To Bear a Ring of Power...
 

Galadriel said to Frodo: "You are a Ringbearer Frodo...To bear a Ring of Power is to be Alone". Now my question is this: Are these just words to help a confused young Hobbit or are they really a reflection on the truth?

Ringbearers:

Frodo: Obviously alone, only hobbit of the Fellowship never to get married; passed into the West the soonest
Galadriel: Was a lot closer to Celebron before she received Nenya
Gil-galad: (Not sure, but) had no children, so probably no wife, killed
Círdan: Unknown marital status, but seemingly lonely post; never could make long-lasting friends, as everyone he met left for the West
Gandalf: Wanderer, distrusted by Men. Obviously had no equals, save the other Istari, who he seemed to avoid
Elrond: Wife left for Valinor; two sons fought for Gondor (meaning they did not stay home to help defend Rivendell), daughter married a Man
Gollum: Isn't it obvious? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Nazgûl: Again, pretty obvious....
Sauron: Really obvious....
Isildur: Not really a chance to become to lonely, seeing as he was killed....
Thráin: Wandered from Ered Luin to Dol Guldur accompanied by only his son (for some of the journeys)

The sole exception seems to be Sam.

Yep, I have to agree, that it is pretty true, bearing a ring means being alone - except for Sam who did it for Frodo, not for duty or honour or greed...

Galadriel might have said it somewhat sardonically, but I think rather that she was serious, and imparting some of her wisdom to Frodo.

I definitely think it's truth. After all, nobody but the ringbearers themselves understood the burden they had to bear.

i think that being a ring bearer made you distrustful of those close to you after a while(in the case of the 1 ring any way)

Well, they certainly don't sound very comforting to me! Just affirming that he was not the only one that was alone, which is sort of an oxymoron. I believe that this was ment to be a reflection on the truth.

You forgot Bilbo...LIke Frodo he too never married and had no children, save Frodo whom he adopted after the death of Frodo's parents.

The Ring certainly had an interesting effect on him as it kept him from aging in any naturaly way. What I found strange is that it didn't have more of a hold over him before he gave it up to Frodo. Sure Gandalf pratically had to threatened him to get him to leave it behind but still it didn't have that strong of a hold over him...

We can definately see that most (or all) of the "ringbearers" were alone....or dead...expanding on the whole distrust thing, to bear the ring you would have to be alone because the ring would start corrupting the people closest to you(like it did for Boromir) , and then the ring could fall into the wrong hands and so on, and so forth.

I don't think Galadriel would have said such words to comfort a confused hobbit if they weren't true - what would be the good of giving him a comforting lie?

I agree with Witch King and Elvenglass - it was not even familial things, so much - Isildur was married, after all, and Bilbo's bachelorhood seems to have been established long before the Ring came along - but about the fact that a Ringbearer cannot trust a single soul, not even himself. You never know who might harbor intentions, or even who may not but who may eventually give in to pressure and try to take the Ring even though they swore quite honestly that they would not. It's a terrible amount of pressure, to say the least, and makes it more understandable as to why Frodo would distrust even Sam in Cirith Ungol. He doesn't know whether he can even trust himself, let alone anyone else.

Yes, Kalimac. That is how I saw it.
Sure, many of them are alone, but not really. I don't think that not marrying or having kids makes you alone, because you still have other family and friends.
Frodo had Sam, Bilbo had Frodo, Gandalf met lots and lots of people... etc.

I think it was more of an inner aloneness. An empty feeling that you can't share your burden. The only people who understand are others who are Ringbearers.

Tigerlily, again I agree with you. I do think Galadriel meant you feel alone inside. How can anyone think that Galadriel would delibretly confusd Frodo is beyond me.

I think that's probably exactly what she meant. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I was thinking about Bilbo, and how after "The Hobbit" people started calling him Mad Baggins and stuff like that, when before he was well respected and all. But the more I think about it, it seems to have less to do with the Ring itself than just the fact that he had an adventure and didn't try to hush it up.

But still, that is an example of how (even though he was already an established bachelor) he became more "alone" after getting the Ring. Frodo didn't come along for a while, and at that point Bilbo was getting pretty lonely.

Would you attribute that to the Ring's influence on his attitude towards others, or simply the other hobbits attitudes towards him because of his adventure?

Galadriel was telling Frodo the truth in order to make clear to him the path he must take, when you are a ring-bearer you can't get close to anyone with out them nfinding out that you have a powerful ring, especialy in frodo's case this is a BAD THING because the one ring would of corrupted the fellowship eventualy, that is why he had to go away on his own this is why I believe that Galadriel was telling frodo the complete truth!

[QUOTE]I know what I most do, but I'm afraid to do it!

Galadriel understood what Frodo was going through in a way (she did not have the one ring though), all she was doing was telling him the truth, and sometimes the truth is the worst thing in the world.