Don Marshall

Yeah, that, in fact, that current is going to be a problem.

He has to turn almost due north to fight the current before getting lost in the Gladden Fields, meaning he will likely have had to swim twice the width of the river just to get across for this.

Essentially, if you picture...

you're going to cross a river, but you know, it's going to take you to the South.

So what you're basically doing is turning yourself 45 degrees to the right and going that way.

But the entire time you're also getting swept South and,

So yeah, you really are actually covering twice as much ground because of the current.

So this is rough.

Speaking of the Gladden Fields, the footnote here tells us that the place of the last stand had been a mile or more beyond their northern border.

But maybe in the dark, the fall of the land had bent his course somewhat to the south.

In other words, if he'd been able to traverse the land due west in an absolute straight as narrow line, he'd have reached the river a mile north of Gladden Fields.

But Tolkien here is suggesting he was a bit closer.

So maybe a half a mile to three quarters of a mile north of the Gladden Fields.

So that means he ends up covering the distance across, but also gets swept that far south.

Right.

He swam the width of the river and he was fighting along the current and basically losing all of that distance that he made.

And he finds himself, again, he's not just fighting the current, he's also fighting the reeds and the other plants as he is trying to reach that western shore.

And then amidst all of this intense, intense athleticism that he is having to do, the ring is gone.

He realizes that it's just gone.

I can't begin to comprehend what that must have felt like in that moment.