[piosenniel]

She may be a bit heavy handed on the "post traumatic survivor symptom" theme.

I very much appreciated Ms Milos' analysis of Frodo's wounds and his reponse to them in terms of PTSD. I'm a nurse working on a medical floor of a hospital. Many of my clients are Viet Nam vets & others are survivors of horrific childhood abuse. Sometimes I recognize the same suffering in them that I saw in Frodo. Wounds of the body and wounds of the spirit that never seem to completely heal.

In a way, I think this is what Frodo tried to do by sailing to the West. So I see it less as a response to despair or post traumatic defense syndrome, than as a positive step and an attempt to turn the corner on grief.

I, too, think that by Frodo sailing to the West was a positive step for him - a place where he could break from the cycles of despair and pain and have the hope of healing. I often wish my clients could make this choice, to be proactive in a positive manner. But to be honest most of them can only choose to medicate themselves with drugs and alcohol which only drives the despair deeper and lets the hurt fester. I often wonder what might have happened if Frodo had not felt compelled to go into the West - would the severity of his wounding eventually have driven him mad?

I wonder, too, if even his stay in the West ever completely healed his wounds.

But even with that positive spin in the earliest drafts, Tolkien still had Frodo sail West. So may be it was just inherent in who he was.

I can agree with this, also. But I see it as not that it was inherent in who he was. I think it was inherent in who he had become. Seer and prophet is how you name him, and I think that is true - He seemed for, or perhaps through, all his hurts, more transparent, as if there were only a thin shell between his Light and the Undying Light of the West. I only hope that his journey brought him some sort of peace and closure.

The people who contribute to a new and better world are not unfortunatly the ones who could live and blossom in it

I really like this quote, StoneofVision! It does remind me of the Viet Nam vets I have taken care of. It's as if their experiences have ripped them out of time and they don't mesh well back into it.