The Fellowship's True Purpose?

[gorthaur_cruel]

The Fellowship was supposed to protect the Ringbearer Frodo from harm, while he pursues his Quest of destroying the One Ring...or so they say. But there seems to be either a big miscalculation on Gandalf's part, or the Fellowship had a darker purpose.

In The Shadow of the Past, Gandalf tells Frodo to try throwing the Ring into his fireplace. Frodo could not do so, and puts it in his pocket. Then Gandalf says:

Gandalf laughed grimly. 'You see? Already you too, Frodo, cannot easily let it go, nor will to damage it. And I could not "make" you - except by force, which would break your mind.'

So Gandalf knew that Frodo could not throw the Ring into his fireplace. How did he expect Frodo to throw the Ring into Mount Doom at the end of the Quest? After all, the Ring took more and more hold of Frodo's mind as he drew nearer to Mt. Doom and as Sauron's power grew. Therefore, perhaps the Fellowship was meant to do what Gollum did - take the Ring from Frodo by force and throw it in before it took a hold of their minds(One could argue that if Frodo could not do it, neither could any member of the Fellowship, but that's another matter). Perhaps they were even meant to push Frodo into Mt. Doom if needed

But seriously, if that was not the Fellowship's purpose, why did Gandalf send Frodo on a Quest that was doomed to fail? He did not foresee Gollum's role. He merely says that he felt that Gollum would play a part "for good or for ill".

Perhaps Gandalf truly was clueless. He knew Bilbo's Ring was one of the Twenty Rings of Power yet did nothing for 60 years, sent Frodo with 8 "defenders"(of which 3 did not know how to fight) to the very heart of Sauron's realm, and expected Frodo to destroy the Ring at the end, which he couldn't do even in the very beginning. Everything that happened was purely luck, if you think about it. The only logical explanations are that Gandalf was a dolt, or his Maia foresight told him that sending Frodo on this quest would turn out to be good. Gandalf is personally my favorite character, so I'll take choice #2, but he does seem to have some holes...Boromir did the logical thing in trying to take Frodo's Ring, IMO. It turned out to be evil, but he saw that the Quest was hopeless.

Well, I sorta strayed from my original topic now.

[The Saucepan Man]

Gandalf trusted in providence ...

[Boromir88]

Right now, I don't know the "true purpose" of the fellowship, besides the fact to get the ring to Mount Doom, where it atleast has an oppurtunity of being destroyed. And of course the quest was supposed to fail, or well, was a "desperate task."

The one good thing I saw the Fellowship for however, is it created long lasting friendships. You have the Sam-Frodo friendship, Merry-Pippin, Aragorn-Legolas-Gimli, and then everybody, it all created a lasting friendship between the companions.

For some added info on Boromir, I have read this interesting little discussion topic. But, Boromir took the ring, in thought that it wouldn't corrupt the righteous, it's not that he wanted it for himself (eventhough once he had it he would have taken it for himself). But his thought was it wouldn't be able to corrupt "the righteous" people. And here is a quote from The Council of Elrond.

"I do not understand all this" Boromir said "Saruman is a traitor, but did he not have a glimpse of wisdom? Why do you speak ever of hiding and destroying? Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serves us in the very hour of need? Wielding in the FREE LORDS of the FREE may surely defeat the Enemy. That is what he most fears, I deem."

The "righteous" people I mean are these "free lords" Boromir wishes to give the ring to.

[gorthaur_cruel]

Gandalf trusted in providence ...

Yeah, that was what I believed. "The only logical explanations are that Gandalf was a dolt, or his Maia foresight told him that sending Frodo on this quest would turn out to be good. Gandalf is personally my favorite character, so I'll take choice #2, but he does seem to have some holes..."

But I still think relying 100% on providence is wrong, when all the 'logical' explanations say that Frodo would fail.

And of course the quest was supposed to fail, or well, was a "desperate task."

True, but wouldn't it have been better to use the Ring then? Then Sauron could be defeated, and then they could worry about the new guy next. Maybe the new Ring-user would take a while to become corrupted. After all, Bilbo did last 60 years, and still didn't show too much signs of becoming corrupted.

For some added info on Boromir, I have read this interesting little discussion topic. But, Boromir took the ring, in thought that it wouldn't corrupt the righteous, it's not that he wanted it for himself (eventhough once he had it he would have taken it for himself). But his thought was it wouldn't be able to corrupt "the righteous" people. And here is a quote from The Council of Elrond.

That's why I support Boromir. He knew that the Quest had a 99% chance of failure, while using the Ring to defeat Sauron had a 99% chance of success. He believed that strong Men wouldn't be corrupted, so he disregarded the "second Sauron" thing. His main goal was to defeat Sauron, and whatever happens after would happen.

But, actually, Boromir did want it for himself, though he suggested Aragorn first (he believed himself to be one of those "strong Men").

'Or if he refuses, why not Boromir? The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!'

[the phantom]

He knew that the Quest had a 99% chance of failure

Nah... logic and reasoning seem to suggest that the quest had a 100% guarantee of failure (or something really close to that).

while using the Ring to defeat Sauron had a 99% chance of success

No way. The only person who would really have a chance would be Gandalf and even his chances wouldn't be anywhere close to 99%.

However, the chances of successfully overthrowing Sauron using the Ring still would be higher than the chances of destroying the Ring, so I agree that Boromir's actions were understandable.

I've been sitting here thinking for a while and I'm fairly certain that if I would've been in Boromir's position (I hate to say this) I probably would've tried to take the Ring like he did.

[Firefoot]

True, but wouldn't it have been better to use the Ring then? Then Sauron could be defeated

The problem with this statements is that Sauron never could be truly defeated as long as the Ring existed. He could come back in another couple thousand years, and then you are back where you started. The point of destroying the Ring was (I'm paraphrasing) to take care of the problem once and for all, not just for one age of men. In addition, anything done with the Ring becomes evil and ultimately works for Sauron. Gandalf also said that it would take too long for one person to learn how to use the Ring adequately enough to be able to overthrow Sauron, and in that time Sauron would learn exactly where it was and 99% chance says he gets it back.

Maybe the new Ring-user would take a while to become corrupted. After all, Bilbo did last 60 years, and still didn't show too much signs of becoming corrupted.

Gandalf hints that this has something to do with Hobbits. Hobbits appear to be more resistant to this type of evil than Men, Elves, and Dwarves. Bilbo did not use the Ring with the intention to dominate others, which also slowed his corruption. It took Bilbo a long time, but look how long it took Isildur or Sméagol. I wouldn't want to take the chance that the next ring-bearer would be the same way. And let's say you give the Ring to someone who already has a good share of power in order for that person to weild it to defeat Sauron. Galadriel would not take it because she knew that it would just be replacing one dark lord for dark and terrible queen. Gandalf pr Elrond would not take it either. Another example of hobbits resisting evil is that Frodo lasted 17 days with the shard of the Morgul blade whereas Gandalf says he knows many strong men that would not have lasted nearly that long.

He believed that strong Men wouldn't be corrupted, so he disregarded the "second Sauron" thing.

Isildur was strong.

His main goal was to defeat Sauron, and whatever happens after would happen.

The whole problem with this is that what happens after this would be bad, almost guaranteed. If it hadn't been for divine providence and Mt. Doom, the Ring wouldn't have been destroyed. There might be no stroke of divine providence later on, and short of pushing the bearer into Mt. Doom there is no way of destroying the Ring. It would not let itself be destroyed while Sauron existed, and as long as the Ring existed Sauron existed. So if the Ring was kept around, even if it was guarded under lock and key, Sauron would probably get it eventually if it wasn't destroyed.