Bilbo and the Ring: A Question

[thewarrior33]

Hey everyone. I just finished reading Return of the King and I must admit I thought the ending very unhappy. I felt sad for Sam, who went through so much for Frodo but still had to endure the loss of his friend. In a way I feel this loss for him might be as hard as the loss Frodo feels since the destruction of the Ring.

A thread on this site cleared up my misgivings about Frodo having to leave. However, one major question (among many less important ones) remains. Frodo did not have the Ring nearly as long as Bilbo, and both inherited it without knowing its true importance or power. Bilbo would not have given the Ring up had Gandalf not told him to do so. Yet in the end Frodo seems much more corrupted by the Ring. He can't seem to let it go. Bilbo was excited about his new adventure after he gave up the Ring to Gandalf, and I remember Tolkien even wrote that he had a look of relief. Why this stark difference, especially given the fact that Bilbo wore the Ring many more times, and had the Ring many more years, than Frodo?

My one idea is that Frodo was not as innocent when he inherited the Ring. Unlike Bilbo, he was conscious of the innocence of Shire folk before he inherited the Ring. He also had correspondence with the Elves. So maybe, given that he was more worldly before he got the Ring compared to Bilbo, the Ring was able to take a greater hold on him? I feel like him going to Mordor and the Ring growing heavier there cannot be the only explanation for the different psychological reactions of the two characters.

Thanks to anyone who reads this obnoxiously long post, and hopefully someone much smarter than me can enlighten me.