Chapter 370: The Ring-bearer
Gandalf's gaze had never left Frodo. From the moment Bilbo handed over the mithril shirt and the pouch full of treasure, he had watched every flicker of the young Hobbit's expression.
Seeing no greed there, only sorrow at Bilbo's departure, a glimmer of approval lit his eyes, and behind it, the faint stir of a plan.
Kael noticed the look and understood that something was taking shape in Gandalf's mind, but he said nothing.
"Kael, what do you think of Frodo as a Ring‑bearer?" Gandalf's voice sounded quietly in his thoughts.
Kael turned his head and met the wizard's eyes, realising he was being addressed mind to mind.
"How do you mean?" he replied inwardly.
"I can feel the gears of fate grinding forward again," Gandalf answered. "Another war is coming, worse than the last. Sauron's strength has grown; he is now as powerful as he was at his height, if not more so."
"The One Ring remains a hidden danger. The stronger Sauron becomes, the deeper its link to him grows. They will strive to be reunited. Not even Tom Bombadil will be able to halt that call forever.
"Tom belongs to no side in this quarrel. He has done us a great service by keeping the Ring these past decades, but we cannot ask more of him, nor drag him and Goldberry into open war.
"So we must find another bearer, someone the Ring's influence cannot easily touch, carry it out of the Old Forest, and see it destroyed."
"What do you intend to do?" Kael asked.
Gandalf looked towards Frodo, a smile tugging at his beard. "I mean to gather another company. We will guard the Ring on a journey to Mount Doom. That is where Sauron forged it, and only there, in its fire, can it be unmade."
Kael frowned. "That is the heart of Mordor, under Sauron's very nose. Now that his strength is restored, his hold on his realm is tighter than ever, and his bond with the Ring is stronger. The moment it nears Mordor, he will feel it.
"We could end up delivering it straight back to him."
On the old path of events, Frodo and his companions had crept into Mordor unseen and destroyed the Ring almost under Sauron's eyes.
They had been guided by Gollum, shielded by chance, and aided by the fact that Sauron then had no body, his power still thin and his link to the Ring weak. He had not sensed its approach.
Now, with Morgoth's possible aid behind him, Sauron's strength was another matter entirely, and his bond to the Ring had grown. Even Tom Bombadil would not be able to smother that pull for long.
Once the Ring drew close, Sauron would feel it at once and hurl everything he had into taking it back.
If he succeeded, no power left in Middle-earth could stand against him.
"That is why I mean to draw Sauron out of Mordor," Gandalf said. "Galadriel, Elrond, Círdan, you, I—every member of the White Council—will take the field and hold him in open war, and keep his eye fixed on us.
"Meanwhile, a smaller company will slip away with the Ring, travelling in secret towards Mordor. When Sauron is fully engaged, they will cross its borders and cast the Ring into Mount Doom.
"Sauron poured most of his own spirit and strength into the One Ring. The two are bound together. If the Ring is destroyed, he will be swept away with it and never return."
"Will he really leave Mordor?" Kael asked.
"He will," Gandalf said firmly. "His renewed might has given him confidence. He will not be content to cower in his fortress. That does not suit one who would rule the world.
"And if he hesitates, we will drive him out."
"How?" Kael pressed.
"He is desperate to recover the Ring. So we give him a trail to chase. We spread word that the One Ring has been found and that it is to be taken West across the sea to the Blessed Realm, there to be cleansed and unmade," Gandalf said, his eyes glinting with old cunning. "Sauron will never allow that. He will come in person if he must. That will be our chance."
Kael's eyes brightened.
It was a sound plan. Draw Sauron far from Mordor and its strength, and then send the Ring-bearers slipping in behind him to finish the task.
"So you mean to choose Frodo as Ring-bearer, and have him carry the Ring to Mount Doom?" he asked.
Gandalf nodded, glancing at Bilbo and Frodo and sighing softly. "In truth, I would rather trust it to Bilbo. He has walked the wilds before, and his will is strong. He would be the perfect bearer.
"But he is old now. His body and face may not show it, thanks to your Elixir, but his heart has grown weary. I do not think he can bear such a burden again.
"Frodo is Bilbo as he was in his youth. Both their mothers came from adventurous blood, and both their fathers from the steady, home-loving Baggins line. Even their birthdays fall on the same day.
"It feels to me as though some design has been at work all along, first joining them as kin and then bringing us to this moment."
Kael thought that, for once, Gandalf had hit the mark squarely. Uncle and nephew, two Ring-bearers across long years, would shape the fate of Middle-earth together.
"But how do you mean to persuade him?" Kael asked. "Protecting the Ring all the way to Mount Doom is no easy errand. A misstep could cost him his life.
"Worse, the Ring is growing stronger. All along the road, it will gnaw at him. That is a torment few could stand. Do you truly believe he will agree?"
On the old road of events, Frodo had left the Shire with the Ring because Sauron, through Gollum, had learned that it lay in the Shire and had sent the Nazgûl to hunt it.
For his own safety and for the Shire's, Frodo had been forced to go, carrying the Ring first to Rivendell and then beyond.
Now, though, the Ring was no longer in Bilbo's hand, and Bilbo had left Frodo a fortune large enough to live in comfort for the rest of his days.
There was no hunger, no peril at his door. Why would he risk his life and bare his soul to the Ring's poison for the sake of a burden he could refuse?
"I do not wish to lay so heavy a weight on him," Gandalf said quietly. "But there is no other who can bear it."
Hobbits, with their cheerful, peace‑loving, unambitious nature, resisted the Ring far better than other folk.
Yet that same contentment meant they hated leaving home. They would rather stay in their holes than face the wide and dangerous world.
Only Hobbits like Bilbo and Frodo, who held both that deep love of home and a spark of true daring, could ever serve as Ring-bearers.
Kael did not argue further. The choosing of the Ring-bearer and the mustering of the Ring-guard were matters he left to Gandalf.
When Bilbo had finished packing and taken his leave of Frodo, Kael brought him, with Elthir and Elroth, through the fire and away to Hogwarts.
Gandalf remained awhile in Bag End.
As he had once persuaded Bilbo to step out of his door and into a wider tale, he now prepared to speak with Frodo, and ask him to take up the Ring and join the new company that would guard it.