The mystery of Sauron's lost finger

[Rilwen Gamgee]

One of the most memorable occurrences in the Battle of Dagorlad: Isildur cutting off Sauron’s finger and claiming the Ring. Now, possibly Tolkien did not want to delve into this matter further, but it brought about much pondering between my sister and I: exactly what happened to Sauron’s finger after it was severed? Did Elrond, on his way leading Isildur up Mt. Doom, stoop to pick it up, put it in his pocket, and bring it back to Rivendell to encase in a glass box for preservation?

My sister and I have looked for information, but have found none. Perhaps we looked in the wrong place? (As we don’t own HoME, we could not search there.) So, as wild as they may be, what are your thoughts?

[elronds_daughter]

an excellent question. I personally have never come across any information as regards this, and have really never thought of it. but now the gears are turning. what did happen to Sauron's finger? perhaps Isildur took it (along with the ring) to be an heirloom. or maybe a passing orc picked it up and took a bite, promptly decided it was not worth sinking his fangs into, and threw it out. there are many possiblities. I leave the rest to you.

Cheers!

Elrond's (other) daughter

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Agreed. Too much is heard of the Eye. We need stories about the Finger.

Good topic! If I ever have a funny suggestion I will post it.

[Kransha]

Well, I have a theory, which would only be appropriate in a mirthful forum...

Sauron (read: Gorthaur) was, as is known, Maiar. When, beneath the flames of Orodruin, he was slain inadvertantly by Isildur, the son took the Ring, forgetting rather absent-mindedly to dump it in Mt. Doom's fires. The finger most likely lay where it fell, severed from Sauron along with the Ring. Sauron was forced, when he returned an age later, to re-use the same body, as his spirit had 'fled far away and hid in waste places,' since Gollum notes in The Two Towers that the body, new or old, of the Dark Lord had nine fingers, leading us to believe that the same bereft, semi-disintegrated cadaver of Sauron was used again. But, that corpse was, as I said, 'bereft of life' (pining for the fjords, really).

What was not so bereft, was the finger, leeching Sauron's essence. It survived, lived on, after Sauron's body was removed from its moved moveliness, so to speak (senseless, I know). Thus, the Finger of Sauron remained living and probably crawled off cautiously while Elrond and Isildur babbled on about rings and things and Balrog wings. Over the years, and with the return of Sauron, it obviously decided not to return to its master, for he remains minus a finger, and lived reclusively, much like Shelob in Cirith Ungol.

As far as I know it, one can deduce the whereabouts of the Finger from the more conjectural sections of The History of Middle-Earth. In the north, near the foundation of Angmar, west of Carn Dum, sits a small pass in the upermost Misty Mountains known as Cirith Knukol, or The Pass of the Finger. Why else would it be named thus unless something finger-like lurked there? The roaming Khazad who ventued there in search of petroleum nitrate where never heard from again, now were the elusive 'company of Halfling Archers' sent to the aid of Earnur to retake Arthedain from the Witch-King. The Elves and Men who fought the Witch-Kings orcs tell no tales of Hobbit bravery, and deny openly that the hobbits were present. We must conclude that the hapless perrianath went astray and were devoured by the Finger. What say ye all?

[One of the Nine]

I think an orc ate it, personally. It may not have tasted to good to him, but it was food that he needed. That's my opinion, although Kransha does have a point, I'm sticking with the meeting with an orcs stomach.

[Bombadil]

Ah yes Kransha, I see you possess a great knowledge of what happenned to the ring. But your story ends too soon. You see the finger then crawled to the Old Forest and became Tom Bombadil. Mystery solved! When Tom refers to being around before the dark lord came from the outside he simply forgot about his former lord Melkor, noting Sauron as the only dark lord. Thus Sauron must've come into Arda hands first.

Now, this is why when Tom puts on the ring he is not affected, for it's old news to him. He had worn the thing for years before, and never went invisible either may I note. So there you have it: Tom Bombadil is not a Maia, Vala, Eru, a forest spirit, nor an enigma. It's simple- he is the finger of Sauron.

[Firefoot]

You see, when the Finger cut off, Isildur took it and put it in his pocket, where he promptly forgot about it. When he returned to Minas Tirith, he had it mummified and placed in a small box. He brought the box with him on his way up the Anduin, where he was as everyone knows, waylaid by Orcs and killed. The Finger was not given to Ohtar to take to Rivendell, as Isildur was in the middle of battle and had much more important things to think about than Sauron's Finger. When Isildur tried to swim to safety, the box with the Finger floated out of his pocket to shore, where an Orc found it. The said Orc was actually one of the Goblins of Moria, and he took it back to the caves in the Misty Mountains. However, being a dim-witted sort of creature, he could not figure out how to open the box, and abandoned the box, for he had no use for something that he could not understand. The box laid in the tunnels until several hundred years later Gollum found the box and took it to his little island underneath the mountains. When he left to find Bilbo and his precious, he happened to take the little box with him. Miraculously enough, he was able to hide the box from Sauron when he went to Mordor, though he was not so lucky when he was captured by Aragorn and taken to Mirkwood. The Elves discovered the trick to opening the box, and realized what it actually was. Legolas then took it with him when he went to the Council of Elrond. It was there decided that it should be destroyed along with the Ring, as long as Frodo was going to Mt. Doom anyways. So Frodo took it with him, and when he got to Mt. Doom he had no trouble casting the Finger into the Fire (alas that the same could not be said of the Ring!). So ended the journey of Sauron's finger.

[Rilwen Gamgee]

These are great theories, everyone!

My sister just informed me that she didn't think of this herself. She found the original idea here: on the "Tolkien Sarcasm Page".

perhaps Isildur took it (along with the ring) to be an heirloom.

Possibly...

Elrond approached Aragorn and presented him with the heirlooms of his line. One was the Scepter of Arnor-- and the other, a mysterious gift carefully wrapped in black cloth.

“You, Aragorn son of Arathorn, are the rightful King of Gondor. Take these heirlooms which have been bestowed upon thee in honour and rule well! Here is the Scepter of Arnor,” and he carefully placed it in Aragorn’s hands, “and…the One Finger.” Elrond raised the small item and unwrapped it as one would with a deadly creature. And behold! in the midst of the cloth there lay a black finger. It seemed no less fearful than if it was still attached to its master’s hand and emitted a cold chill into the air.

Aragorn looked upon Elrond with disbelief and fear. “The Finger? The one that was severed from Sauron’s hand? Alas! that is a foul token!”

[Bombadil]

How could a finger like Bombadil get Goldberry for a wife?

Ah yes, well you see this is why Bombadil had to kidnap Goldberry:

He caught her, held her fast! Water-rats went scuttering
reeds hissed, herons cried, and her heart was fluttering.
Said Tom Bombadil: 'Here's my pretty maiden!
You shall come home with me! The table is all laden:
yellow cream, honeycomb, white bread and butter;
roses at the window-sill and peeping round the shutter.
You shall come under Hill! Never mind your mother
in her deep weedy pool: there you'll find no lover!'

Then over time she developed the stockholm syndrome and fell in love with Tom.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

I presume then, that Tom Bombadil was destroyed when the One Ring went into the fire. Gandalf clearly hid this fact from the Hobbits by refusing to take them with him into the Old Forest. 'Away to see Tom' indeed! Instead he sent them to the Shire all alone where they almost got themselves killed in a big battle.

Or maybe Bombadil wasn't destroyed, and the War betwixt Gandalf and Sauron continued into the Fourth Age.

[Thorongil]

And why do you think he went to the forest? To make sure the finger was gone, of course!

But why would Saurons finger help Frodo?

[Nimrothiel]

Frodo gave him a half-off coupon for a manicure at "Hard as Nails."