Summary — Mount Doom
“[T]he Quest is achieved, and now all
is over. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all
things, Sam.”
See Important Quotations Explained
The next morning, Sam gains new strength and a grim sense
of responsibility. He wakes Frodo and pushes him on toward Orodruin.
The land before them is cold and dead, dotted by countless craters
and hollows. The hobbits crawl eastward from hiding place to hiding
place. After a few miles, Frodo is nearly spent, his mind and body
tormented by the terrible weight of the Ring. He refuses to give
the Ring to Sam, for he knows he is held by its power. The two decide
to take to the road once again. All eyes in Mordor are turned to
the west, where the Captains march toward Morannon.
After three draining days of travel, Frodo’s limbs give
way and he falls, exhausted. Sam picks Frodo up and carries him
on his back. Before nightfall, they reach the foot of the mountain.
Sam carefully makes his way up the slope. It is nearly morning.
For a moment, the shadows dissipate, and Sam can see the flicker
of the piercing Eye from Sauron’s Dark Tower. Its gaze passes by
the hobbits and turns to the north, focusing on the Captains of
the West. However, the glimpse of Sauron’s power causes Frodo to
panic. His hand grasps for the Ring around his neck, and he cries
for Sam’s help. Sam kneels beside Frodo and gently holds his master’s
palms together in his lap.
Afraid Sauron has spotted them, Sam takes Frodo upon his shoulders
once more and continues up the mountain. With much difficulty, they
finally reach the top. Sam looks down over a great cliff into the
burning Cracks of Doom below. Suddenly, a cruel weight hits Sam
from behind, and he falls forward. Behind him, he hears the voice
of Gollum, cursing Frodo viciously for his treachery. Frodo and
Gollum engage in a violent struggle, and Gollum proves stronger
than the weakened Frodo. Suddenly, Frodo commands Gollum, “Begone,
and trouble me no more!” and the creature falls to his knees. Frodo
presses on to the Cracks of Doom. Sam, tempted to slay Gollum with
his sword, refrains out of pity. Gollum slinks away.
Reaching the Cracks, Frodo turns to Sam and, with a voice clearer
than Sam has ever heard, informs him that he will not complete the
quest. The Ring, Frodo declares, is his. He puts the Ring on his
finger and vanishes. Sam is once again flung aside, and then he sees
a dark shape leap over him. Just as Sam looks up, the Great Eye of
Sauron suddenly becomes aware of Frodo. The eight remaining Nazgûl
hurtle toward the mountain at terrifying speed.
Sam sees Gollum struggling with an invisible enemy, biting
at the air viciously. Frodo suddenly reappears, his hand bleeding
from his severed finger. Gollum pulls Frodo’s finger and the Ring
from his mouth joyfully, but then steps backward, unaware that he
is close to the edge of the cliff. Gollum then falls, along with
the Ring, into the Cracks of Doom. Mount Doom shakes violently as
it accepts and consumes the Ring. Sam runs out into the daylight,
carrying Frodo. The Nazgûl wither in the fiery ruin of the hill.
Frodo stands by Sam’s side, himself again. Sam feels overjoyed,
and Frodo explains that, were it not for Gollum, he would not have
been able to finish the quest. Frodo says he is glad to be with
Sam “at the end of all things.”
Analysis
The completion of the quest marks the central climax of The
Lord of the Rings. While the novel has included several
separate, progressively larger climaxes—such as the overthrow of
Saruman and the battle for Gondor at the Pelennor Fields—the deposit
of the Ring into the Cracks of Doom resolves the major conflict
presented at the outset of The Fellowship of the Ring. All
of the markings we might expect from the climax of such a voluminous
quest narrative are present: Mount Doom erupts, towers fall, and
Sauron’s dark shadow vanishes in the wind. In one sense, the effects
of Frodo’s success are endless. Middle-earth is freed from Mordor’s
evil influence, ensuring renewed hope and progress for its inhabitants.
In another sense, however, Frodo himself gains little from depositing
the Ring in the Cracks of Doom. The hobbit finds no treasure or
maiden, and does not rescue any captives. He only emerges from Mount
Doom with a greater self-understanding and the ability to say, as
the world collapses around him, that he is content to be with his
friend Sam.
Frodo and Sam continue to add to the picture of Hobbit
heroism that Tolkien has developed throughout the novel. Notably,
Frodo’s heroism is purely passive. He must be carried up Mount Doom, almost
against his own will, weeping and exhausted. At the end of his quest,
he refuses to part with the Ring. Frodo announces to Sam, “I have
come. . . . But I do not now choose what I came to do.” This passage
highlights once again the importance of choice in Tolkien’s conception
of good and evil. Choice has been the distinguishing factor of Frodo’s
heroism throughout the novel. Unlike Sauron, whose fate is bound
to the Ring, Frodo possesses the power to choose whether to carry
the Ring or not, and whether to wear it or destroy it. He remains
a hero simply because he has chosen to carry the
Ring for so long in a quest that aims only to destroy an object
that offers him great power. That Frodo wills himself to move forward
as far as the Cracks of Doom is evidence enough of his heroism.
The success of the journey from the beginning has been doubtful;
only a sense of providence and hope has suggested Frodo might accomplish
the task. In an ironic twist of fate, the Ring’s most possessive
owner, Gollum, wrests the Ring from Frodo and inadvertently destroys
it.
Sam’s self-sacrificing heroism on the journey up Mount
Doom complements Frodo’s passivity in its loving gentleness. As
Sam selflessly carries Frodo up the mountain, he is struck that
his master is lighter than he expected. When Frodo struggles with
an uncontrollable urge to grasp the Ring, Sam gently removes his
master’s hand from his chest and holds his palms together. The image
suggests two men praying, implying that Sam redeems Frodo in a spiritual
sense. Sam’s feet and controlling hands aid Frodo in the choice
to move toward the Cracks of Doom, which Frodo indicates he still
chooses to do only in his acquiescence.
The last leg of Frodo’s journey also reveals much about
the ambiguous nature of evil. At first blush, the Ring continues
to symbolize actual physical evil. Frodo bears the immense physical
weight of the Ring and its evil, eventually losing all bodily strength
as he gets closer to Mount Doom. When Sam picks Frodo up—and thus picks
up the Ring as well—he finds his friend to be light, and he is able
to remove Frodo’s groping hand from the Ring with a gentle tug.
Tolkien suggests that only the Ring’s wearer perceives its heaviness—its
physical force remains a matter of perception, not of real weight.
In this sense, we return to Tolkien’s characterization of evil as
a human creation; physical symbols of evil only display real power
over those who are tempted by them.
Tolkien further examines the ambiguous nature of evil
in the imagery of the land of Mordor. Sauron’s Great Eye, fixed
atop the Dark Tower, functions both as a symbol of the Dark Lord’s
will and as the source of his ability to enact his will on the physical
world. The Great Eye itself does not cause any harm—it does not
strike anyone down or emit any visible signal. The Eye only suggests where
Sauron’s attention is fixed. It focuses to the north while Sauron’s
mind remains occupied with the forces at the Black Gate, thus allowing
Sam and Frodo to reach the goal of their quest.
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