The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R Tolkien (Harper Collins 1991) pp. 287-290
The road over the mountains has failed and the weary travellers are forced to consider another way. Until this point neither Gandalf nor Aragorn have consulted the rest of the company about what way they should take but now it is necessary that they should do so. Merry and Pippin would give up if they could but Gandalf makes it clear that there can be no turning back for if they do this there will soon be nowhere to go. To his credit Boromir has said nothing up until now but now he counsels that they retrace the steps that he took in his journey from Minas Tirith to Rivendell, passing through the Gap of Rohan. Gandalf makes it clear that this is no longer a possibility, the treachery of Saruman has seen to that.
And then Gandalf tells them of the way that he thinks best. He will take them through the Mines of Moria.
“Since our open attempt on the mountain-pass our plight has become more desperate, I fear. I see now little hope, if we do not vanish from sight for a while, and cover our trail. Therefore I advise that we should go neither over the mountains, nor round them, but under them. That is a road at any rate that the Enemy will least expect us to take.”
Gandalf’s proposal is greeted with little enthusiasm except from Gimli the dwarf for whom the name of Moria calls to mind the greatest of his people’s achievements and the name of Durin, the greatest of their kings. Boromir simply dismisses the idea while Aragorn warns Gandalf that if he enters Moria he may never get out again. Frodo trusts the counsel of Gandalf, little though he likes the sound of this “dark and secret way” as Gandalf puts it. At the last it is not strength of argument that wins the day but a sudden attack by Wargs, the wolves of Mordor. Suddenly the way through Moria is the only option.
And so begins the first of the dark ways through which Tolkien takes the Fellowship. There are three such ways and each one of them is associated with death as well as darkness. Gandalf will fall into the abyss in Moria after the attack of the Balrog at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm; Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, will take the Paths of the Dead into Gondor; while Frodo and Sam will pass through Shelob’s Lair but only, in Frodo’s case, as one who has taken a deadly bite.
For each of the Company who must go these ways there is a sense in which they tread the kind of path that Dante takes in his Divine Comedy. Each must go their own personal way through hell, each tasting something of death, and in Gandalf’s case, literally so, before they can emerge through it to what lies beyond. But for none of them is there some simple journey into Paradise. For Gandalf what lies beyond his dark road is his greatest challenge as he pits himself against the might of Mordor as well as against the leader of his own order. For Aragorn and his companions the journey through the Paths of the Dead will bring them to the battle at the gates of Minas Tirith. While for Frodo and Sam the path through Shelob’s Lair merely takes them into Mordor and all that lies ahead. While it may be too simple a thing to call this a Purgatory and so take my allusion to Dante a little further there is no doubt that for each of Tolkien’s characters who pass through their own dark ways further tests lie ahead that are no less challenging than what they have already faced.
For each of them there is a sense in which they are strengthened by the tests that they have already faced. Gandalf becomes the White after facing death itself, while Aragorn takes upon himself his true identity as the Heir of Isildur, the one who has the authority to command the obedience of the King of the Dead. And if Frodo enters Mordor as if a dead man stumbling step by step to Mount Doom, Sam enters it as a mighty hero, able to take his master to the conclusion of their journey.
And Paradise, what of this for each of Tolkien’s heroes? Tolkien leaves the answer to this question in the hands of Ilúvatar. As Aragorn was to put it, “In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound forever to the circles of the world, and beyond them there is more than memory.”
Wisdom from The Lord of the Rings 
Thanks for this thoughtful post Stephen, as ever, and especially for bringing the three dark paths into comparison. You rightly noted that Gandalf and Aragorn became strengthened in different ways due their confrontation with death, whereas after Shelob’s Lair it was Sam and not Frodo who truly stepped into his heroism. That’s a very interesting way to see it. Perhaps that is what makes Frodo’s tale sadder. Gandalf’s and Aragorn’s tests were necessary stages before they could triumph, while Frodo’s test was the necessary stage before his ‘failure’ (in his own mind at least). Should we count Frodo’s ennoblement, as Tolkien puts it, as a form of triumph or strengthening? I am not sure if that counts in the same way.
As for Gandalf being the one to propose the journey through Moria – what a genius stroke from Tolkien as a storyteller: the tragedy of it as it dawns on us when we first come out of the Mines, in shock and disbelief, is heartbreaking for both the reader and the Fellowship.
And thank you for this very thoughtful response. I find that the more that I think about Frodo’s story the more I find it one that evokes compassion in me. The bearing of the Ring is something that is almost impossible to fully grasp and that too is an astonishing achievement on Tolkien’s part. I think that the moment in the Hall of Fire in Rivendell when Bilbo’s gentle persona is suddenly stripped away and he is revealed as a vile grasping creature gives insight into the utterly corrupting power of the Ring. To bear it is a descent into hell and if for the other characters that descent is comparatively brief albeit devastatingly intense then for Frodo it cannot end until the Ring is no more. And if Isildur and Smeagol were corrupted by their desire for the Ring then for Frodo it is a burden that he chooses to bear for the sake of others. Yes, he does wish to be a hero and who could forget the words that Elrond speaks when he accepts the task of bearing the Ring to the Fire at the Council? Certainly not I. As for myself I still feel that Frodo deserves to be hailed as hero at The Field of Cormallen but he has almost redefined what a hero is in the process.
And I agree with you completely about the tragic irony of it being Gandalf who counsels the taking of the road through Moria.