Frodo leaves Middle-earth due to his wounds from his quest of the One Ring.
This is often viewed as bittersweet, but sad even more and understandably so – as he:
experiences pain and sorrow,
leaves his friends, arguably without any hope that they will meet again, and
we find out later that the Undying Lands do not make him, or any mortal that is invited there, immortal.
However, recently I’ve actually learned to appreciate this ending and I will explore with you the reasons why I have come to love this ending – or part of an ending full of many endings – to LOTR.
Shows the weight of the ring that he was carrying.
Frodo goes to the Undying Lands two years after getting back to the Shire from Mordor. This was not his plan.
He was hoping to stay in the Shire. However, the wounds he had endured – which include getting stabbed in Weathertop, and trapped in Shelob’s Lair, were still lingering as he would get back home after the Fall of Sauron.
Additionally, Frodo accepted the burden voluntarily and thus, he and his cause was saved by Mercy which was evident as a result of his pity and forgiveness of injury. And his quest had increased more along the lines of spiritual enlargement than in an increase in mental and physical power.
This is evident by his resisting the ring for 17 years, and the object of destroying it – in order to save Middle-earth – and also the Fall of Sauron that occurred after the Ring went into the fire.
Because of this,
“Arwen was the first to observe the signs, and gave him her jewel for comfort, and thought of a way of healing him. Slowly he fades ‘out of the picture,’ saying and doing less and less….when his dark times came upon him and he was conscious of being ‘wounded by knife sting and tooth and a long burden’ (III 268) it was not only nightmare memories of past horrors that afflicted him, but also unreasoning self-reproach: he saw himself and all that he done as a broken failure.”
(JRR Tolkien, Letter # 246)
Thus it is implied that he was beating himself up over giving into the ring at the last moment, along with possibly having the thoughts lingering in his head about wanting the ring back, much like we would see from Bilbo, as the ring and its allure seems to become an addiction to the wearer.
Much like Frodo, “[Bilbo] bore still the mark of the Ring that needed to be finally erased: a trace of pride and personal possessiveness.” (L 246) By then, Bilbo had been rid of the ring for more than 17 years – and he was still craving the ring, so to speak.
He goes to the Undying Lands to seek healing.
“‘Alas! There are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured,’ said Gandalf (III 268)” – or not in Middle-earth.
III 268 (Return of the King)
Right before he left, he would find himself ill on the two days of his injuries: October 6th for Weathertop and March 13 for Shelob’s Lair. Frodo would be discovered by Sam on the evenings of those days, with the same injury that he would have at Weathertop. However, the wounds would pass after the days.
“‘But,’ said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, ‘I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.’
‘So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. But you are my heir: all that I had and might have had I leave to you.’”
Of course – as a mortal, Frodo would not become immortal in the West. “[He] was sent or allowed to pass over Sea to heal him – if that could be done, before he died. He would have eventually to ‘pass away,’ no mortal could, or can, abide for ever on earth, or within Time. So he went both to a purgatory and to a reward, for a while: a period of reflection and peace and a gaining of a truer understanding of his position in littleness and in greatness, spent still in Time amid the natural beauty of ‘Arda Unmarred’, the Earth unspoiled by evil.”
(L 246)
Frodo was initially hoping to stay in the Shire, to be himself again. However, he finds that he was doing what he had hoped to achieve in the Shire – in the Undying Lands.
He gets to spend time with Elves and Valar
Frodo goes with Bilbo along with the bearers of the Three Rings. But many have gone before he would. Thus regardless of the exact length of his time there, he would presumably be able to meet elves – the ones that left before him and the ones he would be sailing the ship with.
“’Elves!’ Exclaimed Sam in a hoarse whisper. ‘Elves, sir!’ He would have burst out of the trees and dashed off towards the voices, if they had not pulled him back.
‘Yes, it is Elves,’ said Frodo. ‘One can meet them sometime in the Woody End. They don’t live in the Shire, but they wander into it in spring and autumn, out of their own lands away beyond the tower hills. I am thankful that they do! You did not see, but that Black Rider stopped just here and was actually crawling towards us when the song began. As soon as he heard the voices he slipped away.’
‘What about the Elves?’ Said Sam, too excited to trouble about the rider. ‘Can’t we go and see them?’
‘Listen! They are coming this way,’ said Frodo. ‘We have only to wait.’
FOTR, “Three is Company”
The singing drew nearer…It was singing in the fair elven-tongue, of which Frodo knew only a little, and the others knew nothing…
‘These are High Elves! They spoke the name of Elbereth!’ Said Frodo in amazement. ‘Few of that fairest folk are ever seen in the Shire. Not many now remain in Middle-earth, east of the Great Sea. This is indeed a strange chance!’”
(FOTR, “Three is Company”)
Additionally, before he started his quest, he would be known for going east with the Elves with his cousin Bilbo. This was a central part of his character. It was evident by his interactions with Gildor in Crickhollow as mentioned, and also in the house of Tom Bombadil – that not only did he express interest, but communicating with the elves came naturally to him as well.
He seemed to be “in-sync” with them much like Tuor and Turin from the Silmarillion, or Bilbo from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.
