Another Lord of the Rings Hot Take: the reason Frodo starts starving himself isn’t *just* because of the horrific emotional toll of the journey. It’s also because the only food Frodo and Sam have is Lembas bread, which the Ring takes away your ability to eat.
When Frodo tries to share the Lembas bread with Gollum, Gollum is physically unable to eat it. He wants to eat it, but Can’t. Because it’s elvish bread, it burns Gollum’s throat and “chokes” him.
I mentioned in a previous post that Frodo isn’t just afraid of becoming like Gollum– he’s afraid of becoming like Gollum because he knows that Sam despises Gollum, and he’s paranoid that he’s becoming someone who Sam can no longer love.
When Gollum says that he can’t eat Lembas bread, Sam coldly responds that he’ll have to “starve then, and good riddance.”
And then Sam repeatedly worries that Frodo isn’t eating enough, that he worries Frodo is starving himself. (”You haven’t eating anything all day, and you’re not sleeping neither– don’t think I haven’t noticed!” “I’ve seen you– you’re not eating, you barely sleep.”)
I feel like the reason Frodo is eating less isn’t the horrible emotional strain of the journey– it’s also because he’s physically losing the ability to eat. As the Ring takes over his mind eating elvish food is starting to become painful for him, the way it’s painful for Gollum. Frodo saying ”I can’t recall the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of grass” on Mount Doom is a direct callback to Gollum saying that “we forgot the taste of bread, the sound of trees, the softness of the wind” in the beginning of the film.
One thing I think is really compelling about the Ring is that….there is no clear line between “the emotional toll the journey takes on the characters” and “the actual physical damage the Ring does to their minds.” There’s no clear separation between the times when Frodo is not eating because he’s traumatized and afraid, and the times when Frodo is not eating because the Ring is warping his mind and making it harder for him to eat. It’s like the Ring is parasitic, feeding off the guilt and trauma it creates in people.
Frodo tries to hide how little he’s eating because he doesn’t want Sam to worry about his emotional state…… but also because he doesn’t want Sam to realize that he’s gradually becoming corrupted like Gollum, that he’s gradually becoming the kind of person he’s afraid that Sam can no longer empathize with.
but metroid is also about learning to do trick jumps from random animals who celebrate when you get it right, and about saving them even as the planet shudders under your feet
and metroid is about lowering your gun when you meet the last of a species who's only just hatched, and gently holding out your hand
and metroid is about accidentally calling the name of someone you care about, who you thought you'd lost, and finding out they've been with you the whole time
and about a little scribble of a child with their parents tucked into the corner of a grand mural
and about the gifts left behind by others because they may be gone before they get to meet you, but that won't stop them from helping you
What'd you do to get all the 'not like the other christians' crying at you
Literally the entire history of Christianity is going "im not like other christians", i mean isn't like half of the new Testament just Paul going "stop being like other christians, im not like other christians and you shouls be like me instead". Not being like other christians is top 5 Christian hobbies
So do I just like....follow...anyone? Like real people? Like the actual people and not the subject matter? That isn't like following someone to their doorstep? Why does this seem so personal???