Frodo's 🧝Elven mystique

[Jellybean342]

One thing I've noticed throughout Lord of the Rings is the fact that Frodo seems to act a bit like an Elf sometimes. This is more prominent in the movies, but I can definitely see it in the books as well.
He speaks some things in Elvish, things that he most likely wouldn't have learned earlier, such as when he thrusts out the Light of Eärendil and says, "Aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima!" I think he did learn some Elvish from Bilbo, but that seems like an odd phrase for him to just randomly decide to learn.
Beyond just that, however, much of his speech and mannerisms reflect Elvish nature in many ways that most Hobbits don't. He doesn't use the kind of coarse speech that Sam and many other Hobbits use. And while we don't see Merry or Pippin talking like Sam either, they definitely talk more gruffly than Frodo does, in my opinion. In the movies, and progressively more as time goes on, Frodo also talks very slowly whenever he's not panicking. (He doesn't talk slowly when he's screaming and fighting for his life.) His voice is also much more elegant and flowing than any other Hobbits.
The biggest reason that I see some Elvishness in Frodo is simply his nature. Hobbits tend to be very straightforward and sticking to the point, both in their speech and their actions. They're often unaware of the bigger problems in the world, because they've never experienced bigger problems in their own lives. Hobbits are sort of like that sheltered homeschooler who knows nothing about culture or society beyond their own home. But despite their lack of understanding of the world, their abundance of hard-headedness and common sense keeps them on their feet, and helps the five hobbits face the struggles that they come across in Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. On the other hand, Elves are much more refined, and sometimes slow to act. They think through situations, and often speak in riddles, riddles that other Elves see the meaning behind, but that Hobbits just get confused by. Elves are very rarely direct or straightforward. However, they also have a much greater understanding of the world around them. They know the kinds of evils that lurk out there, they know what horrible things corruption and darkness can do. Elves just seem to have this awareness and understanding of things that Hobbits cannot grasp. Frodo seems to display much more of an Elvish personality in this light than other Hobbits. Sam, Merry, and Pippin often act as if they don't understand, but want to help anyway, simply out of loyalty. Frodo, on the other hand, seems to understand perfectly well what's going on. He realizes the evils that the Ring and Sauron can do, he realizes the gravity of his situation, and he just seems to have this deep understanding of the world that none of the other Hobbits have. Frodo acts not out of loyalty, as nothing he's doing is for the sake of any one person. He does what he does because he knows it needs to be done, and he knows the kinds of horror that will come if it is not. This awareness seems to me to be much more of an Elvish tendency than a Hobbit tendency.
Now, with all that being said, we come down to the question: Why? Why does Frodo act so much more like an Elf than any other Hobbit? Or am I just mistaken in what I see, and the way he acts is typical for his family?
My personal theories on this were that, 1. When Frodo got stabbed by the Morgul blade and then healed by Lord Elrond, some of the Elvish powers of healing and life remained with Frodo, and that effected him and gave him some Elvish strengths that others didn't have.
Or 2. Carrying the Ring around, and needing to learn how to bear that weight, essentially forced Frodo to develop a better understanding of the situation, and his greater awareness caused him to be more slow and perhaps cautious with what he said and did.
Or 3. He just has it in his nature to act that way, and his time spent with Bilbo, learning about Elves and the world beyond the Shire, served to enhance his gentle, knowing nature. He and Bilbo both greatly admired the Elves, and oftentimes people tend to try to act like those they look up to.
I think that Frodo shows just a bit too much Elvishness for it to solely be the cause of studying with Bilbo. But I can't say for sure. I'm not all that knowledgeable in races and lore and such. So I'd appreciate you folks' thoughts, and if something here is wrong, please let me know! Thanks for the help!

~ Jellybean

 

[Eljorahir]

In The Hobbit chapter, An Unexpected Party, Tolkien is introducing us to Bilbo and his family heritage. We're told of Bilbo's mother, "the fabulous Belladonna Took". And...

'It was often said (in other families) that long ago one of the Took ancestors must have taken a fairy wife. That was, of course, absurd, but certainly there was still something not entirely hobbit-like about them, and once in a while members of the Took-clan would go and have adventures.'

So, it is certainly consistent with the story that an "Elven mystique" runs within the Tookish side of Frodo's family.

 

[Jellybean342]

Hm, yes, that does seem to fit! The small problem with that, as far as I can see, is that Pippin is also a Took, and displays very little of that Elven characteristics. There's also the fact that Frodo seems to have much more Elvishness to him than Bilbo.
I'm not all that knowledgeable in Tolkien lore, so I could be getting my facts mixed up. Maybe Pippin is further in bloodline from Belladonna Took than Frodo, or something to that effect, or perhaps Bilbo was Elf-y too, and I just don't know enough about Bilbo. But, from what I know, Frodo seems to be unusually Elf-ish, more so than the others, who should be the same way, had it been solely from bloodline.

Edit: Another thing I thought of, though this might just be a movie thing, is that when Frodo puts on the Ring, it's like he can feel its evil. He can feel the Eye of Sauron watching him, and he can see the Black Riders for who they are, if they're right there. Bilbo seems entirely unaffected by the Ring in this manner.
I have read the books, but I'm not great at remembering all the specifics, so this may not actually happen in the books. If that's the case, someone please correct me!

 

[Olorgando]

One of Gandalf's - typically cryptic - statements from early in the book, chapter II "The Shadow of the Past" in Book One in "Fellowship", may give a hint.

"So now when [the One Ring's] master was awake once more and sending out his dark thought from Mirkwood, it abandoned Gollum. Only to be picked up by the most unlikely person imaginable: Bilbo from the Shire!
Behind that, there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you were also meant to have it."

Sounds very much like Bilbo and Frodo were chosen. And there has been much discussion - more about Gandalf's being sent back with enhanced powers as the White, but there are other incidents, such as these words of Gandalf's to Frodo early on - that we have here the very indirect, invisible intervention by Eru.
Working through Gandalf at times, perhaps, like in Gandalf's choosing of Bilbo for the Quest of Erebor. That being predated by his taking interest in Hobbits at all, coming to the aid of the Shire-folk in the Long Winter of 2758 (the first mention in the Tale of Years in Appendix B linking Gandalf and the Hobbits).

But not chosen randomly. Bilbo was half stolid Baggins, but his mother was one of the "three remarkable daughters of Gerontius, the Old Took". Unusually for a Hobbit, he was still a bachelor at 50 when he set off on his adventure in 2941 Third Age. His parents had died in 2926 respectively 2934, at the relatively early ages by Hobbit standards of 80 (father) respectively 82 (mother). Now getting married at 51, when he returned, or a bit later would not have been impossible for a Hobbit. Sam's youngest, Tolman, was born when Sam was 62, and Rose 58 ... but Bilbo had lost something quite important to Hobbits, his "respectability" ...
And Gandalf certainly had a hand in Bilbo handing over the One Ring (and Bag End) to Frodo in 3001.
Now Frodo was again half stolid Baggins (his father Drogo, btw, was 60 when Frodo was born in 2968), and half Brandybuck. Actually, one quarter Brandybuck and one quarter Took, as Frodo's mother Primula (48 at his birth) was in turn the daughter of youngest sister of Bilbo's mother Belladonna, Mirabella.

(Short aside: this to me echoes the children of Finarfin, specifically Galadriel, half of the most junior branch of the Eldar, the Teleri, and one quarter each Noldo and Vanya ...)

Frodo then became an orphan through the fatal boating accident of his parents in 2980, when he was 12 (and his parents 72 respectively 60). Bilbo adopted Frodo when Bilbo was 99 and Frodo 21, so some time in 2989-90 (even at that time Bilbo must have had a low opinion of his other close relatives, the Sackville-Bagginses). Then the events of the Long-expected Party ...
As to Merry and Pippin: Merry's mother Esmarelda was a Took, the younger sister of Pippin's father Paladin II. The father of these latter two, Adalgrim, was in his turn half Baggins through his mother Rosa ...

So Baggins, and Took, and Brandybuck, figured prominently in the ancestry of three of the four Hobbits. And all families, IIRC, were said to have a strong Fallohide strain. So to balance all of these rather by Hobbit standards "elevated" characters, it's necessary to add in utterly down-to-earth, rural working-class and probably mainly Harfoot Sam Gamgee for the quest.

So I see there to be several sources that could lead to the impression of Frodo's "Elvishness": the descent from Baggins, Brandybuck, and Took, all three with a strong Fallohide strain. His remaining a bachelor (as Bilbo had been) even in the 17 years after Bilbo had left him Bag End (and the One Ring). Being brought up by the no longer "respectable" adventurer Bilbo, inheriting from him (through stories) the interest in things outside the Shire (again something unusual for Hobbits). And perhaps most important, both being Ring-bearers for several years, Bilbo over 60, and Frodo exactly 17 by the time he left the Shire. What Frodo had to endure in the half year after he left certainly was life-changing, so that his perceived "Elvishness" increased enormously, especially his wisdom.

 

[Jellybean342]

Yeah, I can see that. So Frodo's 'Elvish' characteristics come not from actual Elvish strengths of any sort, but from bloodline, time spent with Bilbo, and his own life experiences, which required rapid growing up, and gained him lots of wisdom and foresight.

The one thing that still doesn't make sense (that I forgot to mention earlier) is when Gildor Inglorion called Frodo Elf-friend.

"I name you Elf-friend; and may the stars shine upon the end of your road."

And later, Goldberry could tell something had changed, when she said,

"I had not heard that the folk of the Shire were so sweet tongued. But I see you are an Elf-friend; the light in your eyes and the ring in your voice tells it."

Something I read in another website suggested that Frodo already had this nature, due to all the things we've already discussed. Gildor recognized that in Frodo, and gave him a name for it.
A different website suggested that, since Gildor came from Valinor (I'm not certain of that fact, but you folks would know), he held a special level of power. When he blessed Frodo and named him Elf-friend, the blessing enhanced the skills and tendencies he already had that were similar to Elvish attributes. This may explain why Frodo is so much more Elf-like than Bilbo.

 

[Olorgando]

I believe I've noted before that Bilbo and Frodo were both 50 when each of them left the Shire for the first time.
But while Bilbo had memories of Gandalf, especially his fireworks, from the latter's earlier visits to the Shire, I doubt he'd hand dealings with Dwarves before Thorin's company showed up, much less Elves. That changed after he had come "back again", though we don't have any details except the visit by Gandalf and Balin some years later.
Frodo had gone to live with Bilbo a bit before the latter adopted him, so besides hearing Bilbo tell of his adventures, Frodo might have met a few Dwarves in the at least 12 before Bilbo again left the Shire; I'm again a bit more dubious about Elves. And Frodo had another 17 years in the Shire after Bilbo's departures, with several visits by Gandalf. Last not least, in "The Shadow of the Past", Gandalf gives Frodo several handfuls of eye-openers about "Bilbo" ring. Frodo knew more about the One Ring and its history than Bilbo ever did, possibly more than anybody but Elrond (and Aragorn).
So Frodo knew vastly more on his meeting with Gildor Inglorion than Bilbo did on his first meeting with Elves in Rivendell. And again the One Ring: Frodo had kept it for 17 years by then, while Bilbo's finding of it was still in the future during his first visit in Rivendell on the "there" leg.

 

[Ent]

If it's been mentioned I apologize for the repeat here:
don't forget we read this as well:
"Frodo went tramping over the Shire with them; but more often he wandered by himself, and to the amazement of sensible folk he was sometimes seen far from home walking in the hills and woods under the starlight. Merry and Pippin suspected that he visited the Elves at times, as Bilbo had done."
Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Lord Of The Rings (pp. 42-43). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Bilbo in later years was much more 'Elven attuned" than at first - and Frodo BEGAN his journeys in an "Elven attuned" way. There is no doubt his association with Elves had a significant impact on his entire life and 'world view'.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I'm again a bit more dubious about Elves.

Hinted at in the beginning:

Merry and Pippin suspected that he visited the Elves at times, as Bilbo had done.

Good answers all, and I'll add a couple of "outside the legendarium" suggestions: Tolkien included elements of the English class consciousness of his age, Frodo, Pippin, and Merry being marked out as members of an upper stratum, in contrast with the "working classes", exemplified by Sam and his Gaffer, as seen in Frodo's introductions to Barliman: " Mr. Took and Mr.
Brandybuck, but just plain old "Sam Gamgee".

On the other hand, of course, Sam turns out to a heroic figure, reflecting the author's experience with the "Other Ranks" Tommies in the Great War, who he recognized as "so much superior to myself".

But a major reason for Frodo's difference lies in the his role as a hero of romance, whose character contains a sense of separateness, sometimes to a point of "other-worldliness". Tolkien uses tropes common to romance to achieve this: the somewhat mysterious "birth"- story, which often includes flood imagery; an idyllic youth, an adoption by a father-figure, a hunt for him by a murderous false father, and of course, being singled out for a quest. All of these are true of Aragorn, too. Had Frodo been a complete romance hero, he might have turned out to be a Hidden Monarch , as well, but, though he does save Middle-earth, it's Aragorn, as the more traditional romance hero, who fulfills that role.

Edit: Sorry, Ent -- I somehow missed your post with the same quote! 😖

 

[Ent]

@Squint-eyed Southerner, I do think you 'hit the nail with your head' here (Paul Harvey), as friend @Bosko Took did in another post.

Tolkien built such a detailed world, we often find ourselves almost 'trapped within it', looking for all our answers within its printed text.

We lose sight of the master storyteller himself, and all he brought to the table from his incredible depths and breadths of experience, education, understanding and talent - and how he drew from 'reality' to make so real the "historical Fantasy" reality he developed. (He would say 'discovered.')

We must work to broaden our minds.
There are times I wonder if he himself felt alone, even among his fellow Inklings. Few have ever approached his scope and abilities.

 

[Olorgando]

If it's been mentioned I apologize for the repeat here:
don't forget we read this as well:
"Frodo went tramping over the Shire with them; but more often he wandered by himself, and to the amazement of sensible folk he was sometimes seen far from home walking in the hills and woods under the starlight. Merry and Pippin suspected that he visited the Elves at times, as Bilbo had done."

Now I'm not going to claim that I had this quote at the tip of my tongue, or even at the back of my head ... in some dusty cellar, maybe ... 😬

Bu-hut: the critical word here, as I see it, is "suspected". Probably meaning that they never witnessed such a meeting. Under the starlight is good, obviously (not a time of day to meet Dwarves passing through the Shire - except perhaps if they were camping instead of lodging at an inn). But the word "visited" seems a bit out of place here. Certainly, no Elves (nor Dwarves, for that matter) lived in the Shire where they could be "visited". Chance meetings (I'm aware of the many connotations of the word "chance" in JRRT's writings thanks to those of Tom Shippey) of the sort of Frodo, Sam and Pippin's meeting with Gildor Inglorion and the Elves accompanying him are more likely. That's why I stated "a bit more dubious about Elves" - being able to meet them, that is.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

A fair point. On the other hand, notice that the camp above Woodhall seems certainly a place frequented by them, and though Frodo may not have known that one, it suggests that they quite probably had other similar places, and that he might have met them at one of those, by "chance" or otherwise.

 

[Eljorahir]

If there's room for another quotation relating to Frodo having met Elves before...

Frodo, Sam, and Pippin are traveling toward Crickhollow, and they first encounter Gildor and the Elves.

'"Elves!" exclaimed Sam in a hoarse whisper...."Yes, it is Elves," said Frodo. "One can meet them sometimes 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..."'

It's not quite a confirmation that Frodo himself had met Elves before, but I think it comes close.

 

[Ent]

room for another quotation

Thank you for this addition, I was heading to find it this morning...!
There seems to be ample evidence the opportunity was there.
It is indeed a bit speculative.
That said, all the above combined seems to present a pretty fair picture of the Frodo discovered by Tolkien.

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

Just came across this thread and really enjoyed reading through it all. Definitely in agreement with you folks that Frodo was certainly exposed to and likely interacted with Elves and Dwarves much earlier in his life than Bilbo, and obviously much more so than the other three Hobbits within the Nine Walkers.

Another thing I noticed on my current reread is how often Tolkien mentions Frodo continually gaining keener and keener "sight" throughout the course of FOTR. This could be yet another association with having an Elvish aire and seems to especially be a trait that is shared with the Elves (moreso the Calaquendi) and the Men of Westernesse.

It would make sense that his bearing the Ring would only increase this force of will and perception to the point that by the time he speaks with Galadriel he can perceive and see her ring without her revealing it to him.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Another thing I noticed on my current reread is how often Tolkien mentions Frodo continually gaining keener and keener "sight" throughout the course of FOTR.

Indeed, just compare his first attempt to rid himself of the burden, with Gandalf at Bag End:

'You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?'

basically begging Gandalf to take it off his hands, with his second, with Galadriel:

'You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel,' said Frodo. 'I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it.'

By this time, he's become more fully aware of the danger and responsibility of possessing the Ring, and the significance of passing it to another.

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

@Squint-eyed Southerner Yes indeed. I love that throughout the course of Frodo's journey, it is especially noted in FOTR but it continues in a more implicit manner throughout the Trilogy, how Tolkien continues to show the magnitude of the changes Frodo has gone through (both through his words and his actions). You get the feeling that all his increased will and wisdom are well-earned and it makes his eventual downfall at the Cracks of Doom all the more heartbreaking.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Heartbreaking, but inevitable, according to Tolkien's conception of the power of Ring, and the effect of entering Mt. Doom, the "Heart of Darkness" in Middle-earth, where "all other powers were here subdued", where even Galadriel's phial threw no light.

The journey into Mordor features increasingly demonic imagery: the Dead Marshes, for example, which is also a demonic parody of the katabasis episode of Galadriel's Mirror. Eventually, everything of "Frodo" is burned away; when Sam asks if he remembers "that bit of rabbit" he replies:

'No, I am afraid not, Sam,' said Frodo. 'At least, I know that such things happened, but I cannot see them. No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. 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 naked eyes, and all else fades.'

Here is a common demonic image from the last stages of the tragic arc; King Lear says "I am bound upon a wheel of fire". The hero is at this point unable to retain any kind of tragic dignity, and is reduced to unrelieved suffering.

All that is left is will: 'I'll crawl, Sam.' The power of Frodo's will could be attributed to several sources: innate character, training and wisdom received from Bilbo, Gandalf, and the Elves, his experiences on the quest, and of course, possession of the Ring itself.

One factor which is perhaps under-appreciated, because Tolkien deliberately eliminated or de-emphasized direct religious imagery, is lembas. It's a commonplace that this is modeled on the Catholic Host, which he says in a letter increases the will, especially during fasting, where it is the only food taken, as it is in the last stages of the quest.

 

[LaurelinBearsFruit]

Very interesting that bit about Lembas, have never made that connection before!

 

[Elthir]

Prasorbing stuff S-eS!

👍

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Pratty old stuff, prechance-- but prohaps useful.