Humility & Heroes

[davem]

Hobbits are clearly fairytale 'heroes' - hence their humility - but the world they stray into is the world of epic (both pagan - Illiad/Odyssey, Beowulf - & medieval Christian - Morte d'Arthur, Orlando Furioso, even the Fairie Queene). Frodo is, via his journey & his suffering, raised up to that level, but the other Hobbits retain their Fairy story nature. Hence, they can go home but he cannot.

Gandalf, Aragorn & Faramir are not humble in the same way, or to the same extent, as the Hobbits - because it is not 'natural' to them: their humility is not innate - they must consciously humble themselves, fight against the 'sin' of pride. This is the reason that they are in more danger from the Ring - the Hobbits have a natural 'immunity' (obviously not complete immunity, but greater than that of other races). The Ring is not of their world, of the world of folk & fairy story. It is of the high, epic world - again the reason Tom is immune to its power, because he too is of the world of folk & fairy tale. Only when Frodo has 'grown' sufficiently to 'migrate' to the higher, mythic world can he fall to the power of the Ring. At the Cracks of Doom Frodo has lost that innate Hobbit, folksy, humility & like Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadriel et al must choose to humble himself - which he fails to do. The other Hobbits don't commit the ultimate Sin as Frodo does, but then they never grow enough to be able to.