#in defense of Frodo

[headcannonballs]

I might elaborate on these individual incidents on later posts but upon multiple viewings I can finally put words to why I hated the characterizations of multiple characters in the LotR movie trilogy.

It is because PJ & Co. 's favourite method of storytelling is to pull down side characters to build up their own heroes.

And I'm talking about the 'holy' trinity of Sam, Aragorn and Thorin.

Frankly, book readers should've seen it coming from a mile away.

So let's start with Sam. Raise your hand if you've ever seen any fan trumpeting that Sam is the 'real' hero. And nine out of ten, these fans were introduced into LotR through the movies. Congratulations Pete, you've succeeded!

Now before touching the Tolkien letter 'supporting' this idea (where if you read the full letter you'll understand Sam is only more of a chief hero when compared to a very specific character and that character is not Frodo *coughAragorncough*), I would like to draw attention to one simple fact - is there any other major character in the trilogy that has more of his flaws ignored, covered-up or outright repurposed to become a good quality? Because I come up with nothing.

Sam is the quintessential hobbit. He represents all their best traits - that assured loyalty, the steadfast friendship, the simple appreciation for nature. But he is also a representative of all of their worst traits - the closed-mindedness, the blind adherence to hierarchy and the prejudice against the lowly and the unknown.

But Sam does none of that!

Yeah, you'd be correct - if you only watched the movies. That is precisely the point.

The absolute heart of LotR is Frodo's journey, but Frodo is a 'terrible' male lead for a Fantasy themed action adventure film. He is a middle-aged man who sets out on a selfless journey to save the world (but not for himself). He doesn't have a dramatic character arc, majority of his battles are internal and require monologues, and the only visible sign of his burden is completely up to the polish of the individual actor's performance. For the epic type of film PJ planned, Frodo is a nightmare.

But there is an easy solution for this - Frodo is accompanied by Sam throughout the entire journey. Sam, unlike Frodo, has underdog written all over him. It is easy to make a character arc about a nobody becoming a somebody. He has a major battle one-to-one against a giant spider. He is allowed a large variety of emotions that don't require depth (excepting key moments) because he is meant to be simple-minded.

So what does PJ & Co. do?

They make Sam the main lead, of course. The beginning chapters are understandably condensed, but Sam still gets his 'dropping eaves on Mr. Frodo' part of the story untouched, whereas all of Frodo's planning, all of Merry's intelligence, and Pippin and Fatty's contributions were all cut out.

We soon meet Strider, and immediately Sam's foolhardiness is front and centre in the book. He looks down upon this lowly ranger and almost interrogates him only to have Strider illustrate how such behaviour could have easily gotten Sam and Frodo killed. It is Frodo who speaks with wisdom and questions Strider in a more moderate way.

And this entire farce of speaking out of turn happens again when they meet Faramir. Sam is not only not wise, his is foolish enough to make the exact same mistake twice. And similarly Faramir reprimands him and tells him not to speak before Frodo has spoken.

But instead of highlighting these incidents as a flaw Sam should learn to grow from, both times in the movies PJ instead frames the incidents as Sam being justified in his words and defence of Frodo. His bravado is praised as being a loyal friend, instead of the foolish actions they are.

But even with erasing Sam's faults, there is still a problem - Frodo. Frodo's relationship with Sam has become closer than master/servant, but there is still an inate imbalance (more due to Frodo's age and wisdom than anything else) to frame it as just simple friendship.

Personally I feel it is like Sam views Frodo as his senpai, his leading light. And Frodo wishes to guide Sam to learn new things, because Sam's presence as a quintessential hobbit is so much like home that he remains a constant comfort to Frodo no matter the burden of the One Ring.

But Frodo and Sam having a senpai-kouhai relationship is troublesome, because Frodo never leaves. He is the one Sam consistently depends on to lead him, and book!Sam's most major growth actually occurs after Frodo has left for the Undying Lands and Sam grows to become a capable Mayor.

So naturally Frodo has to be weakened to let Sam shine. Firstly, the age difference is removed completely, even going in the opposite direction - Sam is now older than Frodo and cares for him like an elder brother or butler. When faced with dangerous situations like the Nazgul or the troll, Sam is the fearless one instead of Frodo. Sam's wariness is always affirmed by the narrative and Frodo's wisdom in discerning people is putdown as blind kindness.

Nowhere is this more obvious than the Frodo-Sam-Gollum relationship.

In the book, Sam's wariness towards Gollum stems from both the creature's poor reputation, but also from petty jealousy. The threat of betrayal from Gollum is real, yes, but throughout the book Frodo has it under control. He never trusts Gollum more than he needed to, and in fact was winning Gollum's trust with his wisdom, kindness and fair-minded treatment.

But Sam had different ideas. Before Gollum, Sam had always been the closest to Mr. Frodo, not only because of their close relationship, but also because Sam sees himself as the most useful to Frodo. Sure, Merry and Pippin and friends, but neither can serve Mr. Frodo the way he can. Until Gollum.

Gollum is brought in as an indispensable guide and Sam immediately feels threatened. He doesn't actually physically threaten Gollum, but instead resorts to childish name-calling to put Gollum down. He constantly wished to assert dominance over Gollum, to show he is closer to Frodo no matter how good a job Gollum does. Sam basically just wants to 'put him in his lowly place'.

It is this relentless bullying that ends up destroying Gollum's redemption (something also in a Tolkien letter, but Sam fans won't bring this one up), and forces the destruction of the ring to be 'an act of God' instead of Gollum's own will.

This is the biggest flaw in Sam - that he is quick to judge and slow to pity, a trait highly unsuitable for a ringbearer, much less the 'main' hero. This is also the main reason for Frodo's character change and the dynamics change in the relationship between all three.

It is extremely difficult to just cut out all the antagonistic actions Sam has taken against Gollum, so instead the path PJ & Co. took is to 'make Sam right'.

Instead of Frodo being in control and trying to make Sam and Gollum get along, make it that Frodo is the helpless one and being pulled in two different directions. Sam, being the hero, is correct. And Gollum naturally has to be wrong. Frodo, because of the 'evil influence of the Ring' chooses wrongly and believes Gollum, giving rise to the infamous "Sam, go home" scene.

This change of the relationship dynamics both strengthens Sam's moral position as well as weakens Frodo's wisdom. And to PJ & Co. that is a good thing, because now Sam is truly the main lead.

I'll think I continue Aragorn and Thorin another day, but you can be assured that PJ & Co. just uses the same tricks again *coughFaramirandThranduilcough*.

[sakasakiii]

elrond through the ages based on one glorious panel from chapter 95 of Black Butler (hopefully i got that right....). in the context of this sequence, i always thought it was sad to think abt how many people elrond has lost throughout his life alongside how remarkable he is to remain "as kind as summer" still by the time the hobbit rolls around 🥺

i redrew elrond's poses based on ciel's in the original panels BUT i forgot what page exactly the original panel sequence is... however!! if you scroll down to the middle half of this blog post you can find the original reference pic :D warning that it includes heavy spoilers for the black butler manga so u could just alternatively google 'ciel phantomhive running' and it'd probably be one of the first results that pop up haha

[coveredinsun]

i’ve seen gimleaf fics where they each try to find out how to court by the other’s traditions. and i love those, so i think they ought to be taken a step further. and i think the way to do that would be, naturally, to make bagginshield real. allow me to explain why. ahem. after the ring is destroyed, girlfailure legolas spends two weeks poring over The Ancient Texts and stressing because his one (1) friend who WOULD help him (that’s aragorn) knows jack shit about dwarves beyond the surface (no pun intended) (well gandalf knows things but gandalf is a bitch) (he would just smile at legolas knowingly and wish him good luck instead of giving him answers).

so alas, girlfailure “shit tier ass elf” legolas is left to like, idk, sulk or something in the garden he starts at the Bestie Residence in minas tirith. and after like 2 days sam’s had enough he’s like “dude your vibes are upsetting the plants.” and legolas is like “my bad bro. it just seems i know nothing about dwarves which i probably should’ve thought about before, by elf standards, getting hitched in vegas.” and sam is like “oh dwarves? just ask mister frodo ^_^ he knows tons about dwarves!” and legolas is like “what the shit? him in particular? why does he anything about dwarves?” and sam leans in reaaaalllllll close and whispers behind his hand, “well you see mister elf, mister legolas, sir, there’s always been a very healthy amount of rumors that go around in the shire about mister frodo’s uncle, mister bilbo, and the letters he used to exchange with a certain king under the mountain.” and legolas, who was THERE, is like

[ardate]

Every Boromir hater makes my enormous love for him grow stronger. Sorry you couldn't understand him, I get him tho and we're holding hands and the whole of Gondor is laughing at you

[telumendils]

the problem with "sam is the real hero of lotr" discourse is that it fails to recognize one key thing that the films (and the books, iirc) make a point of trying to convey: neither sam nor frodo could have made it all the way to mt. doom without the other there to bear his part of the journey's burden. frodo is able to carry the ring so far bc sam is there to carry hope for him, and sam is able to carry hope so far bc frodo is there to carry the ring. in this essay, i will

[professorjirt]

ok I’m gonna bitch a little bit but I’m not going to feel bad about it bc I believe being a lover and a hater in equal measure is the key to balance or whatever.

I saw this image on Pinterest and it was the final straw for me lol. I can’t STAND this kind of interpretation of The Hobbit or Bagginshield/Thilbo because it’s so blatantly untrue. Yes, Bilbo dealt with a LOT of sadness and loneliness. Yes, he was forever changed by his journey and didn’t have the proper ways to heal and cope. But Bilbo DID move onwards. Of course he remembered Thorin and was always sad about losing him and Kíli and Fíli, and of course he still dealt with the trauma from all of that, but he wasn’t dwelling on that loss every day after he got back home. He became a social outcast not because he was mourning but because he went on an adventure at all. He could have had the happiest and non-tragic adventure in Middle Earth and he still would have ended up as “cracked” Bilbo Baggins because of the way hobbit society views that sort of behavior. He was sad for a very long time after Thorin’s death, stated directly from the book, but the implication there is that Bilbo DID eventually begin to heal and move forward. He found happiness in things again, he wasn’t wailing every night for his lost love, he was doing exactly what Thorin’s last request was, that Bilbo live his life well. Bilbo wasn’t alone forever either— Frodo came into his life as a like-minded companion and Bilbo clearly enjoyed having him around (and it wasn’t because Frodo reminded him of Thorin. I don’t mind people saying that Frodo had similarities Bilbo noticed but putting that as the only connection and draw for Bilbo towards Frodo feels like such a disservice to the true depth of Bilbo and Frodo’s relationship). When the Ring began to affect him, he was able to let it go and left to see as much as he could of his old adventures (it IS sad that he couldn’t make it to the Lonely Mountain but that doesn’t cancel out what he WAS able to get to) and reunited with quite a few of his old dwarvish companions. He was sobered by the realization of the true nature of his magic ring and, after Frodo volunteers (and Bilbo is prevented from going bc he was going to try) he is saddened that someone so close to him must deal with the burden of something he felt he started, but he stayed in Rivendell safe and taken care of until Frodo returned, and was happy to reunite with him. Bilbo then spent a few years in his advanced age but well taken care of and honored, and then got to have one final adventure. His story isn’t miserable, and it does have an end, eventually, even despite his own fears that it wouldn’t. I love Bagginshield and I acknowledge the sadness and tragedy in Bilbo’s story, but acting like he had nothing good in his life and the adventure was the single worst thing to ever happen to him is such a gross misunderstanding of not only The Hobbit but Lord of the Rings that it makes me wonder if these people care about the actual characters and not just the ‘fandom’ characters and stories they have in their head. Yes it was a tragedy that Thorin and Bilbo were parted in such a way, but making his story freeze right there isn’t fair to either of them! It feels similar to that popular fandom ship thing where people begin to act like romantic and sexual love is the only relevant aspect of any characters relationships and interactions, and center every single thing around a ‘ship’ instead of engaging with the characters entire worlds and why their relationships are interesting beyond tropes and aus. Bilbo did get to live a good and simple life!! I like tragedy, I wouldn’t be a fan of two of the most miserable characters in Tolkien’s legendarium if I didn’t, but not everything has to be that way, and it flattens the effect of the story to reduce things to only sadness.

I’m not sure how to sign off on this one, but hopefully this doesn’t come across like I’m a party pooper who hates fandom. I really don’t, I greatly enjoy participating in fandom and I don’t mind some trope work or aus being built from the original story, but when people begin to willfully twist said original story in ways it wasn’t meant to be simply because they only really care about two characters in a ship instead of the greater narrative. It feels like it disrespects who these characters are on their own, like they’re lesser when they’re not paired up, if that makes sense. Anyway, I’ve seen the sentiment about Bilbo’s life being nothing but misery after his adventure quite a few times now and I wanted to say something, even if it’s just for me, although I’m curious if anyone has anything to add or a different perspective to bring.

TLDR: Bilbo was happy and lived a good life! Let him have that! He had friends and family around him that supported him and cared about him and he did have a conclusion to his story, however long it took. Losing Thorin doesn’t mean Bilbo has nothing else.

[queeringclassiclit]

Frodo Baggins & Samwise Gamgee

from The Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954-1955)

rematch of this poll

[eleneressea]

Frodo and Bilbo arrive in Valinor with Elrond and Galadriel, and get invited with them to the Finwëan Family Reunion Dinner (hosted by Míriel and Indis) and at first it all seems fine, maybe a little awkward, Celebrían and Elrond are very glad to see each other, and then it descends into utter chaos.

[lady29218]

[frodo-with-glasses]

The Southron man lay face-down in the fern, green arrow feathers sticking up from his neck, his sword broken and dark braids drenched with blood.

Sam wondered if he'd really wanted to come all the way here to fight. He wondered if he might have been happy to stay home.

Sam did not like war very much.

- - -

The door-warden lay dead, his sword underneath him, the grey flagstones splattered rusty red and his guarded door wide open.

"Work of the enemy!" cried Gandalf. "Such deeds he loves; friend at war with friend, loyalty divided in confusion of hearts."

He bid Shadowfax be on his way, and hurried through the door, but Pippin lingered for a moment by the fallen man's body.

Pippin did not like war very much.

- - -

He stumbled as if in a dark dream, voices and sounds and sights blending into an agonizing nothingness, until the only thing that existed was the tread of feet and the heaviness in his heart.

He was dead. The king was dead. If this was the cost of victory, it was too steep.

His weary knees buckled, and he stumbled forward and collapsed, but was already senseless before he hit the ground.

Darkness. Only darkness.

Merry did not like war very much.

- - -

He lay naked and shivering, exposed in a dark room under the red light of a single lamp. The rags underneath him were coarse, and they stank in his nostrils, and were crawling with beetles and other little vermin, but he didn't dare to move.

The knives...the long knives, and the cruel claws, and their horrible, slavering mouths grinning at him...if they'd had their way, he'd be torn bone from sinew, chest and stomach ripped open and all his innards eaten right in front of him before he had the chance to die, he just knew it.

He'd failed. They'd taken It from him, and he'd failed. Where was Sam? Did they find him too? What would they do to him, poor dear? Oh...it didn't matter anymore, did it? They'd taken It. It was all over. They'd taken It, and they had won.

He lay there, and shivered, and half hoped for death.

Frodo did not like war very much.

- - -

WORD ASK GAME!

[potions-of-dark-devotion]

OMG someone who loves Snape and Lord of the Rings 😱 Where has your blog been hiding from me this whole time!!!

Omg! Thank you for this ask! It helped make me day. Please tell me your blog name so we can follow each other and fawn over our faves!

[ent-maiden]

"(Sam) had put on his head a tall, shapeless felt bag, which he called a hat."

For the next panel, let's color it in with my Crayola Colors of the World™ set. It has all the skin colors. Black, white, brown and...

SUNBURN

Frodo wore a hood after that.

[novelmonger]

Favorite platonic OTP?

D8 Y-You mean...I have to...pick...just one??!!?! TToTT

I can't possiblyyyy! ;A; I've been wracking my brains over this, and I just can't do it. I can't pick between my top three bromances, because they're all perfect and lovely and wonderful *clutches six strong bois close*

So here, have my top three brOTPs instead (because I love other kinds of platonic relationships plenty, but somehow bros grab my heart tighter than anything else):

Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes - Does it get any better than this? Their love for each other is so selfless, so unconditional, so powerful than it spans a century and breaks through all the evil that tries to hold them apart. It was the undying strength of their bond that kept Steve alive before the serum, that led Steve to save Bucky from Hydra, that broke through 70 years of brainwashing. Time and time again, when one of them is ready to give up, the other reminds him: "I'm here, and this isn't where our story ends." Time and time again, they lay down their lives for each other. And we know that "greater love has no one than this." (Steve's ending in Endgame muddies the water a bit, of course, but that's why I wrote a fix-it fic and made a music video about it :P)

Edward & Alphonse Elric - I was almost going to just settle for saying Steve and Bucky are my favorites...but how could I ignore the bromance that made me realize how much I adore brotherly love in the first place? (Besides, it doesn't get bromancier than actual blood brothers.) While other girls my age were probably swooning over whatever the latest heartthrob or love triangle was popular, I spent my teenage years swooning over the self-sacrificial, angst-riddled, indomitable love of the Elric brothers. Not only are Ed and Al excellent foils for each other, the former generally being loud and brash and the latter generally being quiet and gentle. Not only do they act just like real siblings, bickering and teasing and arguing and making up and sharing inside jokes and practically being able to read each other's minds. They also lay down their lives for each other, again and again and again. In the beginning, Ed more or less chops off his own right arm just to get Al's soul back, so they can be together again. In the climax, Al effectively sacrifices his own life to save Ed's. And there are a hundred other examples in between, of them sacrificing their time and their health and their peace and comfort, to make each other whole again. The Elric brothers ensured that I would never take my own siblings for granted.

Frodo Baggins & Samwise Gamgee - But this...this is really my OG brOTP, before I'd ever heard any of these terms, before it had ever occurred to me that people might want to ship characters non-canonically. If it weren't for Frodo and Sam, I might not have fallen so hard for the two bromances above. Frodo and Sam paved the way, with their selfless devotion to each other and the pure, gentle care they have for each other. The way they start out as just a dude and his gardener, friends but maybe not even best friends. The way their struggles only pull them closer and closer together. The way Sam staunchly refuses to be left behind, but marches into Mordor right alongside Frodo. The trials and pains and terrors they endure side-by-side, with no other friends there to back them up. The My dear Sams and the Frodo me dears and Don't go where I can't follow and I love him whether or no and I can't carry it but I can carry you and I'm glad you're here with me and a;ldkfjsd;klfjsd;lfkj *dissolves into tears*

[shiveringsoldier]

It makes me a little sad that even people defending Frodo will say that he failed.

Like I’ve said before, his task was to bear the Ring for as long and as far as he could, not to destroy it. He succeeded in that task. And his choice to have mercy on Gollum rather than kill him started a chain of events that led to the Ring’s destruction.

Besides, even if it was his task to destroy the ring, if you have been given a truly impossible task, is it a failure when you can’t do it?

[sunkissedfawn]

this is kind of a reflection of what a soldier goes through… i know he incorporated some, if not most, of his wartime experiences into the story, but i don’t know if that’s what he meant, but it reminds me of it… and in the end, it broke Frodo. just how a build up of the worst experiences of war can break someone. but Frodo survived and ‘came back’ by love. the love of a friend.

Can you tell me why Frodo is so important in lotr? Why can't someone else, anyone else, carry the ring to mordor?

but someone else could.

that’s the whole point of frodo—there is nothing special about him, he’s a hobbit, he’s short and likes stories, smokes pipeweed and makes mischief, he’s a young man like other young men, except for the singularly important fact that he is the one who volunteers. there is this terrible thing that must be done, the magnitude of which no one fully understands and can never understand before it is done, but frodo says me and frodo says I will.

(when boromir is thinking of how he can use the ring to defend gondor, when aragorn is thinking of how it brought down proud isildur, when elrond is holding council and gandalf is thinking of how twisted he would become, if he ever dared—)

but then there’s frodo, who desires nothing except what he has already left behind him, and says, I will take the Ring.

it is an offer made out of absolute innocence, utter sincerity. It is made without knowing what it will make of him—and frodo loses everything to the ring, he loses peace and himself and the shire, he loses the ability to be in the world. It’s cruel, the ring is cruel, it searches out every weakness you have and feeds on it, drinks you dry and fills you with its poison instead, the ring is so cruel.

and frodo picks it up willingly. for no other reason except that it has to be done.

(the ring warps boromir into a hopeless grasping dead thing, the power of the palantir turns denethor into an old man, jealous and suspicious, it bends even saruman, once the proudest of the istari, into a mechanised warlord, sitting in his fortress and bent over his perverse creations—all the best of intentions, laid waste)

but there’s a reason gollum exists in the narrative, which is to show—well, to show what frodo might have been. because even as frodo grows mistrustful and wearied, as the burden of this ring grows heavier and heavier, he is never gollum. he is gentle to gollum. he is afraid—god frodo is so afraid for 2/3 of these books he is so tired and afraid, but he keeps moving, he walks though it would pull him into the ground, because he asked for this, he said he would.

someone else could have carried the ring to mordor, I suppose. the idea of a martyr is not dependent on the particular flesh and blood person dying for some greater purpose. but such a thing has to be chosen, lifted onto your shoulders for the right reason, the truest reasons, and followed into the dark, though it would see you burnt through and bled out.

I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.

[spoofymcgee]

120 pages into the fellowship of the ring And going fucking insane: hey, what they say by victor vernicos is a great song for frodo