[Lalwendë]

So while Sauron may be gone, we are still very much in a world like the one we live in: imperfect, ongoing, and in which bad things happen (Frodo does leave Sam, this is sad and an 'evil' necessity to him).

In HoME Vol. 12 you can find The New Shadow, a story which Tolkien attempted to draft, set 100 years after the death of Aragorn. Tolkien never finished the tale, yet to attempt it, he acknowledged that ‘evil’ was still very much a real presence in Middle Earth. Tolkien said of the story:

…almost certainly a restlessness would appear about then, owing to the (it seems) inevitable boredom of Men with the good; there would be secret societies practising dark cults, and ‘orc cults’ among adolescents

Tolkien here himself says that there is potential evil in the hearts of men, that they may turn away from ‘the good’. It is a negative view of humankind, but then this is seemingly the way of things; Tolkien lived through a century of alternating peace and war, seeing his generation slaughtered and hurt, almost for nothing. So too was Frodo harmed almost for nothing, certainly for nothing of immediate benefit to Frodo; he did not return to the Shire to live as a war hero, he was broken, and his only succour was to leave his home altogether.

that depends whether you see Frodo's journey into the West as going to Heaven or going to Pugatory

He is indeed travelling to a kind of Purgatory. In the films I see Frodo’s departure portrayed as a very sad event, I agree with this, but it is also seen as something of a ‘privilege’ that he goes on the Elven ship to the West, whereas in reality, it is his only choice, it is no ‘gift’, but a necessity. And I say it is portrayed as a blessing to Frodo to go into the West, as others have told me that this is how they read the events in the film. I think that in the films, by necessity, a focus was placed upon the ring as an absolute tool of evil, and thus it does appear that it is the ring, and the ring only, which is the undoing of Frodo, when really it has worked in a more subtle way, by working on what potential is already within Frodo (and Gollum and Bilbo).

I'm not persuaded - I'm inclined to view the case of Frodo as an exeption - his utterances during his crises are not of self-blame, but of thirst, desire - he misses the Ring.

Yes, Frodo does miss the ring; he misses his dark and dreadful joy, and his ‘precious’. He is empty without it, but he is also shattered by possessing it.

I very much enjoyed Pullman's trilogy, but I did feel that, ultimately, he failed credibly to portray the massive (parallel) universe-wide war that he sought to depict. And it is there that I think that his trilogy suffers in comparison with LotR, rather than on any theological issue.

How Pullman worked on me was to show a world/worlds where the soul is disregarded; I found them immensely complex and still cannot decide the true meaning of them - yet they left me feeling utterly bereft and without hope. But yes, something fell down towards the end of the books - I shall say no more in case there are those who wish to read them without spoilers.