" The truth is the truth," Gandalf replied. "I know their own history better than the Hobbits. Even Birbo's own story mentioned this possibility. Their thoughts and memories were largely the same. They knew each other quite well, unlike the relationship between a hobbit and a dwarf, orc, or elf. You remember, they heard the same riddle.”
"I remember," said Frodo. "But other races can also guess riddles, and the riddles are mostly the same. And Hobbits don't cheat. Gollum's mind was filled with the idea of cheating. He only wanted to catch Birbo unprepared. I'll bet Gollum was delighted to have this sort of win-win-win pastime.”
"I think you're right," said Gandalf. "But there are still some things that you haven't noticed. Even Gollum had not completely lost his nature. His willpower was stronger than the sages 'deductions; This was another characteristic of a Hobbit. There was still a corner of his mind that belonged to him, and the weak light could still pass through this darkness. It was a glimmer from the past. In fact, I think Bilbo's friendly voice reminds him of the sweet past of trees and flowers, sunshine and breezes.”
"But, of course, it only made the evil part of him angrier. Unless we can suppress this evil and cure it.”Gandaph sighed. "What a pity! He did not have much hope left. But it was not completely hopeless. If he had been wearing the Ring all this time, there was really no hope. Fortunately, the Ring was not needed much in the dark underground, and he did not wear it often. He hadn't reached the level of entering the Soul World yet, and he had only become extremely distorted. However, that thing continued to devour his mind. This was an extremely painful torture for him.”
" The 'secret of the mountain' that he was looking forward to was actually just emptiness and desolation. There was nothing left to discover and do. There were only memories of cruel hunting and regret. He was suffering here. He hated the darkness, but he was even more afraid of the light. He hated the Ring more than anything."
"What do you mean?" asked Frodo. "The Ring should be his treasure, and the only thing he cares about, right? But if he hated the ring, why didn't he just throw it away, or simply run away?”
" Frodo, after hearing so much history, you should be able to understand," said Gandalf. "He hated and loved it, just as he thought of himself. His free will had already been worn out in this matter.”
"The Ring will take care of itself, Frodo. It might slide off its owner's finger, but the owner would never abandon it. At most, he could only consider handing it over to someone else for safekeeping. And this was only possible during the initial period of being controlled by the Lord of the Rings. As far as I know, Birbo is the only person in history who has put it into action. Of course, he also needs my help to do so. Even so, he could not just throw the Ring aside. Frodo, it is not Gollum that decides everything, but the Ring. It was the Ring who decided to leave him."
"Could it be to welcome Birbo?”asked Frodo. "Wouldn't beastmen be better targets?”
"This is no joke," said Gandalf. "Especially for you. This was the strangest change in the long history of the Lord of the Rings: Birbo appeared just in time and put it on blindly in the dark!”
"Frodo, there is more than one force behind history. The Ring tried to return to its master. It broke free from Isildur's grasp and betrayed him. And then, when the opportunity presented itself, it seized poor Dego and killed him. After that was Gollum, and the Ring consumed him completely. But he had lost all further use for the Ring: He was too insignificant and too cunning. As long as the Ring was by his side, he would never be able to leave the underground lake. Therefore, when the Lord of the Ring woke up again and released the Evil Energy out of Gloomy Jungle, it decided to abandon Gollum. But it was picked up by the most unsuitable candidate, Birbo from the Shire!”
"There's a power that surpasses that of the Lord of the Rings Forgers operating behind this. All I can say is that Bilbo was destined to receive the Ring, and that it was not within the Ring Forger's control. Similarly, you are also destined to possess the Ring. From this perspective, it should be more reassuring.”
"I don't feel safe at all," said Frodo. "I'm not even sure if I understand what you're saying. But how do you know about the Ring and Gollum's past? Are you sure about these things? Or are you just guessing?"
Gandalf looked at Frodo, his eyes shining. " I already know a lot of things, and I found out a lot from my investigations," he replied. "But I'm not going to explain it to you. The history of Emperor Elendil, Isildur, and the One Ring was something every Wise One knew. Just the flame text alone can prove that you possess the One Ring. There is no need for any other evidence.”
"When did you discover all of this?”interrupted Frodo.
" I just found it here, of course," the wizard answered bluntly. "But this is within my expectations. I have experienced a long and dark journey just to carry out this final trial. This was the final piece of evidence. Everything was revealed. However, it would take some effort to fill in the gaps in history by conceiving Gollum's past. Perhaps I was just speculating about Gollum's past at first. However, things were different now. I've met him, and I know I'm telling the truth.”
"You've met Gollum?" asked Frodo, startled.
"Yes, I am. I think this is what everyone would do if possible. I started trying a long time ago and finally found him.”
"What happened after Birbo escaped from his lair? Have you found out?"
"I'm not sure. I've just told you what Gollum wants to tell you. Of course, it wasn't as organized as I described. Gollum is a natural liar, you have to weigh his words carefully. For example, he insisted that the Lord of the Rings was his birthday present. He said that this was a gift from his grandmother, and his grandmother had many such treasures. This was too ridiculous. I am certain that Smeagol's grandmother was a powerful woman; But what if she had many elven rings? This was unbelievable. He could even give the ring to someone else? This was definitely a lie. However, there were still traces of truth in the lies.”
"The crime of killing Dego has always troubled Gollum. He made up a reason and repeated it to his 'baby' in the dark until he almost believed it himself. It was indeed his birthday, and Dego should have given him the ring. The sudden appearance of the ring was originally a gift for him. The ring was his birthday present, and so on. He kept saying that."
"I tried my best to tolerate him, but the importance of the truth forced me to resort to extreme measures. I made him fall into fear, and bit by bit, I squeezed out the truth from his struggle. He believed that he had been abused and misunderstood. But when he finally revealed the truth, it was only until Birbo escaped. After that, he didn't want to say anything else. There are other fires of fear, hotter than I have fanned, threatening him. He muttered that he wanted to take back everything from the past. He would let people know that he would not be humiliated for nothing this time. He would make others pay the price. Gollum had a good friend now, a very good friend. They would help him. Baggins would pay the price. He only thought about these things. He hated Birbo and kept cursing him. Worse still, he knew where Birbo came from.”
"But how did he know?" asked Frodo.
"It's all because of the name. Birbo unwisely told him his name. Once Gollum reached the surface, it would not be difficult to find Birbo's hometown. Oh, that's right, he had already left the underground. His obsession with the One Ring surpassed his fear of the orcs and even the light. A year or two after the incident, he left the cave at the bottom of the mountain. After careful analysis, you will understand that although he still can't resist the attraction of the Ring, the Ring no longer devours his mind and allows him to recover part of his rationality. He felt extremely old, but he was no longer afraid of the outside world. And he started to feel extremely thirsty.”
" He still hates and fears the light created by the sun and the moon. I think this will never change. But he was quite smart. He found that he could hide during the day and come out at night, avoid the moonlight and sunlight, and move in the middle of the night with his big eyes that were used to darkness. He could even take the opportunity to capture those unlucky food. With new food and fresh air, he became stronger and bolder. Sure enough, he entered Gloomy Jungle.”
"Is that where you found him?”asked Frodo.
" I did see him there," Gandalf replied. "but he had been wandering in Bilbo's footsteps for a long time before that. His words were often interrupted by curses. It was difficult for me to get the exact situation out of him. He would say,'What's in his pocket? No, baby, I can't guess. Cheating. This was unfair. It was the one who cheated first. It was the one who broke the rules. We should've squeezed it to death, shouldn't we, baby? We will definitely take revenge, baby!'”
"He would say something like that every now and then. I guess you don't want to hear any more. In order to obtain information, I had to endure for a very long time. However, I managed to squeeze out enough information from his nonsensical and intermittent curses. I deduced that his webbed feet had at least allowed him to enter Isgar on the long lake, and even sneak into the streets of Riverdale, allowing him to eavesdrop on conversations. The events that happened at that time were widely spread in the Great Wilderness. Perhaps he had heard about Birbo's hometown there. We weren't particularly secretive about Birbo's whereabouts. Gollum's sensitive buds should be able to hear the news he wanted soon.”
"Then why didn't he go after Bilbo?”said Frodo. "Why didn't he come to the Shire?”
"Ah," said Gandalf,"that's the point. I think Gollum really wanted to do that. After leaving Riverdale, he headed west, at least to the river. But then he suddenly changed direction. I'm pretty sure that he didn't do it because of the distance. No, something caught his attention. My friends who helped me hunt him down thought so too.”
"It was the wood elves who found him first, and it was not difficult for the elves because his tracks were so obvious. His footprints led the elves in and out of Gloomy Jungle, but the elves could not catch him for a while. The forest was filled with rumors about him, and even birds and beasts had heard terrifying rumors about him. The residents there believed that a ghost that drank fresh blood had appeared in the forest. It would climb tall trees, look for nests, and enter caves to feed on young beasts. It would even climb into the window to find the position of the cradle.”
"Then, his tracks changed direction in the west of Gloomy Jungle. He seemed to be heading south, shaking off the Wood Elves 'tracking. At that time, I made a big mistake. Yes, Frodo, it was not my first mistake, but it was probably the worst. I didn't continue to track him. I let him go just like that. Because I had many other missions to complete, I still believed Saruman's explanation.”
"That was many years ago. Since then, I've made many dangerous explorations to make up for this mistake. After Birbo left this place, I started to track Gollum again. However, the traces he left behind had long been destroyed. If not for my friend Aragon's help, all our efforts would have been in vain. He was currently the best hunter and tracker in the world. The two of us had been chasing Gollum aimlessly in the Wilderness, without much hope in our hearts. But in the end, when I had given up on this path and turned to think of other solutions, my friend finally found Gollum. My friend went through a lot to bring this poor fellow back.”
"He didn't want to reveal what he had experienced. He just kept crying, accusing us of being cruel, and made a gurgling sound from his throat. When we pressed him, he would wail and writhe, even rubbing his hands and licking his slender fingers as if they were in great pain. This seemed to be his memory of some torture in the past. Although I didn't want to say this, all the clues pointed out: He slowly and quietly walked south, and finally entered the Demon King's base.”The room was so silent that it was as if the air had frozen. It was so quiet that Frodo could hear his own heartbeat. Everything outside seemed to freeze as well, and the sound of Sam cutting the grass disappeared.
"Yes, Mordor," said Gandalf. "Sigh! Mordor would attract all creatures with evil intentions, and the dark forces would summon them to join forces there at all costs. The Ring would leave a mark on the wielder, making him unable to resist the other party's summons. At that time, people everywhere began to spread the new threat of the rise of the South, as well as its hatred for the Western forces. So this was his good friend, the new friend who would help him take revenge!”
"Foolish fellow! He had learned a lesson there that made him regret it. Sooner or later, when he sneaked around the borders of Mordor, he would be arrested and interrogated. This was probably their way of doing things. When we found him, he had been in Mordor for a long time and was about to leave. Or to carry out some evil mission. However, all of this was no longer important. He had already caused the greatest damage to this world.”
"Yes, sigh! Through him, the Demon King knew that the Lord of the Rings had reappeared. He knew where Isildur had died. And he knew where Gollum had found the ring. Since it had the ability to make people immortal, he was sure that it was a Ruling Ring. He also deduced that these could not be the three magic rings of the Elf King, because the magic rings were still in their hands. And their Ring would never tolerate any form of evil. He was also sure that it was not one of the Seven Dwarven Rulers or the Nine Human Rulers, because he knew the traces of these rings. In the end, he understood that this was the One Ring. I think that's when he finally heard about the 'Hobbits of the Shire'.”
"Even if the Demon King hasn't confirmed Ciel's location, he might be looking for this place right now. Yes, Frodo, I'm afraid he's starting to notice the Baggins name.”
"This is too terrifying!" Frodo shouted. "It's much worse than what I guessed from your hints and warnings. Oh, Gandalf, my best friend! What should I do? I'm really scared now. What can I do? It was a pity that Birbo didn't take the opportunity to kill this guy!”
"Pity? It was his pity for human lives that prevented him from killing her. Compassion and pity: Don't kill recklessly. Frodo, and this brought him good karma. He was able to escape from the influence of evil without being harmed, and it was all because of this that he had the idea of possessing the One Ring: Pity."
"I'm sorry," said Frodo. "But I'm so scared, I can't pity Gollum.”
" You haven't seen him," Gandalf interrupted.
"Yes, but I don't want to see him," said Frodo. "I really don't understand you. Did you just say that you and the elves let Gollum leave alive after all he had done? No matter how you look at it, he's as evil as the orcs. He's our enemy. He deserved to be killed."
"He deserves it! I don't think so. Many people who lived in this world should have died a long time ago. Many people who were not destined to die had already passed away. Can you bring them back to life? If it didn't work, then he shouldn't judge the life and death of others so easily. Even the wisest of men could not think it through. I don't think Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is still a chance. Moreover, his fate had long been tied to the Lord of the Rings. My sixth sense tells me that he still has a part to play before the end, but I can't be sure if he's evil or righteous. When the time comes, Bilbo's compassion may decide the fate of many, and you are certainly one of them. Anyway, we didn't kill him: He was already very old, and his heart was extremely twisted. The wood elves locked him up in prison and treated him as well as possible.”
"In any case," said Frodo,"even if Bilbo should not have killed Gollum, I hope he had not hidden the Ring. Oh, if only he hadn't found the Ring, and I hadn't inherited the curse! Why do you want me to keep it? Why didn't you ask me to throw it away, or destroy it?”
"Call you? Let you?" the mage said. "Weren't you listening just now? You blurted out these words without thinking deeply. It would be unwise to throw away the Ring. These magic rings could allow him to be found at a special time. In the hands of evil forces, it could cause even greater damage. What was worse was that it might even fall into the hands of the Demon King. This was unavoidable because it was the One Ring, the key to the final battle that the Demon King had spent so much effort to obtain.”
"Of course, dear Frodo, it's dangerous for you; I am also extremely troubled by this. However, in the face of such a great crisis, I had to take some risks. Every time I was far away from the Charles, someone would take over the place. As long as you don't use the Ring, I don't think it will have any side effects on you. Even if it does, it won't affect you for long. And do not forget that when I parted from you nine years ago, I knew very little of the Ring.”
"But why not destroy the Ring? You said you should have done this many years ago!”said Frodo loudly again. "If you had warned me beforehand, or even sent me a message, I could have disposed of it myself.”
"Is that so? What are you going to do? Have you tried it?"
"I haven't tried it. But I suppose it could be hammered or melted.”
"Go!" said Gandalf. "Go and try!"
Frodo took the Ring out of his pocket and examined it. It looked very plain and smooth now, without any visible marks on it. The gold ring looked so pure and beautiful, and Frodo thought it was beautiful and gorgeous; The ring's appearance was almost perfect. This was a treasure that should be admired. When he took the ring out, he was about to throw it into the flames. However, he realized that unless he gritted his teeth, he could not do it. He played with the ring and hesitated, forcing himself to recall everything Gandalf had just said. Then, he made up his mind and moved his hand. He was about to throw it away, but he found that he could not help but put the ring back into his pocket.
Gandaph smiled solemnly. "Do you understand now? Nor can you abandon it, Frodo, nor destroy it. I can't 'force' you to do this unless I use force, and that will destroy your will. Even if you could muster the courage to destroy it, the power of mortals would not be able to cause any damage to it. You can hit it with a sledgehammer as hard as you want, but it will never leave a mark on it. Neither you nor I can destroy this ring.”
"Of course, your furnace is indeed unable to melt ordinary gold. This magic ring had passed the trial of fire without any injuries, and its surface temperature had not even increased. However, even if you searched the entire Shire, it was impossible for any blacksmith's blast furnace to damage it. Even the dwarven furnaces and anvils were helpless against it. It was said that the flames of a dragon could melt the One Ring, but there was no dragon in the world that had enough true fire. There had never been a dragon in history that could destroy the One Ring, including the Black Dragon Akara Steel. This was because it was a treasure forged by the Dark Demon Lord Sauron.”
"If you really want to destroy the Ring, so that the Demon King will never be able to touch it again; There was only one way, and that was to go deep into Ouroduin, find the Volcano of Doomsday, and throw the One Ring into it.”
"I really want to destroy the Ring!”Frodo shouted. "Well, to be precise, I really wanted it destroyed. But I'm not the kind of person who would get rid of evil for the people. I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why is it looking for me? Why did you choose me?"
"There is no answer to such a question," said Gandalf. "You should also understand that this is not because you have a virtue that others do not have. It was neither strength nor wisdom. But since you have been chosen, you must make good use of all your strengths and strengths.”
"But my strengths and strength are so insignificant! You are wise and powerful. Why don't you take the Ring?"
"No!" Gandaph jumped up. "If I had the Lord of the Rings, my power would be unimaginable. The Lord of the Rings will gain even more terrifying and astonishing power from me.”His eyes flickered as if they were illuminated by the flames within his body. "Don't tempt me! I don't want to be the Dark Lord. The way the Ring seeped into my heart was through compassion, compassion for the weak, and the desire to gain the power to change the world. Don't tempt me! I dare not accept it, even if it is just to keep it and not use it, I dare not. The temptation to hold it would break my power. I still need strength. There are still many difficulties and dangers in front of me.”
He walked to the window, pulled open the curtain, and pushed open the shade. Sunlight poured into the room again. Sam whistled as he walked past the window. " Now," the wizard turned to Frodo," the choice is yours. No matter what, I will support you.”He put his hand on Frodo's shoulder. "As long as this burden belongs to you, I will shoulder this responsibility with you. But we must make a decision as soon as possible. The Demon King would never be willing to stay put.”
Everyone was silent for a long time. Gandaph sat down again and smoked his pipe, as if lost in his thoughts. He seemed to have closed his eyes, but the corner of his eyes was still staring at Frodo. Frodo looked at the embers in the fireplace until all his vision was blocked, as though he had fallen into a wall of fire. He was thinking about the legendary doomsday rift and the terrifying scene of the volcano.
"Alright then!" said Gandalf at last. "What were you thinking about just now? Have you decided what to do?"
"Not yet!" Frodo came back to his senses from the darkness and was surprised to find that it was not dark yet. The garden outside the window was still sunny. "On second thought, perhaps I've already decided. As far as I understand you, I think that at least for now, no matter what effect it will have on me, I must keep the Ring and protect it.”
"No matter what kind of influence it will cause, if you hold it with such a will, it will only slowly walk towards evil.”
"I hope so," said Frodo. "But I also hope that you can find a more competent guardian as soon as possible. However, at this moment, I seemed to be extremely dangerous to everyone around me. If I want to keep the Ring, I can't stay here. I must leave Bag End, leave the Shire, abandon everything I have, and go far away.”He sighed.
"If possible, I still hope to save Charles from disaster. Sometimes, I feel that the residents here are stubborn and ignorant. Only when the situation changes or the threat of the evil dragon really comes will they wake up. But I don't think so now. I felt that as long as Ciel continued to exist peacefully, my adventures would not be so unbearable. Even if I might never be able to step into the Shire again, knowing that there was a place that would not change with time always made me feel at ease.”
" Of course, I had thought of leaving before, but in my imagination, it was just a holiday, just like Birbo's wonderful adventure, which could end peacefully. But this time it was an exile, and I had to stay away from danger, but I lured it to follow me. If I want to save Charles, I have to leave alone this time. But I felt so small, so uneasy, and even hopeless. The devil king is too powerful, too terrifying."
Although Frodo did not tell Gandalf, when he passionately confessed, the enthusiasm in his heart to follow Birbo's footsteps suddenly burned. Imitating Birbo, and even meeting him again! This thought was so strong that it overcame his fear. He almost wanted to burst out of the door without a hat, just as Bilbo had done years ago.
"My dear Frodo!" Gandaph said, relieved. "As I said before, Hobbits are full of amazing creatures. In just a month, you could think that you understood them thoroughly, but even after another hundred years, they would still surprise you. Even for you, I didn't expect such an answer. Birbo's judgment in choosing an heir was indeed good, but he probably did not expect such a huge responsibility. I think you're right. The Lord of the Rings cannot continue to hide in the Shire. For your own good and the good of others, you'd better leave this place and stop using the name Baggins. Whether in the Shire or in the wilderness, this name was no longer safe. I'll give you an alias now. From now on, you will be called Mr. Yamashita.”
"But I don't think you must go alone. If you could find a partner you could trust and be willing to risk your life with you, there was no reason for you to take risks alone. But you must be careful! Even when facing his closest friend, he could not let his guard down! Our enemies have their claws and teeth everywhere.”
He suddenly stopped, as if he was listening to something. Frodo realized then that there was a sudden silence in and out of the house. Gandalf crept to the window. Then, he rushed forward and reached out to grab the window. There was a scream from outside, and the unlucky Sam was grabbed and lifted up.
"Hmph, my luck is really not bad!" said Gandalf."Sam Gamgee? What are you doing here?"
"God bless you, Lord Gandalf!”said Sam. "Nothing happened! If you know my job, I was just mowing the grass outside the window.”He picked up the scissors to prove his innocence.
" I don't understand," Gandaph said solemnly. "It's been a while since I've heard you cut. How long have you been eavesdropping?”
"Sir, you said I was eavesdropping? I don't understand. We don't steal in the Charles.”
"Don't play dumb! What did you hear, and why did you do this?”Gandaph's eyes flashed with a strange light, and his eyebrows began to tremble slightly.
"Mr. Frodo!" Sam shouted innocently. "Don't let him hurt me! Don't let him turn me into a monster! My dad won't be able to take the blow. I swear, I have no ill intentions, my lord!”
" He won't hurt you," Frodo said, trying not to laugh, though he was surprised and confused. "He knows as well as I do that you mean no harm. But you'd better answer their questions honestly!”
" Alright, my lord." Sam was finally calmer. "I've heard a lot of things I don't understand, about kings and rings, and Mr. Birbo, and dragons, and volcanoes, and, my lord, elves! If my lord knows my hobby, you should know that I really can't help but eavesdrop. Oh my god, my lord, but I really like this kind of story. My lord, no matter what that fellow, Tedd, says, I believe them with all my heart! I really want to see them. My lord, when you leave, are you willing to take me with you to see the elves?”
Gandaph suddenly burst into laughter. "Come in quickly!" he shouted, and with a tug of his hands, he carried the astonished Sam and his scissors into the room. "Take you to see the elves?" He looked at Sam carefully, but there was a kind smile on his face. "So you heard Mr. Frodo was leaving?”
"Yes, my lord. That was why I took a deep breath. My lord, you must have heard that voice. I wanted to hold it in, but it couldn't because I was too sad.”
" Sam, I had no choice," Frodo said sadly. He suddenly understood that leaving Shire was not just about bidding farewell to the comfortable Bag End. There were many more things that he had to face. "I must leave. But," he looked at Sam intently," if you really care about me, you must never tell anyone about this. Do you understand? If you don't keep your mouth shut, if you say a word to anyone, I hope Gandalf will turn you into a toad and fill the garden with grass snakes!”
Sam knelt down, trembling. "Sam, stand up!" said Gandalf. "I have a better idea than this. We can make you keep your mouth shut and punish you for eavesdropping on our conversation. You must go with Mr. Frodo!”
"Sir, can I?" Sam shouted and jumped up like a happy puppy waiting for its master to take him for a walk. "I can go with you and see the elves! Long live!" He shouted and finally cried out of excitement.
※※※
The Battle of the Five Armies was a battle between humans, elves, and dwarves against the Orcs under Gandalf's ingenious arrangements. This battle took place in the year 2941 of the 3rd Era. Both sides suffered heavy losses, but it effectively stopped the orcs 'attempts to expand their sphere of influence. The orcs disappeared for a long time after their leader was killed.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。