The opening part of this chapter pointed out some interesting ideas that I was unaware of. Before reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy this past summer, I read The Hobbit as an introduction to Tolkien’s works. It was interesting to me that there were two different versions of The Hobbit, and more specifically, two different encounters between Bilbo and Gollum. The earlier edition describes the parting of Gollum and Bilbo to be positive and on good terms. Apparently I read the later version, in which Gollum and Bilbo did not part on good terms and Gollum chased Bilbo up the tunnel until he escaped the mountain by the skin of his teeth. Personally, I like the second edition of The Hobbit more. To me it portrays the evil of the ring as a stronger essence, which I believe was the purpose of changing the story in the first place.
I agree with Shippey on the importance of Gandalf’s conversation with Frodo in book ½ about the power of the ring. Gandalf is a strong character and the fact that even a mighty wizard was scared said something. Gandalf explained a brief history of the ring to Frodo and this set the tone for the rest of the book. Shippey explained that without this passage between these two primary characters the book would have been totally different. I have to agree with Shippey.
Two of the main images of evil that Shippey acknowledges in this chapter were wraiths and shadows. Shippey made a point to mention several times that these images were in no way unique. Although this is true I believe that J.R.R. Tolkien’s personal twist on these images along with their in-depth descriptive background made the ring wraiths and dark shadows unique in their own way. I believe that wraiths and shadows can be scary, especially since we are just getting past Halloween, but when you know a little bit of history it makes things interesting. For example, the wraiths were not any wraiths; they were fallen kings of old who fell to the power of Sauron.
While reading the book and watching the movies it was obvious that wraiths and shadows were two forms of evil. It was interesting how Shippey linked these images with certain events in the book. For example, when Gandalf fell into the abyss Aragorn told the rest of the company that he fell into the shadow and when Saruman began to support Saruron Gandalf said he fell under the shadow. These seemed to be simple lines when reading the book and watching the movie, but after reading Shippey’s interpretation I have a whole different perspective.
Although the majority of the chapter referred to the concepts of evil, my favorite section explained the concepts of courage. Courage was one of the two positive forces mentioned by Shippey, the other was luck. I believe that the courage of the characters added to the book. With all this mention of evil there must be something to counterbalance. In the case of the Lord of the Rings, the major positive force was courage.
