Frodo's Temptation and The Wound That Wouldn't Heal

Mar 1, 2004 - © Douglas Charles Rapier

Neither did Bilbo have the misfortune of ever encountering the Nazgul. Even so, he had lied about the manner of his obtaining it from Gollum and had fretted and obsessed over its whereabouts fearing that it would desert him as it had Gollum. Although his higher nature ultimately prevailed and he finally did give up the Ring willingly, he had become insanely agitated at the prospect of surrendering it to the care of Frodo at the advice of Gandalf. Taken altogether, there is evidence enough of the Ring's wicked influence on the kindly hobbit.

The calamitous and tragic effect of the Ring's insidious power is further evidenced by the corruption of Boromir. Having only seen the Ring for the first time at the Council of Elrond, Boromir was immediately convinced that it was the instrument which would deliver his people from domination by the Dark Lord. The arguments he put forth were roundly dismissed by the wiser members of the council as misguided folly, however, his heart had already begun to be turned by the will of the Ring. Galadriel recognized it when the Fellowship had their first audience with the King and Queen of the Golden Wood. After leaving Lorien and without the presence of Gandalf to ameliorate the spell cast by the Ring upon him and in his growing despair at the chance of successfully challenging Sauron - despair being a prime weapon of the Lord of Mordor - Boromir seized upon the chance to acquire the Ring for himself at Amon Hen. He first tried to coax the Ring from Frodo by debate and reason. Then, as his Ring-madness increased, he issued a veiled threat of forcibly taking possession of it. This, in turn, became a physical assault on Frodo.

It should be remembered that it was Denethor who sent Boromir to Rivendell in search of answers regarding riddles presented in dreams to both Boromir and his brother Faramir concerning 'Isildur's Bane'. Perhaps Boromir's argument in favor of turning the Ring against its rightful master was one which Denethor had prepared him to make at the Council. As a master of lore, Denethor most assuredly knew that Isildur's Bane was Sauron's Ring of Power. He had at his disposal in Minas Tirith the same documents which Gandalf would later study when researching the identity of Bilbo's ring. Denethor clearly perceived that the fate of Gondor depended on discovering the solution

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