[Child of the 7th Age]

I agree with Kuruharan. I think Frodo would have hesitated, at least at this relatively early stage of the quest. His love for his friends and his responsibility for the Ring would have been at opposite ends of the spectrum. Remember that one of the reasons he left the rest of the fellowship was that he felt a sense of responsibility for what would happen to them. He didn't want to lead them into any more danger. Having his two friends carried off by Orcs might even make him feel that he had personally failed them. That would have been hard to deal with in his head.

One also gets the sense, as Frodo pludged onward with his quest, that, step-by-step, he begins to get more and more of a sense of both the danger and seriousness of the situation. At this stage, I think he was definitely beginning to understand his task, but not with the same clarity as he would later on the actual soil of Mordor. At this point in the story, he still had some growing to do.

(This, by the way, is one of my problems with the movie Frodo. He has little room to grow in terms of his awareness. His fear is at a fever pitch almost from the moment he leaves the Shire.)

So, yes, he might have turned aside, if even for a short time, and this would not have been good. And his sense of responsibility and remorse about Merry and Pippin's capture would have added to the weight of the Ring, and made him less likely to resist its power. I think the latter point is crucial, since Frodo the Ringbearer did not harbor the same sense of hope which, for example, Sam, admittedly carrying the Ring for only a short time, did.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit