Branded in the Tower of Cirith Ungol?

[Lyta_Underhill]

I have been looking for this picture online for awhile, and I also noticed this in both of my viewings of ROTK. It appears, from this picture (hosted on my own webspace, BTW, BW! ) that Frodo has been branded with the symbol of the Eye of Mordor. <BR> <BR>I don't recall that being mentioned in the books, but since it appears to be included in the movie, I wonder at its significance. It seems to be one of those added details that may be more fully explored in the EE. Gorbag, of course, was of Minas Morgul, which had a different symbol (crescent moons or something, I cannot remember), while Shagrat's groups was from Lugburz (Barad-Dur). I wonder if Shagrat branded Frodo or if it was Gorbag, and whether this is a manufactured point of contention, since they do fight over everything else on Frodo!<P>When I mentioned the question in the chat room the other eve of whether Frodo looked to be branded, most people seemed to think it was a bruise, but here it really looks like the Eye. Tell me what you think, or if you mod types out there think this is inappropriate as a new topic, I'll move the text to the Frodo thread or perhaps the Minas Morgul thread (is there a Cirith Ungol thread?). <P>Cheers!<BR>Lyta