[Child of the 7th Age]

Re Sam being "stronger" than Frodo...

When Manwe or Eru or Gandalf or, whoever did the choosing, selected the Ringbearer, they weren't looking primarily for the element of "strength". If strength had been the chief criteria needed to accomplish the Ringquest, surely a hobbit would never have been appointed. One could surely argue that someone like Aragorn or Galadriel had a "stronger" personality and character than either Frodo or Sam.

Then, what was the key? On one level, you can say we will never know the answer to this. Why does a particular person get chosen by providence to do a particular thing (that is, if you believe in the possibility of such things).? Moses, for example, seems a very unlikely leader to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. He had a speech defect, and virtually no understanding of his own people and their traditions because of how he had been raised. But, chosen he was.

The same is true for Frodo. On the face of it, he hardly looks like the strongest candidate.

Why Frodo? Well, we can't know but we can guess. We know, for instance, that he had to be a member of a race that Sauron would never suspect, a people deemed to be of small account in the eyes of the world. We know too, from the development of the story, that it had to be someone who was able to learn and show pity. Sam had many strong points, but showing pity was not one of them. If Frodo had not been there to restrain Sam, I believe the latter might well have come to blows with Gollum at some point. And, without Gollum, there would have been no destruction of the Ring.

Frodo's task was to get the ring to Mount Doom where it could be destroyed. Tolkien clearly state in his Letters that it was impossible for Frodo, or any being who was less than perfect, to voluntarily dispose of the Ring. And that would have included Sam since he was no more perfect than Frodo!

What did Frodo have that Sam didn't have? It was the thing that Sam saw when he gazed down at Frodo and looked in his face. This was what made Sam so love Frodo as a friend. There is a beautiful scene in the book on the plains of Mordor when Sam looked down and saw the light shining from Frodo's face.

In several scenes, it is commented that Frodo had the light of an Elf-friend in his eyes. At some points, his face was said to actually glow with light. Also, Frodo quite frequently saw visions of what lay beyond in the Blessed Lands. He had yearnings for the Sea. His sweet gentleness and hesitation to use violent means are other examples of this same leaning.

Frodo then was not your usual hobbit or usual hero. For lack of a better word, he had sensitivity to things that lay beyond the normal spectrum of experience. Today we might call this spirituality or spiritul leanings. Indeed, by the final scene at Grey Havens, Frodo has taken on the role of prophet and seer, telling Sam about his future and the possibility of his friend sailing later to the West.

Earlier, at Rivendell, Gandalf himself said he was uncetain what end Frodo would finally come to. "Not to evil, I think. He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can." It is almost as if Frodo had the capacity to become like a little sliver of the phial of Galadriel. And in a battle of light against darkness, this little sliver of light was no small thing. It was different than the physical strength possessed by Sam, but even more needed in order to resist the will of Sauron which pounded down on Frodo day-after-day.

That light then had something to do with the kind of person Frodo was and why he was chosen. Even in his partial failure, he stands as an example of what can be accomplished by perserverence, dedication, and endurance of suffering.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

[ August 04, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]