Episode 151 Summary

Tony Meade

Active Member
SESSION 151

Gandalf finally establishes provenance:
  • It’s important to remember that it is not until Gandalf interviews Gollum that he finds out that the Ring extended his life far beyond its span, which could only come from a Great Ring.
  • Bilbo is old, though he still looks young, but not beyond the possibility of a long-lived hobbit. While Gandalf had suspicions, Bilbo only attributed it to his family history, though strange.
  • When he learns how long Gollum had the Ring, he can finally prove the connection with Bilbo.
  • Aragon’s extended lifespan is another example of a cause that has nothing to do with Rings of Power, and there are also legends of one of the Tooks taking a fairy wife to explain long life.
  • Note: Aragorn’s exact age is never stated in the text of the book, though he refers to the fact that he is not young anymore even for one of his people. One must calculate his age as 87 based on the dates in the appendices. It appears Aragorn’s advanced age was already an idea of Tolkien before he makes more specific references to it in The Two Towers. This is part of the reveal of Aragorn’s mythic significance that begins with the Argonath and Parth Galen.
  • Gandalf cites both the fact that the Ring came from the Great River near the Gladden Fields and Gollum’s long life as combining to prove that this is the One Ring, though it’s circumstantial.
  • Note: In the original concept of the Rings of Power, Sauron set them in many places as traps.
Avoiding the topic of Bilbo and the Ring:
  • The fact that Gollum corroborates the true version of Bilbo’s is important, but its clear that Gandalf is once again avoiding telling the tale of what happened when Bilbo gave up the Ring.
  • He and Elrond seem to be downplaying how much Bilbo was corrupted by the Ring, which would seem to be important in establishing the identity of the Ring, but he doesn’t do that.
  • They seem to be deemphasizing this both to spare Bilbo’s feelings, in honor of the fact that he did manage to give it up, but also to avoid dissuading Frodo or someone else from bearing it.
  • It also seems important that they know that taking the Ring to Mount Doom is the ultimate decision, and they might not wish to alarm the Council into making a different decision.
  • While all the stories shared so far have been circumstantial, Gandalf presents physical evidence.
  • By directing this final proof to Galdor, who had asked for the proofs, he brings it back around. There does seem to be a certain amount of curtness in this reply directly to Galdor.
On Frodo and the quest of Mount Doom:
  • It was Gandalf who cast the Ring in the fire in Bag End, not Frodo, but Gandalf doesn’t mention that Frodo was unable to do it. This seems to be in the same spirit as his avoiding Bilbo’s story.
  • However, Gandalf is aware that Frodo lacked the will to set the Ring in the fire in Bag End, which would be on his mind even as they attempt to convince the Council to go to Mount Doom.
  • Gandalf probably planned to be with Frodo all the way, and like he put forth his power to help Bilbo, he might have thought he could do the same for Frodo later.
  • This is not a good plan overall, which shows the desperation of their decision to go on this quest.
  • The circumstances were different in Bag End, as Frodo knew less, and there were no stakes.
The sounds of the untranslated Black Speech:
  • The initial words “ash nazg” seem to both be stressed syllables, making this somewhat iambic.
  • One stress in the third word “durbatulûk” seems to be the final syllable because of the circumflex, which also points to the second syllable being stressed in the same pattern.
  • It’s possible to stress three initial syllables, as we see this with Tom Bombadil’s poetry, but the third syllable here seems unstressed to make the first two stand out.
  • The stress in “gimbatul” seems to be on the first syllable, as the two “g” sounds force a pause.
  • The sound of the vowels seems to indicate stresses, as higher sounding vowels are stressed while lower sounding vowels are not. Early on, the “a” vowel is always stressed.
  • Black Speech also seems to emphasize stress on the harsh, short consonants, instead of vowels.
  • The initial word “agh” seems to be unstressed, to lay the stress on the following syllable.
  • There are no two unstressed or stressed syllables in a row within any one word in the poem.
  • The punctuation seems to be there to assist in making the pronunciation clear, but the alternation of stresses within words seems to be endemic in the language.
  • The lack of a comma before “agh” also make it unstressed, being in the middle of a sentence.
  • The rhyming pairs “durbatulûk” with “thrakatulûk”, and “gimbatul” with “krimpatul”, point to the fact they must be pronounced with the same stress patterns.
  • While line breaks are implied by the repeating phrases and commas, this is presented as prose.
  • The circumflex signals to us to pronounce a long “u” sound, which isn’t natural otherwise.
  • The voiced “gh” sound seems to be the hard-consonant sound, which is now rare in English.
  • The word elements “atulûk” and “atul” seem to work as suffixes to simpler word elements. These also seem to be related in terms of conjugation or inflection.
  • The initial syllables of “durbatulûk” and “burzum” seem related, as to “ash” and “ishi”.
  • The language is consonant-heavy, with lots of “k” and “z” sounds, but now “e” vowel sounds.
The Ring Spell compared in English:
  • The English would have the same rhythmic structure if the “at” sound were always stressed.
  • The translation always ends in an unstressed syllable, which may be applied to the original.
  • There is also one extra syllable in the Black Speech version, as in the final “i” in “ishi”.
  • There is an alliteration between “Ring” and “rule”, and between “bring” and “bind”.
  • There is no extra syllable in the English version because it leaves out the infinitive “to” before “bind them”, but this still could have been done in the Black Speech version.
On the irregularity of the Black Speech version:
  • The extra syllable seems to be intentional by Tolkien, as he was the language creator, and had the chance to change Black Speech to fit the English rhythmic pattern, which is regular.
  • The translation is very closely paralleled in English in both rhythm and word order. It’s not clear if the English or Black Speech versions is the altered one.
  • There is a parallel to John Donne’s intentional inclusion of an extra syllable “I” to emphasize his own tendency to pride. This case may be emphasizing a feeling of discord in the lines.
  • This is like early 20th century performers who were also practicing magicians, and who intentionally left out portions of real spells to prevent them from working.
  • The English version of the Ring Verse is quoted as a piece of Elvish lore, which may reflect theirs or Gandalf’s fear of Sauron by making the translation regular, but Sauron seems to stumble.
  • It’s possible that there is supposed to be an irregularity at the end of the verse to make the spell imperfect, which may help explain why Sauron’s plan involving the One Ring mostly failed.
  • This may be a sign of Sauron’s overreach, as he added an extra syllable to create a disharmony, but it is this disharmony that undoes the power of the spell.
  • It’s also possible that Gandalf deliberately spoke this incorrectly in the Council, when it was being transcribed, in order lessen its power, though it’s more likely a direct quote of Sauron.
END OF SESSION
 

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