Frodo's kinship with Gollum leads him to feel pity. Not kinship of race or friendship, but the kinship of being damned by the evil ring. Frodo tried to save Gollum for the hope of being saved himself.
Great piece. I had forgotten how Gandalf talks about Eowyn in that moment, lovely. I recently wrote about empathy in the context of an Old English poem that influenced Tolkien deeply, I need to reflect on how emotions in LOTR might have a particularly medieval aspect to them.
"Gandalf, realizing the power of the Ring over Gollum, and realizing too Gollum’s diminished moral responsibility due to his being overcome by something too great for him..."
It's like reading about the mercy and understanding of God Himself. I'm sure it's Tolkien's devout Catholicism shining thru. The Church would do well to give his writings greater prominence.
Wonderful post on a subject I've barely considered-- many thanks! 🙏
Such wonderful insights! I loved the structure of breaking it down by these three key characters, and also how empathy was an attribute of the Wise as well as *critical* for the Quest to succeed. Tysm!!
Frodo's kinship with Gollum leads him to feel pity. Not kinship of race or friendship, but the kinship of being damned by the evil ring. Frodo tried to save Gollum for the hope of being saved himself.
Really enjoyed this, an aspect of LOTR I hadn't thought much about before. Looking forward to the second part. Thank you.
Great piece. I had forgotten how Gandalf talks about Eowyn in that moment, lovely. I recently wrote about empathy in the context of an Old English poem that influenced Tolkien deeply, I need to reflect on how emotions in LOTR might have a particularly medieval aspect to them.
https://open.substack.com/pub/nikolasgunn/p/the-wanderer-an-old-english-lyric?r=2arsrg&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
"Gandalf, realizing the power of the Ring over Gollum, and realizing too Gollum’s diminished moral responsibility due to his being overcome by something too great for him..."
It's like reading about the mercy and understanding of God Himself. I'm sure it's Tolkien's devout Catholicism shining thru. The Church would do well to give his writings greater prominence.
Wonderful post on a subject I've barely considered-- many thanks! 🙏
Such wonderful insights! I loved the structure of breaking it down by these three key characters, and also how empathy was an attribute of the Wise as well as *critical* for the Quest to succeed. Tysm!!
This was excellent. Thank you.