Really great, great, great, comments!
Heren Istarion beat me to a certain addition of Tolkien lore. As I was reading down the thread, I wanted to add that there were some aspects of Elvish nature that are more greatly manifested in the elves, but that are shared by Men (and Hobbits).
By it Tolkien meant more than a prosey picture of emotion, countenance, purity of spirit, etc.; though these are important components and inseparable from the spiritual/magical aspect of Frodo's light.
It seems to be interaction with Elves (or other "higher" beings or divine purposes) that quickens this aspect in Men (and Hobbits). Frodo, and later Sam's interaction with the Ring was an interaction in that world that left them both changed. This takes place in a fashion beyond words and sight. From Finrod Felagund singing to the first Men he encountered, to Frodo seeing Aragorn as he was in Lothlorien, there is a communication going on that is beyond the natural.
This light of Frodo's is the manifestation of the refining of his spirit in the crucible of his quest. (Or so I think, another of Tolkien's religious harmonies, in any case. I hope I'm not straining a point.)
Another potential element occurs to me. Aragorn was a distant relative of Elrond's through a couple of different elf families, including his brother Elros (who became a long lived mortal). Aragorn also had certain powers of thought that were of elvish kind, if not potency.
Since it was a matter of Hobbit legend (or ancient rumour) that one of the Tooks had taken a fairy for a wife, is it possible that Frodo, best hobbit in the Shire, had some recessive Elvishness pop up in his makeup?
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