I’m sure this has been discussed before, but here we go again.
Could anyone have actually thrown The One Ring into the fire of Mt Doom?
If yes, then whom?
Please explain your reasoning.
IMO, if one person could have done it, that person would be Sam. During his assult on Cirith Ungul, the Ring kept showing Sam how great a leader he would be if only he would claim the ring as his own. All Sam wanted was a plot of land he could work, so the Ring held no temptation for him, and could not hold sway over him.
I think that no one could have, the ring would have overtaken anyone’s will. Even Gandalf was afraid to touch it.
The time Sam had the ring, he shook off the effects but the ring had just started to work on him. Standing on the brink of Mt. Doom he’d probubly have had his mind broken from the strain of the fight.
There is some extremely interesting passages regarding the necessity for Grace and Mercy to be able to relinquish the Ring, and some very good descriptions of Sam that fall very much short of those qualifications. It seems that Tolkien holds Sam in a form of contempt (as do I):
My thoughts:
I think it safe to say that of the four hobbits to possess the Ring at any time (Smeagol, Bilbo, Frodo and Sam), Sam was actually the least capable among them. I think Sam would have immediately after losing his master, submitted entirely to the Ring - as the only thing Sam knew was blind duty. That duty would have been turned immediately to the will of the Ring, and Middle Earth would have been lost. Sam proved himself time after time of being incapable of Mercy and thus, incapable of receiving Grace. Hell, even Sauron himself was willing to let Gollum go - Sam wanted to kill him from the start, and didn’t waver on that position for most of the tale.
They could have strapped Frodo on the back of an eagle, and off they go to Mount Doom. Frodo’s eagle would have been flanked by six or seven other giant eagles for protection. Winged Nazgul’s approach and are mobbed by the flanking eagles.
Upon reaching Mount Doom, Frodo’s eagle drops him, and the ring, straight into the fire! Frodo is sacrificed for the good of the many.
Sure as hell would have saved a lot of time and energy!
Ok, ok, I’m kidding guys. I know this would not have been possible*, not to mention it wouldn’t make for much of a story.
The eagles are not under Gandalf’s command (Radaghast’s maybe?), the burden would be too much for them, they would easily have been spotted, they may claim the ring to themselves! Etc. etc.
Faramir does say “I would not take this thing, if it lay by the highway. Not were Minas Tirith falling in ruin and I alone could save her, so, using the weapon of the Dark Lord for her good and my glory.”
But the Ring was not offered to him and he did not handle it. He refused to forcibly take it from the hobbits, so he did resist temptation of a sort, but I would argue that had he had physical possession of the Ring he may have been of a different mind.
Also, Captain Crunchy Crunch, you may be interested in reading this.
He managed to avoid the most important aspect of the story with that explanation - that Frodo still would have claimed the Ring as his own, and there would have been no Gollum to intervene. Even if the Eagles had escourted a legion of hobbits into Mt. Doom, all would have been lost since Frodo would have never been given the opportunity to exhibit the acts of mercy that allowed the Valar to bless him with the Grace that was ultimately responsible for the Ring’s destruction.
In a nutshell, only someone weak and puny, yet with a strong will and purpose could get the ring to the Cracks of Doom without claiming it for their own. Faramir and Aragorn and Elrond had too much native power and were trained to command and responsibility to escape the insistant demand to use it. Aragorn and Faramir were notable for refusing the ring in the first place, because they know what a disaster it would be for them to claim it, even to “protect” it.
Most other characters would have failed thru despair and out-and-out physical weakness (crossing Emyn Muil, Dead Marshes, etc takes its toll).
And Munch does a lovely job of highlighting both Sam’s strengths and weakesses for this task.
No, it was as Gandalf said. Frodo had been selected for this task, via Bilbo, as the only one who really stood a chance.
As for the Eagles, that’s a lot of fine Sophistry in the link provided, but in the end, they are the Eagles of Manwë and whatever they do is either at his command, with his consent, or consistant with his wishes. And I doubt very much Manwë Sulimo was going to play the Deus ex Machina card for Men.
True, Munch, but note that the author of that page assumes the eagles will land and let Frodo enter Sammath Naur. Captain Crunchy Crunch posits the eagle dropping Frodo like a bomb into the gaping mouth of the volcano. Frodo could have claimed the ring as his own as he plummeted down, but I doubt he’d have enough time to master it and save himself from certain splashy doom.
Of course, as Qadgop explains, it’s all moot, but it’s fun to imagine a hobbit shrieking as he arcs through the air. I can even see the eagle looking down through a bombsight determining the proper time to release the payload…
Maybe I’m too cynical or something, but the whole “Throw the Ring into Mount Doom” spiel sounds too much like a massive trap Sauron set to get the Ring back.
I mean, throwing the ring back into the very fires that created it in the first place? Hello?
…oh, and back to something relating to the topic, before I found out what the real ending was, I thought Frodo might throw himself into the lava, just as he felt his self-control starting to slip.
