Can only agree with
Firefoot. LotR is not the story of the destruction of the Ring, it is the story of the end of an epoch & Frodo's story is that greater story in microcosm. To kill off Frodo & just have Sam go on & destroy the Ring may have been interesting enough, but it would have been a different story & probably meant less.
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Originally Posted by Mithalwen
However I think that, if I were being hyper critical, Tolkien played the Frodo" seems dead/mortally wounded but isn't" card slightly too often - especially with Frodo..
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I think its the same as the Gandalf case. Tolkien never intended Frodo to die at that point, but he did intend for Sam (we readers actually only by extension) to believe it too, because its the ideal way for him to lift Sam to the heroic level, which is necessary for the rest of the story. Up to that point Sam has basically been Sancho to Frodo's Quixote. From this point Sam will have increasingly to become the hero, as Frodo 'fades'.
Its in this episode that Sam finally becomes a three dimensional character in his own right as opposed to comic relief or handy crutch for Frodo to lean on. In the final chapters he must become more than that - he must carry the emotional weight of the story as Frodo becomes more & more distant.
Of course, Frodo will 'surface' again later & take up that burden himself once more. But the effect, the power of the Ring, is brought home to us by seeing its effect on Frodo on the trek through Mordor & we can only see that effect through another's eyes.
Or something like that..