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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 9825454" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Book 4, Chapter 1: the Taming of Sméagol<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Darkly amusing that for all his earlier fussing about needing rope, Sam nearly forgets about it during their descent down a cliff. But it doesn't feel totally out of character, for him and Frodo were undergoing significant stress from wandering alone and relatively lost. The chapter does a good job of showing that the pair aren't operating at their best.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Two words learned today: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell" target="_blank">ell,</a> a unit of measurement, and <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ninnyhammer" target="_blank">ninnyhammer,</a> a foolish person!</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I can get the use of ninnyhammer as a cry of frustration, but "noodles!" is certainly a new one. The context is Sam cursing himself for leaving the rope tied to a stump further up the cliff, for it will make it easier for Gollum to follow them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Nice throwback to Gandalf's speech about Gollum in Fellowship of the Ring, and showing why Frodo decides to initially spare him yet still keeping him on a metaphorical short leash.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I like how in Frodo getting Gollum to swear not to harm them, Sam starts to see a bit of an uncharacteristically authoritarian demeanor, an implied influence of the Ring.</li> </ol>                                                                               Book 4, Chapter 2: the Passage of the Marshes<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I find it funny how Gollum calls the Sun the "Yellow Face."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I'm wondering if the lembas actually tastes that bad to Gollum, or if it's more the bad memories of being a prisoner of the elves prevents him from enjoying it. Maybe a little bit of both.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">"The hobbits soon found that what had looked like one vast fen was really an endless network of pools, and soft mires, and winding half-strangled water-courses." I forgot its name, but I'm suddenly reminded of a Newgrounds flash game where you played as Sam, Frodo, and Gollum maneuvering in a rickety bowboat through a series of rivers and pools while avoiding crashing.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I find it funny how during his multi-personality crisis of conscience, Gollum's fantasies of being "Gollum the Great/Lord Sméagol" are merely to spend his days eating fish. Which is what he was doing way back in the Hobbit. And probably goblin and orc flesh, too.</li> </ol>Book 4, Chapter 3: the Black Gate Is Closed<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Can't believe that I'm agreeing with Gollum, but there's little chance of Frodo getting past the Black Gate without being captured and thus effectively delivering the Ring to Sauron.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">It seems that both Gollum and the Ring are bringing out Frodo's darker side, with him threatening Gollum of the power he can wield should he put on the Ring and command him.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">In the real world, there's a saying that an elephant never forgets. Apparently in the Shire, the saying is that an oliphant can never tell a lie.</li> </ol>                                                                               Book 4, Chapter 4: Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">While I am aware that Mordor itself has breadbaskets around the Sea of Nirn, I do like how the text notes that not all lands claimed by Sauron are ashy wasteland and actually have grassland, forest, and other places where agriculture is plausible. But it also still bears the telltale mark, such as pollution left behind by orcish industry. It both makes the world feel more plausible while also showing that the shape of evil is not always so obvious.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I like the touch of Sam discovering skeletons in a burned forest, but choosing not to report back on what he saw out of concern that Gollum would disturb their graves. It shows mindfulness on his part.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">You can tell that Gollum has fallen far from his Hobbit roots when he cannot appreciate the use of a cooking fire to make meat more savory.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">For Dúnedain names, Mablung and Damrod don't have the same fancy ring to it as Aragorn.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Interesting choice to use the term Swerting for the Haradrim/southern humans. Looking it up, it's a name from a character in Beowulf.</li> </ol>Book 4, Chapter 5: The Window on the West<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Frodo's interrogation by the Rangers is very tense; he can't easily tell them the truth about Boromir, due in part because telling the Rangers of their struggle over the Ring can give suspicion that Frodo was the one who murdered him and not the orcs. And also reveal that Frodo has the Ring on him, and thus risk a similar temptation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">With Faramir referring to Sauron as the Unnamed, and also referring to the One Ring as Isildur's Bane instead of something more direct, makes it sound like the Dúnedain have a cultural aversion in referring properly to objects and people they find distasteful. I take it this ties into the "giving a name to something gives it metaphorical power" trope that persists across many real-world cultures and folklore.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Even despite their ill-fated last meeting, Frodo can still see in and speak good of Boromor during the breakfast with Faramar, highlighting his best moments during the Fellowship's journey.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Tying back to point #2: Near the end of the chapter, when Faramir finds out that the hobbits have the ring and is quite understanding of it causing Boromir's fall, he mentions to Sam to not name it again: "once is enough."</li> </ol></blockquote>

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