The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - What caused Frodo to finally give in to the power of the Ring and claim it?

Lyta_Underhill · 05-14-2003, 10:36 PM

This is a lovely thread! Up to the top with it! I have enjoyed all the thoughts put forward, and I can see the point to many of them.

I can see Frodo having a martyr complex of sorts in this way: he lost all hope long before he hit the Cracks of Doom; therefore, the only thing driving him is Sam and the struggle itself. It seems to me that Frodo has set himself "on automatic," so to speak, to the struggle against the Ring. By the time he gets to Mt. Doom, he is spent, but the struggle goes on, unseen, in his soul. Tolkien had said that Frodo was the study of a hobbit broken down by fear, horror and a long burden (can't remember the quote), so I see it more as a will outside Frodo's that drives him on--the will of Eru, the struggle on a level Frodo could never understand consciously but which was the only thing left inside him when all else was stripped from him, a sort of divine light.

I remember fondly the thought of Gandalf looking at Frodo as he recovered in Rivendell and seeing him as somewhat translucent, fancying that he could become like a glass through which the light could shine unhindered. In this way, Frodo is a pure vessel; he resists the evil of the Ring and acts for the Good, thus bringing himself in line with the universal Good.

By the end, Frodo cannot conjure up memories of the Shire or anything of his former life. It is all empty for him. And then, at the Cracks of Doom, the possibility of an end to the struggle presents itself. Perhaps he cannot conceive of the end of the struggle. If he were to cast the Ring into the Fire, the struggle would be over and the Shire made safe; but Frodo could never go back to it. Perhaps in that instant, this emptiness is painted by the Ring's influence as Hell on Middle-Earth to Frodo, his world turned upside-down, and the destruction of Sauron made to seem less desirable for the reason of the continuance of the struggle (good must have evil to define itself by idea, etc. etc...). I would liken it also to some war veterans, who cannot live happily in peacetime, because there is no visible enemy, no struggle they can cope with. Frodo has become rarefied, and there is no way he could relate to the peace of the Fourth Age after what he had been through.

I sure hope this makes sense. It has been a stream of association for me...thanks for your indulgence, and I welcome any and all criticism!

Cheers,
Lyta

05-14-2003, 10:36 PM	#27
Lyta_Underhill Haunted Halfling Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: an uncounted length of steps--floating between air molecules Posts: 844	This is a lovely thread! Up to the top with it! I have enjoyed all the thoughts put forward, and I can see the point to many of them. I can see Frodo having a martyr complex of sorts in this way: he lost all hope long before he hit the Cracks of Doom; therefore, the only thing driving him is Sam and the struggle itself. It seems to me that Frodo has set himself "on automatic," so to speak, to the struggle against the Ring. By the time he gets to Mt. Doom, he is spent, but the struggle goes on, unseen, in his soul. Tolkien had said that Frodo was the study of a hobbit broken down by fear, horror and a long burden (can't remember the quote), so I see it more as a will outside Frodo's that drives him on--the will of Eru, the struggle on a level Frodo could never understand consciously but which was the only thing left inside him when all else was stripped from him, a sort of divine light. I remember fondly the thought of Gandalf looking at Frodo as he recovered in Rivendell and seeing him as somewhat translucent, fancying that he could become like a glass through which the light could shine unhindered. In this way, Frodo is a pure vessel; he resists the evil of the Ring and acts for the Good, thus bringing himself in line with the universal Good. By the end, Frodo cannot conjure up memories of the Shire or anything of his former life. It is all empty for him. And then, at the Cracks of Doom, the possibility of an end to the struggle presents itself. Perhaps he cannot conceive of the end of the struggle. If he were to cast the Ring into the Fire, the struggle would be over and the Shire made safe; but Frodo could never go back to it. Perhaps in that instant, this emptiness is painted by the Ring's influence as Hell on Middle-Earth to Frodo, his world turned upside-down, and the destruction of Sauron made to seem less desirable for the reason of the continuance of the struggle (good must have evil to define itself by idea, etc. etc...). I would liken it also to some war veterans, who cannot live happily in peacetime, because there is no visible enemy, no struggle they can cope with. Frodo has become rarefied, and there is no way he could relate to the peace of the Fourth Age after what he had been through. I sure hope this makes sense. It has been a stream of association for me...thanks for your indulgence, and I welcome any and all criticism! Cheers, Lyta __________________ “…she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”