What was Frodo's temptation

[PrinceOfTheHalflings]

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

Frodo succumbs to the desire to be the Dark Lord...which means that at some level this has always been his desire.

Interesting thought. What makes Frodo different from everyone else who is tempted by the Ring? Everyone else thinks of what they could do with the Ring - but Frodo's mission is to destroy the Ring ... not to use it. By destroying the Ring Frodo will defeat the Dark Lord.

In other words, Frodo's job is to defeat the Dark Lord. He doesn't have any other desires to rule or order the world that the Ring can work on.

Now ... as Frodo approaches the Sammath Naur the influence of the Ring grows to the point of being unbearable. He no longer has any actual memory of the real world. Finally he reaches the place where he can destroy the Ring, but this is also where its influence is impossible to resist. His willpower has got him this far because his mission is to destroy the Ring (and therefore the Dark Lord) - so what else has the Ring got to work with at this moment but to appeal to Frodo - "don't destroy me, claim me and you can destroy the Dark Lord with my help".

Perhaps Frodo has never consciously thought of being the Dark Lord, but he knows very well that it is his task to destroy the Dark Lord by destroying the Ring. The responsibility weighs very heavily upon him.

One thing that Frodo does desire is wisdom and knowledge ... he is the most learned of all the Hobbits in the Shire. At that final moment of the Doom I imagine the Ring appealing to his intellect ... surely he must have some vanity, no matter how pure his intentions. In a roundabout I think I might be saying something similar to what Gordis said two posts earlier!

Great idea for a thread ... kudos to the original poster, Fordim Hedgethistle!