How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph).
Quote #1
"The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or for others," said Aragorn. "There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark." (3.2.195-8)
Just before Aragorn gives us this dose of Middle-earth wisdom, Gimli was busy regretting that Merry and Pippin ever came on the expedition in the first place. To be fair, he thinks they have been murdered by orcs. All the same, Aragorn answers that there "are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse," even if you might die at the end of it, and that's why Gandalf was all for the hobbits tagging along for the journey. What things do you think he's talking about? What do you think might be worth starting, "even though the end may be dark"?
Quote #2
"Hoom, hm, I have not troubled about the Great Wars," said Treebeard; "they mostly concern Elves and Men. That is the business of Wizards: Wizards are always troubled about the future. I do not like worrying about the future. I am not altogether on anybody's side, because nobody is altogether on my side, if you understand me: nobody cares for the woods as I care for them, not even Elves nowadays. […] And there are some things, of course, whose side I am altogether not on; I am against them altogether: these—burárum" (he again made a deep rumble of disgust) "—these Orcs, and their masters." (3.4.84)
You know whom Treebeard reminds us of here? The Riders of Rohan (whom we discuss in the "Quotes and Thoughts" section on "Isolation"). Like them, he doesn't want to declare himself against or for Sauron. He just wants to be left alone. But even though he is a mostly neutral party by inclination, the presence of Saruman as his neighbor is bringing the war to him. Treebeard can't stay out of the coming conflict now that Saruman's damaging power is spreading to the Forest of Fangorn. That's the horrifying thing about a world war: it cannot be contained to one place by definition, so no one can truly stay out of it, not even, apparently, a tree-herd.
Quote #3
I think that I now understand what [Saruman] is up to. He is plotting to become a Power. He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment. And now it is clear that he is a black traitor. He has taken up with foul folk, with the Orcs. (3.4.89)
All of the things that are lovely in this novel are associated with nature: the elf-realms of Lothlórien and Rivendell are both wooded paradises. That's not to say that nature is without its dangers (just see the Old Forest chapters of The Fellowship of the Ring) but still, the elves' attention to beasts, trees, and the natural world is one of the things that marks them as Good People. Then you've got the baddies, like Saruman, whose mind is of "metal and wheels." This juxtaposition of human machinery (bad) with nature (good) tells you something about what Tolkien probably thought of industrial development and factories.
Quote #4
"Perhaps he also thought that you were Saruman," said Gimli. "But you speak of him as if he was a friend. I thought Fangorn was dangerous."
"Dangerous!" cried Gandalf. "And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Glóin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion. Certainly the forest of Fangorn is perilous—not least to those who are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn himself, he is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless." (3.5.111-2)
Gandalf 2.0 is a bit condescending, isn't he? But the guy does have a point: with the lines of Good and Evil marked pretty clearly at this point, it's easy to forget that all the characters in this novel are dangerous in one way or another. Sure, they are only dangerous to Evil, for the most part. But there was a time when Saruman would also have been dangerous to Evil, and now look at the dude. He has turned his power against the Good. That means that the possibility of danger is not about actual power; it's about choice. Gandalf is immensely powerful, but he does not choose to use that power to destroy innocent people. So he's dangerous, but by no means evil.
Quote #5
"Alas!" said Théoden. "Must we pass this way, where the carrion-beasts devour so many good Riders of the Mark?"
"This is our way," said Gandalf. "Grievous is the fall of your men; but you shall see that at least the wolves of the mountains do not devour them. It is with their friends, the Orcs, that they hold their feast: such indeed is the friendship of their kind. Come!" (3.8.80-1)
Characters like Gollum, Boromir (in The Fellowship of the Ring), Denethor (in The Return of the King) and even Théoden blur the lines between Good and Evil. Still, all of the active servants of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings have not one spark of kindness or fellow feeling in them. We see, in Merry and Pippin's orc adventures and also here, as the wolves eat their dead allies, that all the servants of Sauron appear wicked through and through. They have no friendships, no loyalty—no humanizing qualities at all. How different would The Lord of the Rings be if Sauron or his servants were more three-dimensional as characters, with friendships or loves of their own (besides love of power and pain)?
Quote #6
It seemed to Frodo then that he heard, quite plainly, but far off, voices out of the past:
What a pity Bilbo did not stab the vile creature, when he had the chance!
Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. [...]
Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
"Very well," he answered aloud, lowering his sword. "But still I am afraid. And yet, as you see, I will not touch the creature. For now that I see him, I do pity him." (4.1.120-4)
Frodo has every reason to stab Gollum, and a few more to boot. Even so, Frodo remembers a conversation he has with Gandalf (The Fellowship of the Ring Book 1, Chapter 2) and feels pity for him. Frodo recognizes that there may be some higher purpose for Gollum, and he does not want to interfere. Humble, much, Frodo? In deference to the "ends" that "even the wise cannot see," Frodo spares Gollum's rather pathetic life. Morally speaking, this is probably the key moment in the entire Lord of the Rings arc, and it shows that Frodo isn't so sure about drawing stark lines between good and evil when it comes to folks like Gollum.
Quote #7
"We've got to get some sleep; but not both together with that hungry villain nigh, promise or no promise. Sméagol or Gollum, he won't change his habits in a hurry, I'll warrant. You go to sleep, Mr. Frodo, and I'll call you when I can't keep my eyelids propped up. Turn and about, same as before, while he's loose."
"Perhaps you're right, Sam," said Frodo speaking openly. "There is a change in him, but just what kind of a change and how deep, I'm not sure yet. Seriously though, I don't think there is any need for fear—at present. Still watch if you wish." (4.2.20-1)
There is a battle for Gollum's soul going on within him, between Sméagol (the relatively good side) and Gollum (the totally-possessed-by-the-Precious side). But there is also a battle going on between Sam and Frodo about Gollum's soul. Sam only sees Gollum as a threat and a nuisance. Frodo wants to believe in Gollum's ability to change, to find redemption. The most obvious reason why Frodo wants to see Gollum saved is that he is currently struggling against the Ring himself. But Tolkien has also claimed this lack of sympathy for Gollum as a failure on Sam's part—for more on this, check out our "Character Analysis" of Sam.
Quote #8
It had always been a notion of [Sam's] that the kindness of dear Mr. Frodo was of such a high degree that it must imply a fair measure of blindness. Of course, he also firmly held the incompatible belief that Mr. Frodo was the wisest person in the world (with the possible exception of Old Mr. Bilbo and of Gandalf). Gollum in his own way, and with much more excuse as his acquaintance was much briefer, may have made a similar mistake. At any rate, this speech [warning Gollum not to betray them, because Frodo has power over Gollum] abashed and terrified him. He grovelled on the ground and could speak no words but nice master. (4.3.27)
Excuse us for going back in time a little, but we promise: there is a point. One of the things that Gandalf scolds Gríma Wormtongue for is for constantly accusing other people of lying. Gandalf tells Wormtongue, "That word [lie] comes too oft and too easily from your lips" (3.6.126). Because Wormtongue lies all the time, he accuses others of doing the same. This idea assumes that you are more likely to suspect evil and deceit if you are evil or deceitful. Here, Sam and Gollum fall into a similar trap, though from very different perspectives. Sam thinks that Frodo is too kind to recognize when people are betraying him; Gollum (who has his own guilty conscience) assumes something similar. In fact Frodo is both kind and capable of seeing evil, which impresses his two companions.
Quote #9
"I am not going without him." His heart sank. This was too much like trickery. He did not really fear that Faramir would allow Gollum to be killed, but he would probably make him prisoner and bind him; and certainly what Frodo did would seem a treachery to the poor treacherous creature. It would probably be impossible ever to make him understand or believe that Frodo had saved his life in the only way he could. What else could he do?—to keep faith, as near as might be, with both sides. "Come!" he said. "Or the Precious will be angry." (4.6.52)
Frodo is in a moral pickle, and we don't envy him. He is wise enough to know that Gollum will be safer if he can trick Gollum to leave the pool at Henneth Annûn. But he is also wise enough to realize that Gollum will never either see why it was necessary, or trust Frodo again for having saved his life in this way. Frodo's faith in the example of Gandalf ("Frodo knew, too, somehow, quite clearly that Gandalf would not have wished [Gollum killed]" [4.6.38]) gets him into hot water with just about everyone, but maybe that's a sign of how worthwhile his mercy truly is. See, that's precisely the problem with moral choices—they are often unpopular.
Quote #10
"Take any [tale] that you're fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don't know. And you don't want them to."
"No, sir, of course not. Beren, now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it—and the Silmaril went on and came to Eärendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got—you've got some of the light of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! It's going on. Don't the great tales never end?"
"No, they never end as tales," said Frodo. "But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later—or sooner." (4.8.60-2)
Sam's sudden epiphany about his and Frodo's connection to the tales of Beren and Eärendil underlines the incredibly complex, multi-layered character of Tolkien's own mythology. Before even writing The Lord of the Rings cycle, Tolkien had already worked out the mythology of Middle-earth in the form of the Silmarillion. So Frodo and Sam are both "in the same tale" not only because they have inherited the fight against evil more generally, but also because Tolkien has created this closed circuit of tale-telling, in which even the characters in his own novels have read the rest of his fiction. Wow.