sustinentia-spei

and my personal favorite:

I also appreciate the ones that really change the tone and suggest that the characters openly loathe each other…

and this one, which gently encourages self-care:

And the greatest of all:

At the end of Fellowship of the Ring, the two of them are both planning to “break the fellowship” for their own reasons.

Frodo wants to protect the others from the corruption of the Ring. Boromir wants “the strength to protect his people.” Both would have to sacrifice the fellowship for this— “to bear a ring of power is to be alone.”

They convince themselves it is their duty to save the world on their own: that this is their quest and their burden, and that they must take it even if it they do it alone, against the will of the rest of the Fellowship.

Boromir tells Frodo “I know why you seek solitude. You suffer— I see it day by day.” Earlier in Lothlorien, Boromir had walked away from the group to grieve alone.

When Boromir is first introduced, he has a large flashing arrow over his head saying “this man is going to be corrupted by the power of the Ring.” The other characters are often mistrustful of him, deeply wary, or treat his corruption as an inevitability. Gandalf warns Frodo about how “evil will be drawn to you from outside the Fellowship and, I fear, from within” while casting a side-glance in Boromir’s direction.

When the Fellowship is refused entry to Lothlorien because of the One Ring, there’s a scene where the other members of the Fellowship can’t meet Frodo’s eyes, looking away whenever he looks at them— it’s as if they’re starting to perceive him as the burden, and not the Ring.

Boromir notices this, and tells Frodo “you carry a heavy burden; don’t carry the weight of the dead.” He does not take his own advice: he carries the weight of Gondor’s dead. Fighting on the front lines of the battle between Gondor and Mordor has left him with far less hope than the other characters; he acts resentful of the other characters, because he believes they don’t truly understand the threat Mordor represents, because they haven’t spent the past few years on the front lines like he has. He tearfully confesses his kingdom “looks to him to make things right and [he] would do it”— it his duty to singlehandedly save Minas Tirith. The weight of this burden is what makes him so susceptible to the power of the Ring— which, in turn, is what makes everyone else so wary of him.

By carrying these burdens, Frodo is also becoming isolated from the other members of the Fellowship, the way that Boromir is.

At night on the banks of the Anduin, Frodo/Sam and Aragorn/Boromir have arguments that parallel each other— Sam tries to help Frodo and Frodo pushes him away; Boromir urges Aragorn to go to Minas Tirith and Aragorn pushes him away.

After the climactic battle at Amon Hen, they’re both in despair— Boromir believes his death means the end of the kingdom that has been relying so heavily on him, Frodo believes he is doomed to travel to Mordor on his own. But both are are ultimately “saved.” Aragorn swears to defend the people of Gondor, who he accepts as his people, and Sam refuses to let Frodo leave alone.

today I offer you… the creatures

Incidentally, if the Black Riders can read, we do not know whether they can read Shire-style Westron. Maybe they just know Sauron’s adapted Black Speech Tengwar mode and a little Sindarin on the side. WHO KNOWS.

Frodo: ok, so we need to give Gandalf an idea of our direction. Brainstorm. There are no stupid ideas

Sam: deputise a pigeon

Frodo: the pursuers might kill it - but good, good, keep it flowing

Sam: deputise a raven of Erebor

Frodo: better. Better. This is what workshopping is for

Merry: we could just leave a written explanation

Frodo: nice - just gonna note that the pursuit might be literate and they MIGHT get in and search the house

Pippin: find him first, shout in his ear

Frodo: tricky but bold, that’s it, keep going

Merry: write the message on a particularly fast-moving child - the Riders will have to catch it to intercept it but it will simply approach Gandalf naturally

Frodo: what’s good about THAT is that it’s a moving target AND intelligent enough to tell the difference between them, which we can’t expect from chickens etc. Who has a disposable cousin that’s especially small

Merry: all of us

Frodo: that we can get quickly

Pippin: just let Fatty tell him

Frodo: oh my god we could just let Fatty tell him

Pippin: Fatty’s very fast-moving

Merry: Fatty’s VERY fast-moving

Sam: Fatty remembers whole sentences at a time

Merry: Fatty can definitely tell the difference between Gandalf and strangers as long as the stranger aren’t wearing particularly misleading hats

Frodo: they won’t be wearing misleading hats

Fatty: what if they get in and search the house?

Frodo: no it’ll be a verbal message we’re gonna leave it in your brain

Fatty: oh my god we’ve thought of everything.

Frodo: I’m very happy with this. We leave at dawn.

Fatty: hey how did the black riders get our postcode by the way

Frodo: oh they caught someone and tortured it out of him with unspeakable cruelty until the message was yielded in broken but meaningful syllables which was enough for them to effectively hunt me across a continent

Fatty: haha nice 👍

Frodo: glad we came up with this imagine what would happen if we wrote things down

Fatty: yeah glad I could tip the decision

Frodo: thanks again for doing this Fatty - just remember that if the Riders come for you at the front door of this small isolated house, you can probably get out the back door and run

Fatty: okay

I find it interesting that Frodo chose to save Sméagol rather than have him killed, despite what not having him killed would do to his quest.

If Frodo let Faramir's men kill Sméagol, he wouldn't have to worry about Sméagol being questioned. which Frodo knows would happen, and is something he's fearful of. its part of why he told Faramir "there was no other". he doesn't want Sméagol to be caught and questioned, doesn't want Faramir to find out about the Ring. because he knows that would mostly likely result in Faramir taking it.

still Frodo decides to save Sméagol rather than have him killed. he risks his quest to save Sméagol, he risks losing the ring to Faramir to save Sméagol.

thinking even further into it-- if he let Faramir kill Sméagol, Frodo would be without a guide. but I think not having Sméagol as a guide would be better than losing the ring to Faramir. there's still a chance, at least, if he has the Ring -- with or without a guide. if Faramir takes it, all hope is lost.

but Frodo still chose to save Sméagol.

side note, but I love how when Frodo decides to confess that he knows Sméagol and doesn't want Faramir to kill him, he starts off with...

"this creature is bound to me... and I to him".

camera zooms up on his face, he speaks quietly, as if this truth is a deep confession, holds a deeper meaning. as if he is admitting not only to Faramir but to himself.

the camera then zooms out when he says "he is our guide." because that's not deep, that's not intimate. that's the excuse Frodo falls back on when he's questioned about why he wants to keep Sméagol around.

but he makes it clear more than once that it's more about their connection and his need to see that Sméagol can be saved. "I have to believe he can come back."

I want to loop back a bit. I know destroying the Ring gives more of a chance for Frodo and Sméagol to come back to themselves. but Frodo risks his quest to save Sméagol. meaning he is relying on more than the destruction of the Ring to save Sméagol and himself. he thinks it can be done prior to its destruction. he wants to see it can be RESISTED, not just destroyed. he wants to see that they can be normal even if the Ring exists. which makes sense, it's why he helps Sméagol right off the bat rather than waits until the ring is destroyed to help.

but going back to the quest, which is the Rings destruction -- i think after a point, Frodo's quest has more to do with getting rid of the Ring so he can return to himself, save himself and save Sméagol, and less about saving the world. "I have to destroy it Sméagol. I have to destroy it for both our sakes." He doesn't say "I have to destroy it for the sake of the world" he says he has to destroy it to save THEM.

saving Sméagol is a huge motivation for Frodo, and I think that's why in the end, once they made it to Mordor and Frodo realized "Sméagol lied", he lost faith in himself and his ability to complete the quest. his hope in himself was stored in Sméagol. he couldn't save him, so he couldn't save himself.

I think when Sméagol fell, Frodo felt he deserved to fall too, that they deserved the same fate. I think when he returns to the Shire some of his depression stems from survivor's guilt. guilt that he lived and Sméagol died when they were the same, and also guilt over not being able to save Sméagol. I think his hope in general left with Sméagol

I feel like Frodo would have lived much happier if he'd been able to save Sméagol and they both made it out alive. Sméagol would have been a companion back in the Shire, someone who truly understood, in ways Sam couldn't. they could have healed together and rebuilt together and had that level of deep understanding that neither of them could find in anyone else

Typically watching the "There was no other" scene in the movie distracts me because in the books, Frodo makes a point of telling Faramir that he told no lies, and all the truth he could, and that scene where Frodo is questioned by Faramir is a chance to showcase Frodo's intelligence and decorum.

But now I need to go rewatch those scenes with your comments in mind.