“Not all those who wander are lost.”

[Boromir88]

I wanted to respond to something earlier mentioned by Perky.

According to Esty's post, change is (and BTW, i'm sure i'm analyzing this wrong) a beneficial and essential thing to a good character, and that he who changes sees more than others.

I'd say that's it, and it's something that can be seen in other works of literature. In T.S. Elliot'sHollowmen, we see there are many people who are like scarecrows.

Scarecrows meaning they do nothing. They're hollow, they're a shape without a form. They're there, but they're not really. They simply just stand there and do nothing. Now according to T.S. Elliot, (himself included) more people are "hollowmen" then the ones who change and choose their path.

The path for good reasons leading to heaven, making bad decisions go to hell, and all these "Hollowmen" since they make no decisions for themselves and simply do nothing but take up space are waiting for the boat to lead them to the "other ending dream" (Hell).

Some of the most famous lines from the poem...

This is the way the world will end...
This is the way the world will end...
This is the way the world will end...
not with a bang but with a wimper.

The world is simply going to slowly and queitly die out, that's how it will end. Not with a bang and Glorious battles, because there are more "hollowmen" then there are not.

I think in LOTR we see something totally different then from the poem. We have a group of people who step up and decide not to be "hollowmen." Not to sit around and just let things happen. Frodo was faced with this decision, go home and let others deal with it, or act on his dream and do something about it.

I think the clearest examples of "Hollowmen" are Tom Bombadil and Treebeard. Both have passed out of knowledge.

Bombadil does not care what happens outside, and he sort of fades out of all knowledge.

Treebeard was like this until he and the Ents decided to act. They sat and did nothing, they were scarecrows, and for many years the Ents faded away and were only remembered as vague creatures of the past, until they decided to put their ideas and thoughts into action.