Introduction
This is a short story written as an answer to a question that popped up in my mind while I was watching Lord of The Ring movies. 'What if destroying the Ring does not destroy evil? What if evil is not confined to one object? Or in Harry Potter universe, what if vanquishing Voldemort does not 'end it all'?'
The Story
The moment he was dreading the most had come. He did not want to get separated from the flesh, he even felt the grip of those fingers tightening around him for a moment; but then he was tossed in the air. A bolt of anger charged through every particle of his body. It had happened. He was fast falling towards the fire where he was created, towards the only place where it was possible to destroy him. He was falling. He was going to die.
He felt such despair, such anger, such frustration; but he was powerless against the will of a mere hobbit. The fire was coming closer with a dizzying speed. His entire life was flashing before his eyes. He remembered the days he spent with hobbits, with that despicable creature Gollum, and with his lord, his creator Sauron. And as he was thinking about Sauron, the fire of Mount Doom engulfed him and he felt his existence shatter away…
Somebody banged down his foot on the door, and Gandalf was jerked awake by the sound. A smile appeared on his wrinkled face. He grabbed his shaft and waved it. The door opened. The smile grew wider seeing the visitor.
‘Aha! Frodo the Ring Bearer! Welcome my friend, welcome.’ said Gandalf enthusiastically. Frodo started descending on the ladder and the door closed by itself. Gandalf went on speaking, ‘I had the most wonderful dream today. I was the One Ring! And I saw myself getting destroyed. O Hobbit of Shire, it was a brilliantly enchanting spell, cast by my mind on itself.’
Frodo jumped the last few steps and standing in front of Gandalf, inclined his head briefly in acknowledgement. He then said, ‘I bring bad news, Gandalf.’
‘Frodo, Frodo! I am an old and tired man who has earned these peaceful days. I have no stomach for a bad news. And anyway, I am feeling so cheerful right now; it is difficult to believe in the existence of the merest possibility of a bad news.
But anyway, let us have breakfast’-he waved the shaft and breakfast appeared on the table-‘and some lemon tea’-it too appeared, with another wave-‘and let us listen to what you have got to say.’
After their stomachs were full, they picked up the cups of Lemon Tea and Gandalf gestured Frodo to speak, who was waiting patiently all this time.
Frodo’s fingers played with the cup for few seconds, he was thinking hard. Then he said abruptly, ‘The Ring is back.’
Gandalf closed his eyes. His face looked older than ever for an moment. But then his eyes opened and there was fury in them. ‘YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY SO!’ He bellowed. ‘Do you not see Middle Earth? Do you not see how happy the peoples are? You have no right to undo what we have constructed!’
Frodo was watching the old man with some apprehension. As Gandalf’s wave of anger subsided, he spoke again with urgency, ‘Gandalf! The-Ring-is-back.’
‘All right.’ said Gandalf, controlling himself. ‘How do you know?’
‘I have heard…whispers. Rumors.’
‘And you choose to believe them?’
‘I realize that we need to know for sure.’
‘Who?’
‘Geddon.’
Gandalf’s eyes closed briefly again. ‘I should have thought of him.’ He nodded, remembering the daring escape of a weak and powerless enemy. ‘Please tell me everything, my friend.’
‘The inn-keeper of Prancing Pony, Gandalf. People say he is changing. In an alarmingly fast way. They associate it with a ring seen only recently on him. The word is that it was given to him by a Dark shadow a fortnight ago.’
Gandalf drained his glass of lemon tea and got up warily. ‘Then, O king of Hobbits, let us go and see it ourselves.’
Picking up his shaft, he opened the door and flew up and out of it. Frodo climbed the ladder.
The coldest mountain air greeted them. Frodo shivered, and Gandalf rubbed his hands together and held his face in them. ‘Where is your pet, Frodo?’ he asked, with a hint of smile on his face.
In answer, Frodo shouted, ‘FLUFFY!’
A pair of gigantic wings obscured the Sun momentarily and an enormous dragon descended in front of them. As his feet touched the mountain top, Gandalf felt the mountain shudder.
‘Tiny little creature, isn’t he?’ asked Gandalf. ‘Why you need to bring him everytime you come?’
‘You live so high up, Gandalf! Even Fluffy takes ten whole minutes to climb up this distance. I will take a lifetime’
As Frodo approached the dragon, Gandalf smiled. ‘Oh, a hobbit mounting a dragon! Always makes a nice viewing!’
‘Not here, my friend.’ replied Frodo. Taking few fast steps, he jumped off the cliff.
Gandalf was stunned for a moment with shock, then he saw Fluffy move. The beast, who had sat down for Frodo swiftly got up and spread its wings. He then majestically swept down and returned in a few moments, with Frodo sitting comfortably in the saddle on its back. ‘See, there are many ways of reaching this saddle!’ he said.
‘If you are thinking that I will repeat your feat, you are mistaken.’ warned Gandalf in a falsely threatening voice. Fluffy obediently sat down and lowered its neck to help Gandalf climb. As he was seating down, his eyes met those of Frodo. He sighed. ‘The quest begins again, my friend.’ He said. Frodo nodded gravely and ordered Fluffy, ‘To Prancing Pony!’
*
The old man sighed and said, ‘He has changed. It’s as if…as if we are seeing a new person…someone we did not know at all. He’s changed.’
‘So how would you describe this change in him?’ asked Gandalf. He and Frodo had reached the village in half an hour’s time and presently, they were talking with an old man in the village.
‘He has become rude and ruthless. And unkind. He thrashed a waiter maniacally in front of everyone the other day because that poor guy broke a glass. He has started shouting at people…mind you, we all are from same village, everyone knows everyone else here. He never said no to a few free drinks. Never objected if somebody did not have the money to pay. Allowed people to drink on credits. Paid and treated his staff well. But now, that smiling, kind, friendly inn-keeper Tom has vanished somewhere. And he is replaced by this new guy.’
The old man beckoned Gandalf closer and whispered, ‘He tried to kill Nick yesterday.’
‘Who is Nick?’ asked Frodo.
‘His friend for ages. They quarrel a lot, always fight over nothing, but they are real close friends. Or were. Yesterday, they started quarreling over something trivial. And it did not stop there. Went on and on. Became real ugly. All the customers were watching, terrified. Nick tried to back out, to laugh it off, but Tom wouldn’t have it. He broke a glass and attacked Nick with it. Stabbed him repeatedly. A few brave men intervened and held him back, otherwise we all would be attending Nick’s funeral service today. I heard that Tom was shouting like a madman. He was scary.’
Gandalf and Frodo both stood up. Gandalf’s fingers tightened around the shaft. ‘Well, Frodo; we should now go and see Tom the Inn-keeper.’
Frodo nodded and started walking towards the Inn. Gandalf followed. His heart was beating fast now. And his hands were shaking. A little, yes, but they were shaking. He had thought it was all over. He had thought the clouds that reigned the skies of Middle Earth went down into the fire with the Ring. Apparently, it was not so. Geddon was still at large, and he had somehow managed to get hold of the Ring. The Ring had reached Middle Earth. It had already corrupted a man’s soul. It was working its way towards its aim. And at that moment, Gandalf was feeling quite powerless against it.
‘Be careful, Gandalf.’ Whispered Frodo and knocked the door of the Inn. Somebody opened the door and they went inside. ‘We would like to see the Inn-keeper.’ said Frodo.
Tom arrived in a few moments. His face contoured with fury and pure hatred seeing his guests.
‘YOU!’ he spat and leaped on them. But he was held suspended mid-air by Gandalf.
‘Bring me DOWN!’
‘Give us the Ring, Tom. It is not doing you any good.’ said Gandalf.
‘Oho! Gandalf the sorcerer now uses his magic to steal things from people!’ sneered Tom. ‘I am not giving my Ring to anyone. It belongs to me!’
‘The Ring belongs to the Fire of Mount Doom, Tom. Come on, give us the Ring.’
‘NO!!!!!’ shouted Tom and frantically waved his limbs in an attempt to get back on the ground.
‘It’s there Gandalf!’ shouted Frodo excitedly. His finger was pointing at Tom’s neck. And sure enough, Gandalf could see a thin silver chain there. What hung by that chain was hiding inside Tom’s robes.
Seeing what Frodo had seen, Tom shouted with rage. His hand moved towards the chain.
‘Gandalf! He’ll disappear the moment he wears that Ring!’
Tom pulled out the chain. The Ring was now in his hands. All he needed to do now was to slip his finger in it. And that was what he was about to do.
‘Do something, Gandalf!’ shouted Frodo.
Tom’s finger was a hair’s width away from the Ring when the shaft glowed red-hot and a wave of fire burst out of it. It hit Tom squarely in chest and he was blasted several feet backwards. He collided with the wall and fell to the ground. He was dead.
Gandalf wiped sweat off his brow and sat on a chair. ‘Killed someone after a long long time.’ He breathed. ‘Took nearly all my energy.’ He looked at Frodo. ‘Please get the Ring. We leave at once.’
Frodo collected the Ring. As they went out, the villagers who had gathered outside the inn rushed inside.
*
‘I cannot do it today, Frodo. I need rest. You go on. Now that Fluffy is there, the journey the Mount Doom shouldn’t be much. See that the Ring is destroyed, Frodo.’ said Gandalf, while they were walking back to the woods where Fluffy was waiting for them.
‘I do not want to do it without you, O wizard. I do not know what else Geddon would have in store. I cannot face it alone.’ said Frodo. ‘Let us go to your place and rest for the day. We will start tomorrow morning.’
Gandalf nodded.
*
‘And in the Darkness, to Rule them all…’ whispered Frodo, as his fingers caressed the Ring. They were sitting at the table in Gandalf’s kitchen and sipping lemon tea.
‘FRODO!’ Gandalf shouted. ‘Do not touch the Ring!’
Apparently, Frodo was not listening. He was examining the Ring intently. ‘It does not have the letters, Gandalf.’ He said. ‘It does not have the letters. And it feels so different…the One Ring used to feel so alive…there was life in it…I could feel it, always. But this one, this feels just like a ring, and nothing more.’
‘Do NOT wear it, Frodo!’ Gandalf said, seeing what Frodo was about to do.
‘Don’t worry, Gandalf. I am a hobbit, remember?’
Frodo slipped his finger in the Ring. A moment passed, then another. Nothing happened. His heart skipped a beat. Nothing was happening.
He removed the Ring and rolled it to Gandalf, who jerked back watching it come to him.
‘Please have a look, my friend. Please.’ said Frodo, getting up to stand behind the wizard.
Gandalf slowly and cautiously advanced his fingers towards the Ring. But then thinking of something else, he summoned his shaft to him. ‘I will have power for this.’ He murmured and directed it towards the Ring. A moment later, the Ring broke into several pieces.
Frodo’s eyes traveled from the pieces of the Ring to Gandalf’s tired face. ‘What does this mean, Gandalf?’ he asked.
‘This means,’ Gandalf got up and started pacing the room agitatedly. ‘This means, the Ring was a fake one. Geddon never created a new Ring, he gave a normal ring to Tom…and Tom just…just believed that it was the One Ring.’ Gandalf stopped and faced Frodo. ‘There is blood on my hands, Frodo. I feel as if I killed an innocent man today.’ He was on the verge of crying.
Frodo was trying hard to make some sense of it. ‘But then, how did Tom change?’
‘Because he believed he had got the Ring. It was not the Ring, it was his mind. It was him. The evil is not in the Ring, Frodo. The evil was in Tom. The evil is in each one of us. We need no Ring, Frodo. We ARE evil and the evil is us.’
Frodo sighed. ‘But then, Gandalf, would Geddon be content giving out only one such Ring?’
Gandalf thought for a moment and then he stumbled several steps backwards. ‘Geddon!’ he breathed. ‘He is communicating with me. He is showing me something.’ And a blur of images passed in front of Gandalf’s eyes. He saw a hooded, black robed man moving around in dark. He saw Geddon giving rings to several people. Geddon’s laughter rang in his ears as the scene dissolved and the room came back before his eyes.
‘He knows. He is awakening the evil in people. He knows.’ said Gandalf. He crumbled to the ground. ‘I spent my whole life fighting Sauron and foiling his plans. I saw to it that the One Ring gets destroyed. Because I had a hope… a hope of a Middle Earth free of the clutches of evil …a hope of a better tomorrow that will come with the destruction of Ring. And today, in the twilight zone of my life, this is what I get to learn.’ He looked up at Frodo. There was defeat in his eyes. ‘Destroying the Ring does not destroy evil. If one Sauron goes, another rises. Because he is right there, in each one of us. He flows though our veins. Frodo, the evil can not be won against. It cannot be fought with.’
Frodo fell to the floor, in front of his friend. ‘There is still hope, Gandalf. You are there. I am there.’ He held Gandalf’s shoulders and shook him. ‘Look at me! The evil may not be won against, but it must be fought with. Endlessly. Tirelessly. The evil that is Geddon. The evil that was Sauron, the Ring. The evil that is out there. And the evil that is within. It must be fought with.’
The shadows of defeat thinned as the rays of a smile spread through Gandalf’s eyes. He stood up and walked to a window.
Watching the Middle Earth, he said to Frodo, to himself. ‘Whether we win against the evil or not does not matter, really...no, it doesn’t. But we must confront it…we must confront the darkness within. We must not allow it to consume our souls. It must be kept at bay.’ He turned towards Frodo. ‘So what if it’s a loosing battle? We fight it, nonetheless.’
Picking up his shaft, he hurriedly drained down remaining lemon tea and said, ‘Come on, my friend. We need to track down Geddon and all those rings. We need to make the people aware.’
And they left, to fight their battle.
*****
DISCLAIMER:
This story is in no way related to the copyright owners associated with Lord of The Rings. This story is totally unofficial and it isn't written to infringe upon any copyrights or break any laws. The writer has a mortal fear of lawyers. Please view this story as a fanfic based in LOTR universe. Please e-mail the writer if you have any questions or concerns at cboom@rediffmail.com and post a comment here.
