The Fellowship - doomed to fail

[Kuruharan]

Originally Posted by Mithadan

In a recent thread, "The Doom of the Ring," I made the following comment:

"It is clear that Frodo did not have the will to destroy the Ring himself, particularly after the grueling journey to and into Mordor. By the time he stood at Sammath Naur, he had possessed the Ring for 17 years. Isildur, who possessed it for perhaps a matter of hours, could not be convinced to destroy it. What is remarkable is that Frodo had the will to even travel to Mount Doom with the intent to do away with the Ring. I have often wondered what Gandalf, who feared contact with the Ring himself, intended to do if he came to Mount Doom with Frodo. Surely he at least suspected that Frodo would have to be coerced or "assisted" to destroy the Ring.

Gollum's intervention, under the circumstances, was an ideal solution."

Thinking about this, I wondered what was the plan? What could Gandalf have had in mind if the Fellowship, or some potion of it, reached Mount Doom? Was there any circumstance under which Frodo might have completed the quest voluntarily and destroyed the Ring? Could he have been coerced or assisted?

Possibly Gandalf had no concrete plan. His plan may have been in its entirety just to get the Ring to Mount Doom. Beyond that there was no plan but to trust in Eru to provide a solution.

On the other hand, given his experience with successfully persuading Bilbo to give up the Ring that perhaps Gandalf could have persuaded Frodo to destroy it...on the assumption that Gandalf intended to accompany Frodo to the end (which I think he did).

However, on the whole I suspect the first answer is closer to the truth.

Pushing Frodo into the Crack of Doom (as practical a solution as that would be) could not possibly have been contemplated.