Hey,
Ivriniel, didn't you say you'd grown more lenient to Frodo over the years? What new devilry is this?
I'll give you that Frodo already was unable to let go of the Ring in Rivendell, and probably knew it, and that was part of his motivation for volunteering to bear it - if he couldn't bear to give it up anyway, he might as well volunteer to be the Bearer; and the Ring, which was trying to return to its Maker, sort of happily went along with it, as it already had a hold on him. But I think that at this time Frodo's will and the will of the Ring were still separate and striving with each other, and it would be a long time until they were fused to the extent we see at Sammath Naur.
He still wanted it destroyed, I think, although he can't have been under any illusions about his own ability to destroy it; but he trusted Gandalf's counsel and had
estel that, if he only took it to the mountain some way of destroying it would present itself - at whatever cost to himself.
(Gandalf and Elrond were quite aware of all this, I think, and part of the reason Elrond agreed so readily that this task was appointed for Frodo was he realized they couldn't take the Ring from Frodo except by force, which would break him.)
It's also pretty obvious that his incipient 'fading' hadn't been completely undone by Elrond's healing powers - not undone, but transformed, which may have been the only way to heal him, by diverting its tendency from wraithishness to, shall we say, faerishness? These are Gandalf's words when he observes it:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by LotR Book II, Many Meetings
'He is not half through yet, and to what he will come in the end not even Elrond can foretell. Not to evil, I think. He may become like a glass filled with a clear light for eyes to see that can.'
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A figure of light 'on the other side', like Frodo himself had seen Glorfindel at the ford, only less bright because he was, after all, mortal - that's what Frodo was becoming in my eyes. Not of dark. I'll trust Gandalf's wisdom on this.
The strongest argument against him being corrupted IMO is that he was still capable of pity and mercy, as shown in his treatment of Gollum; and I think the scene in Rivendell when he makes as if to strike Bilbo has something to do with it. For the Ring didn't totally deceive him here, I think, What he saw is the part of Bilbo which still coveted the Precious - the little Gollum in Bilbo, or Bilbo-as-Gollum; and at the same time he became aware how far he himself had already come that way, of his own ability to become Gollum. And that, IMO, is where "He deserves death" began to turn into 'Spare as I hope to be spared'.
But then there's that scene near Mount Doom where Frodo dominates Gollum and threatens him with the fire. For here Sam, made receptive even by the short time he bore the Ring himself, sees Frodo as he is 'on the other side':
Quote:
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Originally Posted by LotR Book VI, Mount Doom
a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire, there spoke a commanding voice
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OK, there seems to be something creepy going on here, something very creepy. For here are Frodo, "robed in white" (which I can't help associating with the "clear light" Gandalf spoke of), and the Ring, the wheel of fire, but it's the Ring that speaks for both of them.
But Frodo's robes are still white, not dark or grey as the Nazgûl's were; and I just remembered that the martyrs are clad in white robes in Revelation 6:11, as Tolkien undoubtedly knew. We know Frodo didn't expect to survive if the One went into the Fire, he told Sam as much, and I read the white robe as a sign that part of him was still prepared to sacrifice himself at that point. True, he buckled soon after, but to succumb to an overwhelming force is not corruption. We're not judged by success or failure, only by the purity of our service - who said that again?