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 Post subject: Why ask Frodo to destroy the Ring?
PostPosted: April 27th, 2009, 1:30 am 
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J.R.R. Tolkien wrote:
'But why not destroy it, as you say should have been done long ago?' cried Frodo again. 'If you had warned me, or even sent me a message, I would have done away with it.'
'Would you? How would you do that? Have you ever tried?'
'No. But I supposed one could hammer it or melt it.'
'Try!' said Gandalf. 'Try now!'
Frodo drew the Ring out of his pocket again and looked at it. It now appeared plain and smooth, without mark or device that he could see. The gold looked very fair and pure, and Frodo thought how rich and beautiful was its colour, how perfect was its roundness. It was an admirable thing and altogether precious. When he took it out he had intended to fling it from him into the very hottest part of the fire. But he found now that he could not do so, not without a great struggle. He weighed the Ring in his hand, hesitating, and forcing himself to remember all that Gandalf had told him; and then with an effort of will he made a movement, as if to cast it away--but he found that he had put it back in his pocket.
Gandalf laughed grimly.


And so Frodo couldn't even destroy it in the comfort of Bag End, even when he hadn't ever worn it before. Why, then, did Gandalf think he could destroy it in Mordor? Or perhaps this is some clever bit of foreshadowing on Tolkien's part? Just some thoughts. :)

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PostPosted: April 27th, 2009, 7:44 am 
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I think it could be a hint of foreshadowing, but it was more just trying to be realistic. The ring greatly attracts all to its power, so it was probably just a moment of weakness for Frodo, at which Gandalf wanted to make a point to him...

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PostPosted: May 10th, 2009, 3:21 pm 
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Perhaps it's because at that point, Gandalf didn't expect Frodo to take the Ring all the way to Mordor, he only needed him to take it to Rivendell, at which point someone else would take it the rest of the way. If that was the case, it wouldn't matter if Frodo couldn't destroy it in Bag End, because in Gandalf's mind it wouldn't be him that would have to destroy it at Mt. Doom.

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PostPosted: June 1st, 2009, 7:12 am 
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Excellent points. Also, hadn't Isildur failed to destroy the Ring? Maybe that was to be the role of the Fellowship- to see through a task that no one person alone had the willpower to achieve.

Now, I am terrible at quoting things word for word, but I do believe Gandalf (Elrond in the movies, I think) mentions the resilience/strength of Hobbits. Bilbo's ability to let the Ring go in the first place, and then Frodo making it to Rivendell with the Ring and a wound from the Nazgul.
Past events had shown that even a man from the noblest of linage (Isildur) could not be counted on to be able to destroy the Ring voluntarily.
When Gandalf approved of Frodo being the one to carry the Ring to Mount Doom, perhaps he wasn't thinking so much of the task of actually destroying it but of the Frodo's ability to make it as far as Mordor with the Ring in tow.


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PostPosted: June 11th, 2009, 11:14 am 
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Good ideas. I guess I'm just surprised it never came up again, even after Frodo resolved to take the Ring to Mordor. Gandalf never seemed to wonder (at least out loud) whether Frodo could destroy it. But I supposed that was part of the Fellowship's original purpose, like Celebwen said. (Makes it sound like a portable support group now, doesn't it? :P)

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PostPosted: June 16th, 2009, 7:35 am 
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Hehe, yes. Save Frodo having to join a new Ringbearers Anonymous each place he went. :P

I guess the other thing to take into consideration is that Gandalf only made it as far as Moria. It would be interesting to speculate what his intentions for the Fellowship were after Lorien.


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