Frodo at Sammath Naur - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 01-15-2004, 12:14 PM

The question is, are Frodo's feelings of guilt 'rational' - ie, did he want, to any degree, to claim the Ring, in which case he is 'justified' in feeling guilty & blaming himself. Or are those feelings 'irrational' - ie, did he feel absolutely no desire for the Ring, in which case he is not justified in feeling guilty. I suppose what I'm asking is 'Did Frodo desire the Ring for himself in any way. If he did feel such desire, then what was it he was desiring - power, control, or was he simply being driven by a desire not to be completely 'lost' - ie had he by that time so completely identified himself with the Ring that it's destruction meant the same to him as his own destruction?' Was there any 'will' on Frodo's part to claim the Ring? Did some tiny part of him say 'Yes' to that 'sin', & is that the seed from which his later feelings of guilt & failure spring? Or was he merely so broken by that point that he had no control, & was almost like an outside observer, watching his body refuse to let the Ring go?

01-15-2004, 12:14 PM	#11
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	The question is, are Frodo's feelings of guilt 'rational' - ie, did he want, to any degree, to claim the Ring, in which case he is 'justified' in feeling guilty & blaming himself. Or are those feelings 'irrational' - ie, did he feel absolutely no desire for the Ring, in which case he is not justified in feeling guilty. I suppose what I'm asking is 'Did Frodo desire the Ring for himself in any way. If he did feel such desire, then what was it he was desiring - power, control, or was he simply being driven by a desire not to be completely 'lost' - ie had he by that time so completely identified himself with the Ring that it's destruction meant the same to him as his own destruction?' Was there any 'will' on Frodo's part to claim the Ring? Did some tiny part of him say 'Yes' to that 'sin', & is that the seed from which his later feelings of guilt & failure spring? Or was he merely so broken by that point that he had no control, & was almost like an outside observer, watching his body refuse to let the Ring go? __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."