It’s hard being the hero. There is a fine line they must walk to be heroic. Too adept at what they do, and they become too safe, too unskilled, and too laughable.
We need to root for the hero throughout the story and as such, the hero can never be too much of any one thing. They can be funny, but not too funny, otherwise, they become comic relief. They can be clumsy, but not too clumsy or they become irritating. They can fail, but not too much, otherwise they aren’t the hero.
The hero is never allowed to be as fun, interesting or damaged as the other characters in the story and often ends up being the worst thing a hero can be…. boring.
Think about Luke Skywalker compared to Han Solo, Captain Haddock to Tintin, or really anyone else compared to Superman
Or one which comes up a lot – Frodo Baggins compared to Sam Gamgee.
But to me, it’s Frodo who truly embodies what it means to be a hero.
In Lord of the Rings, it’s Sam who has all the traditional heroic moments. Sam is the one who fights Shelob, Sam is the one who rescues Frodo from the Orcs. And Sam is the one who carries Frodo, literally and figuratively, up the slope of Mount Doom to cast the ring into the fires.
When Frodo’s big heroic moment comes, the culmination of the book's quest to destroy the ring, he turns away, unable and unwilling to do it, instead claiming the ring for himself. Frodo fails at the pivotal moment of the story where conventual wisdom tells us he should succeed.
But he doesn’t fail.
Ultimately the ring is destroyed, not by Frodo, or Sam, but by Gollum, who attacks Frodo on the edge of the mountain, biting off his ring finger and falling into his, and the rings, doom in the lava below. But this isn’t Gollum’s victory, it’s Frodo’s.
Early on in the story, when Gandalf tells Frodo that Gollum has been following them, Frodo remarks that it’s a pity that Bilbo didn’t kill Gollum when he had the chance. Gandalf responds with the lines
‘Pity? It's a pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.’
Later, Frodo and Sam leave the Fellowship (Frodo out of fear of the rings corrupting power over his friends, Sam over his loyalty to Frodo). During their journey to Mordor, they are attacked by Gollum, who has been on their trail since the beginning of the journey.
Gollum as a character is without redemption. He has become too consumed by the influence of the ring and will do anything to be reunited with it, including murdering the two Hobbits. Both Sam and Frodo know this, and when they have Gollum at their mercy Sam urges Frodo to kill him, as he is too much of a threat to leave.
Frodo knows this but chooses instead to spare him, having finally understood both Bilbo’s pity and Gandalf’s council. Frodo chooses compassion over his immediate safety. He understands that no one person has or should have the power of life and death over another. And so he shows Gollum mercy.
It is this act of mercy that leads to the destruction of the ring. This is Frodo’s victory and why ultimately, he is the hero of the story.
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