Lord of the Rings: the Ring’s Addiction Essay

â€Å"One ring to rule them all, One ring to find them/ One ring to bring them all and in the darkness blind them/ In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.† (p. 8) This was said at the beginning of the story telling a brief summary of the ring of Sauron. The poem tells you how the ring will blind you to the point that the need that you will feel of it will be bigger than anything in the world. It will be so big that it becomes an addiction, worse than any drug in the word, because there is no cure for it, and the only way you can save yourself is by the destruction of this powerful ring. Addiction, this is what the ring symbolizes; a psychological need to have something. It changes everything in you. First, it wins you over and then, you will never be the same person. Addiction can change anyone from the best person you have ever known to the worst. It controls and blinds you to the point where you lose yourself. We see this addiction mostly in every character in the story; even the most powerful were tempted by it. In the book we see the addiction of the ring in many different ways throughout many different characters; three of these different ways are: the possession of it, the fear of losing it, and the wanting of it. We first see the change of the characters when they have in possession of it throughout Gollum and Bilbo, then throughout the story we begin to see it in Frodo, but it will grow stronger and stronger every second of every day. Gollum wasn’t always this repulsive creature, but he was a regular hobbit named Smeagol; he was just another victim of the ring. He possessed the ring for approximately five hundred years, and not much of a surprise this ring ruined him fiscally and emotionally. The fist terrible thing he did for the possession of the ring was to kill his brother; then he went to a cave and stood there all alone with only the company of â€Å"his precious†, the ring of Sauron. He turned from this hobbit to an old deformed nasty creature who was kept alive because of the ring, he became a cannibal, he only lived to see that ring every day, and since the first time he saw the ring he was just another slave, another addict to that â€Å"drug†. He now has two sides, Gollum and Smeagol. Gollum was his nasty evil side who was created by the ring and the possession of it for so long, and Smeagol was his still hobbit side which was innocent and in a way bullied and ruled by Gollum; he was a slave in him own body and he couldn’t control himself anymore, because he was loosing sense of who he was. Some may say Gollum is pure evil and deserved to die, like Frodo said at the beginning of the story. We see in the story that Tolkien never referred to Gollum as Smeagol because even though he may fool others and even himself Gollum had evil in him, and that would never change. We also see changes in Bilbo Baggins, but not as big as a change like we see in Smeagol, maybe because Smeagol had it for a longer time and was all alone in a cave for several years. Bilbo’s change wasn’t so big, he had to feel the ring close to him always but he didn’t lose himself as much as Smeagol. This doesn’t change the fact that he was obsessed by the ring. In â€Å"The Fellowship of the Ring† we see Bilbo’s change when Gandalf asks him to leave to ring to Bilbo as he has left everything else, and because of that Bilbo shouts to Gandalf, â€Å"Well, if you want the ring yourself say so! But you won’t get it. I won’t give my Precious away, I tell you.†(p. 34). This is when we see that hint of Gollum in Bilbo, when he calls the ring his Preci ous, a clear sign that he is transforming into Gollum one day at a time. Gandalf was very shocked and got very angry because he could not believe what he heard and how his old friend Bilbo believes he was convincing him to leave the ring for his own pleasure, when he was only trying to convince him so that he would not turn into Gollum or anything near him (but he almost did). He finally left the ring to his nephew, but with Frodo we don’t actually see a change in him throughout these two books but we do see how the ring is temping him to put it on so Sauron can find it, we also see how Frodo is very protective of the ring, such as Bilbo and Gollum, who thought that everyone was going to take it away from them (and sometimes, actually most of the time it was a true feeling). Another change we see because of this addiction is the fear of losing it. Like all Drug addicts, when you don’t have the drug, and you desperately need it you transform into another person who would do anything to have the â€Å"drug† (in this case the ring); again, the best example for this is Gollum who even after losing the ring always followed Frodo through the entire story with the hope of having the chance of taking the ring back so he can again be with â€Å"his preciousâ€Å". In the book we see that in many parts Frodo and others of the company like Gandalf and Strider see a shadow of a creature following them and in time Gandalf explained that it is actually Gollum. He will never accept the fact that the ring is with someone else because he needs it, he needs his drug. Finally the last type of addiction we see is the wanting of the ring. We see this addiction in many characters, even in people in the company of the ring especially in Boromir the general of Gondor. We see the this need of Boromir in taking the ring away from Frodo mostly at the end of the story when he transforms himself into this violent person because he wanted the ring from Frodo supposedly to save his people. Two of the most impressive changes we see in Gandalf and Galadriel, but their wills were strong enough to pass the test and succeed in denying the ring. In Gandalf we see it at the beginning of the story when Frodo was very scared and offers Gandalf this powerful ring. Even though he was very tempted by the ring in the book he said, â€Å"No! With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the ring will gain a power still greater and more deadly† (p. 61). This showed how strong he really was and with this he passed the test. With Galadriel we see it later in the book when Frodo said to her, â€Å"You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel. I will give you the one ring if you ask for it.† (p. 365). After this she explains that her heart desires the ring very much and now she is being offered it freely by Frodo and then she said, â€Å"†¦And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the morning and the night! Fair as the sea and the sun and the snow upon the mountain! Dreadful as the storm and the lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair.†(p. 365). She transformed herself as the ring was trying to control her, but she managed to control the urge of having the most powerful ring and passed the test. An addict can only save himself with the elimination of the drug and a strong will power to continue without it; this also applies to this powerful ring of Sauron; the only way to overcome this wanting is to have these qualities and much more. Because the ring is so powerful one person alone cannot succeed in destroying it, this is why the company of the ring was created. Throughout the story many people wanted Frodo to fail just so they could get the ring, this was how strong the addiction was, but there would always be those who their will power was strong enough to succeed, and those few are the ones who will accompany you to the end; these few are a need in adventures like this, because the ring is so powerful that one person alone cannot do the job. In this case it was Samwise Gamgee who told Frodo in the story when he was planning to leave, â€Å"†¦All alone and without me to help you? I couldn’t have a borne it, it’s have been the death of me.†(p.406). T he little hobbit demonstrated how friendship can overcome any addiction in the world and that with the help of a true friend we can overcome every struggle and every blinding need that we would ever have. References: Tolkien J.R.R. (2005). The Lord of the Rings (50th anniversary). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt