We're finally here, at the "end of ends" – Sam and Frodo reach Mount Doom and destroy the One Ring, but is all as it seems? We sure don't think so. Theology comes roaring back in Tolkien's writing, but his hobbits have placed their faith in themselves and the quest, not a higher power. Similarly, as they accept the fact that the end of the quest will also probably be the end of their lives, they don't make any appeal to an afterlife or their own salvation. Then Gollum storms in like Milton's Lucifer in Paradise Lost, the fallen angel with more humanity and tragedy than any one character should be able to bear, and he pretty much ends the story! What does that mean for the magic / power hierarchies of Middle-earth? Cam also posits a theory about the will of the One Ring and suggests that in this pivotal moment it chooses its own master for the first time. We work together to find Gandalf in the symphony of Sauron's destruction, only to find evidence of both Gandalfs, which really just confuses the question. Finally, Cam thinks Sam's breaking through the narrative ceiling and seeing Tolkien's tricks again, but this time he might be seeing the secret to JRRT's writing and rising up to join him as a fellow storyteller.

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