Gandalf....fortune teller??

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

Well, having considered the matter I tend to subscribe to a new, combination theory I suppose -- that it was originally #3 (a fragmentary 'mistake' by the author as a result of many drafts and revisions as the text grew -- this is the point outlined by davem in the post I linked to above) but that regardless of where the strange PS came from it would tend to point to #1, that Frodo did use the Ring before learning what it was when Gandalf explained it all to him in "Shadow of the Past" (Inziladun's well made point).

But this still raises an interesting question for me: why is there no mention made AT ALL of what uses (if any, as we can still only infer) Frodo put it to? It seems an interesting gap in the book as it would have been so easy to include even just a sentence or two along the lines, "In the years Gandalf was away Frodo heeded the wizard's advice and used the Ring only in the direst of needs, such as unexpected (and always unwelcome) visits from the Sackville-Bagginses."

All of this goes to the odd gap that is the 17 years between the party and "The Shadow of the Past" during which I think we can suppose that Frodo did do some wandering about the Shire and even met with Elves (as hinted during his meeting with Gildor) -- was he using the Ring during these (also inferred) journeys? The more I've thought upon it the more it seems we have three very different possible Frodos for those years:

1) the Frodo who didn't use the Ring at all -- a cautious Frodo, ignoring the allure of the Ring before he even knows the full danger

2) the Frodo who uses the Ring lightheartedly or even a bit thoughtlessly -- so much so that there's not even a thought to record in the tale the trivial uses he put it to

3) the Frodo who uses the Ring for more serious but secret purposes -- a Frodo who puts it on in secret to slide from or around the Shire to meet with Elves and indulge in his desire for lore/adventure??

Every time I dig into this book I'm struck by just how malleable Tolkien made it: just as we're never given a clear description of Frodo's appearance, his character at this (and other) crucial moments is never strictly or carefully drawn, allowing the reader to find or co-create along with the author.

For what it's worth, 'my' Frodo is the one who uses the Ring to slide out and about the Shire in secret so he can meet with Elves.

[Zigûr]

Is it not possible that, given that he was wearing his own Ring, Gandalf could tell when someone put on the One? I believe Galadriel also knew that Frodo had worn the Ring without asking him.

I think I always assumed that Gandalf somehow could just "tell", "magically" if you will, that Frodo had worn it, or had guessed.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

Is it not possible that, given that he was wearing his own Ring, Gandalf could tell when someone put on the One? I believe Galadriel also knew that Frodo had worn the Ring without asking him.

I think I always assumed that Gandalf somehow could just "tell", "magically" if you will, that Frodo had worn it, or had guessed.

I think that may well be true, but the issue of the thread was that Frodo only put the ring on months after Gandalf wrote the letter. Even had Gandalf witnessed it himself in person, he still shouldn't have mentioned it in a letter he wrote way before.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I don't see any reason to doubt that over those 17 innocent years Frodo would have used the Ring in the same way Bilbo had; after all, he was in on the secret, and there was no suggestion made to him before that pivotal April that the Ring was anything other than a useful gadget for avoiding annoying relatives and the like.

[IxnaY AintsaY]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I don't see any reason to doubt that over those 17 innocent years Frodo would have used the Ring in the same way Bilbo had; after all, he was in on the secret, and there was no suggestion made to him before that pivotal April that the Ring was anything other than a useful gadget for avoiding annoying relatives and the like.

I think I agree with you, but if we're looking for 'any reason to doubt', Gandalf does say this in SotP:

‘Of course, my dear Frodo, it was dangerous for you; and that has troubled me deeply. But there was so much at stake that I had to take some risk – though even when I was far away there has never been a day when the Shire has not been guarded by watchful eyes. As long as you never used it, I did not think that the Ring would have any lasting effect on you, not for evil, not at any rate for a very long time. And you must remember that nine years ago, when I last saw you, I still knew little for certain.’

There's more than one way to read that, of course, including that Gandalf was being a little imprecise.

Either way, it seems like a (very slight) authorial lapse to me, that Tolkien didn't either make it more clear that Frodo had used the Ring before Bombadil's house; or alternately that that was the very first time he'd ever used it. (Though I find the latter much less likely.)

It's also possible that the question wasn't completely settled in Tolkien's mind, given the changes in the nature of the Ring and the story between his first drafts and the published work.