How much Frodo grew...

[Bêthberry]

This reminds me that I still owe a reply to Essex on a thread from about six weeks ago when I suddenly had to disappear for a bit. I do enjoy our different perspectives, Essex.

No wonder we can see their growth in the books and movies. Frodo was a more mature adult at 50.

So I put it to you, book wise, that Frodo himself had very little 'growing' to do as a character. He seems to me, in the book as well as the film, to be a character that seems fully developed once he leaves Bag End with the Ring.

Your argument here seems to depend upon the idea that an adult--or hobbit--in middle age has learned about all he or she needs to learn, about the world or about himself or herself.

I would suggest instead that growth in awareness about oneself or about the world comes not from merely living a certain number of years but from intense experience and interaction with people, events, dramas, challenges, tragedies. There are those whose lives are set and so they do not change beyond middle age. And then there are those who experience tremendous change, upheaval, loss, struggle. Here then is the crucible where they discover just how much they know about themselves and grow in wisdom.

Frodo, the reckless tween who would cheekily steal mushrooms, assumes a quest when he has not 'settled down into regular hobbit habits' and without at the time quite understanding what burden he is accepting. At the very least, he must learn how to stay true to his decision in the face of terrible odds. Or, he must learn what the cost is of his decision.