What was Frodo's temptation

[Formendacil]

I've been following this thread from Day 1--because it's a Fordhim thread, and words cannot express how happy that makes me--but I've been unable--sadly--to think of anything to add. Going through the additional half of the thread added since yesterday, however, I feel like precious little--or no--mention is made of Bilbo, which is rather odd.

Perhaps the thing is that Bilbo, like Frodo, does not have a given temptation in The Lord of the Rings--unless the desire to hide from Sackville-Bagginses counts. I discount The Hobbit here, not so much because it's non-canonical (still spoiling for that canonicity debate ) as because, admittedly, Tolkien's perception of the Ring's effects changed from the writing of the one work to the other--indeed, in the first, there were no ill-effects for the Ring was not known yet as Sauron's.

Still, we see enough of Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings that you would think we might see his temptation. Not so. Like Frodo, we see that he desires possession of the Ring, but that's about it. Even in the pivotal parting scene at the end of "A Long-Expected Party," we see his projected descent into Gollumry, but we see no temptation. Nor, indeed, is one hinted at.

It occurs to me, perhaps, that insofar as Bilbo and Frodo are remarkably alike, Bilbo can be treated as a control scenario for Frodo--a Frodo who did not have to go to Mordor and to Sammath Naur. Granted, there are legitimate personality differences between the two; Frodo is not Bilbo's alter ego, born exactly 78 years later. All the same, Gandalf especially suggests on a few occasions that they are extraordinarily similar on the points that matter to this discussion--on the points of being Ringbearer.

Gandalf says of Bilbo:

Originally Posted by The Shadow of the Past

'Of course, he possessed the ring for many years, and used it, so it might take a long while for the influence to wear off--before it would be safe to see him again, for instance.

My point here being that Bilbo--despite doing more than any Ringbearer save Gollum in terms of use of the Ring--does not at any point seem to awaken thoughts of domination and power, even though it is patently clear from his actions upon parting with the ring that, in Gandalf's words, he:

Originally Posted by The Shadow of the Past

He said and did things then that filled me was a fear that no words of Saruman could allay. I knew at last that something dark and deadly was at work.

Sauron, by this time, is seeking the One Ring, I believe, and until Frodo ventures to Mordor it might be fair to say that the Ring, of its own volition, might not have worked harder on a Ringbearer than that night to retain its hold on Bilbo--so it is impossible, I think, to say that the Ring was merely dormant in Bilbo's time, as one might say of Gollum.

Obviously, I'm finding it impossible to see Bilbo having any dreams of grandeur or temptations generally--which supports the hypothesis that Frodo, in what might be called his "natural state" would not either, since it removes him from the category of uniqueness.



*Oh*

It has also occurred to me, reading through, to speculate about whether or not Frodo's encounter with the Morgûl-blade might have affected him. We know he was never the same after. Again, from Gandalf's perspective:

Originally Posted by Many Meetings

But to the wizard's eye there was a faint change, just a hint as it were of transparency, about him, and especially about the left hand that lay outside the coverlet.

Now, admittedly, a physical change in Frodo need not equal a change in his mental framework. However, as it seems to me that the Wraith-ifying process is related to the Ring's effects on the Ringbearer (Hobbit toughness is specifically linked to their slowness at becoming Wraiths), one has to wonder to what extent, if any, the Morgûl-knife had an effect on the process.