Answering the Call

Frodo

The light sprang up again, and there on the brink of the chasm, at the very Crack of Doom, stood Frodo, black against the glare, tense, erect, but still as if he had been turned to stone.

"Master!" cried Sam.

Then Frodo stirred and spoke with a clear voice, indeed with a voice clearer and more powerful than Sam had ever heard him use, and it rose above the throb and turmoil of Mount Doom, ringing in the roof and the walls.

"I have come," he said. "But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!" ...

The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made... Then his wrath blazed in consuming flame, but his fear rose like a vast black smoke to choke him. For he knew his deadly peril and the thread upon which his doom now hung.

From all his policies and webs of fear and treachery, from all his stratagems and wars his mind shook free; and throughout his realm a tremor ran, his slaves quailed, and his armies halted, and his captains suddenly steerless, bereft of will, wavered and despaired. For they were forgotten. The whole mind and purpose of the Power that wielded them was now bent with overwhelming force upon the Mountain. At his summons, wheeling with a rending cry, in a last desperate race there flew, faster than the winds, the Nazgûl, the Ringwraiths, and with a storm of wings they hurtled southwards to Mount Doom.

– RotK, Mount Doom

Upon hearing the Ring's warning, Frodo turned from the fiery pit. Sam lay on the ground while Gollum stalked him, or where the creature judged him to be. Frodo watched him approach, keeping still, and when the creature came within reach, Frodo grabbed him by the throat. "And what do you think you're doing, Gollum?"

The hobbit thanked the Ring silently for alerting him for a second time to Gollum's presence. Frodo had heard Its adulation for months, but recently he had begun to listen. During their rocky ascent of the mountain, the Ring had praised his strength. It had hinted that through his suffering he had earned the right to claim It. And while he contemplated those words, the Ring had warned him of danger just as Gollum had attacked them, and so Frodo had held onto the Ring. Now, as the Ring lauded him for claiming his due, It again warned of Gollum's approach, and Frodo had turned in time to stop Gollum's final attempt at claiming his Precious.

"You think to get the Ring for yourself, finally? You think you can take It from me?" He threw Gollum down onto the rock. Frodo was pleased with the new power he heard in his voice. "Don't fool yourself, Gollum. The Ring is mine, and mine It shall remain." He bent close to Gollum's face. "Now, if you swear allegiance to me, and truly do not plan any treachery, perhaps, just perhaps, I will allow you a moment to gaze upon It on occasion. What say you, Gollum?"

Gollum stared back at him, or rather the direction from which his voice came. Frodo saw the fury lighting Gollum's eyes as he lunged blindly at him, latching on to the hobbit's arm by chance. The Ring made Frodo far stronger now, and he flung Gollum onto the rock. The creature quickly made ready for another lunge.

"Enough. You have failed! It is mine now!"

"No!" he muttered, "The Precious...."

"If you continue, you will never see the Precious again."

Gollum became utterly still, and Frodo saw the fight leave him as his body drooped. Eventually, he nodded. "We swears. We will be true to Master. "

"I will know if you lie, Gollum. Remember that." Gollum nodded mutely and shuddered. Frodo's tracks in the dust moved silently past him.

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