Don't let go, Mr. Frodo
Frodo. LOTR. J.R.R. Tolkein and the ring that fell into the fires of Mt. Doom. Phones are the ring.
Frodo never throws the ring in the fire of Mt. Doom. His good self loses to the greedy lizard brain. He lost to the temptation of the dark side. The golden ring, the symbol of intoxicating power.
“It’s mine.” he says as he puts it on, abandoning the virtuous path. Abandoning his friend. Abandoning the mission.
Gollum is another embodiment of lizardy greed and obsession with power. Gollum re-appears and attacks the ring-wearing Frodo. Greed attacking itself. The dark side, a self terminating force.
Violence, self terminating.
On the journey, Sam only carried the ring for a brief moment. This moment showed he was not immune to the whispers of the dark side. But he did not succumb to the ring’s insidious infection. Inside Mt Doom he begged Frodo end it by throwing the ring in the fire. He screamed “what are you waiting for?” because he was not in the frequency of addiction.
Sam is rendered unconscious by Gollum, then Gollum bit Frodo’s finger off. Frodo, Gollum and the Ring fell off the cliff into the fire. The ring is destroyed. Gollum dies too. It appears Frodo is gone, but he is hanging on to reality. Who is he now? How could he go on as the person who FAILED TO DESTROY THE RING, PUT IT ON INSTEAD, AND NOW THE RING IS GONE!
He failed his friends and he failed the dark side. He failed both.
He is in limbo. The hand that wore the ring is mangled by Gollum.
Frodo is despondent. He’s not trying to climb up to save himself.
Sam reaches for him. “Take my hand!”
Frodo lifts his bloody hand then drops it. His face says it all. He’s ready to go.
“Don’t you let go.”
“Don’t let go.”
“Reach!”
He extends his mangled side for the love of his friend.
The Ring dissolves.
The Eye of Sauron falls.
The Allies win the war and the hobbits yell “Frodooo!!!”
We’re goin home, boys.
Gandolf shed a tear.
- - - - -
How did Frodo and Sam make it to Mt Doom? By dealing with the Devil. It’s embodied by Gollum and the weight of the ring’s whispers and temptations.
Mr. Frodo made it as far as he did by negotiating with the dark whispers. The deal: just get to Mordor, then I’ll look, just get to the mountain, then I'll listen. Just get inside, then I’ll wear it, my precious. These negotiations are unconscious.
No one is immune to the dark side. Everything lives inside us.
It takes a team to hold each other in the light. It takes many eyes to see the whole picture. Sam is the Yin, Gollum is the Yang. Frodo walks the line.
- - - - -
J.R.R. Tolkein fought in World War One. The war to end all wars. His friends were killed. He survived front-line trench warfare. He served for 5 years. He fought in the Battle of the Somme. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom one million were either wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in all of human history.
Men survive war by going to a dark place. Giving in to their lizard brain. Murdering, the ultimate surrender to greed. Survivors return different men. They saw much. They carry much weight that can’t be seen. They are two different people in one body.
Frodo returns changed. He writes and he struggles. He says to Sam, “Some wounds don’t heal all the way.”
In the end, Frodo boards a ship and leaves the Shire to start anew.
Lord of the Rings is what was going on inside JRR Tolkein’s head after World War 1 and during World War 2. Both massive wars loomed large in the British psyche.
Frodo is Tolkein. All of the characters are Tolkein.