[Boromir88]

I guess this topic is fairly personal, as a good story lends itself ot many interpretations and there's no "right" way to interpret a story, yet that's what I think regarding Frodo and The Ring.

Yeah, there really is no right or wrong, it's just fun to hear ideas and find things you never considered before.

I'm going to expand on my post about Frodo above, and say something kind of similar to Luthien's "love of self," and that another thing most of the characters (perhaps not all but certainly The Fellowship, Denethor, Theoden...etc) all struggle with is hope.

To lose hope is to lose everything, if you don't have hope what do you have? And I think a lot of the characters struggle with hope.

If my post about Frodo wasn't exactly clear, I hope this will make it better, but I was getting at that Frodo had to battle with losing hope. After deciding to take the Ring to Mount Doom (he may have seen it as his "fate," but he still makes the decision himself), he has to struggle with sticking with that decision. The Ring is sort of a speed bump (grant it a very big speed bump) in the road. Frodo knows the road will be difficult, and the Ring certainly has a big part to play in that. However, despite the Ring, Frodo still has to endure wounds from the Witch-King, Shelob, he has to make the long physical journey to Mordor and into Mount Doom, he has to deal with Gollum, and the Ring is like another bump in the road. The real battle Frodo has to face is losing hope. To turn back and "throw in the towel" so to say. To think, that it's not possible anymore, and he can't do it. When he does lose hope, Sam is there to give it back to him. So, where I was trying to go in the post above (perhaps I didn't really explain it well I think) was Frodo biggest thing to overcome would be hope....to lose it, or not? If he loses hope, it's over...but with hope, anything's possible.

There are also other characters who struggle with losing hope, or not losing it. For some examples Denethor. He went mad and burned himself because he lost hope. He believed it was all over, Sauron was on his doorstep, and victory over him was no longer possible. In Denethor's case, his battle with "hope," he loses it, and it causes his downfall.

Then we have Theoden who triumphs. Instead of going mad and saying it's the end of the world like Denethor, when he's faced with his kingdom on the brink of destruction, Theoden puts his hope and trust with Gandalf and Aragorn. Believing that they will lead him through this. Scattered through The King of the Golden Hall and Helm's Deep, we hear "Now there is hope of victory," and "hope in Gandalf, he knows what he's doing."

Boromir loses hope, but what makes him different from Denethor is he realizes his mistakes. Boromir didn't think the Ring should go to a halfling, he saw no "hope in victory" in giving the Ring to Frodo and waltzing into Mordor. So, he falls and tries to take the Ring. But, what's different from his paps is he realizes he has failed and he doesn't lose hope for Gondor..."Go to Minas Tirith and save my people." On his deathbed he puts his hope in Aragorn to save his City.

Gimli was told by Galadriel when he received three strands of her hair that on one path there's darkness, the other path lies hope. That he would have to chose which way to go when the time comes, and if he follows with hope, his hand should flow with gold yet gold will have no dominion over him.

In the Siege of Gondor, Gandalf encourages the men to continue to fight, and continue to have hope.

So, basically, after all this, I'm saying to add on with Luthien's "love of self," that at one point in time all the characters have to struggle with hope. Do they give in to Sauron and his dominating power? Or do they put their hope in faith in people like Gandalf...or Frodo and think that there still is a chance for victory?

Now I'm all "hoped" out.