plenty of talk about “don’t go where i can’t follow” but not enough talk about sam leaving his sword and the phial of galadriel by his side while begging frodo to understand that he has to go on. not enough talk about him contemplating hunting down gollum and killing him, but realizing it wouldn’t be worth it because it wouldn’t bring frodo back, and he would rather be dead alongside him — even though “that too would be a lonely journey.” not enough talk about sam kissing frodo’s forehead as he takes the ring from his neck, and frodo not responding being what truly convinces sam he’s dead. not enough talk about sam promising that if he doesn’t die in mordor, he’ll come back to frodo’s body, and “he’ll not leave you again.” not enough talk about the steps away from cirith ungol being “the heaviest and most reluctant” sam had ever taken.
Gandalf and Pippin, one of my favourite friendships in Middle Earth (and one of the things they got the most wrong in the Peter Jackson films). I love their banter, I love the way Pippin looks to Gandalf for answers, I love how soft and personal Gandalf can be when he sees that Pippin needs it.
This illustration is a scene from this incredible fic, written by my amazing partner @rosemary-andtime. The films may have got Gandalf and Pippin wrong, but she got them exactly right. (Warning, it WILL shred your heart into little beautiful tear-stained pieces in the best of ways).
I do wish people knew more about Book!Frodo vs. Movie!Frodo. Like, I love Elijah Wood and I love his performance but Book!Frodo is a lot more scrappy and not quite as pure of heart, despite still being a pretty nice guy. Because it leads to a lot of fanon that because Frodo is quiet and nice, he's therefore helpless, sanctimonious, and childlike.
Like Frodo is probably the most polite of the four hobbits, but he's also the oldest. A lot of his interactions with Merry and Pippin specifically read like he's an older and wiser big brother who enjoys teasing them. The movie kinda acts like Frodo is naive to a lot of Merry and Pippin's hijinks, but the books are clear that Frodo was also out there stealing crops from Farmer Magot, and it was probably his idea in the first place.
He's not above practical jokes, or being petty, or losing his temper. When they first set out from the Shire, a cute character detail is Frodo choosing to wake up everybody in kind of funny ways, scaring Sam awake by making him think he's slept in and is late for work, and yanking Pippin's blankets and basically rolling him down a hill. He's king of veiled insults and trying to let out his depression in funny ways like saying "Let's not worry about tomorrow, it probably won't come." Like when Sam thinks Frodo's messing with him when he starts saying Sam should be called the Stout-Hearted, it's not like there isn't a precedent for that kind of thing.
The movie also omits a lot of Frodo's badass moments and qualities, like when he manages to just barely cut the Witch King of Angmar on Weathertop, or when he makes his stand at the River while being chased by Nazgûl, or when he slices off the arm of the Barrow-wight, or when he confronts Sarumon. He also is the only of the four hobbits who can speak some elvish and is definitely the most worldly because he's spent so long with Bilbo. Usually most of the hobbits look to Frodo for advice or guidance.
And to be clear, he is nice and modest and very polite and compassionate towards others. Like he's always making an effort to be kind. But he has layers, and is a mature adult who I think is reduced by a lot of his sweet cinnamon roll characterization. In actuality he's more like cool older bro who lets you stay up late when he babysits and who's trying not to let anyone else know he's in the middle of a break down.
People often say LOTR is a story about hope. (I'm reminded of it because someone said it in the notes of my Faramir post.) And that's true, but it's not the whole picture: LOTR is in large part a story about having to go on in the absence of hope.
Frodo has lost hope, as well as the ability to access any positive emotion, by Return. He is already losing it in Towers: he keeps going through duty and determination and of course Sam's constant help.
For most of the story, Sam is fueled by hope, which is why it's such a huge moment when he finally lets go of the hope of surviving and returning home, and focuses on making it to the Mountain. To speed their way and lighten the load, he throws his beloved pots and pans into a pit, accepting that he will never cook, or eat, again.
When Eowyn kills the Witch King, she's beyond hope and seeking for a glorious death in battle. It's possible that in addition to her love and loyalty for Théoden, she's strengthened by her hopelessness, the fear of the Nazgúl cannot touch someone who's already past despair.
Faramir is his father's son, he doesn't have any more hope of Gondor's victory or survival than Denethor does, he says as much to Frodo. What hope have we? It is long since we had any hope. ... We are a failing people, a springless autumn. He knows he's fighting a losing war and it's killing him. When he rejects the ring, he doesn't do it in the hope that his people can survive without it, he has good reason to believe they cannot. He acts correctly in the absence of hope.
Of course LOTR has a (mostly) happy ending, all the unlikely hopes come true, the characters who have lost hope gain what they didn't even hope for, and everyone is rewarded for their bravery and goodness, so on some level the message is that hope was justified. But the book never chastises characters who lost hope, it was completely reasonable of them to do so. Despair pushed Théoden and Denethor into inaction, pushed Saruman into collaboration, but the characters who despaired and held up under the weight of despair are Tolkien's real heroes.
(In an early draft of Return, Frodo and Sam receive honorary titles in Noldorin: Endurance beyond Hope and Hope Unquenchable, respectively. Then he cut it, probably because it was stating the themes of the entire book way too obviously, because this is what Tolkien cared about, really: enduring beyond hope. Without hope.)
Also, people who know more than me about the concept of estel, feel free to @ me.
Gandalf: So I’ve developed an elaborate plan to save middle earth from darkness
Elrond: does it-
Gandalf: it involves hobbits again yeah
