Tolkien's REAL Fellowship of the Ring

[Black Breathalizer]

Growing up, I used to think the books were about Frodo's quest to destroy the ring. As a result, I tended to have mixed feelings about the actual destruction of the ring because it seemed the ringbearer completed his quest more by accident than by his own heroic efforts.

Most authors place their focus on the motivations and actions their lead character so it was quite natural for me to view it this way. However, if you view LOTR as Frodo's story, I now believe you miss a great deal of what Tolkien was trying to communicate about life. I've also heard it said that LOTR is actually Sam's Story. I think Tolkien would have disagreed with that assertion too.

I've come to feel that Tolkien wanted us to understand that the story was really about his Mini-Fellowship of the Ring: Frodo, Samwise, and Gollum. He let the reader know that all three of them were essential to the destruction of the ring. Remove any one of the three and the quest doesn't end successfully. Reading the books with this in mind or watching PJ's...oops, I almost used this forum's forbidden f-word ...you get a new appreciation for Tolkien's homage to the power of teamwork.

What do you think?