LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 3 - Mount Doom

[Firefoot]

I agree very much with what Fordim has just said. If Frodo failed, then failure was the only option there ever was. Because of the nature of the the Ring, it would have corrupted anyone who had borne it, some sooner than others. Frodo took the Ring as far as anyone possibly could take it. He stuck to it until the end, enduring "knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden." He had figured for a long time that there would be no going back, that he would die or worse at the end of the journey. But he kept going. He could have opted out. No one ordered him to take the Ring. Elrond specifically said that the burden was too great for one to lay on another. But he kept on, with or without hope. That's what makes Frodo a hero.

In fact, Frodo is never actually commanded to destroy the Ring. The charge that is laid on him is to "neither cast away the Ring, nor to deliver it to any servant of thEnemy nor indeed to let any handle it, save members of the Company and the Council, and only then in gravest need." The Ring is to be destroyed, but no one ever actually commands Frodo to do it. It is understood that Frodo is best fitted for the task, but even then it is spoken of as him having about as much hope as anyone. Gandalf would have known that day back in the Shire when Frodo couldn't will himself to throw the Ring into his little fire that the task of willfully destroying the Ring would be impossible. The real aim of the Quest was to get the Ring to Mt. Doom, then trust in divine intervention, or fate, or whatever else you want to call it. In this, Frodo succeeded.

Frodo's "choice" at Mt. Doom was really no choice at all. He couldn't fight it any more. Not that he wouldn't. He couldn't. On the slopes of Mt. Doom, he tells Sam to hold his hands, that he couldn't stop them from going to the Ring. Couldn't. He might have known what he was doing, and he may have "willed" it, but he didn't want it. Frodo, right up to the point where he stood at the Cracks of Doom and the Ring overthrew his will, really did desire to destroy the Ring. He knew it had to be destroyed, and wanted it to be, but I think he had known, conciously or not, that he wouldn't actually be able to do it. But he still went as far as he could, got the Ring as close to destruction as anyone could.

Listen to what Frodo tells Sam:

"No taste of food, no feel of water, no solund of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades."

This is the Ring working on Frodo. It takes away all his defenses against its power. Think about it: if you are trying to find the will to do something hard, you're going to think about why you're doing it. Friends, family, your home, love - all these things might help you get through. But Frodo can't remember any of these things in a normal way anymore. All he's got left are himself and this ring of fire. It's all he can think about. You might say he has a choice not to think abuot the Ring, but he doesn't. He tries to remember these other things but can't - and not because he doesn't want to. He does. It's the same way with destroying the Ring. He doesn't want to claim it, but there isn't any other possible choice. There are theoretical choices, yes, but none that are possible.

Frodo is not perfect. If he had been perfect, he could have destroyed the Ring. Nor is he a Christ-figure. He did claim the Ring, and he of himself did not save Middle-earth. But he did not fail. He succeeded as far as anyone could succeed.