Did Old Man Willow desire the Ring?

[Croaker]

I've only completed Episode 27, so maybe this is covered in Episode 28. I wonder why the Ring didn't enter the discussion about what Old Man Willow was attempting to accomplish. It seems clear why Old Man Willow wanted the Hobbits: he wanted the Ring.

As soon at the hobbits enter the Forest, they are guided towards Old Man Willow, even barred from retreating (the falling branch), and ultimately trapped by the Willow. Others hobbits have entered the Old Forest unmolested. Why his sudden interest in the Company? What makes these four hobbits different?

The Ring. Old Man Willow attempts to drown Frodo. Once drowned, a root could take the Ruling Ring.

In Chapter 7, Bombadil explains that Old Man Willow had nearly the entire forest under its dominion. The Ring gives power of dominion according to the stature of the Ring bearer. Bombadil says the trees remembered when they were lords, and were filled with hatred of things that go free upon the earth. Imagine Old Man Willow with the Ring of Power.

Might he muster an army of trees against the destroyers and usurpers? Fangorn marching on Minas Tirith; the trees of Lothlorien turning against the Elves, and the expansion of Mirkwood. How horrible a war between Elves and Trees..., Old Man Willow could turn Elves into Tree Destroyers - into the Hobbits who slaughtered and burned hundreds.

The first time the Ring was nearly taken, the Hobbits were rescued by Elves... In the Barrow, the wight nearly takes the Ring, when they're rescued. In Bree, the Ring is nearly taken, and they're rescued. Later Frodo is rescued by Glorfindel's horse. The Watcher in the Water went after Frodo. One wonders if the Ring drew the Balrog's personal assault. And finally, Boromir attempts to take it.

It seems to me that the Old Forest chapter isn't an anomaly. It's about a spirit trying to take the Ring. Isn't the Lord of the Rings about the different entities struggling to resist becoming or attempting to become THE Lord of the Rings?

 

[Lincoln Alpern]

You raise a lot of good points (such as other Hobbits venturing into the forest occasionally unmolested), and I really like your final thesis about the nature of the book - though given that, by my understanding, "The Lord of the Rings" wasn't Tolkien's intended title, it would have to be a happy accident.

Unfortunately, I don't find this scenario convincing. I don't see much in the trees' behavior, or the conversation with Bombadil afterwards, to undermine the Hobbits' interpretation of the trees' behavior as ascribable to generalized hostility; and while I love the tree army imagery, there's nothing really to suggest Old Man Willow harbors such desires (and if he did, I feel like Tom would know about it, and wouldn't be so blasé about his actions, though I could be wrong, there). I also got the impression that while Hobbits sometimes venture into the Old Forest, they don't take long treks through it in small numbers ever since the bonfire massacre.

The possibility Old Man Willow desired the Ring actually came up in another post from a few weeks ago, and may have been discussed in a more recent episode, though I don't remember for sure. Anyway, in response to that post, I noted at the time that he attacks three of the Hobbits (and presumably would've attacked Sam if he could be lulled into sleep like the others), and while he attempts to drown Frodo, he traps Merry and Pippin inside his own trunk. Surely, if his main objective were the Ring, it would be the other way around. He also actively fights to keep the two of them ensnared, whereas he's pretty passive about Sam hauling Frodo out of the pool.

In one of the most recent episodes, we came back to Old Man Willow when talking about him in Tom Bombadil's house - several of us drew parallels with Caradhras the cruel mountain, another evil spirit who is actively hostile towards the Company, but shows no interest in the Ring. Caradhras' enmity is less personal than Old Man Willow's, in that the mountain just wants to drive interlopers off, whereas the willow man plans to trap and probably kill them. But on balance, I think Caradhras is a better parallel to draw than the people and creatures who actively seek the Ring (including, probably, the watcher).