Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Why does Gollum calling the ring his own not alert Sauron?


This (and others eg: this ) answer states that Frodo claiming the ring alerted Sauron immediately of its position, which makes sense: How else would Sauron realize where the Ring and Frodo were at that exact moment. And it also explains why Sauron did not know where the ring was beforehand.


However there is a problem with this: Why did Sauron not find out about where the ring was when it was in Gollum's possession? Gollum obviously claimed the ring as his own (he even dreamt about becoming Gollum the Great, unfortunately I'm not able to find the passage in the books). In addition Bilbo claims it as well (right before he leaves it for Frodo), without alerting Sauron (Sauron learns about the Shire from Gollum, not through some form of comunication with the ring)



Is there an in canon explanation, or have I simply misunderstood something?



Answer



Joseph R's answer is a good one -- by wearing the Ring, Frodo did make himself more noticeable to the Ringwraiths nearby, but not to others far away. So proximity matters. But the most important proximity is that of the Ring itself to Mount Doom in particular. The Ring becomes more powerful as it approaches Sammath Naur, the place of its forging and its unmaking.


The last volume shows this happening in multiple ways: the Ring tempted Frodo more strongly as they approached Mount Doom; it became more burdensome to Frodo; and it may even have changed size and become heavier.


Furthermore, I don't think the increase in power is linear. I believe the power of the Ring increases rapidly -- say, inversely proportionally to square of distance -- as it approaches Mount Doom. If that's correct, then the power of the ring would have been many orders of magnitude higher when Frodo put it on at the end of the journey than at any earlier time. Even when Sam put it on at Cirith Ungol, they were still many miles away, and the ring would have been far less powerful.


I don't have a copy of the book handy to confirm this, but I believe this interpretation explains almost every detail in the book concerning Sauron's perception of those who wear the ring. It doesn't explain why Sauron perceives Frodo on Amon Hen, but the properties of the Seat of Seeing provide an alternative explanation in that case.


At no point in many hundreds of years had the Ring been so close to the place of its forging. Frodo's actions on Mount Doom were entirely unprecedented -- nothing that Gollum did with the Ring when he possessed it could have had the same effect so far from Sammath Naur. While the fact that Frodo "claimed" the Ring may have made his actions still more noticeable to Sauron, I think the Ring's proximity to Mount Doom was the primary factor.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...

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.

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF

tolkiens legendarium - Did Gandalf wear his Ring of Power throughout the trilogy?

After Gandalf discovered that Sauron was back and sent Frodo on his quest to Rivendell, did he continue to wear Narya (one of the Three Rings)? It seems like a huge risk to continue to wear it after the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths) started to try and reclaim the One Ring; if they managed to get the ring to Sauron, couldn't he be corrupted by his power? Whatever powers Narya bestows upon him couldn't possibly be worth the huge risk, could it? Answer When Sauron forged the one ring and put it on his finger, the other ring bearers were immediately aware of him and his intentions and removed their own rings. There is no reason why they couldn't merely do so again. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and preceived that he would be master of them, and of all they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings. "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," Silmarillion