Tolkien often uses techniques of literary flashback and
flash-forward that keep us in tune with the overall course of the
novel, rather than sweeping us away in the drama of the moment.
When Faramir, for instance, tells Frodo that he would like to find
out how Gollum came to possess and then lose the Ring, we are reminded
of that sequence of events as it transpired in The Hobbit and
was recounted in The Fellowship of the Ring. Furthermore,
Faramir says that perhaps one day, when he and Frodo are old, Frodo
can tell him Gollum’s story. This idea expands the novel’s horizon
to the distant future, opening our imagination to what these characters
will be like many years off. Tolkien gives us, then, more than just
the hobbits’ quest to Mordor, but also a vast saga that stretches
on far beyond the bounds of the novel.
