Frodo didn’t destroy the Ring — and I think that’s the point
I keep thinking about the fact that Frodo doesn’t actually throw the Ring into the fire.
At the Crack of Doom, he claims it. He says, “The Ring is mine.” Then Gollum takes it from him, falls, and the Ring is destroyed.
And honestly, that makes the ending hit harder for me, not weaker. It feels like Tolkien is saying that no one — not even Frodo — could have simply walked into that place and beaten the Ring by sheer willpower. The Quest succeeds because Frodo carried it far enough, and because mercy kept Gollum alive long enough to be there at the end.
So I’m curious how other people read this. Does Frodo’s failure at the final moment make him less heroic to you? Or is the real heroism the fact that he carried the Ring all the way to the one place where even his failure could be redeemed?