There are many journeys the souls of Hobbits, Elves, Men, and Dwarves take during the War of the Ring. None are darker or more illuminating than Frodo’s trial of love. The light of this shines through, just as light and love shine through Bilbo’s.

            J. R. R. Tolkien mentioned in a letter to Milt Waldman The Lord of the Rings is seen through the eyes of hobbits “to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in ‘world politics’ of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, forgotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil)” (Letters 160).           But not all the Wise and Great are ignorant of the special value hobbits have.

            “Bilbo was specially selected by the authority and insight of Gandalf as abnormal: he had a good share of hobbit virtues: shrewd sense, generosity, patience and fortitude, and also a strong ‘spark’ yet unkindled. The story and its sequel are . . . about the achievements of specially graced and gifted individuals. I would say . . . ‘by ordained individuals, inspired and guided by an Emissary to ends beyond their individual education and enlargement’” (Letters 365). Frodo is a “Hobbit of exceptional character. Frodo is also a friend of the Elves, knowledgeable in their language and a lover of their songs. Like Bilbo - or any other good Hobbit - Frodo loves good food and simple comforts, but he is also thoughtful and curious and has a wisdom and strength of character that set[s] him apart” (Gardner et al. 10). What also differentiates the Bagginses from many of their fellow hobbits is their long-suppressed and unhobbit-like thirst for adventure. “Bilbo himself recognizes Frodo as his heir to more than just the good life of Bag End. Rather, he senses in him a questing soul to match, perhaps even surpass, his own” (Wagner, “War” 339). Patricia Meyer Spacks mentions several other traits they share:

Both hobbits possess the same morality, share the same virtues. They are unfailingly loyal, to companions and to principles. They are cheerful in the face of adversity, persistent to the point of stubbornness in the pursuit of a goal, deeply honest, humble in their devotion to those they consider greater than they. And as their most vital attributes they possess ‘naked will and courage.’ (83)

            This last virtue comes from the northern mythologies Tolkien admired and speaks of in his essay, “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” It is no surprise then hobbits receive the most important roles in The Lord of the Rings and its predecessor. In the unfinished tale “The Quest of Erebor,” Gandalf says he knew the type of hobbit he wanted: a combination of adventurous Took and grounded Baggins. He is well aware the choice of Bilbo was not his alone. He was himself selected as the instrument through which another let His will be known (331). The One who truly chose Bilbo did so for a far greater reason than mere burglar. In The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf makes it clear Frodo was set apart as well.

            Bilbo discovers his long-buried desire for adventure prepares and strengthens him for a life-changing journey. All of Middle-earth benefits as he exercises this atrophied muscle. The Shire and Bag End lend power to Frodo to confront and overcome his fears to embrace his awe-ful calling. Richard Mathews notes the special virtue of hobbit dwellings: “This is ‘comfort’ in its most deeply rooted sense, as it come into Middle English from the Latin and Old French: ‘to strengthen’” (8). Bilbo is strengthened by his adventures, and Frodo is strengthened for them.

            Ryan Marotta notes, “At its heart, Bilbo’s journey is a spiritual one, centered equally on his own development and the transfiguration of the world around him. By allowing himself to grow, Bilbo participates in the growth of Middle-earth” (76). Corey Olsen observes, “Bilbo’s experiences from his journey . . . will do more than change and shape him personally, helping him to value his peaceful life more when he returns to it. His story will reach out to influence others, granting them a measure of the wisdom that Bilbo himself is gaining through his memorable, if often painful, experiences” (216). Both of these remarks easily apply to Frodo as well. Constance G. J. Wagner’s words about Frodo are equally true of Bilbo:

. . . all come away changed because of their connection with this one seemingly simple soul.

Frodo’s freely accepted role as Ringbearer with all its attendant burdens regarding the fate of Middle-earth, makes him a channel of grace - first for those most intimately connected with him; then at the end of his soul journey, for all of Middle-earth. (“Sacramentum” 83; emphasis in original)

            Bilbo has no idea his terrifying experience in the goblin tunnels leads to his vocation as Ring-finder. Indeed, not even Tolkien realized at first all the implications of this. Frodo is aware he is chosen and a doom placed upon him. He does not know who did this or why. Nonetheless both hobbits fearfully and courageously follow the paths laid out for them. The Hobbit’s narrator rightly praises Bilbo as he approaches Smaug: “Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone . . .” (Hobbit 264).

            Bilbo and Frodo repeatedly face this spiritual warfare, the war with the self over fear. As they push past imagined limits, they discover much about strengths they did not know they had. Jim Ware notes, “Oddly enough, the God-directed inner self seems to require conflict for the development of a keen spiritual edge” (138; emphasis in original). Bilbo and Frodo demonstrate this as each trial overcome fortifies them for the next. “Bilbo was blessed, but that doesn’t mean his path was easy. . . . Bilbo was called upon to endure great hardships, sometimes almost more than he could bear. He ended up in tight situations again and again, and he repeatedly faced danger. But because he was blessed, he was eventually delivered from all his troubles” (Strauss 182-183; emphasis in original). These words describe Frodo as well.

            Ilúvatar does not entrust the destruction of the Ring to the strong and mighty. No, He chooses from among the ‘weak.’ The destinies of both Bilbo and Frodo are “meant” to be intertwined with the Ring’s fate. But both Baggineses, not to mention Sam, must choose to cooperate or not with this doom. Bilbo could have dug in his heels and decided to stay home and not follow the dwarves. He could have gone but decided to slay Gollum or refused to give up the Ring after his birthday party.

            The Quest Frodo undertakes is no ordinary fairy tale to seek to gain something of great power. His task is to lose what Bilbo found: in fact to face and to even embrace the peril of the loss of himself. During this long and torturous trial, he could have refused his calling at any number of points. Indeed, he tries to do so, but he always returns to it. Even with his knowledge of the Ring’s evil, he could have chosen to claim it or surrendered to despair and abandoned the Quest. Any of these or other myriad choices the Bagginses make along the way could have destroyed their vocations and Middle-earth with it. Instead they choose to throw away the comfortable, peaceful time they enjoy in the Shire, Rivendell, and other havens to go further into danger. Frodo does not will to do this because the consequences of refusal are too horrific to imagine, but because he can imagine them.

            In Frodo’s devotion to the mission entrusted to him, he gives a wonderful example of total abandonment to Providence. He does not believe he has the strength for the arduous task ahead of him, but he goes forward in trustful obedience. Trudy G. Shaw notes his actions demonstrate “not only . . . courage but also radical faith in that Caller whose existence he knows only from the fact that he’s been called” (“Paradox”).

            Dwight Longenecker notes, “Tolkien presents us with a Christian hero and type of a Christian saint because Frodo, in his faithful obedience and humility, lives out the way of sacrificial love” (“Frodo”).

[Frodo] does not feel the thrill of adventure and does not yearn for glory and recognition. Rather, he views the quest as merely a burden, and a seemingly impossible one at that. He maintains a bearing of great humility throughout the novel, and we sense that it is this very humility, along with his strength of character, that may enable him to succeed in the end. (Gardener et al. 89)

            How lovely Frodo’s melody in the Great Music sounds, as more and more he offers himself up in obedience. The refining fire of the Quest burns away who he was and transforms him slowly and agonizingly from “a simple hobbit into an epic hero bound upon a wheel of fire” (Moorman 212). He chooses for evil to consume him rather than the world and receives particular grace to endure this torment. “Where evil conquers, there is filth, devastation and death. Frodo’s great sacrifice is to have taken the weight of that foulness upon him in order to cleanse the land for the return of life” (Gunton 134). Anna Smol observes:

In order to show adequately the physical deterioration that Frodo’s body undergoes, Tolkien establishes a contrasting beginning point so that we can judge how the healthy, red-cheeked hobbit can become the blind, twitching, slumped and starved body, unable to move on his own, on Mount Doom. The hobbit who laughs with pleasure at the smell of mushrooms rising from Mrs. Maggot’s basket or the lively fellow who saves the best wine for himself and his closest friends, downing the last glass of Old Winyards with gusto as he says good-bye to Bag End becomes, when he reaches his goal, the being who cannot smell, taste, hear, or see anything except the Wheel of Fire. (40-41)

            Ginna Wilkerson likens Frodo’s agony as akin to one who suffers from domestic violence (83-91). But unlike a battered person who may escape, he knows he cannot leave his abuser. He must keep his assailant with him in the hope to destroy it before it destroys him. He defeats his adversary the only way he can. He chooses to take one more breath, one more step toward the one place only he and the One who chose him can bring the Ring to. And this while he believes it will also bring him to his own destruction.

            Through increasingly horrific suffering and devouring despair, the Ring-bearer drains his cup of sorrows to the dregs. He does not let go of his cross until the end when he is overcome and cannot carry it any further. He is a hollow shell, stripped even of his memories. A terribly discordant note threatens to overwhelm Frodo’s part in the symphony that already absorbed the other miscues which tried to impose themselves. Then it, too, is absorbed. Three small, starved, mortal beings, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum, bring down a mighty, immortal creature. In their weakness and seeming insignificance, they accomplish what no army could have. Words of Charles Stanley apply to Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, and Aragorn: “Supernatural ministry calls for a total giving of one’s love, time, compassion, gifts, and loyalty. It means being in a position where nothing is held back” (82). Well does Gandalf name the Ring-bearer and Sam, “Bronwe athan Harthad and Harthad Uluithiad, Endurance beyond Hope and Hope unquenchable” (Sauron Defeated 62). Barry Gordon notes:

Middle-earth is saved through the priestly self-sacrifice of the hobbit, Frodo; through the wisdom and guidance of Gandalf the wizard; and through the mastery of Aragorn, the heir of kings.  . . . as each of these agents progressively responds to the demands of the primary office to which he has been called, so he grows in power and grace, and begins to exercise the other two redemptive offices in greater depth.

Always, in this trial, Frodo remains the Lamb whose only real strength is his capacity to make an offering of himself. (“Kingship”)

             Patrick Grant notes, “As the tale ends, Frodo has achieved a heroic sanctity verging on the otherwordly” (174). Verlyn Flieger observes,“For [Frodo] is that most moving of hero types, one whose sacrifice benefits everyone but himself, one who, in saving the world (as Frodo does through Sam and Gollum) loses it” (“Missing”230).

            As Gandalf says of Bilbo, “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself” (Hobbit 21). Decades later, the wizard notes the same applies to Frodo. They, as well as the invaluable and irreplaceable Sam, Merry, and Pippin, prove again and again what marvelous beings hobbits are.

Works Cited

Flieger, Verlyn. “Missing Person.” Green Suns and Faërie: Essays on J. R. R. Tolkien. Kent State UP, 2012,223-231.

Gardner, Patrick, et al. SparkNotes: The Lord of the Rings. Spark Publishing, 2002.

Gordon, Barry. “Kingship, Priesthood and Prophecy in The Lord of the Rings.” Cultural Collections, UON Library, 13 May 2009, uoncc.wordpress.com/2009/05/13/kingship-priesthood-and-prophecy-in-the-lord-of-the-rings/. Accessed August 13, 2018.

Grant, Patrick. “Tolkien: Archetype and Word.” Understanding The Lord of the Rings. Edited by Neil D. Issacs and Rose A. Zimbardo, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, 163-182.

Gunton, Colin. “A Far-Off Gleam of the Gospel: Salvation in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.” Tolkien: A Celebration. Edited by Joseph Pearce, Ignatius, 2001, 124-140.

Longenecker, Dwight. “Frodo and Thérèse: The Little Way Through Middle-earth.” National Catholic Register, 5 Oct. 2013, www.ncregister.com/site/article/frodo-and-therese-the-little-way-through-middle-earth. Accessed 17 Sept. 2018.

Marotta, Ray. “An Unexpected Hero.” Silver Leaves . . . from the White Tree of Hope, issue 5, 2014, 73-77.

Mathews, Richard. Lightning from a Clear Sky. Borgo Press, 1978.

Moorman, Charles. “‘Now Entertain Conjecture of a Time’ - The Fictive Worlds of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien.” Shadows of Imagination: The Fantasies of C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Charles Williams. New Edition. Edited by Mark R. Hillegas,Southern Illinois UP, 1979, 59-69.

Olsen, Corey. Exploring J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.

Shaw, Trudy G. “Frodo as Paradox.” Frodo Lives...Within Us Now, www.frodolivesin.us/Catholicwork/id86.htm. Accessed 3 Jun 2018.

Smol, Anna. “Frodo’s Body: Liminality and the Experience of War.” The Body in Tolkien’s Legendarium. Edited by Christopher Vaccaro,McFarland, 2013, 39-60.

Spacks, Patricia Meyer. “Power and Meaning in The Lord of the Rings.” Isaacs and Zimbardo, Tolkien and the Critics, 81-99.

Strauss, Ed. A Hobbit Devotional. Barbour, 2012.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit, illustrated by Jemina Caitlin. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.

---. “The Quest of Erebor.” Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin, 1980, 331-336.

---. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Humphrey Carpenter, Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

---. The Lord of the Rings. 2^nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1965-66.

---. Sauron Defeated: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part 4. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

Wagner, Constance G. J. “Sacramentum Midgard: Frodo as Sacrament to Middle-earth.” Silver Leaves . . . from the White Tree of Hope, issue 4, 2012, 83-87.

---. “The War Within: Frodo as Sacrificial Hero.” The Ring Goes Ever On Proceedings of the Tolkien 2005 Conference: 50 Years of The Lord of the Rings. Edited by Sarah Wells, The Tolkien Society, 2008,I:338-342.

Ware, Jim. Finding God in The Hobbit. SaltRiver, 2006.

Wilkerson, Ginna. “So Far From the Shire: Psychological Distance and Isolation in The Lord of the Rings.” Mythlore, vol.27, no. 1/2, issue 103/104, 2008, 83-91.      

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I am the author of Moments of Grace and Spiritual Warfare in The Lord of the Rings, Chosen: The Journeys of Bilbo and Frodo of the Shire, and The Long Way Home, a collection of poems centered about a heroic quest and its aftermath. This is adapted from Chosen. Get your copies at http://ow.ly/ez2dT (Moments), https://bit.ly/2PTRc0L (Chosen). https://bit.ly/2QAp6be (Long) Two fantasy series and another book about lessons from Middle-earth anxiously await their turn to come out.