Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Why didn't Sauron find Bilbo when he put on the ring like Frodo?


When Frodo put on the One Ring, both the Nazgul and Sauron himself found Frodo. However when Bilbo had the ring and possibly used it many times, Sauron sought Gollum to get a hint on where to look for the ring and send the Nazgul after it.


Sauron sought Gollum before Bilbo wore the ring at his birthday party, slightly after that time, he was very effective at locating Frodo when Frodo put on the ring. So I guess it's not a matter of Sauron gaining any extra powers with time.


Also Bilbo seemed to use the ring without it bothering him at any point, unlike Frodo who seemed to be very troubled when using the ring. How is that possible?



Answer



Sauron doesn't find Frodo when he puts on the Ring.



In the narrative of LotR Frodo puts on the Ring 6 times:




  • In the House of Tom Bombadil: Sauron doesn't find Frodo.

  • In the Prancing Pony: Sauron doesn't find Frodo.

  • On Weathertop: Sauron doesn't find Frodo, but Frodo puts the Ring on in the presence of the Nazgul who are then able to physically harm him.

  • On Amon Hen: Sauron doesn't find Frodo; Frodo's gaze is drawn towards Barad-dur, Frodo feels the Eye, and only at that point does Sauron become aware of Frodo.

  • At the Breaking of the Fellowship: Sauron doesn't find Frodo (it's significant that this is only moments after the previous time).

  • At the Cracks of Doom: Frodo claims the Ring for himself and then Sauron becomes aware of him.


This is not including an unspecified number of times when Frodo may have worn the Ring between Bilbo's party and the Shadow of the Past.




In the above list there are only two times when Sauron is aware of Frodo: the first time is after Frodo explicitly goes looking for Sauron, and the second time is when Frodo is in the heart of Sauron's realm and claims the Ring for his own.


It's very significant that the first of these times happens on Amon Hen, the ancient Numenorean hill of seeing:



He was sitting upon the Seat of Seeing, on Amon Hen, the Hill of the Eye of the Men of Númenor.



And that immediately afterwards, when Frodo resolves to leave the Fellowship, he puts the Ring on again without any similar difficulties. This makes it clear that the Hill and Seat of Seeing were an influencing factor in what happened first time round.


As for the second time:



And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur the very heart of his realm,the Power in Barad-dur was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him...




It should be clear that it's not putting on the Ring that was the main factor here (although it was still a very dangerous thing to do at this particular place), but rather Frodo's claiming of it.



So to answer your questions:



  • The Reason why Sauron doesn't find Bilbo when he puts on the Ring is because putting on the Ring isn't enough for Sauron to find you.

  • Sauron was not effective at finding Frodo; Frodo wore the Ring at least 4 times (out of 6) without Sauron finding him.


  • Frodo's troubles when using the Ring occur in very specific circumstances:



    • in the Barrow (where despite temptation he doesn't use it)


    • in the presence of the Nazgul (where he only used it once: on Weathertop)

    • on Amon Hen, and only at the very end, after Frodo had explicitly gone looking for Sauron

    • at Orodruin, in the heart of Sauron's realm, after claiming it for himself.




  • Otherwise Frodo can use the Ring without trouble - in Bombadil's house, at Bree, at the Breaking, and a possible unspecified number of times in the Shire - in just the same manner as Bilbo did.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more