death to men. Why was Tuor an exception? It seems to me that Beren would deserve to be an exception even more.

–Kay

A: You're looking at it wrong. Lúthien received the special Gift of Men rather than it being denied to Beren. It is not certain why (nor even whether) Tuor was allowed to surrender his human fate, but in neither the case of Lúthien nor Tuor are the Valar given the power to make exceptions; this only occurs through the intervention of Ilúvatar.

–Ostadan

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Q: In the 9th chapter of The Hobbit, the text states that Thranduil and his elves "were very fond of wine, though no vines grew in those parts. The wine, and other goods, were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in distant lands." Any idea who these "kinsfolk in the South" were? Certainly Lórien is southwest of Thranduil's realm, but it seems to be mostly forest land, not suitable for vineyards. According to Unfinished Tales, there was a haven of elves near Dol Amroth, but it was deserted before the kings failed in Gondor. On a related note, did Tolkien ever say where (or who) Dorwinion was ("the heady vintage of the great gardens of Dorwinion")?

–Faramir

A: Afraid not. I would say it was probably a throwaway line for Hobbit and not intended to take its place in a larger geography of Elven-lands, but if you want to fit it in, Dol Amroth seems the likeliest spot to me as well. Perhaps there were Elves there in the time of Thranduil and their wine endured after they had gone Over-sea. As for Dorwinion, it seems to have been another reference like the "cats of Queen Beruthiel"–just something for us to wonder about. J

–Anwyn

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Q: Hello! I have a question about Gollum and his travels. I was going through the timeline in Appendix B from The Return of the King and was wondering just what the heck Gollum was up to. In 2944 he leaves the mountains and begins looking for Bilbo. It wasn't until 2951 that he begins heading south toward Mordor. Seven years? Granted he didn't really know where he was going but seven years to get to the Lonely Mountain and back to Anduin seems a long time. It wasn't until 2980 that he actually reached Mordor and came in contact with Shelob. 29 years to travel approximately the same distance that the Fellowship traveled in less than four months? It wasn't until about 3009 that he was captured in Mordor. Another 29 years. He was released in 3017. That's a heck of a long time. Any thoughts on what he was up to for all those years?

–S. McLean

A: I don’t know, what was Gandalf doing for nine years after his last visit to Frodo until the point where the story really gets rolling? We can speculate Gollum was following his primary motivations – he wanted any clues regarding his Precious, and any connections to the name Baggins. He was a sickly, lowly creature who had not been out of his underground caves in almost five centuries! Can you imagine the adjustment? He could not have been well equipped or provisioned; and he certainly could not walk into the nearest township and ask the friendly Woodsmen for news of hobbits. His way was skulking and sneaking. If it took him many years to wander around Middle-earth, it was just as much to eke out a meager survival as it was to converge on the path of Bilbo’s travels. Without any resources and without the Ring for easy invisibility, I bet Gollum was hard-pressed to steal his evening meal, much less pursue the empty land without direction. Remember the Fellowship knew where they were going and were prepared for potential hardships and dangers. As for Sauron keeping Gollum prisoner for about eight years, well.... how long would it take to torture any useful information out of such an uncooperative creature?

–Quickbeam

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Q: I was wondering about your thoughts concerning the fact that once the One Ring was destroyed, the other rings' powers were diminished. How/why would it be that when something altogether evil is destroyed, the things that are altogether good begin to fade away with it (Elves, Rings of Power). It's almost like good did not prevail completely at the end because Sauron had succeeded in creating a Ruling Ring that had power over all the other (good) Rings. Once it was destroyed, many good things were destroyed as well. Just wanted to know you're thoughts...

–Rudendil

A: Right! That’s the whole point! In my view, this is a primary theme in Tolkien: that all things must fade. This is a cornerstone in the Professor’s mythology. After the fall of the Shadow, the remaining inhabitants of this mythical world are faced with inevitable transformation.

Consider what Elrond says: "It would have been better if the Three had never been." Remember that the Three were forged, partially, according to Sauron’s designs, even though he never touched them himself. The Elves were following an art that Sauron taught them. This means that the Three were not as you say, "altogether good" though they were often used with typical Elvish ambitions.

Here’s the rub. The great sin that befell Elves and Men was their rejection of time and change. The power of the Rings, by Sauron’s design, would allow the Elves to continue their primary folly: "the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e., ‘change’ viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved or its semblance...." [this from Letter No. 131, of course]. The Elves in Rivendell and Lórien who lingered, never leaving for Valinor, were especially guilty of this. For Tolkien, it was noble for the Elves to heal beauty and nature while the rest of Middle-earth suffered from war and strife, but terribly misguided as well! This was not the way Ilúvatar planned things to work out.

For Men, the Dark Lord offered a way to avoid the "Doom of Men," which was an ultimate death and removal from the Circles of the World. Their Nine Rings would slow time, stretching their existence and allowing them to cheat a death which was truly theirs to embrace.

All of the material output of the Rings, and the greater plan that had first brought them to existence, was based on Sauron’s thought. No more One Ring means no more Sauron–and thus no more nice little side-benefits like eternally green mallorn trees. Saddening and bittersweet, that was what Tolkien wanted us to walk away with: all things must fade.

–Quickbeam

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Q: Although Tolkien wrote a detailed and rich history for most of the Middle-earth, he seems to mention very little about the history of some of the tribes of men. Such as the Harad, who dwelt south of Mordor. On maps of the Middle-earth, the land of Harad is huge, accounting for nearly half of the continent, yet little, if nothing is mentioned about its history and people. Did Tolkien ever write any essays concerning the culture and history of the Haradrim?

–pyrognome4@aol.com

A: The short answer is "no." The tales of Middle-earth are received from the Elves, and the Númenoreans (and Hobbits), so it is unsurprising that there is so little information from these foreign parts. This sort of edge-of-the-story area always seems to me an excellent place for fan fiction, but few people have taken up that challenge.

–Ostadan