The Third Theme

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I have to disagree. I think that the hobbits you talk about defeated Sauron not because of any specific weakness, but because of their natural un-tendency to to evil. Because of their down-to-earthness, simplicity.

I think it is not simply "down-to-earthness", and the word "simplicity" can be misleading as well - it could be interpreted the way that the hobbits were able to overcome Sauron simply because they were stupid enough to misuse the Ring, in such a case, Saruman and all those who scorn Hobbits would have been right about them being simpletons - but I think they weren't; and, in many ways, the important aspect of the hobbits, which made Bilbo and Frodo (and Sam) able to withstand the lure of the Ring, was their humility (you can use the word "down-to-earthness" and "simplicity", but with the added specification or explanation that what it means is not stupidity, but humility - humility which, of course, to those who lust for power might seem like stupidity, as it did to Sauron, and thus proved to be his undoing...). It was the humility in which the hobbits didn't wish more than what they had, in which they didn't want to control, to hoard (with the exception of the Sackville-Bagginses and their like), to spread their own domain in expense of the others... That is what I believe is their true "advantage" over the others.

In other words, it isn't so that the Hobbits would be so stupid not to understand power (as some might interpretate the terms G55 used): they do, and it showed itself to Samwise when he put the Ring on in Mordor. He wasn't so "down-to-earth" that he wouldn't be tempted. The point is that he was tempted, but refused it - because of his humility, because he understood that it wouldn't do any good and because he was able to withstand the illusions of grandeur.