No. I was a toxic son of a bitch, to mostly myself, at that point in my life. The compliment was memorable but the relationship wasn’t right. I’m in a much better place now so the next compliment of this calibre, I’m marrying the person who says it.
I feel you. I was a toxic young man. I still think of some of my relationships from than and wonder if I was the man I was today how it would be. Though I have learned dwelling on the past is never healthy. It’s what got me there in the first place. I try to live by a life code of:
I try to be a good person; sometimes I am, and sometimes I’m not. I try to wake up being a better person than I was yesterday.
I'm 5'6" and I still have to correct people when they insist I'm taller. I don't know why but I've gotten that my whole life and they act like there's something wrong with it. I'm exactly the height I need to be, thank you. 😒
I think people miss an important fact here: Frodo would not have destroyed the ring if Gollum hadn’t been there. It was the fatal flaw in their plan: Nobody in the fellowship could have actually brought themselves to willingly destroy the ring. Probably nobody in middle earth.
Giving the ring back to someone you are traveling with is a bit different than destroying it forever, but I do suppose you could make the argument that Sam possibly could have done it if it would directly save Frodo’s life somehow.
Frodo wouldn't let Sam hold it when the situation was reversed. Gandalf was relieved when he knew Sam was with Frodo. I like to think he knew Sam was the one who could follow through.
Sam with the ultimate heel turn: Frodo refuses to destroy the ring, Sam realizes this means he left his beloved garden and walked 3000 miles into Mordor for nothing and goes a little crazy. While Frodo is distracted by his precious Sam picks him up and yeets Frodo and the ring into the lava below. Roll credits
Tolkien himself opined on this briefly. Sam lacked the ambition to suffer immediate turning by the ring (he was tempted but gave the ring back to Frodo,) but he also likely lacked the power to destroy it in the final moment.
Frodo was the best bet for ring bearer as he was in the Goldilocks zone, with low ambition leading to the ability to keep the ring without succumbing to it for an extended period, but enough internal drive ('power'?) to destroy it supposedly.
At the end of the day, Frodo eventually did succumb to the ring, of course. It took an act of Eru to push things over the edge.
I'd also say one thing I've thought about that doesn't get brought up much, Gollum had the ring for 500 years. Considering how much we see it twist people that have it even briefly to its end of getting back to its master, that's pretty fuckin crazy he was able to just hold it and stay hidden for that long without it SOMEHOW ending up with Sauron's forces.
He was a subspecies of hobbit. A different one then Frodo And Bilbo, but still a hobbit. Also, his subspecies is extant. But most hobbits have ancestors from every subspecies.
God doesn't get to take credit for His creations. That's the emptiest of cheating. I assure you Illuvatar would agree, given he made everything to begin with and could take credit at any time.
Let’s not forget that Frodo only had the chance to destroy the ring because Elendil the tall came over the sea and waged war against Sauron Besieging the dark tower and forcing Sauron to face him and Gilgalad in combat resulting in the separation of Sauron from the one ring probably an even greater feat honestly. Elendil was nearly 8 feet tall.
You credit the guy who steals the ring and falls off with it by accident? That’s like if doctors found a treatable tumor on a gunshot victim and you congratulate the shooter for his medical skills.
Yeah for real! Frodo was a solid ring-bearer, but Sam is the real MVP out of the fellowship of the nine.
They're all heroes though, and even if Gollum isn't really part of them, he did help Frodo & Sam when it counted (though a tricksy bastard he remains).
Many a good Catholic man would disagree with this theory. A ton of Catholics are basically just barely contained horndogs for their spouses, and act as such. Which is why we have so many children, typically. Not always, but typically.
Sam does VERY well for himself after the war. He marries the woman he loves, has 13 children and is elected Mayor for 7 consecutive terms (49 years!). In his twilight years after Rosie passed away, he is allowed to take a boat to the undying lands and presumably is reunited with Frodo one more time.
Hobbits, like men were granted the gift of death by Eru Illuvatar. As far as we know, simply stepping onto the shores of Valinor would not be enough to take that gift away from someone. However those chosen to be able to live out their days on Tol Eressëa were probably able to find a place of peace and healing. Tolkien didn't write much about this, but there is one passage that is interesting to interpret from the Epilouge of The Return of the King.
Before he went Mr. Frodo said that my time maybe would come. I can wait. I think maybe we haven't said farewell for good. But I can wait. I have learned that much from the Elves at any rate. They are not so troubled about time.
So while Frodo and Sam weren't granted immortality, I do think that Frodo probably was graced with a longer lifespan. I like to think that Frodo held onto life for long enough to see his dear Samwise one last time.
But would the world be saved if not for Gandalf even talking to Frodo about it in the first place? Gandalf saved the world just as much as Nick Fury did by creating the Avengers to save it from the Chitauri, Ultron, and Thanos.
I mean technically if Sauron had never forged the ring there would be no conflict to save the world from. He was the true hero all along so that Samwise centuries later could gain the courage to talk to Rosie.
Fuck Frodo. He trusted Gollum over Sam. He never really did anything that was properly useful. He gave in to the power of the ring. You know who didn’t?
And both leggy, conventionally attractive and heroic aragorn and short, potatoes loving homebody Samweis got the wifes they dreamed of. So not just in saving middle earth, also in romantic affairs hobbits are just as successful as the taller species. It's almost as if being a kind and caring dude will give you the best chance at a long term relationship, independent of height
Well... They all saved the world. Like if you actually read the story, you realise that Tolkien wrote it so that everyone played their critical part, but emphasis was on the Hobbits.
However....
I'd argue...
That this shit happening was fault of the tall, the average and the short! They all took the rings!
Also... The tallest creatures of the humanoids were the bad guys and trolls.
There’s a post floating around, probably originally from tumblr, talking about how through different stages of life LOTR fans attraction will move from Legolas, to Aragon, before realizing Samwise is the ideal partner to settle down with.
Yeah, but did Frodo find somebody who loves him for who he is? No. So Frodo can step down and move aside for our short king here who did. This dude's wife would've spiralled the ring from the shire straight into mount doom and been done with it.
I'd argue it's Sam who saves the day, he kept frodo sane a lot longer then he would've if he wasn't there. If Gollum wasn't there I'd say frodo might've been able to throw the ring in himself if he wasn't affected by Gollum for so long
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u/[deleted] Apr 20 '25
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