LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 3 - Mount Doom

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Fordim Hedgethistle

I did not say that he was -- I only point out that it is untenable to argue that because LotR is Catholic (and I'm not sure that it is) then Frodo cannot be seen as a passive victim; quite the opposite really, insofar as Catholicism is founded on the worship of someone who accepted his role as a passive victim.

I guess the question then is whether or not Frodo is the hero of the book... My point is made in defence of the idea that Frodo is not necessarily to be taken as a passive victim. He could be, if one holds your views, but I personally don't see him as such, nor as the true hero. The true hero is Sam, with Aragorn, Merry, and Pippin as runner-ups. Those four all find themselves BETTER at the end of the book than at the beginning, they have all gone through the maturing process of heroification.

Frodo, more than anyone else on the "good" side, ends up less heroic than he did at the beginning. In the first part of the book this is not the case. Up until Rivendell he matures and becomes wiser as befits a hero. But from there on in, we see him slowly descend into a less worthy character. He becomes, in our eyes, weaker. He is still the central character, but he is no longer a "hero".

An anti-hero, perhaps...