Logical Ring-bearer?

[Aratlithiel]

I agree that Merry and Pippin would have made a good team and interesting dynamic, but I think you're overlooking an important point. The pity that Frodo was able to feel toward Gollum was not just a means to an end (the survival of Gollum thus the destruction of the Ring) but a symbol of the purity of his heart. No one else in the Fellowship - or all of ME for that matter - possessed the ability to recognize the right course and courage to try to follow it to their deaths.

Merry and Pippin were righteous individuals, no doubt. But let's not forget that they both advocated taking the Ring away from Frodo at Rauros. Granted their hearts told them that it was for his own good and they would do it because they loved him and genuinely feared for him, but isn't that pretty much the same way Boromir was thinking as well?

And Gimli did not have the strength of spirit nor the faith in the Wise to complete the task. He eventually would have turned around and headed home because he did not BELIEVE in the cause nor did he trust the Wise the way Frodo did.

Frodo knew without a doubt that putting the Ring in the fire was the ONLY way to stop Sauron. He never questioned the decision or tried to turn away from it once he accepted the burden in Rivendell. He knew these things because the Wise - and most of all Gandalf - told him so. He did not once imagine that maybe he knew better than they did and attempt to second-guess them as all of the others did.


By the time the Fellowship reached Rauros, Frodo was the ONLY one of them left who still had 100% faith in that path. Yes, most of the others would have followed if given the opportunity, but NONE of the others (if they themselves had possession of the Ring) would have continued on the path Frodo took. Every one of them wanted to go to Gondor and would only go through the Emyn Muil if Frodo insisted.

The hobbits all had great strength of spirit and their hearts were all in the right place, but Frodo was the only one of the hobbits who was there for the greater purpose. The other three were there FOR FRODO - his Quest became theirs by default but they did not have the same committment to it as he did. The other hobbits, the Men, the Dwarf and the Elf ALL wanted to go to Gondor and had any one of them had possession of the Ring, it would have gone with them and the story probably would have turned out quite differently.

And Lyta, I agree with you wholeheartedly about Sam. I too believe that had he seen Frodo overtaken by evil, he would have taken a running start and they both would have gone into the fire. I've always believed that Sam's love for Frodo surpassed everything else he held dear and would have sacrificed EVERYTHING (even ME) to save his master - as evidenced by his refusal to get the Ring out of danger of recapture when he rescued Frodo in the tower. If that meant killing him in order to remove him from the clutches of evil, I believe he wouldn't have hesitated.

Oh, I could go on and on and on...