[Kath]

Mithalwen I certainly don't think that keeping them alive was a weakness, I just wondered at the reasons.

Had Sam and Frodo not survived people would generally leave the book feeling a bit empty.

This makes some sense morm, but I think that people could have coped with Frodo dying. Not Sam perhaps, but Frodo yes. As Mith said, Frodo was pretty much 'dead' after the incident on Weathertop. He also becomes irrelevant in a way, as the rest of the book is more dedicated to the exploits of the other Hobbits, specifically Merry and Pippin. Frodo is part of the old world that is fading away, and while I agree that the Grey Havens is one of the most moving bits of writing I have ever read (i.e. I bawled my eyes out reading it) I'm not sure that the same effect couldn't have been accomplished by having Sam mourn for Frodo after he dies at Mount Doom, and then seeing the Elves and Gandalf leave.

As ringbearers, Sam and Frodo were an important piece of the world that was passing and needed to leave like the Elves and the Ents....gently fading rather than being violently wrenched away.

But Frodo has been gently fading since Weathertop. His left arm became almost transparent, and from then on he suffered hurt after hurt, all the while being affected by the Ring as well. As Boromir's quotations showed, Frodo was not even himself by the time he reached Mount Doom, there was nothing of the old Frodo left. He'd faded so much through the journey that if he died doing the task he had put heart, soul and life into doing it might have been fitting.

To me, the death of Frodo and Sam following the destruction of the Ring would have been unacceptably dire. But the fear that they might lose their lives combined with the joy when they are saved makes for an intensely moving experience.

It's almost too much of a happy ending though. Two Hobbits manage to get the whole way through Mordor, one carrying a weight only a Maia can bear, and then the land explodes around them and yet they both survive. Bittersweet moments were mentioned, here is the opportunity for a perfect one. Gandalf goes in to rescue them, but only finds one alive. There is joy in that one is saved, but sadness that one could not be. If you want a truly noble sacrifice, how about one life to save the world.

For me the fate of the characters is a reflection of the major themes of the book, renewal, the triumph of hope over despair, and fellowship over self aggrandisement.

And sacrifice for the betterment of others. The charge of the Rohirrim for example, they didn't expect to be able to defeat Sauron's army, but they intended to save as many lives as they could. Or the march against the Black Gate, which was pretty much a suicide mission, done solely to allow Frodo and Sam to reach Mount Doom. With the former of these examples we see personal sacrifice with Theoden dying, and in the latter we see the despair of those not allowed to lay their lives on the line to try and save that of others (Merry and Eowyn).

I don't quite know how to say this, but are there others who sometimes wish they lived in a time or place where Elves or Hobbits were more than a figment of our imaginations?

I absolutely agree, Child. Our relentless pushing forward means we don't see the magic behind things, always seeking to explain it. To live in such a world as Tolkien created would be amazing.