8 THE FAITHFUL READER strike a deal through a game of riddles: if Bilbo wins, Gollum will show him the way out, and if Gollum wins, he will eat him. Thankfully, Bilbo narrowly wins, and along the way realizes that the Ring he found belonged to Gollum. Bilbo slips the Ring on in a nervous panic and realizes its secret: it has turned him invisible and given him an advantage. Gollum races for the exit, thinking Bilbo has escaped, and Bilbo quietly follows him to find the way out himself. While still invisible, he considers killing the creature to escape. And this is where he hesitates: He was desperate. He must get away, out of this horrible darkness, while he had any strength left. He must fight. He must stab the foul thing, put its eyes out, kill it. It meant to kill him. No, not a fair fight. He was invisible now. Gollum had no sword. Gollum had not actually threatened to kill him, or tried to yet. And he was miserable, alone, lost. A sudden understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo’s heart: a glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment, hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering. Notice the switch in mindset that overtakes Bilbo: he was able to see Gollum as a sad and pitiful creature. He chose mercy. And by letting Gollum live, he shaped the future in ways he could not have realized. Frodo’s Fear In The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo is now on his own quest to destroy the very “precious” Bilbo had stolen from Gollum. Gandalf tells Frodo the story of how Bilbo acquired the Ring, and Frodo is disgusted with the thing that nearly killed his uncle, saying, “What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had the chance!” Gandalf, surprised at him, replies, “It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need.” Frodo recognizes the truth in this, but still says that he feels no pity for Gollum because he “deserves death.” Bilbo set an example, though, and chose to show mercy simply because he could, because he was in a position to do so. Note how Tolkien capitalizes concepts such as Pity
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