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Kalimac · 04-05-2002, 01:48 AM

Tolkien goes into this a good bit in his letters; saying essentially that yes, Frodo failed, but that it was an honorable failure. He endured misery and torment that was far and away beyond what anyone else was experiencing, and only failed at the last second because it was not in the nature of the Ring to let its owner go like that. In other words, there was no way Frodo was ever going to be able to give up the Ring freely, but he tried his d*mnedest and by doing so got it to the point where Gollum could destroy it. Inadvertantly, it's true, but likely Eru/Iluvatar had a bit of hand in that (forgive the pun). There's also a comment to the effect that blaming Frodo for failing is like blaming a prisoner of war who has been tortured and brainwashed for months and years for finally succumbing to the brainwashing in the end. In other words, don't knock it till you've tried it [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img].

So yes, he completed the quest as best as anyone could have. He got the Ring in a position to be destroyed, and if it took an Iluvatar Ex Machina to finish the job, well, Tolkien did sort of set that up, didn't he, by dropping all those hints about how it was physically impossible to let the thing go? No idea why he didn't go mad - maybe because when the Ring was unmade, the hold that it had on his mind disappeared...or something. Just an idea.

[ April 05, 2002: Message edited by: Kalimac ]

04-05-2002, 01:48 AM	#3
Kalimac Candle of the Marshes Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Flyover Country Posts: 780	Tolkien goes into this a good bit in his letters; saying essentially that yes, Frodo failed, but that it was an honorable failure. He endured misery and torment that was far and away beyond what anyone else was experiencing, and only failed at the last second because it was not in the nature of the Ring to let its owner go like that. In other words, there was no way Frodo was ever going to be able to give up the Ring freely, but he tried his d*mnedest and by doing so got it to the point where Gollum could destroy it. Inadvertantly, it's true, but likely Eru/Iluvatar had a bit of hand in that (forgive the pun). There's also a comment to the effect that blaming Frodo for failing is like blaming a prisoner of war who has been tortured and brainwashed for months and years for finally succumbing to the brainwashing in the end. In other words, don't knock it till you've tried it [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. So yes, he completed the quest as best as anyone could have. He got the Ring in a position to be destroyed, and if it took an Iluvatar Ex Machina to finish the job, well, Tolkien did sort of set that up, didn't he, by dropping all those hints about how it was physically impossible to let the thing go? No idea why he didn't go mad - maybe because when the Ring was unmade, the hold that it had on his mind disappeared...or something. Just an idea. [ April 05, 2002: Message edited by: Kalimac ] __________________ Father, dear Father, if you see fit, We'll send my love to college for one year yet Tie blue ribbons all about his head, To let the ladies know that he's married.