“Fellowship of the Ring” (Shadow of the Past) by J. R. R. Tolkien (post 4): Ring’s Powers Explained by Hypnosis; Characters May Have Multiple Personality.

The second chapter of The Lord of the Rings introduces three powers of the Ring and four main characters (Frodo Baggins; Sauron the Great, the Dark Lord; Gandalf, wizard; and Sméagol nicknamed Gollum).

The Ring, Personified

The gold “Ring” (always capitalized like a name) is worn on a person’s finger and looks like an inanimate object, but Gandalf explains that it has a will of its own, like a person: “A Ring of Power looks after itself, Frodo. It may slip off treacherously, but its keeper never abandons it…It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things. The Ring left him…The Ring was trying to get back to its master” (the Dark Lord) (1, p. 55).

The Ring has three powers: it prevents the person who wears it from aging; it keeps them from wanting to part with it; and can make them invisible. The mechanism of these powers is not explained (it is magical), but since the Ring is personified, it is legitimate to consider whether it exerts its powers by a method that a person might use, hypnosis.

Hypnosis had been portrayed as a method for arresting the process of aging and death in “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, published in 1845.

Hypnosis could prevent a person from wanting to part with the ring.

Hypnosis could make a person invisible if the person had multiple personality, in the sense that hypnosis could prompt a switch in personalities, so that the personality which had been out and in control is no longer out and visible.

Multiple Personality

Sméagol, who had been nicknamed Gollum, due to the gurgling in his throat, is not present in this chapter, and the only suggestion of his multiple personality is Gandalf’s quoting Gollum as having used “we” to refer to himself (1, p. 57) and Gandalf’s saying about Gollum that “There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own” (1, p. 55), suggesting that Gollum’s mind was divided, like a person with multiple personality.

“Frodo himself, after the first shock [from the departure of Bilbo]…did not worry much about the future. But half unknown to himself [what he knew was compartmentalized in different personalities?] the regret that he had not gone with Bilbo was steadily growing. He found himself wandering at times [was this that common symptom of multiple personality, the dissociative fugue?] especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams. He began to say to himself: ‘Perhaps I shall cross the River myself one day.’ To which the other half of his mind always replied: ‘Not yet’ ” (1. p. 43). A part of the mind that is like a voice which can be quoted may be an alternate personality. None of this is definitive for multiple personality; however, it certainly looks like foreshadowing.

“But last night I told you of Sauron the Great, the Dark Lord. The rumours that you have heard are true: he has indeed risen again and left his hold in Mirkwood and returned to his ancient fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor. That name even you hobbits have heard of, like a shadow on the borders of old stories. Always after a defeat and respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again” (1, p. 51). It is a cliché that the Devil can take many shapes, but taking different shapes is a metaphor for switching personalities, like Jekyll to Hyde.

Comment

Hypnosis and multiple personality are closely related. Self-hypnosis is one old theory for the mechanism of multiple personality. People with multiple personality are often highly hypnotizable, and hypnosis is often used in treatment (although I have rarely used it).

I have no reason to think that Tolkien intended this novel to involve hypnosis and multiple personality, but they may be involved, unacknowledged and inadvertently.

1. J. R. R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings [1954-55]. 50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition. New York, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.