The Hunt for the Ring

In 3017 Gollum was catpured in Mordor. He was tortured until all that could be learned about the Ring was forced from him and then released by Sauron. "He did not trust Gollum, for he divined something indomitable in him, which could not be overcome, even by the Shadow of Fear, except by destroying him" (p. 337, Unfinished Tales). However, Sauron was willing to take his chances for he perceived Gollum's malice against those who had stolen the Ring from him and he hoped that tracking Gollum he would find it. All Sauron had to work with, for the moment, were two pieces of information: Shire and Baggins. However, Gollum had no real understanding where that land was and Sauron had certainly never been concerned with Hobbits before. Gollum, indeed, did not fear Sauron as the Enemy had perceived. Rather, Gollum now saw Sauron has his cheif rival for the Ring. "Thus it was that he dared to pretend that he believed that the land of the Halflings was near to the places where he had once dwelt beside the banks of the Gladden" (p. 336, Unfinished Tales).

But releasing Gollum did not go according to Sauron's plan. "Gollum soon disappeared into the Dead Marshes, where Sauron's emissaries could not or would not follow him" (p. 342, Unfinished Tales). For a season Sauron lost track of Gollum's whereabouts. This brought much doubt to the Dark Lord's mind. After long debate he decided to use the Ringwraiths to hunt for the Ring. "They were by far the most powerful of his servants, and the most suitable for such a mission, since they were entirely enslaved to their Nine Rings, which he now himself held; they were quite incapable of acting against his will, and if one of them, even the Witch-king their captain, had seized the One Ring, he would have brought it back to his Master" (p. 343, Unfinished Tales).

But using the Ringwraiths posed several obstacles. All, save the Witch-king, tended to stray in daylight, all, save the With-king, feared water (and there would be several rivers to cross). Fear was their chief instrument which was best utilized when they were invisible and all together which would not be possible on this quest. Because of this lack of secrecy Sauron doubted using them for fear his enemies would learn their errand. At last desperation drove him to release the Nine. Sauron had no idea that anyone other than Gollum and "Baggins" had any idea about the Ring. For Gollum did not know of the relationship of Bilbo and Gandalf. So he dispatched the Ringwraiths as Black Riders to search areas where Gollum purposely misled. This proved a small but very costly mistake for Sauron; for otherwise the Black Riders would have reached the Shire much sooner.

Gollum, meanwhile, did not avoid captivity for long. Aragorn tracked and captured Gollum on February 1st, 3018. Aragorn drove Gollum out of the Emyn Muil and crossed the Anduin with his prisoner to avoid Sauron's spies. He bound Gollum to some driftwood and swam across the river with him (in February no less!) and from there "...continued his journey north by tracks as westerly as he could find, through the skirts of Fanghorn, and so over Limlight, then over Nimrodel, and Silverlode through the eaves of Lorien, and then on, avoiding Moria and the Dimrill Dale, over Gladden until he came near the Carrock. There he crossed over Anduin again, with the help of the Beornings, and passed into the Forest. The whole journey, on foot, was not much short of nine hundred miles, and this Aragorn accomplished with weariness in fifty days, reaching Thranduil on the twenty-first of March" (p. 343, Unfinished Tales).

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 3017-3018

Today's reading comes from: Unfinished Tales, pages 336-343