I tend to agree with Kuruharan. Frodo may be the strongest willed Hobbit ever to walk the paths of Middle Earth, but consider how difficult Aragorn found it to face Sauron by means of the Palantir.
What must be remembered here is that during all this time, Frodo has been resisting the Ring, and it has finally overcome his will. Thus, his will is broken, except as it agrees with the Ring. The wills of the Ringwraiths are similarly broken - to Sauron and to the Ring - by means of their rings. The Ring being claimed by someone who is
not Sauron, may throw the Nazgul off for a little while, but in the end it would come down to the stronger will. Sauron's will has never been broken. His will would hold sway.
I find Sam's dilemma to be the most interesting thing to consider. I think it's safe to assume that the Nazgul arrive pretty quickly after Frodo claims the Ring. Gollum is sill there, and if he doesn't get the Ring from Frodo, it is because Frodo has killed him.
Sam would witness this, and realize that the quest to destroy the Ring has either failed, or is about to fail unless he does something.
I can imagine Sam thinking to himself, "Well, Sam, this is why you've been sent along with Mr. Frodo, but what an awful choice! Do I do my duty by Mr. Frodo, or by Gandalf, may he rest in peace? But no, my true duty to Mr. Frodo is to take the Ring from him. But I mustn't take it for myself! That's no good! Then there's only one thing to do, and I can't do it! I can't push him over the edge, even though he did it to the poor miserable creature! But there's no other way. This is an evil day, to be sure!" And Sam, as would any good and loyal servant Hobbit, or perhaps any good World War One soldier, would do the only thing that he could stand to do, and that would be do tackle his dear beloved master so that they both fall into the abyss; because he knows he couldn't live with himself if he betrays his master and/or the quest.
But it would be a different tale, and one that Tolkien couldn't tell. In
On Faerie Stories, Tolkien writes,
Quote:
|
...the "consolation of fairy-tales has another aspect than the imaginative satisfaction of ancient desires. Far more important is the Consolation of the Happy Ending. [Tolkien's capitalizations] Almost I would venture to say that all complete fairy stories must have it. At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story.
|
For Sam to kill himself and Frodo in order to save the quest, the story could not have a happy ending. It would suddenly be turned into a Gotterdammerung kind of bitter and cold Norse saga. Maybe a lot of Tolkien's critics would have liked it better that way, but I don't think Tolkien could have written it.
Maybe my imaginative scenario is not necessarily the only way; it does seem that way to me, though.