Frodo at Sammath Naur

[Lyta_Underhill]

Or were there goals he desired that he could clearly see could be accomplished only by owning the Ring, and hence he wanted it...?

Another arabesque on this theme could be that the Ring would be the only concrete proof that he had done something or affected the world in a real way. Frodo's struggle was internal and in the realm of the aversion of disaster, not in the visible construction or conquest of people, places or things. In a spiritual battle, one is alone. The Ring would be not only company, but a talisman to show to the rest of the world that validates his struggle. Without the Ring, Frodo is merely a broken warrior who fought with a ghost long gone.

In fact, it reminds me of what Gandalf said: that he himself would take the Ring out of a desire to do good that would then be corrupted.

Indeed, Frodo's situation reminds me inevitably of Gandalf's and the possible road to the Maia's corruption. The desire to do good would lead to the enforcement of that good, a terrible goodness. Of course, Frodo would not have the strength to enforce his will as Gandalf would.

One portion of Letter 246:

They (the Ringwraiths) would have greeted Frodo as 'Lord'. With fair speeches they would have induced him to look upon his new kingdom, and behold afar with his new sight the abode of power that he must now claim and turn to his own purposes'. Once outside the chamber while he was gazing some of them would have destroyed the entrance. Frodo would by then probably have been already too enmeshed in great plans of reformed rule--like but far greater and wider than the vision that tempted Sam--to heed this.

What a sad fall that would have been! But it does speak to Frodo's thoughts of ruling and of his desire to reform the rule--a grandiose vision of King Frodo indeed!

My previous thoughts on Frodo's inability to ultimately trust to Eru and the unknown in his fate seem to me to tie in to this delusion of reformed rule that Frodo seems to have experienced. The vision, as Sharon points out with excellent HoME references above (which I lack in my 'library', so am very thankful to see here!) points to the blossoming and prosperousness of this imagined new realm, his dream to "save the Shire." Somehow it seems he cannot imagine saving it without having a direct hand in it, without maintaining control in this way. In other words, it points directly to Frodo's inability to reliquish control, his need to be a hero in the traditional sense.

I hope these thoughts added something; I'm sure there is more to it, but I wanted to add a few bits of flying debris from my whirling conscious brain before I lost them! (I, also have a Butterbur-ish tendency to forget things!)

Cheers!
Lyta