What happens in Chapter 13 of The Lord of the Rings?
Frodo, Sam, and Gollum leave the crossroads behind and start climbing toward Cirith Ungol. Gollum leads them up the long, winding path known as the Straight Stair, then onto the even more dangerous Winding Stair, which spirals dizzyingly up the sheer face of the Ephel Dúath. The hobbits are worn out, their legs aching and their spirits drained by the oppressive darkness and the heavy burden of the Ring on Frodo. They take a break in a shallow crevice in the rock. While Sam keeps watch, he notices Gollum creeping back in the night—only to catch him tenderly stroking Frodo's knee, a moment that quickly turns wild as Gollum feels Sam's gaze. Sam's suspicion turns into outright hostility. When Frodo wakes, Sam tries to express his unease but struggles to find the right words for what he saw. Gollum, feeling insulted and brooding, pushes them to move forward. By the end of the chapter, the three stand at the entrance of the tunnel—the pass of Cirith Ungol—and the darkness ahead is complete, a threshold that feels more like destiny than mere geography.
Analysis
Tolkien uses verticality to convey moral lessons throughout this chapter: each step up the Stairs also represents a deeper plunge into spiritual danger. The Straight Stair and the Winding Stair are more than just physical hurdles; they illustrate the contrast between endurance and confusion, between a punishing but clear path and one that loops back on itself, undermining the traveller's sense of direction and identity. This structural contrast reflects Gollum's own conflicted nature, which is powerfully highlighted in the chapter's most heartbreaking moment: Sam sees Gollum gently touch the sleeping Frodo, with a gesture that could, in a different context, be interpreted as love. Tolkien leaves this gesture open to interpretation—it's neither entirely malicious nor purely compassionate—and that ambiguity is what makes Gollum a tragic figure instead of just a monstrous one. Sam’s interruption of this moment is a small yet irreversible act; it marks the end of any potential for Gollum's fragile rehabilitation. The writing style shifts noticeably: the stair sequences are described in short, forceful sentences that mimic physical exertion, while the night-watch scene flows into something more lyrical and uncertain, as if the language itself is grappling with what it has just observed. The chapter concludes with images of thresholds—the dark mouth of the tunnel—utilizing silence and halted motion where another author might aim for a climactic moment. Tolkien relies on the fear of what is yet to come to carry more weight than any dramatic revelation could.
Key quotes from Chapter 13
“Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, and yet listening.”
Sam wakes to find Gollum crouched over the sleeping Frodo; the moment Sam stirs, this flicker of something almost gentle collapses back into wariness—the novel's starkest image of Sméagol's lost self.
“'Sneaking,' said Sam. 'I saw him. He was going back to that Sméagol-Gollum talk, I'll be bound. He's up to something.'”
Sam reports his suspicions to Frodo after Gollum's nocturnal absence, voicing the distrust that will ultimately foreclose any chance of Gollum's redemption.
“Before them, at the top of a long slope, they could see, even in the gloom, the dark mouth of a tunnel yawning in the rock.”
The chapter's closing image, positioning the entrance to Shelob's lair as a void that swallows light and hope alike, suspending the narrative on the edge of an unknown darkness.
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