The Scourge of The Dark Side...Tolkien and Modernism

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Hot, crispy nice hobbit

The scenario at the top of Mount Doom was also pretty conclusive as to the limits of ideals. Frodo failed in his quest. One can only imagine what went through his mind as he put the ring on and claim it for himself: "Screw Gandalf, the Shire and all the rest of Gondor! Give me the one Ring anyday"

I don't think ideals failed in the least; in fact, ideals allowed Gollum to be present at that ultimate moment when Frodo faltered. The opportunity to slay Gollum was in easy reach of both Bilbo then Frodo, but pity and the innate goodness of hobbits stayed their hands (and particularly in Frodo's case, the ideals of Gandalf -- of mercy and fate -- were the primary reason Gollum survived). Such things as mercy and pity do not fit into your rigid and economical stance for preservation and self-interest, and certainly Gollum would have been slain had the Hobbits taken your professed tact, to the utter destruction of the Free Peoples.

In addition, regarding Frodo's claim on the Ring, I would say that at that moment in Mount Doom the Ring claimed Frodo and not vice versa. The claim was akin to profound addiction, wherein any personal objective or ideal falls subservient to the drug (or in this case, the Ring). That Frodo had reached his objective was in itself astonishing, and beyond the wills of stronger beings (Isildur, Boromir or even Saruman, for instance). Frodo did indeed fail ultimately in destroying the Ring, but his compassion and mercy brought about a fateful conjunction of events that completed the task.