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Old 10-06-2005, 09:39 AM   #15
lathspell
Regenerating Ringkeeper
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Holland
Posts: 757
lathspell has just left Hobbiton.
hey everyone (Esty, it has been too long)

After reading this thread I think that it was the Ring that drove Frodo at last. For all the reasons said above:
- Frodo constantly saw a Wheel of Fire in his head. He could not picture anything else anymore.
- We know Frodo claimed the Ring at the abyss of Mount Doom. I think that Frodo would already have claimed it before, had the occassion occured before. Because Frodo could and had to keep the Ring he had no need to claim it. Also, perhaps, Frodo knew that claiming the Ring would bring danger.

Quote:
And far away, as Frodo put on the Ring and claimed it for his own, even in Sammath Naur in the very heart of his realm, the power of Barad-dûr was shaken, and the Tower trembled from its foundations to its proud and bitter crown. The Dark Lord was suddenly aware of him, and his Eye piercing all shadows looked across the plain to the door that he had made;
Furhtermore I don't believe that the Ring knew what would happen at Mt. Doom, not that they were going to Mt. Doom. The Ring was gaining on Frodo's will, and it was steering into the heart of it's masters realm, where it would certainly be found and returned to Him. When the Ring detects that they do go to the Mountain, the last of Frodo's strength is gone. He wants to stand up, staggers and falls on his knees again. That Sam takes him and carries him. It seems to me that, if it was the Ring that was driving Frodo, it would not know before this moment that they were going to the Mountain. Otherwise it would have left Frodo without hope and it's will much earlier. Frodo was walking the Road to Barad-dûr and that was the way the Ring desired to go. The Ring neither expected, nor wanted to turn away from that road and go south to Mt. Doom. Maybe the Ring even believed to dominate Frodo so that he would not turn away from that road. When Frodo did, the Ring's will left him, and he could go no further.

It is interesting to ponder why Sam gets all the hope and not Frodo. It is, I believe, because Frodo already has something that will direct him further, however horrific, the Ring wants him to keep going. Sam needs all the sings he can get to keep up his hope. Sam is the main character in 'the Land of Shadow', because it is not Frodo, but he who decides the Ring's faith. If he lost hope, what hope would there have been that the Ring was destroyed.

There is one quote that contradicts all things said above:

Quote:
Worst of all, the air was full of fumes; breathing was painful and difficult, and a dizzness came on them, so that they staggered and often fell. And yet their wills did not yield, and they struggled on.
This is just before Frodo falls on his knees, his last journey on his own legs (except the run to the cracks of doom when Gollum has shown himself). However, the sentence clearly suggests that Frodo still had his own will there. Was it his 'own' will, or was it 'the will that was driving him'?

What do you make of this?

greetings,
lathspell
__________________
'You?' cried Frodo.
'Yes, I, Gandalf the Grey,' said the wizard solemnly. 'There are many powers in the world, for good or for evil. Some are greater than I am. Against some I have not yet been measured. But my time is coming.'
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