Mercy
The transfer of the One Ring from Gollum to Bilbo, Frodo’s predecessor, occured as follows:
Gollum accidentally dropped the One Ring in an orc-mine, deep under the Misty Mountains. Bilbo then found the ring and also met Gollum. Bilbo beat Gollum in a game of riddles, which allowed him to keep the ring, due to the way in which he had worded his riddle.
Gollum then pursued Bilbo murderously, with the intention of getting the One Ring back. The following events, retold by Tolkien in his introduction to The Lord of the Rings, then occurred:
| At length they came to a halt before an unseen opening that led to the lower gates of the mines, on the eastward side of the mountains. There Gollum crouched at bay, smelling and listening; and Bilbo was tempted to slay him with his sword.
But pity stayed him, and though he kept the ring, in which his only hope lay, he would not use it to help him kill the wretched creature at a disadvantage. In the end, gathering his courage, he leaped over Gollum in the dark, and fled away down the passage, pursued by his enemy’s cries of hate and despair… |
Bilbo could not bear to use his sword against a defenceless enemy. Even while Gollum was trying to kill him, he preserved his moral integrity and sense of justice.
Preservation of goodness
Gandalf the Wizard predicted that Bilbo’s act of mercy, would unleash a fortuitous chain of events that would save Frodo and the free world (The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 2, The Shadow Of The Past):
| “I am sorry,” said Frodo. “But I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum.”
“You have not seen him,” Gandalf broke in. “No, and I don’t want to,” said Frodo. “I can’t understand you… He deserves death.” “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many—yours not least.” |
And indeed this is what happened in the end. Gollum stole the ring back from Frodo, at the moment of his supreme peril, and then perished together with the ring.
Bilbo made a deposit in the universal bank of good feeling, when he showed mercy to Gollum. And this deposit was withdrawn, when Frodo’s moral fibre was insufficient for the magnitude of the task required of him.
Conclusion
Despite the great wars that were fought against Sauron, the Dark Lord, it was one small act of mercy that saved the free world from slavery and destruction.
Tolkien’s message is that often it is not great valour that wins over evil, but it is rather small unnoticed acts of kindness and mercy that triumph over indifference and moral turpitude. And in the end, in the fight for good, no charitable act ever goes to waste.
