What is Gandalf Talking about?

[Armetiel]

In the TTT in the chapter The White Rider, Page 484 Gandalf says to Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas: (this is when he first reunites with them in Fangorn)

The Ring now has passed beyond my help, or the help of any of the Company that set out from Rivendell. Very nearly it was recealed to the Enemy, but it escaped. I had some part in that: for I sat in a high place, and I strove with the Dark Tower; and the Shadow passed.

I can't figure out what Gandalf is talking about here. Is he talking about the part in the FOTR when Frodo puts on the ring to hide from Boromir, because the eye of Sauron almost finds him then, but the shadow passed when Frodo took of the ring, so I don't understand what Gandalf would have done then...and if he's not talking about that episode, then what IS he talking about...I've read the whole LOTR many times, but I can't seem to figure this out lol.

[Sharkû]

If you remember, Frodo seemed to hear Gandalf's voice when he sat on Amon Hen in the scene you mentioned. At that time, Gandalf had just recently been brought back to life as Gandalf the White, and was either in Lórien, or, as he implies, sat on Gwaihir. Either way, he perceived the danger to the Ring, which was still relatively near, and helped the way he could.

[Armetiel]

Do you mean this quote?

He heard himself crying out: Never Never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not ell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring!

Because if so, then I assume that the last voice was Gandalfs? because it never says that it is Gandalf's anywhere, so I always assumed it was just another side of his personalitly, the stronger side, emerging since it doesn't say elsewise....

The only time I remember a memory of Gandalf at this scene is in the movie, but I'm sure J.R.R. Tolkien wouldn't have been talking about that in his book since he would not have seen it [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] lol

[Elassar 516]

When you put the quotes together I think it's safe to assume that the voice was Gandalf's, somehow 'mind-speaking' with Frodo, though I don't know how as Frodo was, of course, a hobbit, not an elf or Ainu.

[doug*platypus]

It's likely that Frodo's putting on the One Ring played a large part in Gandalf being able to communicate with him. In Lórien, Galadriel knows exactly how many times Frodo has previously worn the Ring. Likewise, as soon as Sauron forged the One and wore it for the first time, the bearers of the Three Elven Rings were aware of him and his intentions.

Gandalf would have been able to perceive Frodo through his own ring, Narya. Similarly, Sauron came very close to discovering Frodo because he was wearing It, and because he was on Amon Hen. There are no other times when Sauron comes so close to sensing Frodo.

[Elassar 516]

I don't think it had anything to do with the rings of power, but that has been discussed in the thread http://forum.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin...745&p=1#000020

[Armetiel]

Doug, thanks, that makes a whole lot more sense to me now...i just wonder why it isn't mentioned that the little voice in his head is Gandalf's and not his own lol but I guess it's because Frodo himself didn't realize this and because we are still supposed to think that Gandalf is dead at that point.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 11:06 PM January 22, 2004: Message edited by: Armetiel ]

[Osse]

I agree that the time of peril is frodo's encounter on Amon Hen, however i disagree to the point that it is gandalfs voice in his head. Gandalf wrenched Sauron's will towards himself... rather than let his gaze pass onto frodo. I always believed that it was frodo wising up and his stronger hobbit sense kindling that stoked him to take the ring off, perhaps gandalf had something to do with it... i doubt it.

Osse

[Potatothan]

It could be me, but I think I saw in the appencices (sp?) that at the time that Frodo weared the ring at Amon Hen, Gandalf challenged the dark tower to draw Sauron's gaze away from frodo. Because the sence of sauron passed over frodo and then turned north and dissapeared, I think this is Gandalf's work because he battled the dark tower at that moment. Like Galadriel did so many times.

This is what I just base on the little memory I have of a passage, it could be true, but I don't think that Gandalf had a mind to mind connection with Frodo, for Frodo would have been clever enough to regocnise Gandalf's voice. Even faster now that he needed him most. And Frodo did not know that Gandalf was alive until he woke up in Minas Tirith.

~Potatothan

[inglorion]

The actual text is:

He heard himself crying out: 'Never, never!' Or was it: 'Verily I come, I come to you?' He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: 'Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take of the Ring!'

'Another point of power' seems to refer to some external source of input besides the one Sauron is providing. Gandalf himself says he had some part in the escape of the revealing of the Ring, and I don't think Gandalf is the kind of person who tells you stories about himself that aren't entirely true. Apart from this, the most compelling evidence for proving it was Gandalf, is the fact that the word 'fool' is used. The hobbits, with their naive and care-free behaviours, were extremely good at pushing the boundaries of Gandalf's short and sometimes fierce temper. (F.e. 'Fool of a Took' in Moria)