[Child of the 7th Age]

Yes, that is certainly possible. And there are other things on Mount Doom which suggest the possibility of intervention, at least by the Valar. Do you remember the point where Sam and Frodo find a little trickle of stale water. For an instant, the shadow lifts again just a bit, and they are able to take the water and go on. Well, if you read in the Silm. you know that Ulmo is always wandering on Arda, especially near water, and man and elves (an presumably hobbits!) are dear to him. Surely, this little trickle of water that managed to make it to this ashen wasteland is more than a mere coincidence.

Now, as to the poster that said Frodo was a miserable failure for his temporary aberration.......I know we are all supposed to be polite, BUT...!! Look at it this way. Imagine that you were asked to do something which was, by all objective standards, totally and completely impossible. One aspect of this job was to take on and face all the combined evil in your world--all the killings, all the hunger and anger and misery, all the rage and pettiness, the senseless deaths, and the desire to control --all made incarnate and bound together into a single object which you alone must find a way to destroy. And let's assume that this task was of such magnitude that it was impossible not just for you but for every other human being who had ever lived (perhaps even impossible for higher creatures such as a maia). The only way you could accomplish this goal was if you were perfect and, as far as I know, none of us are perfect. Supposing further, you knew that if you did not do this thing, your entire world would be destroyed; at least the goodness in your world would be destroyed. You can go running in the other direction, which many of us would do, or you can give it a try, even if it feels totally hopeless. So you voluntarily take up this thankless task with no prospect for reward, remuneration, or even your own survival. Several times in this situation, you offer to hand over the task to individuals who, on the face of it, seem far more powerful and better equipped to deal with something so hateful and huge. Yet each of these beings states they can not take on the task, as they will surely fail and it will turn them into monsters. So on you struggle.

Fortunately for you, you do have good friends who will at least lend a hand and, in one case, a special friend who will be just as singleminded in caring for you as you are in trying to accomplish this particular task. Imagine that along the way, you are given wise words by a being whose true identity you do not know, but whom you innately love and trust This kind person tells you to show pity and mercy towards the creatures around you, since you do not have the wisdom to determine who on earth should live or die. And imagine you took his words into your heart and made them part of your actions, even as you trudge along in fear fighting off the Shadow within and without. While you are attacked by blackness and despair, you grow a little inside and begin to respond to a strange and seemingly threatening creature Gollum in the spirit of mercy and forbearance, even urging your good friend who is a bit more hasty to do the same Physically, you are the same as when you left your home, but spiritually you have grown to a new level of understanding.

Then, the awful day arrives and you are standing beside the crack of Mount Doom, the place where the Shadow grows to its most hideous and powerful self. For one instant, your heart and will, which are necessarily flawed since you are a finite creature, slip and you are devoured by the Shadow. Then, from beyond the circles of the world, blown in on wings of mercy, grace comes to pull you back from the pits of Mordor, a grace which was possible only because you had shown pity towards a hideous miserable creature who hapened to be a fallen hobbit. (By the way, unlike man, you and your neighbors do not normally kill or murder your own kind. This may also have helped to bring about a situation which could lead to your redemption.)

You and your world are saved. You do not lie to your friends about what happened at that pit. You do not try to be what you are not. You are physically hurt to the point where you will never recover, but there's a good chance that the worst injury is to your soul. You keep thinking how the Shadow claimed you at that pit in the final second, how you could have turned into something so hateful that you would rather have died than survived. You just can't get it out of your head. You see your best friend marry and have a child. Yet, having carried evil within your soul for such a long period, you have had something burned out of your heart. Indeed, you have been hurt to the point that it is doubtful you could ever sustain this type of intense loving relationship with a woman.

Your friends again try to help you. They know that, long before taking on this horrible task, you took great delight in the company of elves. Indeed, you loved to wander through the Shire at night and were long known as Elf-friend. So they arrange for you to sail away from Grey Havens with your loving uncle Bilbo, the elf Queen Galadriel, and that all important teacher in the grey and later white robes who had taught you the meaning of pity and mercy. You are going to a land of great beauty and peace and, perhaps, your teacher whom you now recognize as a maia will be able to help you learn that you must be gentle with yourself and your own shortcomings as well as with the shortcomings of others. Being a hobbit, and closely related to man, one day you will go on voluntarily to the circles beyond the world, probably after your good friend lives out his life and also takes sail to Tol Eressa.

Now, at this time, if and when you stand before the throne of judgment, what will Eru, the most high and perfect, say to you? Will he complain and say that you have failed because of the instant the Shadow crept up on you at Mordor, or will he indeed voice other words? I think the answer is clear and undeniable. Like Gandalf, I will say to the poster, have a litte compassion in your heart. For none of us is perfect and without flaw.