I don’t remember if Tolkien specified how high that platform was above the lava, so I’m using the movies as a reference. Realistically, how hot would it have been in there?
Something weird I noticed was that due to the Rule of Cool, every time they showed the volcano from a distance its actively spewing lava. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that platform Frodo ended up on would realistically have been well engulfed, and so would that door on the side. But suppose that lava worked like tides, or Mt Dooms splooged some lava out and had less lava when Frodo arrived, wouldn’t it still have been impossible for them to be that close?
Again, I know, Rule of Cool and all that, but Gollum, falling into the lava, was pretty much shown as completely fine until he actually hit the lava. He would have been burning up while in the air right?
Well, Sauron is a literal wizard, so I imagine it was in his power to insulate the platform from the worst of the heat, and keep the lava from overflowing the chamber.
But Gollum “swimming” in the lava even for a couple seconds, so that he can keep the ring above the surface, would never have worked. I suspect, like you, that he would have caught fire before he hit the surface, and any part of him that was actually in contact with molten rock would have been vaporized pretty much instantly.
I doubt Gollum would have literally burst into flames while falling - even as hot as it was, it only took a few seconds to fall, and air is a pretty poor conductor of heat. And being rejoined with his Precious can explain why he wasn’t in agony the whole time. But slowly and gently sinking into the lava like it was water - impossible, unless he’s actually denser than molten rock.
The real problem at the height of the platform would be fumes more than the heat itself. An active pool of lava is going to be spewing out all kinds of gas. If the platform was on the edge of the crater, there would be plenty of fresh air available, but located in the middle of the cone, with a narrow passage to the outside? You’d better have your own source of oxygen.
As for falling in… I also doubt that you’d burst into flames on the way down - not something as wet as a person. But you’d definitely burst into flames when you hit the lava. If anything kept you alive for a bit, it’d be the Leidenfrost effect creating a layer of steam between you and the lava.
I’m reminded of this video of an iPad 2 getting dipped in/laid on a lava flow. It survives just long enough to give a sad little “temperature too high” error.
I remember grumbling at 1997’s “Volcano,” with a serious eruption in the heart of Los Angeles. One guy steps into a fresh, red-glowing lava flow…and manages to take two or three steps before sinking down into it.
Meanwhile, people are standing only a few feet away, holding out their hands as if to pull him free.
Heat…fumes…shock to the human nervous system… Great big bags of nuh-uh.
(Dante’s Peak was quite a bit better. Still some problems, but much fewer, and much lower on the nitpick scale. Also, just plain a better movie: better drama.)
Yep, if you fall into a pool of molten lava you won’t sink. You’ll float very high, in a way that will seem weird and unrealistic to people who think molten lava should act as if it had the same density as water. But of course, lava is as dense as rock, while humans are about as dense as water. Rock is a lot heavier than water. Humans will float on lava like a cork. Until they roast and char and burn.
Also, in the book it’s stated that Sauron constantly has slaves repairing the roads and tunnels and platforms at Mount Doom, since the volcano constantly destroys them. The movie shows the exact same platform 3000 years ago, when Isildur doesn’t destroy the ring. Of course, that’s not in the book either.
I have no idea what would happen to someone standing in lava, but having people near molten lava is realistic. There are plenty of pics of folks basically leaning right over molten lava and suffering no ill effects.
Yeah, and note that the guy holding the iPad is basically using the canonical 10 foot pole and is failing to burst into flame. Of course, the volcano at Hilo isn’t hot enough to destroy a magical ring with its mystical energies, so maybe you’d want to be a bit further away from the especially toasty Crack O’ Doom then that.
I do seem to recall in the book that Sam and Frodo did spend a bit of time choking on the fumes.
As for Gollum in the lava – well he is in possession, very temporarily, of a powerful magic ring. I suppose the ring might have been protecting him until it too displayed a “temperature too high” error.
Valid point. I think this depends on the type of lava, and, certainly, on the atmosphere nearby. If you’ve got a fresh breeze blowing cool air over you, that’s different than being inside a tightly enclosed space.
You’re quite right; my phrasing was wrong. He sort of “erodes” into it. My objection was that I don’t think he’d be able to force himself to take a step or two; I think the working nerves in his feet and ankles would be annihilated.
(Lots and lots else wrong with that movie. Like “diverting” the lava flow – where the hell to? There’re dense city neighborhoods everywhere, in all directions, from where the eruption is centered.)