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Book 4, Chapter 9
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Two Towers, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Decline and Decay
Good and Evil
Duty
Joy and Optimism vs. Despair
Power
Heroism, Honor, and Glory
Summary
Analysis
Shelob looms over Frodo, who is bound up in silk cords, lifting him with her forelegs to drag him away. She doesn’t hear Sam’s cries until he’s close enough to lunge forward and grab Sting from the ground where it fell. Sam doesn’t stop to think about whether he’s “brave, or loyal, or filled with rage.” He charges at the monster, fiercer than any small animal attacking a larger one to save its mate. As Shelob turns to face Sam, “a fury” greater than she’d seen in years, he cleaves off her claw, then lunges between her legs to stab one of her eyes.
By describing Sam’s motivations in attacking Shelob, the narrator portrays Sam as a model of heroism. He is driven by his love for Frodo and his need to protect him and doesn’t waste time wondering what his actions will mean for him personally. Sam has proven himself willing to face mortal danger for Frodo before, and he does so once again. His “fury,” energy, and devotion makes him a truly formidable enemy against Shelob.
Themes
Sam is now directly beneath Shelob, out of reach of her claws. He slashes at her underbelly “with desperate strength,” but his blow doesn’t pierce her thick hide. Shelob lifts up her belly and brings it down on top of Sam, intending to crush him, but Sam still holds Frodo’s elven blade pointing up. With her own strength, she drives the sword up into her belly as Sam is crushed into the ground. She shudders, feeling pain she’s never experienced before, and springs up again.
Simply by remaining steadfast and holding tightly to his sword, Sam achieves a feat no other warrior ever has—Shelob has never before been so gravely injured. Ultimately, through a small hobbit and an elven sword, Shelob brings about her own downfall as her power and evil are turned back on her.
Themes
Sam falls to his knees by Frodo, still holding the sword and light-headed with the stench. Watching Frodo’s face, Sam eventually drags himself out of his daze. He looks back at Shelob, injured and crouching to spring on him again. As Sam faces her, a thought comes to him like a spoken reminder, and he pulls out the phial, shouting Galadriel’s name. Far off, he hears the voices of the elves, and his own voice cries out in their language. He pushes himself to his feet, and suddenly he’s only himself again, Samwise the hobbit.
Again, the phial—or the power it channels—speaks to Sam, who is able to hear it even in the midst of his rage and fear. Like Frodo, Sam is moved to speak an elvish language, but now he’s also able to hear the collective voices of the elves he met near the Shire and the music from the house of Elrond. After lending him their strength and support, the voices vanish.
Themes
Sam shouts at Shelob that she’s hurt his master and she’ll pay for it. The phial of Galadriel blazes with starlight, scorching Shelob’s face. She falls back, blinded, then begins to crawl towards the opening in the cliff. Sam follows her, shaken and reeling, and makes a last slash at her legs as she disappears into the hole.
Though Shelob was undaunted by Frodo’s elven war cry, Sam’s invocation to Varda (the Queen of the Valar and the creator of the stars) frightens her. So does the light from the phial which, fueled by Sam’s powerful spirit, shines brighter than it did for Frodo. The narrator doesn’t specify whether Shelob ever recovers from her wounds or has simply crawled away to die.
Themes
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Sam crawls back to Frodo, who is pale and motionless and doesn’t respond when Sam speaks to him. Sam cuts the cords away but can’t find any signs of life. He begs Frodo to wake up and not leave him alone, but Frodo’s body is cold. Sam recognizes Frodo’s face as the image he saw in the mirror of Galadriel—not asleep, as he’d assumed, but dead. For a time, as he sits beside Frodo, his despair leaves him senseless.
Like Frodo’s vision in Galadriel’s mirror of the army at the gates of Mordor, Sam’s vision has revealed itself to be an omen of great loss. With Frodo dead, Sam’s duty and purpose are gone, along with his capacity for joy and optimism. Lacking all hope, Sam gives in to despair as he never has before.
Themes
Sam doesn’t know how much time has passed when he lifts his head again, but nothing has changed—Frodo is still dead. Asking himself what he should do, he recalls what he told Frodo at the beginning of their journey, that he felt he had something to before the end. But he doesn’t know if he has to leave Frodo behind unburied, or go home, or go on to Mount Doom without him, and at last he begins to cry. He arranges Frodo’s body in his cloak with his own sword beside him. Taking Sting and the phial of Galadriel—though he feels he doesn’t deserve it—for himself, he tries to explain to Frodo that he has to go on.
It’s clear to Sam that he must still have some purpose, and something left to do, but he can’t see what it is. For the entirety of the quest, his only purpose has been his devotion to Frodo. His task now is to determine who he has the greatest duty to—Frodo, Frodo’s quest, the world, or himself—and how to best fulfill that duty. Like Aragorn’s decision after the breaking of the Fellowship, it’s an agonizing choice. Sam is lost without Frodo; he can’t understand his place in the world.
Themes
Sam kneels, holding Frodo’s hand, but can’t bring himself to let it go yet, still debating “in his heart” about what to do. He tries to motivate himself to continue his journey by stoking his anger and thinking of vengeance on Gollum but decides that that wouldn’t be worth leaving Frodo. It wouldn’t bring him back. Sam would rather be dead with Frodo than leave him, and looks briefly at the sword in his hand. But Sam’s death wouldn’t solve anything, either, and he determines again that he must go on.
With Frodo dead, Sam recognizes the worthlessness of revenge on Gollum. Nothing about Gollum is worth leaving Frodo, and no vengeance, however much deserved, could compel him to. Despair is a natural emotion, but it is also the enemy’s weapon. It worsens Sam’s conflict over his choices and nearly leads him to give up on the quest and the world entirely. If his duty was to stay with Frodo, and Frodo is dead, it seems only natural to him that he should be dead, too. His emotional conflict fuels his indecision, and he struggles to motivate himself to do anything at all. Yet, his devotion to his duty—still unclear but certainly important—triumphs over his fear and aversion to going on without Frodo.
Themes
Sam wonders how he can carry the Ring, since the Council gave it to Frodo, but he remembers that the Council also sent Frodo with friends to help him bear the load and complete the quest. Sam, as the last of the Company, has to do it, though he wishes that someone else, like Gandalf, were there with him. He’s certain that, by himself, he’ll make the wrong decision, and still feels that it isn’t his place to take up the Ring.
Though Sam’s logic tells him that his only real choice is to take up Frodo’s burden and complete the quest, he feels strongly and instinctively that it’s the wrong choice. Still, adopting Frodo’s duty as his own is the natural extension of acting as Frodo’s help and support throughout the quest. What Frodo can’t do for himself, Sam does for him.
Themes
But if Sam isn’t the right person to carry the Ring, then neither was Frodo, who didn’t choose his burden initially when he set out from Bag End. Sam has to make up his own mind, even if he’s sure things will go wrong. He can’t leave the Ring with Frodo’s body because the enemy might find it, and there isn’t time to carry the Ring back to the west to get advice since the war has already started. He knows he has no choice but to take the Ring.
Sam now fits into his own understanding of a hero from his conversation with Frodo about stories. He, like Frodo, must simply accept the responsibility of a quest when it comes to him. Though he feels certain that it’s the wrong choice, he doesn’t know what else to do besides give up entirely, and he’s already decided against that. It’s likely that any choice would feel like the wrong one, now that Frodo’s dead.
Themes
Sam gently removes Frodo’s necklace and kisses his forehead, whispering goodbye and asking Frodo for forgiveness for leaving him. He has one wish, to return one day and find Frodo again. Sam puts the chain around his own neck and immediately feels the weight of the Ring. As strength grows in him, however, he discovers that he can bear the burden. He uses the phial to take a last look at Frodo, who has an elvish beauty in his pale face, then puts the light away and walks into the dark towards the cleft.
Though Sam’s grief doesn’t go away, despair no longer incapacitates him. He begins to console himself again with tentative optimism (in his plan to return for Frodo’s body) and his continued devotion to Frodo, which he expresses by taking up his quest. With the knowledge that he’s honoring Frodo in the best way he knows how, Sam finds the fortitude to bear the Ring.
Themes
Sam reaches another staircase directly under the orc tower, muttering to himself that he’s made up his mind about what to do, though he still hasn’t. He wonders if he’s doing the wrong thing and looks back one more time towards Frodo in the dark before he reluctantly walks down the stairs. He only takes a few steps before he hears orc voices. He’s surrounded, though the orcs can’t see him yet, and panics for a moment about how his indecision has ruined everything. As he tries to think of how he can save the Ring, he finds himself slipping it out of his shirt and putting it on.
Sam’s head and heart remain in conflict over what his duty is. He knows he has to continue the quest to destroy the Ring for the good of Middle-earth, but, at the same time, he’s unwilling to leave Frodo’s body. His insistent feeling that he shouldn’t leave Frodo indicates that there may be more to the situation than he understands—his intuition has often proven wiser than his judgement.
Themes
Sam’s hearing sharpens and his sight dims, the world around him becoming vague and hazy. He doesn’t feel invisible, but strangely exposed, and knows the eye of Sauron is looking for him. As Sam cowers against the cliff, the orcs pass him by. He can clearly hear them talking and understand their speech. Two orcs named Gorbag and Shagrat notice Frodo’s body lying in the road.
It only takes a moment of fear and panic for the Ring to compel Sam to put it on. Though Sam’s hidden from the orcs’ sight, the Ring doesn’t offer true protection, but rather leaves him exposed to both Sauron’s gaze and the Ring’s own corrupting influence.
Themes
Sam jumps up, realizing suddenly that the quest and all his decisions are less important than being at Frodo’s side, where he belongs. He runs back down the path towards Frodo, wondering how many orcs he can kill before they catch him and if any songs will be written about it after his death. Then he remembers that no one will write songs about him because the Ring will be taken by the enemy and there won’t be any more songs at all. But Sam can’t help that, and he can’t bear the Ring without Frodo.
Sam gives in to his intuition. Though he can’t justify it to himself, he knows his first duty is to stay with Frodo, even at the cost of the capture of the Ring and the end of the world. In that moment, he values Frodo over victory, fame and glory, his own life, and the lives of everyone depending on the quest.
Themes
Sam is tired and slow. By the time he reaches the place where he left Frodo, the orcs have already carried his body away. Sam follows, listening as Gorbag and Shagrat speak briefly of Shelob, then mention that they have something that Sauron wants. The orcs pass through the tunnel that Sam and Frodo had found blocked, somehow opening it and passing through before Sam can follow. The stone won’t budge, but Sam can still hear the orcs on the other side of the stone and hopes to learn something useful.
Sam is one step behind the orcs, as he’s one step behind understanding his own feelings and responsibilities. Still, he’s dogged in his pursuit of Frodo’s body now that he’s made up his mind about what to do, and his fear and doubt have left him. Now a physical obstacle has replaced his mental turmoil in preventing him from staying with Frodo.
Themes
Shagrat, who was supposed to be guarding the stairs, saw strange lights, as well as Shelob and her “sneak,” Gollum. Shagrat thought that Gollum, who is allowed to pass through Cirith Ungol, was just bringing Shelob food. Gorbag is certain that there was more than one intruder, since someone must have cut the cords away from Frodo, and wonders who would have been able to stab Shelob when no one ever has before. He guesses that there’s an elf warrior somewhere nearby.
Shagrat reveals that Gollum’s fate was settled long before Sam started calling him a sneak. Names have power, but they have power primarily because they reveal truth about their subjects. Again, Sam’s enemies perceive him as far fiercer than he conceives of himself. His battle with Shelob was born of desperation, but both his effort and the results were legendary.
Themes
Shagrat plans to have “a look” at Frodo to see what he can find out about him. Gorbag doesn’t think that they’ll discover much from Frodo, who he guesses isn’t important since the elf warrior just left him on the ground. Shagrat says that they have orders to strip and search any trespasser but keep them safe until Sauron sends for them. Gorbag wonders why the prisoner needs to be safe, and Shagrat calls him a fool for not realizing that Shelob doesn’t eat dead meat. Frodo is alive.
Sam’s heart has guided him correctly yet again, intuiting that Frodo was alive even when he appeared dead. Though the Fellowship assumes that Sauron doesn’t know about the plan to destroy the Ring, Sauron is still searching for the Ring-bearer. By thinking Frodo was dead and taking the Ring from him, Sam has accidentally saved the Ring from capture by Sauron’s orcs.
Themes
Sam is astonished, almost fainting. He knew in his heart that Frodo wasn’t dead and chastises himself—he shouldn’t trust his head because it “isn’t the best part” of him. Shagrat explains that Shelob paralyzes her victims, meaning Frodo will wake up in a few hours, and insists that he be kept safe. The voices fade away from Sam, who is furious with himself for making the wrong choices, as he knew he would. His only instruction was to not leave Frodo, and now that he has, he resolves to get back to him.
Though he initially ignored them, Sam’s feelings and his intuition have guided him back to Frodo. After briefly abandoning his most important duty in his grief, Sam is determined and clearheaded—he has to get back to Frodo, free him, and continue supporting him through the remainder of the quest.
Themes
Drawing his sword, Sam uses the light to see that the stone, which is probably only meant to keep Shelob out, has a small open space at the top. Finding new energy now that he knows Frodo is alive, Sam pulls himself over the stone and runs after the orcs again. He hears Shagrat and Gorbag discussing where to keep Frodo and charges around the corner to attack them, only to realize he misjudged the distance because of the sharpened hearing the Ring gives him. The orcs are far ahead, nearing the gate, which swings shut after they pass through. Sam throws himself fruitlessly against it and falls to the ground in the dark. Frodo has been taken by the enemy.
Though Sam feels he has failed in his duty to protect Frodo, and the novel ends on a somber note, things aren’t yet hopeless. Sam and Frodo are separated, but Sam’s powerful devotion to Frodo ensures that he won’t abandon his duty again. Even if it means putting the Ring—and the fate of Middle-earth—at risk, he’ll stop at nothing to rescue his beloved friend.
Themes
