The Power of Hobbits
 

Do you think that if Frodo, Samwise, Meriadoc, and Peregrin had gone home once they reached Rivendell, instead of taking up on the rest of the quest, would it have been fulfilled? (especially concerning Frodo & Sam)

I don't think it would have.
There was something about the innocence and love of peace about hobbits that made it be that they were so much more than anyone believed they could be. Something about their ways and nature that gave them (especially Frodo & Sam) an inner strength.

I'm pretty positive the that the quest would not have been fulfilled. Look at all the deeds that those four Hobbits did! Without Merry the Witch King would not have been destroyed. Merry and Pippin also roused the Ents which let to the destruction of Isengard, and look at all that Frodo and Sam did. Frodo was definitley the one to bear the Ring. I doubt anybody else could have born it as well as he did. And we all know that Frodo could have completed the quest without Sam.
I couldn't agree more!

Don't forget Pippin saving Faramir! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Exactly! There are so many things that the unlikely heroes can do!

What about the strength of the entire Shire to counteract Sharky?

I don't think anyone other than Frodo Baggins in all of ME could have carried the Ring to Orodruin, with the very possible exception of Sam.

I think that without the hobbits the fellowship would have failed. The hobbits did so much that, in my opinion, no one else could have, especially Frodo, although Sam might have been able to be the Ring-bearer.

By the way, Thulorongil, my signature picks up where yours leave off, that is neat.

Namarie

Well, so much would have had to change, it is impossible to tell. Who would have carried the ring for one thing.

I don't think anyone could have carried the Ring but a Hobbit. A special hobbit at that. I feel the Hobbits were much stronger than most give them credit for. They not only did great things individually they also overcame many terrors almost unscathed except for frodo. It is amazing he survived the Ring at all so it is understandable he was so effected. Poor Boromir couldn't resist it just being near it for many days.
Hobbits have an encredible strength of spirit without them I feel the quest would have failed.

I agree with "only a special hobbit" and that hobbit was Frodo. The Ring's method of control was in subverting the wearer through his/her intentions for using it. Hence Gandalf's speech about why he dare not touch the Ring. Frodo had no desire to use the Ring for any purpose, good or bad. He tried to give it away several times. As he traveled closer to Mt. Doom, the Ring began to gain a foothold in his mind, but it wasn't until Frodo was at the Crack of Doom where the Ring's power was greatest that it gained control of him. I don't think anyone else in ME could have taken it even that far (except possibly Sam). If Elrond had been the one possessing the Ring instead of Isildur when Sauron was defeated the first time, I don't think he would have been able to throw it away. The fact that he and Cirdan did not take the Ring from Isildur by force, knowing what it was and that Sauron's ultimate demise was tied to it, says to me that the Ring influenced them.