There and Back Again

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

What's interesting to me about Frodo's journey versus Bilbo's is that Bilbo was out on a treasure hunt, something that's not going to affect the Shire at all.

Was treasure his main object, though? Bilbo was more after his idea of 'adventure', with monetary reward being only a side benefit.[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

Frodo is going out already knowing somewhere within himself that he might die trying to save everything he's ever known.

Frodo didn't really understand at the time he set out, though. He'd been told by Gandalf what the stakes were, but I don't think things truly became clear to him until he was wounded by the Witch-king's blade. Until then, I think he mainly saw himself as following Bilbo to Rivendell, with the Ring being something he had to just deliver. After being healed of the knife-wound, which was far more dangerous to him spiritually than physically, he might have felt 'marked' as the true Ring-bearer, and Gandalf's words about him being meant to have the Ring became more than just words.

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

I think I was just trying to say that Frodo and Bilbo's changes were fundamentally different. Frodo's change coupled with the Shire's change made it hard for him to have peace, while Bilbo's adventures brought him a comfortable life and more friends. Bilbo had peace, Frodo didn't.

Yes, Bilbo at least had an unchanged Shire to welcome him. The friends were probably not as numerous, since he'd shown himself to be so eccentric as to go off on an 'adventure'.