Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Gollum

This was a while back, but on page392 of Fellowship of the Ring about 2/3 of the way down the page, it says that the elves at Lorien held back from shooting Gollum. Why? They say that they don't allow someone to walk into the forest and come out alive. They say that they didn't shoot him while he was in their sights because they didn't know if he was good or ill. I highly doubt that they used such discretion before. Why did they do it then while never before?

3 comments:

Doug Simms said...

This is one place in the novel where we see the greet hand of "fate" or "predestination" at work.

Megan Becker said...

You could also ask the same question as to why didn't they shoot the fellowship when they came in either? They didn't know if they were good or evil until they were approached. I agree with Dr. Simms...Tolkien had a purpose for Gollum and that's why he wasn't shot. He just had to introduce him earlier in the book to show that he has been following them to make it easier to integrate him into the book later.

dustin said...

Good point, but when the fellowship runs into the elves they actually talk to them. Where as they don't try to seek out Gollum. They just let him go through? I guess Tolkien just wanted to throw that in there to bring the thought of Gollum back.