Which finger did Frodo lose when Gollum bit the ring off his hand?

[Arathorn]

I just got back to the part in ROTK where Sam woke up in Ithilien with Frodo still asleep and slept peacefully, one hand behind his head, and the other resting upon the coverlet. It was the right hand, and the third finger was missing.

I was wondering whether this would be the ring finger or the, er, dirty finger. Any ideas?

[Laurelyn]

Y'know, now that you bring it up, I have no idea. "Third finger" could be either one's middle finger, or the ring finger if you exclude the thumb . . . huh. :confused:

[eowyn144]

definetly the ring finger. i think. u don't include the thumb as a finger cos its too small.

[Laurelyn]

Originally posted by eowyn144
u don't include the thumb as a finger cos its too small.
It's also different otherwise, too . . . pinkie fingers are smaller than thumbs . . . wait . . . But I do think that probably was Tolkien's way of saying the ring finger, now that I ponder it some more. Not that my thought on the matter means anything, but that's okay . . .

[Arathorn]

Good point. But then Sam's song would then go: "Frodo of the seven fingers and two thumbs and the Ring of Doom" instead of the "nine fingers".:rolleyes:

[luinilwen]

well imagine if it'd been on his left ring finger! would that make him engaged to sauron? :p

well in piano, the third finger is the middle finger, although in guitar the third finger is the ring finger. so i suppose the question is: what instrument did frodo play?

:) :) :)

[Laurelyn]

Or did he play an instrument at all? Or, rather, did Tolkien play an instrument? If so, which finger was refferred to as what . . .? Ok , that post was indeed random on my part . . .

[Banazir]

I really think it was the ring finger, because there's this issue of Frodo writing the 'Red Book' after the war. It's harder to write with the middle finger missing, than with the ring finger missing. Supposing, of course, that Frodo was right-handed.

[Menelvagor]

I would think it would be the ring finger, simply because that the ring finger, but, then again, I never wear a ring on my ring finger, so whatever. How did Gollum manage to bite off only one finger anyway, no matter which one it is? That'd be darn hard!

Feel free to ignore this post, I have no idea what I'm typing...

[Tanoliel]

I think it was the ring finger...because i think i've heard it referred to as the third finger before. also...it just seems righter. more right. whatever. I can't think right now...yargh...
-tano

[FrodoFriend]

I always thought it was the middle finger. Why would you exclude the thumb from the other fingers? :confused: But now that I think about it, ring finger does seem nicer. Did they call the "ring" finger in Tolkien's time?

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I would just say it's the ring finger, but that's just how I pictured it when I was reading the book. I've never really thought about which way one counts one's fingers. I guess it just makes sense if Frodo were to put the Ring on on his "ring finger." Anyway, I'm just rambling. :) But I wonder how they will do it in the movie...

[Arathorn]

Thanks guys. Eruviel Greenleaf, I think that's the more interesting question: How will they interpret it in the movie? Hopefully, they don't do a cop out and cover the whole hand with a cast or something.

[eowyn144]

i'm pretty sure that they'll show it all. they didn't cut out the chopping off of arms and heads so why cut out the cutting off of a finger?
also- i have now been pondering due to Banazirs earlier post wether or not frodo is right or left handed. ne one out there know?

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I don't know what people thought about this in Tolkien's time, but people used to think that left-handed people were evil, or just that it was wrong to use one's left hand and therefore made left-handed children use their right hands. I know they did this in Victorian times, and I don't know what Tolkien thought, especially considering he was quite a few years later, but I would assume a little of that fear of such differences would still remain, and that Tolkien probably wouldn't think about this anyway, so I would assume that Frodo was right-handed. Tell me if I'm wrong. Better yet, tell me if anything I just said made sense.

[eowyn144]

errr... kinda. thank you all the same.

[Earniel]

*looks at her hands* AAAAARRGGHH you've made me all confused! I can't even COUNT on my fingers anymore!!!

Other than that I think it must have been the ringfinger, since he was wearing a ring and what use is a ringfinger for if not that?

[Nameless]

Uh-oh, I shouldn't have read this thread!

Now I'm really confused. So confused I've tangled all my fingers up! And the third finger is....?

*Sigh* I can't even see which finger is which!

This is not good, I'm trying to type with my thumbs........:eek:

[Arathorn]

Ummm, guys. I was just asking a question. Please don't any of you start biting off any fingers, ok?:(

[Banazir]

Originally posted by eowyn144
also- i have now been pondering due to Banazirs earlier post wether or not frodo is right or left handed. ne one out there know?

It's mentioned in several places in the books (although I can't find them now) that Frodo held his sword in his right hand. So I guess it's safe to assume he wasn't left-handed.
There is also such thing as ambidextrous people, i.e. those who can use both hands equally. Maybe Frodo was one of those. :D

[RosieCotton]

I always considered my thumb a finger, so that would make it the middle finger...but it would make sense to wear a ring on your ring finger....great, now I'm having problems counting. Heck, in the movie they can just chop the hand off if they're as confused as me.
~Rosie~

[eowyn144]

speaking of the movie (which i probably shouldn't seeing as this is the lotr books forum) i noticed that whenever frodo had to put on the ring, he always put it on his first/fore/the one next to the thumb finger and NOT the ring finger.
small insignificant and slightly irrelevent point i know but thats just who i am.:p

[Earniel]

On the other hand I know a lot of people who don't wear rings on their ring finger (myself included) since rings are often too big. Sauron was a big fella, wasn't he? So it might be that the ring was a tad too large for wearing on a hobbit ring finger.

[Arathorn]

But, at least in the movie, it did change size according to the wearer.

Hmmm...
What if it were instead the One Ear Ring instead of the One Ring? Would it be worn on the left ear or the right ear?

In this case at least, Mike Tyson will make a good Gollum, yesss?

[Jedipati]

I always thought it was the middle finger that got bitten. Of course, in that case, I could make a statement in reply to the question of why only one finger got bitten off. But I won't. :D

[Tanoliel]

I always wear my rings, when i wear them at all which isn't often, maybe more often if I had the one ring...anyhow, I always wear it on my...um..pointer-finger or whatever it's called. First finger, the one next to the thumb.
Hey...people agree that that's called the first finger, right? I mean, most people I know call it that (when we're talking about fingers, which isn't often, either...only on entmoot!). So if that's the first finger, then the third finger must be the ring finger, right? Oh...I don't know...just more rambling. :)
And I did notice that...about the ring always ending up on his first finger...(I think he just doesn't want to be engaged to Sauron!)
And...um..I think the ring does change size accoring to the wearer...there was some line about that..or maybe I'm making it up. I dunno...
-tano

[Elf Girl]

I always assumed it was the ring finger, but I never really thought about it.

[Earniel]

I'm still inclined to say it was the ringfinger. Now that you mentioned it, he did wear the ring on the first finger in the movie. But I'm not really going the film as reference.

[Menelvagor]

Yes, and the scene in Bree can't really be used as a reference anyway because Frodo did not put the ring on then, it fell on of it's own accord, and I'm not sure if the Ring itself had any scruples about which finger it fell on.

If it did though (which would be weird) it would probably return to the finger sauron wore it on which was (I know in the movie and I'm prety sure it said something about it in the books) the ring finger.

hm, that was an odd post...:)

[cameronkendrick]

In my Tolkien class I am currently taking at school we have came to no certain answer of which finger Frodo lost at Mount Doom. I was hoping maybe someone could supply me with information of occurances of LOTR characters wearing the ring and on which finger they wore it (i.e. Tom Bombadil, Frodo, Bilbo, Sauron).

[Elf Girl]

There's a thread about this floating around somewhere, so this will probably get closed soon.

[StrawberryIcecream]

Middle finger. I'n not 100% but i've only just finished the books and I'mm 99% sure it's the middle finger.

[Earniel]

You've got a Tolkien class?! Oh, life is SO unfair!

[Pip]

I know for a fact that it's Frodo's middle finger, but I'm not sure what hand it was. I think it was the right hand.

[cameronkendrick]

Pip, how do you know for certain it was the middle finger. This would help clear up much debate.

Cam

[Comic Book Guy]

All these posts and not a single quote among them, whats the world coming to?

He remembered that smell: the fragrance of Ithilien. 'Bless me!' he mused. 'How long have I been asleep?' For the scent had borne him back to the day when he had lit his little fire under the sunny bank; and for a moment all else between was out of waking memory. He stretched and drew a deep breath. 'Why, what a dream I've had!' he muttered. 'I am glad to wake!'

He sat up and then he saw that Frodo was lying beside him, and slept peacefully, one hand behind his head, and the other resting upon the coverlet. It was the right hand, and the third finger was missing.

[Elf Girl]

Yes, but does that count the thumb or not?

[emplynx]

I was going to take a Tolkien class at a local College (Concord College) taught by a patient of my Dad's, but it is durning my HS School Hours. :-(

I remember the old "What is the third finger" discussion.
*Pauses for an Entmoot search*
Why don't you all check it out at http://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3608

[Spock]

The Right Hand, third finger (traditional ring finger).

The Return of The King, The Field of Cormallen chapter.

[Pip]

Originally posted by cameronkendrick
Pip, how do you know for certain it was the middle finger. This would help clear up much debate.

Cam
I know for a fact that it was his middle finger because I remember a quote that I read. I don't remember the exact words but I know it said something like "his middle finger was missing. 'So it was real' said Sam." This probably isn't the exact quote but it's close enough in the fact of what finger it was. I hope this helps clear up some of the debate.

[Elf Girl]

Originally posted by Pip
I know for a fact that it was his middle finger because I remember a quote that I read. I don't remember the exact words but I know it said something like "his middle finger was missing. 'So it was real' said Sam." This probably isn't the exact quote but it's close enough in the fact of what finger it was. I hope this helps clear up some of the debate.

The quote was, "his third finger was missing." The debate is, does this count the thumb or not?

[Rána Eressëa]

Originally posted by Elf Girl
Yes, but does that count the thumb or not?

Why wouldn't it? Right hand, third finger. The third finger of any hand, going from left or from right is the middle finger. I doubt Tolkien would leave off the thumb as being a finger in the first place.

[Urksnik the Sleek]

I don't know about Tolkien, but I've always thought of the third finger as the ring finger on the right hand, but then I tend to count the thumb as a thumb!:)

[Elbereth]

I believe that elsewhere in the book it stated the Frodo slipped the Ring onto his ring finger. I would count the thumb as a thumb. Though in the movie at one point it looks like he puts it on his first finger. The movie could and probably is, wrong.

[BeardofPants]

First finger is called the index finger.

I always thought that it was the middle finger, not the ring finger that was bitten off. I don't know why. :confused:

(Better late than never. ;))

[BeardofPants]

The movie is wrong, what else is new. :rolleyes:

As I replied to the other, more ancient thread ;), I always thought it was the middle finger, not the ring finger. But I guess it makes more sense having it on the ring finger...

[Rána Eressëa]

Hey, CBG, maybe you should merge this thread with the "which finger?" thread.

I still think it would be his middle finger, because I count the thumb as a finger. After all, you have five fingers on each hand - not four, right?

[BeardofPants]

No.

Technically, you have four fingers and one opposable thumb. Different phalangeal make up and all.

[Rána Eressëa]

Stop getting technical. It's a finger. :p An extension of the hand is a finger.

Tolkien should've just said "ring finger" and everyone would have been happy. :D

[BeardofPants]

Technically... no. :p An extention of the meta-tarsals is the phalanges. And fingers and thumbs have different morphological structures. So, no. Again. :p

[Rána Eressëa]

We've been lied to as children then. :eek:

[BeardofPants]

Yes. And they lied about Santa Claus as well. He isn't really the king of the jungle! :mad:

But anyway, back on topic, I think that Tolkien probably was talking about the Ring Finger, it would make more sense. But then again, there's the whole problem of the ring changing sizes. Perhaps Frodo used his middle finger because it was the fattest?

[olsonm]

The ring finger is the third finger.

[BeardofPants]

Yes, we know that. :rolleyes: But was he counting his thumb or not?

[olsonm]

No.

[BeardofPants]

So speaketh the fount of wisdom. :rolleyes: ;)

[Rána Eressëa]

But no one here is Tolkien so we can't say so for sure - unless Tolkien said it himself. ;)

[entss89]

DEFINITLY THE RING FINGER.

[katya]

i always thought the ring finger but i don't know. notice sometime earlier in the book i dont remember where it mentions someone putting the ring on their forefinger. which is the forefinger anyway? i dont know where it was but i think in book 1. as in book one, not fotr. book 1 in fotr...yeah...

[Sminty_Smeagol]

Oh my GOSH... how can you people be so silly?!?! It's on the RINGfinger... DUH!

J/k LOL!

-~*Sminty*~-

[Shadowfax]

I ALWAYS thought that it was the middle finger, not the ring finger!

[Linarryl]

I am almost sure it was the middle finger!

[Blackboar]

Me too thats, what I thought.

Do you like my new avatar?

[crickhollow]

the book says the third finger. count from your index. one, two, three. you've ended on your ring finger, haven't you! I think it's his ring finger

[Blackboar]

Well I play the piano and the guitar.
When playing the piano 3 means the middle finger.
When playing the guitar it means the ring finger.

Did Tolkien play any instruments?

[Lollypopgurl]

Hmm...

I've always thought of Frodo as left-handed. Don't ask me why:rolleyes:

I imagined it to be his middle finger. I mean, why put it on his rings finger???? Like someone pointed out, that would make him engaged to Sauron.

But then, Sauron didn't give it to him. Bilbo did. Or Gandalf. But he didn't touch the actual ring.

Ok....I'm rambling:D

[crickhollow]

Lollypopgurl, what makes you think that they would have had the same customs as far as engagement? I don't think it was likely that a ring on the third (read: ring) finger of your left hand would necessarily signify what it does in our modern western culture.

[cassiopeia]

It says in Sauron Defeated (The Field of Kormallen, note 9) that Tolkien named the ring finger as the third finger, so it was Frodo's ring finger was bitten off.

[Nibs]

If Frodo's (obviously hypothetical) middle finger were as freakishly knobbed in the knuckle as mine is, he'd have a hard time getting any kind of jewelry around it.

[Blackboar]

Hmm

When it says 3rd; which side of the hand is it counting from?

If Tolkien was lefthanded (I think he was?) He probably counted it from the little finger on the left hand (I'm left handed!) That would come to the middle one.

*sigh*
If only we could write to him and ask.

[Cirdan]

Statistically it is most likely to be the middle finger since counting all five digits, the middle finger is third in either direction. Counting only four digits as fingers excluding the thumb still leaves the middle finger as one of the two possible answers. 3 out of four methods gives the middle finger as the answer.

So Frodo gave the middle finger when duty called.:)

[cassiopeia]

Originally posted by BeardofPants
Um. BB. Did you not see Cass' note up above? It says it was the RING finger. :rolleyes:

I suppose the debate is still open, because its not canon. Christopher made the comment, so I am assuming he has a good idea of his fathers thoughts on the subject.

Am I going crazy or is Entmoot acting a bit weird today? :rolleyes:

Edit: Now BoP's post is gone. Whats going on??

[BeardofPants]

Yeah! It's being very weird! I've had problems sending PMs to people. The stupid system has been claiming that they were deleted, and THEN claiming that I hadn't sent them!!! Argh!!! And then I couldn't see your post on this thread, and now I can, but I can't see mine..... Time to PM Ben, methinks..

[Blackboar]

Thats happened to me loads!!!

[Blackboar]

Which finger does Frodo usually put it on?
In the movie I'm sure he usually put it on his middle finger.

[BeardofPants]

This isn't the movie forum. Sheesh. :rolleyes:

[Wayfarer]

Quite so.

Take yourself and your movie-loving ways over to the right forum if that's what you want to talk about! ]: )

I still say it was probobly the ring finger. I couldn't care less what peter jackson thinks.

Although... I might have more respect for him if he stopped by the boards and talked about things like a sensible person, instead of trying to brainwash the clueless masses with this devious propoganda campaign... :p

[Blackboar]

All right! Just thinking.

Didn't Chris Tolkien say it was the ring finger?

[Blackboar]

I just took a LotR quiz!
There was a question about this and the right answer was the Ring Finger.
The quiz is at www.barrow-downs.com/Quizes (http://www.barrowdowns.com)

I hope the link works!
I've used it before!

[BeardofPants]

Originally posted by Blackboar
Didn't Chris Tolkien say it was the ring finger?

Are you blind, or just plain idiotic? It's been said twice now (three times, if you count my post that disappeared.) :rolleyes:

[Wayfarer]

translation: 'Yes, he did.'

[katya]

Ok i was jsut at a web site somewhere (?) and i noticed they had a little thing on where traditions come from. On of the questions was "Why do we wear wedding rings on our third finger?" So I guess that means that our ring finger is the third finger.

[Cirdan]

Yes, that must be right because the index finger is the "we're number one" finger.:D

Frodo uses the index finger in the movie, which is wrong.

[cassiopeia]

Ok, I'm going to put the exact quote from the chapter "The Field of Kormallen" from Sauron Defeated, HoME volume 9.

This is from Tokien's rough draft:

....and upon Frodo's hand upon the middle* and little fingers the set small rings of mithril...

Where * is there is a note by Christopher which says (exactly):

My father named the penultimate finger (the 'fourth finger' or 'ring finger') the 'third finger'; so Frodo's 'third finger' was missing' (RK p. 229).

Now if anyone would know what Tokien meant by 'third finger' I would think it would be his son, Christopher.

[Blackboar]

Exactly!!!

Good old Chris Tolkien always clears the matter!!

[Blackboar]

Originally posted by BeardofPants
Are you blind, or just plain idiotic? It's been said twice now (three times, if you count my post that disappeared.) :rolleyes:

Just idiotic:D And I havn't read the whole of this thread!!

And Cass is therefore the 4th person to say this but she can make her voice be heard!

[Adrian Baggins]

If you would kindly notice in the movie that Frodo wears the ring on his LEFT hand. What is up with that? He wears it on the wrong hand, wrong finger and he doesn't even put it all the way on. Once he even wore it on his thumb in the movie, or was it twice. Oh well. In the cartoon The Return of the King it is his ring finger as well. Didn't Chris Tolkien do some work and have some say on animation in that movie? I read somewhere that he did. Oh well again. Oh well, True, and Point are my sayings.Those and Oh Hobbit or just plain Hobbit or Frodo. I have been known to say Fellowship Fiddlesticks, Sam! or Oh Sam!, Merry, or Pippin, and I sometimes list all the hobbits instead of cussing or Shoot.