Frodo at Sammath Naur

[mark12_30]

Several pertinent letters are 181, 191, 192. If you do not have a copy of the letters (and Tolkien's thoughts seriously interest you) I heartily recommend you get one.

Over the past year I have referred to this book more than any other Tolkien resource.

"The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter (with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien.) ISBN 0-618-05699-8. (Fifteen bucks for the paperback. "Must-have" for the Serious Tolkien Fan. And no, I don't get a kickback from Houghton-Mifflin for saying so. But why guess what Tolkien might have been thinking when you can just look it up?

A brief snippet from Letter 191:

"There exists the possibility of being placed in positions beyond one's power. ... But we can at least judge them by the will and intentions with which they entered the Sammath Naur; and not demand impossible feats of will, which could only happen in stories unconcerned with real moral and mental probability.

"No, Frodo 'failed'. It is possible that once the Ring was destroyed he had little recollection of the last scene. But one must face the fact: the power of evil in this world is not finally resistable by incarnate creatures, however 'good'; and the Writer of the Story is not one of us."

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 8:28 PM January 12, 2004: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]