Why did Frodo refuse to fight?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

That's pretty much only me.

[MithLuin]

Tally the votes:

1) It was an accident.

• superwizard
  Cerin
  Alatar
  Ax, in his less speculative moods

2) The Ring destroyed itself.

• Aravar
  vison (at least, I think you came down here?)
  Mith

3) God did it.

• truehobbit
  Voronwë
  Prim

4) Gollum didn't mind dying so much.

• Ax

5) Tom Bombadil did it

• Old Tom is in a category of his own, so direct all inquiries to him

I don't think we're going to reach a consensus, but I do think it is good to explore why people see things the way they do.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread....on Frodo, that most excellent of hobbits .

[superwizard]

Wow when I posted this threat I was expecting a straight simple answer to why Frodo refused to wield a sword; instead I've got the whole forum divided over how the ring was destroyed

But back to the estimed Mr. Baggins, I just want to ask if anyone else has thought about the happiness and joy that Frodo must have felt when he put on the ring in Mount Doom?

[Primula Baggins]

Happiness and joy . . . somehow I don't associate those with the Ring!

I think it would be more of a deep physical relief, like a junkie finally getting what he's been desperately craving; and a mental relief as well, letting go of the long hard struggle to resist the Ring.

The end of torture, not the beginning of delight.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Fuzzy-wuzzy (;)), here is a nice straight-forward answer to your original question about why Frodo refused to wear a sword, from the Man himself:

One point: Frodo's attitude to weapons was personal. he was not in modern terms a 'pacifist'. Of course, he was mainly horrified as the prospect of civil war among Hobbits; but he had (I suppose) also reached the conclusion that physical fighting is actually less ultimatley effective than most (good) men think it!

Your new question really should be the subject of a separate thread.

[MithLuin]

That reminds me of a fanfic I read, in which the seduction of the Ring was personified. So, yes....people have thought of it ...

Here it is: One, by Ash
The end gets weird, but it is an attempt to describe what Frodo is going through while standing at the Crack of Doom. I think she lets him maintain his own mind for too long, but the going in and out of touch with reality is good, as is the tingling sense of power he gets.

Here's one from Sam's point of view, though, obviously, it's AU.
Sacrifice
This is more the horror and disgust than the exultant sense of power. Frodo does not 'snap out of it' prematurely in this one.

Willow-wode's Caliban is probably the nearest to reality (well, other than the AU-part in the beginning and end). I think she captures what Frodo has become, and how completely he crumbles.

And lest you think that all fan-fiction tampers with the story...
Aratlithiel's At the Sammath Naur
Here the game is to use as many pairs of opposites as possible to describe what is happening. But Frodo's experience of the power of the Ring is more....despair.
Larner's The Colors of Passing
This one begins with the claiming of the Ring (reversed polarity!) but also has some aftermath for balance.

I mean, your question can be answered in essay-form, but I think dramatic description suits it well . These are all short one shots, and seem to be written to explore just that idea (well, that and alternative endings).

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

2) The Ring destroyed itself.

• Old Tom
  Aravar
  vison (at least, I think you came down here?)
  Mith

I never said the Ring destroyed itself. That was your (Mith's) interpretation:

Gollum tripping can be seen as dumb luck (an accident), an act of God (Providence), or an act of the Ring (Frodo's curse). If you feel it was too 'convenient,' that probably means you subscribe to the first idea . I think that Providence only would have tipped him in if there were a chance to redeem him - if he took the Ring trying to 'save' Frodo, Providence may have inspired him to leap (to save the world). But pushing in an unrepentent Gollum...that is a curse, and thus the power of the Ring. I know that curse is a loaded word...as Saruman says at the end, he merely foretells, he does not make it so. But the Ring does have the power to make it so, especially where Gollum is concerned.

Frodo placing a curse on Gollum needn't be empowered by the Ring. Didn't Isildur curse the Men of the White Mountains for breaking their oath to aid Gondor in the battle against Sauron? (They became the Dead Men of Dunharrow.) Isildur didn't need a Ring of Power to accomplish that.

That being said, the quote I mentioned in my original post--

Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.

--is more likely a case of Frodo foretelling, like Saruman in Hobbiton, although combined with the other quote I gave--

If I, wearing it, were to command you, you would obey, even if it were to leap from a precipice or to cast yourself into the fire. And such would be my command.

--it seems like the power of a curse--

almost as if Frodo had placed a curse on Gollum and/or Gollum brought this doom upon himself through his treachery

Frodo, obviously, did not understand the full power of what he said.

But back to the estimed Mr. Baggins, I just want to ask if anyone else has thought about the happiness and joy that Frodo must have felt when he put on the ring in Mount Doom?

As far as Frodo feeling joy and/or relief when he claimed the Ring in the Sammath Naur, I don't know that Frodo felt too much other than complete and utter exhaustion mixed, very likely, with abject horror or terror. By that time his will had been completely subdued by the Ring, and Frodo knew it but was powerless to prevent it.

We're given a warning of Frodo's succumbing to the Ring shortly before it occurs:

‘Then let me carry it a bit for you Master,’ [Sam] said. ‘You know I would, and gladly, as long as I have any strength.’

… ‘No, no, Sam’ [Frodo] said sadly. ‘...But you must understand. It is my burden, and no one else can bear it…I am almost in its power now. I could not give it up, and if you tried to take it I should go mad.’

With 20-20 hindsight we see that there was no way that Frodo would destroy the Ring, and that it would take the intervention of Gollum to accomplish it.

[MithLuin]

My appologies, Tom, I did not mean to misrepresent what you said. Would you like me to put you in another category? [I realize that by making fewer categories than people, I am lumping together similar, but not identical, ideas.]

[Old_Tom_Bombadil]

Would you like me to put you in another category?

Mith, you should know by now that Tom Bombadil is in a category by himself.

[MithLuin]

Duly noted.

Now look what you've made me do, superwizard! I should know by now that reading fanfic is dangerous...and your prompt made me go and write one. I'll post it here, in all it's unedited, off the cuff glory, for you all to critique. Looking at my attempt, I think Tolkien was very wise to keep the point of view Sam's. You really can't describe what is happening here well...at least I can't!

• Footsteps of Doom

His breath came in shallow gasps, but his mind was clear now. He had been in a fog since he woke this morning, but now it had come into focus. This was the end, the last steps of a journey he could no longer recall. But with only a short way to go, he knew he could make it now – knew he could go to the end on his own. This was it. He had said farewell to Sam. Now he would meet his fate.

He could not mistake his destination. The road led into the dark entrance; there was no other way to go. As he stepped up in front of it, he was surprised by the sharp blast of hot air. A wall of heat met him, so that he automatically raised a hand to shield his face. He could still breathe; this parched air could not stop him now. He took a step forward, and entered.

Somehow, he kept walking. His body protested, but he had cowed it to his will, and it obeyed. He had thought it would be like entering a cave, where all was dark – but here the darkness was broken by fire. Molten flames lept up, casting the walls around him in sharp relief, dark shadows on dark rocks. He could feel the power of this place, pulling him like a magnet, beating down on him, making him so vulnerably exposed and small. This place belonged to Him, and so he hated it more than any place he had ever been.

He was so close, so near the edge now. A few more steps. It seemed impossibly far; the air in here was stifling, choking, warning him away. His feet slowed, dragged, but kept moving until he was at the brink. He stopped.

Now, now, now, the voice was demanding. The mantra beat in time with his heart, and would only stop when his heart did. His hand reached for his neck, and a tendril of fear took the place of the dogged endurance that had brought him here. What would happen now? He touched the chain, surprised to find it cool when even the air scorched his skin. His fingers lingered for a moment, but he did not let them stray from their purpose. They tugged it up and over his head, OFF for the first time in….so long.

He took a shaky breath – it was odd to not feel the weight against his chest, almost as if his lungs were fluttering. He coughed, but made himself stop. He looked down and saw what he knew was in his hand. His heart seized up.

He wanted to weep. He had not seen anything as simple and beautiful as gold ever before in his life. It was perfect, when everything else in this place was so horrible. Convulsively, his hand reached for it. He froze.

He could not move. He would not let his hand clutch around the Ring. He would NOT. And yet he could not withdraw it, not at all. The sweat poured down his face, but still he stood, poised on the brink of the abyss. He was caught between a will he could not oppose, and the small fading voice saying now.

Master! A voice called behind him, and the spell was broken. The heat of the Fire roiled through him, and he was painfully, achingly aware of the Ring. Suddenly, he heard the sounds that had been dead in his ears before. He was part of this place, and there was only one thing to do. His fist closed, and he turned.

He opened his mouth, and the voice that he spoke with had all the power of the Fire behind it now, so it echoed, resounding perfectly in this stone chamber designed for him.

I have come. But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!

He had no recollection of moving his hand, but he knew the moment it slipped on his finger. He must have gasped. It was water, and he wanted more. NOW.

Then it crashed into him and, confused, he again tried to beat off scrawny limbs with pincher grips. Again? Had he done this before? Even as he tried to wrench his wrist out of a relentless grip, he thought, But we have always been here; there is nowhere else. There was a crunch which he heard clearly, and then nothing.

[Athrabeth]

I still think its arguable that the commanding voice, coming as it does from the wheel of fire, is the Ring's and not Frodo's, but I know from TORc that others here disagree.

I think that the reason Sam perceives the voice as coming from the Ring is because Frodo is wielding the power of the Ring as he speaks

Well, count me as one who thinks that it's very likely that Sam perceives the voice as coming from the Ring because it's coming from the Ring . I’m quite convinced that Frodo cannot be wielding the power of the Ring because he hasn’t claimed it……yet.

I think it's extremely important that the scene be viewed as a purely metaphysical experience on the part of Sam. I notice that his "vision" of Gollum remains pretty much rooted in "the real world", but not the vision of Frodo, who becomes completely transformed into an otherworldly figure that Tolkien refers to as an "it" (that in itself always seemed odd to me, especially through the loyal and perceptive eyes of Sam, who knows Frodo more intimately than anyone else). So if even Sam cannot recognize "the figure" before him as even remotely resembling Frodo any longer, just what is he seeing with this "other vision" that has been bestowed on him? I’m still having difficulty in trying to fit a somewhat elusive idea into words, but as close as I can get right now is that it’s a manifestation of two forces or powers. The fact that the figure is “robed in white” tells me (from what is familiar to me in Tolkien’s writings) that one of the forces is “good” (boy, that seems like such a lame little word, but for now it will have to do). Looking back on Sam’s “parallel vision” in the Emyn Muil, in which Frodo becomes “a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud”, it’s almost as if that cloud has been cast aside, revealing an even more resolute and “pure” power……there’s something almost “Gandalfesque” about it, isn’t there?

This passage is so carefully constructed (as is most of what Tolkien wrote), that I think the following phrase is very significant: “…a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire”. Now if Tolkien had used “and” rather than “but”, I think I would be more inclined to believe that “the robe” and “the wheel” were rather more like complimentary fashion accessories, that they were part of the same “outfit”, if you get my drift. But that “but”……it somehow makes the wheel of fire something apart (at least to me) – something different that clashes with the remote and mysterious nobility of the figure. If this is indeed a manifestation of the wheel of fire that has blinded Frodo to everything else before his “waking eyes” and threatens ever more aggressively to consume his will, then I take it that it’s a manifestation of the Ring’s will. And if THAT is so, then……is the robed figure a manifestation of Frodo’s will?

It is not in the Ring's best interest to make that threat (Gollum may be a better Ringbearer (from the Ring's perspective) than Frodo at this point.) Frodo is the only one who would want to protect his own interests here.

I think by this time the Ring and Frodo are pretty much bound together in this great struggle of wills…..theirs has become a perversely symbiotic relationship. Surely the Ring senses Frodo’s imminent fall, just a breath away now, and here comes this vile little creature that it deemed “used up” and useless, threatening to mess things up. I doubt that in cursing Gollum for daring to touch it (not "bear" it, mind you), the sentient aspect of the Ring in any way envisions that he will take it with him into the Fire. It is the curse of an arrogant, malevolent, and wholly singular entity, so confident that it’s in control, so sure that everything is now going to “fall into place” (no pun intended) and that its reunion with Sauron, its master and the very source of its power, is close at hand.

And here, I think, all the subtle workings of Providence come to a final, fine point – the Ring itself unwittingly assures its own destruction by cursing to death the wretched, wicked creature that was spared from death by Frodo and Sam, Gandalf and Aragorn. The curse is twisted around on itself, but in Tolkien’s world, it cannot be undone, and as Gollum grasps the Ring and stumbles, we hear an echo of the words of Ilúvatar to the first Dark Lord:

And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.

And what makes Gollum stumble? Strangely enough, I think it's the pure joy of release......release from the constant pain and torment and wariness that has plagued him for so long. At what other time have we seen Gollum's movements anything less than deliberate and guarded and watchful, haunted by his demons, driven by his hunger? At the exact moment when Frodo's burden is lifted because he loses the Ring, Gollum's burden is lifted because he gains the Ring. I like thinking of it in this way.....like a final small blessing of pure happiness at the end of a long, sad, and most impure life.

[Aravar]

[Rowanberry]

Ath, I don't think that anybody could have said it better.

[superwizard]

Mith amazing story its wonderful
Ath what can I say? I love it

[vison]

Excellent post, Athrabeth. I think you spotted the exact thing in that word, "but". Perfect.

[Athrabeth]

Why, thank-you all.

That particular passage has intrigued me for sooooo long. I really do appreciate this forum, and the excellent company within it, that helps me sort out these nebulous kinds of thoughts that have been muddling around in my brain for too many years.

[Queen_Beruthiel]

Brilliant insights there Athrabeth.

[MithLuin]

I agree that the Wheel of Fire represents the Ring. It is Sam seeing it for what it is, for once, even though it is still 'hidden' under Frodo's shirt.

But before Sam experienced this vision, what Frodo did was to clutch the Ring under his shirt. He has It in his fist. The other time Sam was granted a vision like this was when Gollum swore on the Precious. Frodo used the power of the Ring to hold Gollum's oath simply by demanding it then. He is using it (or the threat of it) to cow Gollum now.

The figure is robed in white, but there is a definite dark side to it. That is why I think he uses 'but' - to point out that though we see someone robed in white, he is not what he seems. The give-away is that the white-robed figure is untouchable by pity and is seen as so remote to be an 'it'. Is that how Tolkien describes his good guys? We are seeing a Frodo who is moments away from claiming the Ring. He is not (yet) holy and set apart, as he will be after Mount Doom, after Sam sees the madness gone from his eyes. Rather, here he is responding to Gollum's attempt to take the Ring from him moments ago - he is in the throes of that madness, stating his own claim to the Ring. The is the closest we come to 'seeing' Frodo the Ring-lord. I know the test was too much for him, and I don't blame Frodo for having his stern will crumble so that he chose something he did not want. But....it happened. And here we see it happening. What was shaded in cloud before was his will to dominate - and here it is revealed.

When the voice comes from the wheel of fire, and says, 'If you touch me...' does me refer to Frodo, or to the Ring? I just cannot see the Ring telling Gollum off all by itself...I see it as fitting Frodo's words and mindset too much to be 'independent.' But I guess the question is, is Frodo controling (wielding) the Ring, or is the Ring wielding Frodo?

I do agree with your point, though, that the Ring likely chooses Frodo here, just as it undoubtedly chose Frodo over Sam in the Tower of Cirith Ungol. Gollum's fall is also definately evil being used for good...I just can't quite work out the how!

Edit: Found it! Frodo's Kitchen discussion of the passage where Frodo refuses the sword.

And HERE is the discussion of Sam's vision (with some claiming-of-the-Ring mixed in).

One of the key questions, imho, is what is happening to Frodo when Sam sees Frodo as a "figure robed in white," and Frodo repeats essentially the warning he had given to Gollum under the eaves of the Emyn Muil. This might be a good time to review that old, old thread started by Ash-a-leigh, our wayward kitchen lady (oh, Ash, where art thou?). Except I can't find it. Help! I thought it was called 'What really happened on Mount Doom' or something similar, but I can't find it in the list of threads or using the search function. Heeeelllllp!

But anyway, it is important to note that unlike movieFrodo who does race on ahead while Sam is still fighting Gollum, BookFrodo leaves at Sam's request (and perhaps Sam tells hims to go because in that moment Sam means to kill Gollum, and he does not want Frodo to see him do it or try to stop him), and Frodo walks "slowly but erect." Contrast that with the stooped or crawling Frodo of the past few days, and the Frodo of moments before, who had been carried by Sam. Frodo has been strengthened by his defense of the Ring from Gollum.

The phrase "Doom shall fall" is ambiguous. Frodo could mean that the Ring is going into the fire and the mountain will erupt, killing them all. Or he may mean that he goes to do the impossible, and that when he attempts it the Doom of Middle Earth shall fall: he will claim the Ring.

I have no great wisdom, but an observation about Pip's query as to what Sam's vision of Gollum and Frodo means. I think the vision is extremely important in that it binds them all, three ringbearers together, in their respective roles. Gollum: an already black heart (a murderous heart from long ago) turned to ash by the ring; Frodo: a pure heart honed into purest light by the ring; and Sam: the seer, an observer, whose vision was sharpened by his brief experience with the ring. Sam is seeing into that "liminal space," that otherworld into which Frodo is slipping and into which the Wringwraiths have been doomed. It is a spiritual moment, and it is a hopeful moment for Frodo, imho. I think it is symbolic that Frodo's will does intend to destroy the ring to the very end, and that the core of his being is not changed by its evil work on him. But (and Tolkien uses the word "but" I believe) he has the wheel of fire on him. It is almost as if, in one sense, the ring is a window to the truth of things, to the truth of one's being, and that this may be part of its complete power. What if, because of the ring, Frodo, too, had the vision Sam did, and because he saw himself clothed in white, he imagined himself to be pure and able to wield the ring for good? What if it was Frodo's vision of the truth of his own purity that caused him hubris for his own goodness, and opened the way for him to yield ultimately to evil?

To me, Sam's seeing Frodo as a figure "robed in white" has connotations of a somehow dreadful (merciless?) purity. Other times when Frodo is described in terms of colour, he is bathed in the red of the fires, or black against the glare. But at the two moments you highlight, it is as if he is the vehicle of an enormous power. Particularly on the slopes of Mt Doom, there are the conflicting white of the figure of Frodo and the red of the Wheel of Fire. Other times Sam sees a 'light' - I wonder if the two states are connected.

I take your point about the liminal space, nazgulRus althought the reference reminds me more of Frodo's vision of Glorfindel, at the Ford of Bruinen, than of a description of the deathless limbo the Wraiths are doomed too.

Its interesting to speculate that Frodo may have shared Sam's vision, that he would be falsely convinced that he did have the strength of purpose or purity to accomplish the Quest. That could well cause him to separate himself from Sam, and would carry him up the slope to the doorway.

Or it could, as you say, convince him that he was powerful enough to wield the Ring for Good - the last twist of the Ring's temptation. In which case, though, he could have claimed the Ring as his own then and there, without taking those last few steps.

I'm not sure that it's the "madness" that Gandalf warned him about, tras. It actually seems to me that at this point Frodo becomes strangely lucid, after some long time of being little more than an automaton.

That Sam's vision shows Frodo clothed in white brings to mind for me the Transfiguration scene from Matthew 17: "Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light." Jesus was considered the prototype for blameless humanity. Frodo, in a sense, is ME's prototype for purity. The "robed in white" image also points to a pure sacrifice, as that of a paschal lamb, as that of the Christ. I can't help but see a connection there. Frodo does sacrifice himself for Middle Earth. If the transfiguration connection holds, he was a pure sacrifice on some level. Why, then, does he succumb to the ring? Well, as a Christ figure, Frodo lacks the important element of divinity. He's not a god of any sort, he is "human," (hobbit-human you know what I mean) So whereas Jesus may have seen himself Transfigured, he would not have been overcome by hubris at his goodness. Frodo, seeing himself Transfigured, might have mad dreams of saving the world for good. I know that any metaphor taken too far falls apart, so I don't want to belabour Frodo's Christ-like qualities. Neither am I trying to push a Christo-centric view onto LOTR. It's just that the image is so strikingly similar.

Previous to Gollum's attack against them on the slopes--which prompts this "transfiguration" moment, Frodo has cast away his orc gear and any weapon (--'fair or foul'). Sam has tried to remind Frodo of the meal he had prepared back in Ithilien. Frodo answered that he no longer could bring any sensory images of "reality" to mind - 'I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.' Sam then urges them forward, to be rid of it. The "wheel of fire", surely, is meant to be a figure for the Eye/Will/Ring of Sauron - burning into his mind, flame-encircled. Clearly it is meant to be seen as a fully evil thing, at this point nearly blotting all else out in Frodo's imagination. For Frodo does say that he yet knows of these other realities-only that he himself no longer can "see" them. That is, he has not become Sauron, but that Sauron is now invading and overwhelming his ability to perceive any other reality. Then the two struggle on; Frodo collapses, Sam carries him.

Then, the starved and Ring-crazed Gollum lays into them.

Gollum and Frodo were locked together. Gollum was tearing at his master, trying to get at the chain and the Ring. This was probably the only thing that could have roused the dying embers of Frodo's heart and will: an attack, an attempt to wrest his treasure from him by force. He fought back with a sudden fury that amazed Sam, and Gollum also. (...) Frodo flung him off and rose up quivering.

"Down, down!" he gasped, clutching his hand to his breast, so that beneath the cover of his leather shirt he clasped the Ring. "Down you creeping thing, and out of my path! Your time is at an end. You cannot betray me or slay me now."

Then suddenly, as before under the eaves of the Emyn Muil, Sam saw these two rivals with other vision.

I am going now to pause, to recall that scene in the Emyn Muil. In that scene, Sméagol offers to serve Frodo by swearing an on the Precious. But Frodo will not allow him to see it to swear upon it, obviously speaking from his personal experience:

'No! not on it,' said Frodo, looking down with stern pity. 'All you wish is to see it and touch it, if you can, though you know it would drive you mad.' Then Frodo bids him swear by it: 'Swear by it, if you will. For you know where it is. (...) It is before you.'
For a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum had shrunk: a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in a grey cloud, and at his feet a little whining dog. Yet the two were in some way akin and not alien: they could reach one another's minds. Gollum raised himself and began pawing at Frodo, fawning at his knees. 'Down! Down!' said Frodo. 'Now speak your promise!'

I want to note first the paired image of Frodo and Gollum. On Mt. Doom, they literally are "locked together." In the Emyn Muil, Sam sees them as "somehow akin-not alien", somehow on the same wave length. I think this refers to their shared Ring experience, certainly. But in the Emyn Muil, I think it also points to that dawning sense of Frodo's pity. Somewhere, Tolkien has described two nuances of "pity"-a lesser one that sees the object of pity from above and which is prone to contempt, and a higher one that perceives the object of pity as akin and is more like empathy. I think Frodo is showing pity, but more of the first sense of pity in this scene - that "stern pity," that observes Gollum from high above. (Later on, he develops a more empathetic sort.)

But in Frodo's Emyn Muil "transfiguration" moment (--that Sam will remember on the slopes of Mt. Doom), even that lesser pity seems to shrink, almost to disappear. What does he appear as to Sam? -- "A mighty lord." Sam is dazzled, and so, I think are we readers. What sort of lord? One who is able and ready to command submission, to dominate. Frodo is grown out of his humanity to super-human proportions, while Gollum is degraded, to sub-humanity. "A whining dog-pawing...fawning" Both are in this scene deformed from their true Eru-created selves. Especially when read in light of Mt. Doom, this moment clearly--though partly--reveals the darkness of the Ring operating in Frodo--but in the guise of radiance. True, the dark is not here fully revealed. It is not till Mt. Doom that Sam sees Frodo "robed in white light," in the Emyn Muil, it is still a bit veiled; Sam sees him as a mighty lord, "who hid his brightness in a grey cloud." Also note that Frodo is described as "a tall, stern shadow." Every reader is aware at least subliminally of how Tolkien uses the image of "shadow." But even in the vision, Sam and the reader both are unsettled-what looks like a holy moment, by its trappings, actually conveys the opposite message. We should not be blinded by the light, but we are; we are not looking at what really is going on.

I'll repeat what Tolkien said above about what would happen if the Ring had not been destroyed: "[Frodo] needed time, much time, before it could control him; before his will and arrogance could grow to a stature in which he could dominate other major hostile wills. Even so for a long time his acts and commands would still have to seem 'good' to him, to be for the benefit of others beside himself." What happened in the Emyn Muil was like a foretaste of this dreadful transformation of Frodo, should the Ring not be destroyed, that loomed as a real possibility . The scene that the one in the Emyn Muil foreshadows, on Mt. Doom, is an exponentially more terrible foretaste of that same dreaded possibility.

Naz, I think you picked up very well on how that scene of Frodo robed in white light recalled the scene described in the transfiguration of Jesus in the biblical text: There they go, the faithful hobbits (and the unfaithful one), climbing up the mountain to the place of destiny. Frodo, the "sacrificial pure hero" suddenly appears to his (faithful and unfaithful) disciples bathed in radiance, a mighty lord--transfigured. The "disciples" are dazzled, bowled over (--Sam even calls Frodo "Master" more often, instead of the usual "Mr. Frodo" or "Frodo", sounding even more biblical.) Then the vision subsides, and the three resume their mission[s], with renewed resolve.

But what is happening here? I think you are right about the look of it, the sign of it, but I think the meaning of it is quite other. It's as if it's the Transfiguration turned on its head. Like upside down crosses and defiled sacraments at Black Masses-all the right symbols, but revealing what is evil rather than what is good. I will pick up where the text left off,

Sam saw these two rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.
"Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom."

What has happened here? Frodo and his "beloved disciple" have ascended the mountain-but not the mountain of god, or Eru, for heaven's sake! They are climbing the mountain of the anti-god, ("anti-Eru") the unholy mountain of the unholy Maia, Sauron--and of the one for whom he fronts: Melkor, Morgoth. Look at the descriptions of the characters. If in the Emyn Muil, Gollum was likened to a dog, sub-human, now he is likened to a demon, not even an animal: "a crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing - a creature now wholly ruined and defeated." And Frodo appears-how? Not a living creature either, not even a person - he is a "figure robed in white" - like a god, yes, but not like any divinity related to Eru. No, in this depiction we see a vision of divinty, but the divinity of Sauron, and of Morgoth before him - the most gifted Vala, who, in the beginning, was shining fair. Lest we miss that Frodo has lost his personhood, note the language again, "at its breast it held a wheel of fire." Not "his" breast, but "its" breast. And the wheel of fire itself! Emblazoned over "its" heart! The truth is right in front of our eyes, like Sam's, but we're dazzled by the splendor of the light!

Then comes the most blatant declaration that we are witnessing an unholy transfiguration: Sam sees the figure/Frodo robed in white as, "Stern, untouchable now by pity".

Who is this, then? "Untouchable now by pity." The incapacity for pity is the primary characteristic of the evil one. Back in the Emyn Muil, Frodo was able to look at Gollum with "stern pity" (though that moment precedes his "mini-transfiguration" into the mighty lord). But here on Mt. Doom, even the lesser pity akin to contempt is gone. In this vision, Sam is not really seeing Frodo, he is seeing a revelation of the will of Sauron-and a vision of what Frodo will become if not for Gollum's intervention. To cap it all off, not only is the heart of Frodo seen to bear the wheel of fire (reminds me of Alien!), we hear with Sam, "Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice. 'Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom.'"

Whose spirit, whose will, whose voice is speaking such words, I ask you? As Tolkien explained above, under the fatal power of the Ring, Frodo's "will and arrogance could grow to a stature in which he could dominate other major hostile wills, and even--for a time-believe he was doing so for Good." If Galadriel gave a preview of what it might be like for the will of a good person to be overmastered by Sauron's Ring, here in Frodo we see the complete six-minute trailer.

But then, the vision subsides. Was the vision in Sam's head, or was it actually viewable the way it was described? I don't think it matters as long as we receive it as "true" in terms of revelation of meaning. But it seems that the spell of being overmastered passes and Frodo is able to recover himself. "Then the vision passed and Sam saw Frodo standing, hand on breast, his breath coming in great gasps, and Gollum at his feet, resting on his knees with his wide-splayed hands upon the ground." So, Sam tells Frodo he'll deal with Gollum, urging him to go on. Then, "Frodo looked at him as if at one now far away. 'Yes, I must go on,' he said. 'Farewell, Sam! This is the end at last. On Mount Doom doom shall fall. Farewell!' He turned and went on, walking slowly but erect up the climbing path."

I think that it is at this point, when Frodo has recovered himself, that resolves definitely to push on to the abyss and accomplish his Quest by throwing himself and the Ring into the Cracks of Doom. If he ever had thought he might be able to resist the Ring at the end, that thought would have been extinguished in the previous awful moment. When he tells Sam, "Farewell" (twice!), he is being quite literal. It's not well, I'd better grab the opportunity and do what I came to do, he knows he will not see Sam again. "This is the end at last." Which end? the end of the Quest, hopefully, but certainly his own end. And when he says that "doom shall fall" (and I think he means "doom" in the sense of "ultimate destiny"), again, this doom refers to the ultimate destiny of Middle Earth, as we as his own, which will determine the course of the greater ultimate destiny.

But then Sam does catch up to Frodo, beside the Cracks of Doom. And I think the text shows us there, to the horror of Sam and readers, a Frodo who has lost the battle. The voice that spoke from the wheel of fire has overmastered his will; his will now has been subsumed by Sauron's.
"'I have come,' he said. 'But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring in mine!'" What he has chosen not to do, is to throw himself in and the Ring with it, thus destroying it. The Ring/Sauron has won.

Mechtild was the one who came up with the phrase "unholy transfiguration," I think.

In Tolkien's world, of course, white is good and black(dark) is bad. At least, mostly: not always. There is a chapter in Moby Dick called "The Whiteness of the Whale" that discusses the horrible nature of white things - how they are even more terrifying. Neat stuff, and worth reading (Moby Dick is full of neat stuff, if a bit short on the story that ought to go with it....) Anyway, I only mention it, because I think it applies here. The other instance of something horrible being white that I just happened to run into is Théoden's cane: a short black staff with a handle of white bone. In my opinion, the white bone makes it more horrible than if the cane were all black. I also always got the impression that the cane was provided by Wormtongue and made Théoden's condition worse by sorcery.
Edit: I overlooked some obviously freaky white things in the book . The standards of Orthanc and Minas Morgul - a white hand and a disfigured white moon on black. Silly me!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

But I guess the question is, is Frodo controling (wielding) the Ring, or is the Ring wielding Frodo?

Yes.

[MithLuin]

Voronwë, I realize it is a bit of both. But who is speaking when Sam hears the voice from the Wheel of Fire say, "If you touch me ever again..."? Is that the will of the Ring? Or of Frodo? And does "me" refer to the Ring, or to Frodo?