With the help of his steadfast companion Sam and the distraction provided by his friends outside Mordor, Frodo makes it to the Cracks of Doom. Why then, when he arrives at the end of his long road, does he fail? Even in Rivendell, the Ring had hold of Frodo's mind. His perception of Bilbo as a greedy and grasping creature becomes magnified tenfold at Cirith Ungol when Frodo sees Sam as an orc. Later, when Sam offers to take the Ring again, Frodo nearly draws his sword even though he knows why Sam makes the suggestion. Already at Minas Morgul, his will had been sapped by the arduous journey, and only Sam's dogged encouragement has kept him moving across the last miles. Finally, only the desire to save the Ring from Gollum gives Frodo the energy to reach the fire. When he arrives, he has no will left to destroy the thing, and so he claims it as his own.
Early in the first book, Gandalf said to Frodo, "My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many — yours not the least." Frodo did not believe him at the time, yet when he met Gollum in the barren waste of the Emyn Muil, Frodo too was moved by pity to spare him. And here, on the slopes of Mount Doom, pity intervenes yet a third time, convincing Sam to spare Gollum's wretched life one more time. Of all the lucky chances in the trilogy, from the time the first Black Rider came to Hobbiton and was mistakenly told that Frodo had already left, to the arrival of the Armies of the West just in time to draw Sauron's armies away from Mount Doom, Gollum's fall into the fire must be counted the most fortunate. From the smallest actions, the greatest events follow.
After the destruction of the Ring, many readers expect the narrative to end quickly. With the quest complete, not much remains to be said, right? For Tolkien, however, the destruction of the Ring is not really the point of it all — what matters victory if we do nothing with it? Celebration and feasting must mark the occasion, but more importantly the restored king must take his throne and ensure a peaceful and prosperous future, now that Sauron's evil has been defeated. Locating the sapling of the White Tree, as well as Aragorn's marriage to Arwen, symbolizes the hope for the future and a new beginning.
