How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph).
Quote #1
"I serve only the Lord of the Mark, Théoden King son of Thengel," answered Éomer. "We do not serve the Power of the Black Land far away, but neither are we yet at open war with him; and if you are fleeing from him, then you had best leave this land. There is trouble now on all our borders, and we are threatened; but we desire only to be free, and to live as we have lived, keeping our own, and serving no foreign lord, good or evil. We welcomed guests kindly in the better days, but in these times the unbidden stranger finds us swift and hard." (3.2.124)
Gondor is obviously committed to the anti-Sauron fight, but Rohan's position is, in a way, more interesting. According to Éomer, the people of the Riddermark just want to be free, and to mind their own business, thank you very much. They aren't openly committed to either Good or Evil, the way the Elves and the descendants of the Men of Westernesse are. Still, Rohan is going to get pulled into this conflict whether they like it or not.
Quote #2
But Isengard cannot fight Mordor, unless Saruman first obtains the Ring. That he will never do now. He does not yet know his peril. There is much that he does not know. He was so eager to lay his hands on his prey that he could not wait at home, and he came forth to meet and spy on his messengers. But he came too late, for once, and the battle was over and beyond his help before he reached these parts. He did not remain here long. I look into his mind and I see his doubt. He has no woodcraft. He believes that the horsemen slew and burned all upon the field of battle; but he does not know whether the Orcs were bringing any prisoners or not. And he does not know of the quarrel between his servants and the Orcs of Mordor; nor does he know of the Winged Messenger. (3.5.98)
As Gandalf is explaining the Saruman situation to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, we see the damage that pride does to a person. Saruman is so certain of his own awesomeness that he can't see where he's weak. In isolating himself from all possible allies (except his buddy Sauron, whom he is also trying to betray), he has cut himself off from networks of information that would really help him out. Whatever you may say about Sauron, at least he's smart enough to have Winged Messengers. Saruman doesn't have any lieutenants who he can really trust—not even wretched, craven Gríma Wormtongue.
Quote #3
"A man may love you and yet not love Wormtongue or his counsels," said Aragorn.
"That may be. I will do as you ask. Call Háma to me. Since he proved untrusty as a doorward, let him become an errand-runner. The guilty shall bring the guilty to judgement," said Théoden, and his voice was grim, yet he looked at Gandalf and smiled and as he did so many lines of care were smoothed away and did not return. (3.6.81-2)
Gríma Wormtongue is so successful at wreaking havoc in Rohan because he managed to isolate Théoden from all the folks who might disagree with Wormtongue's own sneaky advice. For example, he gets Théoden to toss his extremely loyal nephew, Éomer, into jail, just so he's the only one whispering in the King's ear. But the reversal of Wormtongue's evils is also remarkably quick: as soon as Gandalf restores Théoden's allies to him, and as soon as Gandalf brings him new allies (Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli), he perks up visibly—those "many lines of care were smoothed away and did not return." Companionship is like the Fountain of Youth for Théoden.
Quote #4
[Théoden] was silent. "Ents!" he said at length. "Out of the shadows of legend I begin a little to understand the marvels of the trees, I think. I have lived to see strange days. Long we have tended our beasts and our fields, built our houses, wrought our tools, or ridden away to help in the wars of Minas Tirith. And that we called the life of Men, the way of the world. We cared little for what lay beyond the borders of our land. Songs we have that tell of these things, but we are forgetting them, teaching them only to children, as a careless custom. And now the songs have come down among us out of strange places, and walk visible under the Sun." (3.8.70)
As Théoden points out here, the men of Rohan have a bad case of tunnel vision. They have been so occupied with their own business over the years that they have forgotten to look around them at the larger world. But clearly, this could also be taken as a larger critique of the way that contemporary people interact with folklore. Tolkien's work in life (besides Middle-earth) was the study of ancient Norse and Old English sagas and poems. These were tales of great deeds written for people of all ages. Now, many of the contents of those tales—dragons and gods and so on—are the stuff of kids' stories. Théoden admits, "Songs we have that tell of these things, but we are forgetting them, teaching them only to children, as a careless custom." One of the great tasks of the world of The Lord of the Rings is to redeem these children's stories, told "as a careless custom," for adults. Fantasy literature is all about taking things that seem absurd according to "the way of the world"—wizards and elves and so on—and using these folkloric elements to convey something more profound than you might expect from children's stories.
Quote #5
Understand one another? I fear I am beyond your comprehension. But you, Saruman, I understand too well. I keep a clearer memory of your arguments, and deeds, than you suppose. When last I visited you, you were the jailor of Mordor, and there I was to be sent. Nay, the guest who has escaped from the roof, will think twice before he comes back in by the door. Nay, I do not think I will come up. But listen, Saruman, for the last time! Will you not come down? Isengard has proved less strong than your hope and fancy made it. So may other things in which you still have trust. Would it not be well to leave it for a while? To turn to new things, perhaps? Think well, Saruman! Will you not come down? (3.10.45)
Saruman is now isolated in just about every way possible, as Gandalf points out here. He's literally trapped in a tower with no company other than Gross—oops we mean Gríma Wormtongue. But he is also figuratively isolated, in the sense that he has no friends, no master, and, quite frankly, no hope. But Saruman's troubles are less interesting to us than Gandalf's own new form of isolation. He fears that he is "beyond [Saruman's] comprehension." Honestly, he seems beyond the comprehension of anyone on the good side. He is not all-powerful, but he's still the strongest being in this book besides maybe Sauron, and it's lonely at the top.
Quote #6
For a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum had shrunk: a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud, and at his feet a little whining dog. Yet the two were in some way akin and not alien: they could reach one another's minds. Gollum raised himself and began pawing at Frodo, fawning at his news. (4.1.162)
Horrible he may be, but Gollum is a Ring-bearer just as Frodo is. In fact, he has held the Ring for a whole lot longer than Frodo ever will. They are strangely bonded by this experience, which isolates Sam, who can't quite understand it until he's a Ring-bearer himself. As Frodo starts to fall prey to the Ring (becoming more and more Gollum-like, unfortunately), Sam has to step in and give us a bit of sanity to hold onto as readers. After all, if Sam began to understand Frodo as well as Gollum does, he would be possessed by the Ring just like, well, almost everyone else.
Quote #7
Hobbits, must see, must try to understand. He does not expect attack that way. His Eye is all round, but it attends more to some places than to others. He can't see everything all at once, not yet. You see, He has conquered all the country west of the Shadowy Mountains down to the River, and He holds the bridges now. He thinks no one can come to the Moontower without fighting big battle at the bridges, or getting lots of boats which they cannot hide and he will know about. (4.3.43)
This whole Ring quest has begun with the premise that Sauron is too cocky to be careful. He doesn't imagine that an attack can come from within Mordor itself, or he would be more careful about patrolling the lands he believes already conquered. Sauron is confident in his own isolation from the rest of Middle-earth because there are so many natural barriers protecting him in Mordor: the Dead Marshes, the mountains of Ephel Dúath and Erel Lithui, and even the River of Anduin.
Quote #8
Maybe Frodo felt it, not knowing it, as he had upon Amon Hen, even though he believed that Gandalf was gone, gone for ever into the shadow in Moria far away. He sat upon the ground for a long while, silent, his head bowed, striving to recall all that Gandalf had said to him. But for this choice he could recall no counsel. Indeed Gandalf's guidance had been taken from them too soon, too soon, while the Dark Land was still very far away. How they should enter it at last Gandalf had not said. Perhaps he could not say. Into the stronghold of the Enemy in the North, into Dol Guldur, [Gandalf] had once ventured. But into Mordor, to the Mountain of Fire and to Barad-dûr, since the Dark Lord rose in power again, had he ever journeyed there? Frodo did not think so. And here he was a little halfling from the Shire, a simple hobbit of the quiet countryside, expected to find a way where the great ones could not go, or dared not go. It was an evil fate. (4.3.59)
There is a moment very like this in The Hobbit (though of course, the stakes are much lower in that book). Bilbo is left by himself (since Gandalf is on the very trip to Dol Guldur that Frodo references here), alone in Mirkwood, knowing that his dwarf companions are in trouble and not knowing how to help. At that moment, Bilbo must become the decider, not only of his own fate, but also of his dwarf friends' futures. It is in this moment that Bilbo becomes a leader. Now, Frodo is facing much, much worse odds, but he'll become a much better leader for it.
Quote #9
"But the day is getting darker instead of lighter: darker and darker. As far as I can tell, it isn't midday yet, and you've only slept for about three hours."
"I wonder what's up," said Sam. "Is there a storm coming? If so it's going to be the worst there ever was. We shall wish we were down a deep hole, not just stuck under a hedge." He listened. "What's that? Thunder or drums, or what is it?"
"I don't know," said Frodo. "It's been going on for a good while now. Sometimes the ground seems to tremble, sometimes it seems to be the heavy air throbbing in your ears." (4.7.49-51)
Even though their quest is, to be frank, the most important part of the novel, Frodo and Sam are geographically isolated. That means they don't get to stay up to date on the latest goings on in Middle-earth. But this sudden perspective on the distant drums and the deepening darkness reminds us that what is distracting Sauron from his own backyard, which Sam and Frodo are currently creeping through, is probably Aragorn and the armies of Gondor. This chapter gives us a few paragraphs to stop and contemplate what the rest of the Company is doing, before we go into the narrow, creepy tunnels of Cirith Ungol.
Quote #10
Frodo stirred. And suddenly his heart went out to Faramir. "The storm has burst at last," he thought. "This great array of spears and swords is going to Osgiliath. Will Faramir get across in time? He guessed it, but did he know the hour? And who can now hold the fords when the King of the Nine Riders comes? And other armies will come. I am too late. All is lost. I tarried on the way. All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be in vain." Overcome with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge.
Then at a great distance, as if it came out of memories of the Shire, some sunlit early morning, when the day called and doors were opening, he heard Sam's voice speaking. "Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up!" (4.8.25-6)
Frodo is sitting in the middle of direst danger near Minas Morgul, watching a troop of wraiths march out of the fortress, and he thinks suddenly of Faramir? If Shmoop were in his position, we think we'd be too scared for our own skins to worry about Faramir getting across the bridges of Gondor in time. But what suddenly strikes Frodo with such despair is the idea that he is lost in this horrible country on an errand that is fruitless, that no one will ever know about. What draws him out of this "weakness" is the voice of Sam, who reminds Frodo, even if only briefly, that he is not alone. Companionship is at least some help in avoiding despair.