Frodo never stops moving forward, even when the ending of his quest is definitely in doubt. But Frodo is so set on doing his duty, even when he is at the end of his strength, that he literally crawls on his hands and knees up the side of Mount Doom to at least try. How is Frodo going to manage a year from that moment, when he has to throw the Ring into a volcano that will destroy it? So Frodo has a snowflake's chance in Orodruin of actually getting the job done on his own once he reaches the end of this long, miserable Ring-quest.Īnd you know what the most amazing part of this whole thing is? Frodo knows that he's not going to succeed. By Fellowship Book One, Chapter Two, Frodo is already freaking out when Gandalf throws the Ring into his fireplace. We mentioned that way back in our "Character Analysis" of Frodo in the The Fellowship of the Ring learning guide. So, we've already said that Frodo's quest is basically impossible. And he finally takes the One Ring for himself.īut then, if Frodo does take the One Ring, if in the end he does try to steal Sauron's power, why is he still the hero of The Lord of the Rings? Let's think about the reasons: Reason #1: Humbleness But by the end of his quest in Mordor, he is just too exhausted to keep fighting. He fights the good fight for longer than any of the other characters could have managed (we're looking at you, Boromir). So, to make a long story short, eventually, even Frodo fails. It's not in the nature of Frodo-or any ordinary mortal-to fight all the time without stopping. He isn't built for a 24/7 struggle against the worst kind of evil. And the thing is, Frodo is only human-or rather, only hobbit. The pressure never stops in fact, it keeps getting worse and worse. It's always with him, even when he closes his eyes. Because the Ring is slowly starting to take control of Frodo's soul, he can never escape it. To summarize this passage: Frodo in Book Three? Not in a good place. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. It's really the worst kind of torture we can imagine, so we'll just let Frodo describe it for himself: Everywhere he goes, no matter what he does, he can't hide from the evil of the Ring. But the worst thing about Frodo's own particular battle against evil is that it is also a struggle against himself. Not to get too grim or anything, but The Return of the King is mainly about confronting different kinds of evil: the evil of emotional abuse (Denethor), the evil of bitterness and disappointment (Saruman), and the evil of greed (gosh, there are a lot of thieving orcs in this novel). (Click the character infographic to download.)
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