Bilbo as the only one to give up the Ring

Matt DeForrest

Active Member
I have been thinking of Professor Olsen's & Gandalf's statement that Bilbo is the only person to willingly give up the Ring. While I quite enjoyed the humor inherent in seeing the possible exceptions come in (and Professor Olsen's good natured responses), I think that his original claim is the correct one.

Yes, we do see others hand the Ring over: Gandalf, Sam, and Tom Bombadil being the three mentioned during Tuesday's class. That admitted, these three never claimed the Ring. They held it for a moment. They never asserted ownership. The rest of this list (in order) did:

Sauron: Claimed it until it was cut from his hand
“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.”
Isildur: Claimed it until it betrayed him and came off his hand in the Gladden Fields
“This I will have as weregild for my father, and my brother,” he said; and therefore whether we would or no, he took it to treasure it.”
Déagol: Claimed it until strangled by his friend
“I don’t care,” said Déagol. “I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I’m going to keep it.”
Sméagol/Gollum: Claimed it until it betrayed him and came off his hand in Moria
“Because it’s my birthday, my love, and I wants it,” said Sméagol.”
Bilbo Baggins, who gave it up
“It is mine, I tell you. My own. My Precious. Yes, my Precious.”
Frodo Baggins: Claimed it until it was bitten/cut from his hand at Mount Doom
“I have come,’ he said. ‘But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!”
Gollum
“Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. ‘My Precious! O my Precious!”

Those who don't claim it/call it their Ring
Gandalf: “I was not sure of it myself when I was last here; but the time has come to speak. Give me the ring for a moment.”
Tom Bombadil: “Show me the precious Ring!’ he said suddenly in the midst of the story: and Frodo, to his own astonishment, drew out the chain from his pocket, and unfastening the Ring handed it at once to Tom.”
Sam Gamgee: “I wish I wasn’t the last,’ he groaned. ‘I wish old Gandalf was here, or somebody. Why am I left all alone to make up my mind? I’m sure to go wrong. And it’s not for me to go taking the Ring, putting myself forward.’
‘But you haven’t put yourself forward; you’ve been put forward. And as for not being the right and proper person, why, Mr. Frodo wasn’t, as you might say, nor Mr. Bilbo. They didn’t choose themselves.”

“Then let me carry it a bit for you, Master,’ he said. ‘You know I would, and gladly, as long as I have any strength.”

So, I would posit, these three never make a claim for the Ring. As such, they cannot give it up because it isn't theirs to give.

I keep stressing the word claim here because the book seems to posit a tension between the moment when one claims the Ring and when the Ring claims its bearer. Sam was tempted to claim the Ring for his own but he refused. Tom Bombadil is referred to as someone who the Ring has no power over. One, then, can claim the Ring for a time until it claims its bearer or betrays him.
 
One follow on thought here: There are also some paths of possible resistance to the Ring in these. Sam is able to refuse the temptation to claim the Ring because of his humility -- the same kind of humility that makes him hesitate to put himself forward:

“In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. 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.” (Excerpt From: J. R. R. Tolkien. “The Lord of the Rings.” HarperCollins Publishers. iBooks.)

Likewise, Bilbo worries about being called a thief -- something killing Gollum when he claimed the Ring would have made him (Finding the Ring can be ascribed to his greater than unusual amount of luck -- if you can call it luck -- rather than taking it by killing the prior claimant, as Gollum did.). Rather, he embraced pity:

“I don’t know what has come over you, Gandalf,’ he said. ‘You have never been like this before. What is it all about? It is mine isn’t it? I found it, and Gollum would have killed me, if I hadn’t kept it. I’m not a thief, whatever he said.” (Excerpt From: J. R. R. Tolkien. “The Lord of the Rings.” HarperCollins Publishers. iBooks.)

Those who claimed the Ring did not do so with such virtuous intent (the Seven Virtues likely apply here). They did so out of greed (Sméagol and Déagol) or a desire for power (Sauron and Isildur).
 
One other thought on this thread. I am up to "The Mirror of Galadriel" and noted something I should have noticed before. Galadriel identifies herself as Nenya's keeper -- a role different than an owner. Rather, she sounds as if she views it as holding her ring in trust rather than ownership.
 
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