B2MeM Challenge: March 28
Format: Essay
Genre: Meta
Rating: G
Warnings: stretching logic
Character(s): Frodo Baggins
Summary: What is the evidence that Frodo's status was elevated at the end of the story?
Theme: W: Wisdom

Was Frodo Baggins One of "The Wise"?

It has long been my opinion that by the time Frodo came to take ship at the Grey Havens, that he was one of those accounted among what Tolkien refers to as "the Wise". I believe that there is enough evidence, internal and external, to support this idea.

First of all, who are "the Wise" in Middle-earth, and what traits cause them to be called by this term? Michael Martinez, in his article Who Is Like the Wise Elf? calls out Gildor Inglorion, Glorfindel, Elrond, Galadriel, Celeborn, Lúthien Tinuviel, and Finrod Felagund and designates them as Elves who are among "the Wise". Of course, by the end of the Third Age, we could no longer account Lúthien or Finrod as being among the wise in Middle-earth.

We know also that the Wizards of the White Council were accounted among "the Wise"; this would have been Gandalf, Saruman and Radagast. The Blue Wizards were no longer available to be a part of the White Council. Saruman, of course fell away from his wisdom (as Gandalf declares when he says "He who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.") and Radagast is described as a "Fool", although that description comes from Saruman after his own fall and might be taken with a grain of salt. Yet we are given the general impression that by the end of the Third Age, Radagast was no longer playing the role of an Istari.

The very word Tolkien chose to "translate" the word Istari, "wizard" is indicative of his opinion about their status as "wise men", for the word "wizard" is derived from the word "wise".

Círdan was also a part of the White Council, and as one of the Eldest of the Elves, and a former bearer of one of the Three, was accounted one of the Wise.

But what traits did these people possess that would cause Tolkien to designate them as "Wise" as opposed to merely "wise"?

All of them are ancient. Círdan is said to have been among the first to awaken; Galadriel, Celeborn and Glorfindel were all a part of First Age history; Gildor's name and his description as of "the House of Finrod" also indicates he must have been around in the First Age.

The Istari, of course, are even more ancient, as they are Maia and were in existence long before the Elves awakened. Although they had only worn the bodies of aged mortals for about two millennia, they had played roles in Arda since the beginning.

All of "the Wise" were powerful. Four of them had borne an Elven Ring of Power. Círdan and Gandalf both had borne Narya; Galadriel had wielded Nenya; and Elrond had charge of Vilya. Glorfindel had enough power to daunt the Nazgûl, and appeared like a glowing figure when he rode against them.

All of them had a certain amount of prescience or foreknowledge, which was shown in various ways.

And of course, all of them had a knowledge of lore and a wide experience of the world, that enables them to counsel and advise others, and to see perils that others may not have foreseen.

What would qualify Frodo to be counted among that particular company of "the Wise"?

He is, of course, not particularly old, not even by hobbit standards. He never wields power in the way that Gandalf or Galadriel do. It would seem counter-intuitive to consider him as joining the ranks of "the Wise".

Yet he grows in wisdom throughout his journey, as he learns through experience the value of courage, loyalty, and most of all, compassion. And he learns the most important lesson of power: how not to wield it. Gandalf and Galadriel refuse the One Ring, since they are wise enough to know that they could learn to use its power and decide to avoid the temptation to do so.

Frodo has no such choice. He is in constant contact with the One for the entire journey. It is clear that it is constantly tempting him, and grows stronger and stronger in its power as the quest continues. He refuses to use it for the most part—and in a way that is his power over it as he uses his own will to suppress it. He is able to endure this way right up until the end, at Orodruin, where its power is the greatest and it can finally crush his will.

There are other traits he shows in the story that he has in common with the others who are called "Wise": he has prescient dreams, and after returning home, he also has foreknowledge, when he names Sam's children before he leaves the Shire to cross the Sundering Sea, and in his farewell to Sam he gives Sam wise advice.

His crossing of the Sea with the other Ringbearers, is, I think another pointer to his change in status although not a definitive one.

Story-externally, we have the evidence of his name, both in the "original" Westron, Maura and the name that it is "translated" into: Frodo. In Peoples of Middle-earth, Tolkien says that the word maur- found in Rohirric, and the word frod- in ancient Germanic languages, meant "wise, experienced".

The evidence of Frodo's elevation to "the Wise" is not conclusive, but I think there is enough of it to make it a reasonable presumption, a piece of fanon that could be a probability and not merely a possibility.