The Wight and the Ring

[Brandon Minich]

I’ve been fascinated by our friendly neighborhood grave dude’s interactions with the Ring-bearer. In particular, the fact that so far as we have seen his motivations, I don’t think he knows that Frodo has the Ring. He isn’t targeting the Ring, and doesn’t react to it at all. He just seems to want to kill Frodo in his creepy burial ritual. Also, I think the Ring isn’t really aware of the Wight. Notice it doesn’t react until Frodo begins to be afraid. It doesn’t know there’s a Wight nearby in the same way it would know that the Nazgûl were near. Frodo’s temptation begins much earlier when he sees a Wraith, and I wonder if that’s because the Ring feels not only fear, but the presence of those enslaved to Sauron through it. But I see no evidence that it does more than react to external stimuli. It reacts strongly to the Nazgûl, and reacts to Frodo’s fear. It tempts Frodo in the House of Bombadil only once Frodo has it on. It seems it isn’t capable of forming plans, only reacting to what’s around it.

 

[amysrevenge]

I think there are two "auras" about Frodo that make him more tempting a target than the other hobbits. He's already detectably an Elf-friend, and he's on the cusp of becoming one of the "great" folk of Middle Earth.

 

[Brandon Minich]

Indeed. Also, the Witch-King, when he was creating the Wights, probably didn’t consider the Ring would ever come this way. Remember, at the time, it had been lost in the Anduin years and years ago. It seemed unlikely to ever turn up, and why would it go West, not East? The thought of the Ring going west would probably have never occurred to Sauron and his Servants.