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Today we take a look at the assault on the North, this time in Erebor. In his massive attacks on the cultures of Middle-earth, Sauron was not going to overlook a thing. Every stronghold of the free peoples was being targeted in the Dark Lord's attempt to leave no stone unturned in their annihilation. Today the North pays dearly for the price of their freedom from the Enemy.

In The New Tolkien Companion, Tyler wrote...

Meanwhile from Cirith Ungol, a very strange turn of events. The Orc Shagrat has wrestled free the precious treasure that he is determined to present to Sauron - the wonderful prizes of Frodo's cloak, mail-shirt, and sword without ever knowing that the true prize eludes him. It is safe for a time with Sam. What do you suppose Sauron, in all his evil wisdom, thought when receiving these tantalizing yet truly worthless tokens? The reader is left to wonder how the great Sauron was so completely duped by the diversion of Aragorn and the Host, that he paid so little heed to the meaning of the treasures brought by Shagrat from Cirith Ungol. Where was the Ring?

It is said that the key to a good offence is a great defence but, I think, sometimes the key to a good offence is a great bluff.

The difference between arrogance and humility is less in the actions taken and more in the attitude and the motivations behind the actions. A humble person can seek to use his own power not for his own gain but for the benefit of a greater community that holds his love. Further, the love that the humble person feels is inclusive rather than exclusive. In contrast, the arrogant person can not conceive that a humble person thinks this way. All his actions lie in pulling power to himself for his own gain and benefit.

This is one difference between Aragorn and Gandalf, and Sauron. Knowing that Sauron will assume that they will do all that they can to cement their power, Aragorn and Gandalf gather the host and, with great fanfare, set out to assault the Black Gate of Mordor. Thus, they hope to keep Sauron's eye fixed on this false threat while the true threat creeps ever closer to mount Doom.

And what of Frodo and Sam? It is rough and tedious going for them. They are aware that Gollum is on their trail and yet they are forced to follow the road because the terrain is too rough to cross. For a while their luck with the road holds out but on this day, it fails them and they are swept up into a company of orcs going to the Black Gate. Frodo is past the end of his strength and Sam is nearing the end of his when, as is often the case with the orcs, a fight breaks out between two merging companies. Under the cover of the ensuing chaos Frodo and Sam slip away and off the road where, while trying to get even farther away, Frodo falls into a pit and lays there like one dead.

"So the desperate journey went on, as the Ring went south and the banners of the kings rode north."

This is the "dreadful nightfall," four days since Frodo and Sam escaped the orcs and continued to travel the road to Orodruin. Tolkien calls it their hour of "blank despair"--Frodo has not spoken all day and walks stumbling and bent over, shrinking from the Eye that never ceases to watch him. He is nearly at the end of his will's endurance; Sam notices that he spends much of his time alternately reaching for the Ring and withdrawing his hand from it as he masters himself yet again. "Now as the blackness of the night returned Frodo sat, his head between his knees, his arms hanging wearily to the ground where his hands lay feebly twitching." Darkness covers the land, and Sam, somewhat stronger than his Master, turns to his own worries, particularly about Frodo's condition, and the fact they have no water left. He can do little about either, and finally rests. But his sleep is broken by sounds and lights and cries, both real and imagined --and by the pale lights of Gollum's eyes.

Tolkien's evocation of the hobbits' utter emotional exhaustion leaves the reader wounded as well; we grieve with the suppression of Frodo's essentially optimistic nature, and begin to realize that no matter how the quest turns out, he will never be same. Perhaps nothing else lost in the War of the Ring hurts as much.


In Lorien, Galadriel and Celeborn's Elves repel the third assault from Dol Guldur; the enemy will not be able to regroup before Sauron's defeat, and Dol Guldur will fall to Lorien.

Today is yet another one of those days where even small things that happen carry great significance. In one simple gesture, Frodo and Sam show us that they are at the end of their rope. They are singularly focused on the destruction of the Ring and the burden of that task has taken its toll. All Sam can do for Frodo at this point is to care for him in any way possible that allows him to continue his quest. The journey now looks like a one way trip. The journey has a 'there', but the 'back again' appears impossible. So Sam lightens the load. As he tosses their gear into a ravine, his heart is broken at the sound of his pots and pans clattering away into the deep. It is as if he has bid farewell to the Shire.

Of equal significance is Aragorn's continuing journey, not just towards the Black Gate and confrontation with Sauron, but his own personal journey from Man to King. In one simple empathetic act, he gives honor to those who succumb to the horror of the sight of Mordor, while still rallying the hope of the stalwart and encouraging the hearts of all. In releasing the fearful to lesser duties in the defense of Cair Andros, I have to agree with Kocher who says... "Characteristically, he has done it with pity for weakness but without giving up the principle that duty requires those to go on who can."

"From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be King."