Was Frodo Baggins a Tragic Hero?

Recently I had a discussion with a friend about current heroes and the heroes of old. Typically when we think of the modern day hero, there is the happy ending we all wanted for them. The nice guy gets the girl. The nerd gets the prom queen or the jock gets the geeky girl he had a crush on. Something that makes us smile for our hero.

Yet we forget the heroes of old, we forget that their ends were tragic. Take a moment and remember or look up the story of Enkidu and Gilgamesh. Their ending was not one of celebration or joy. It was a story of loss and of shame. Think of Prince Hamlet whom had his revenge but died from the tip of a poison blade. Remember the legend that was Beowulf, a man whom became lost in his own fame, lust, and misfortune.

Some heroes do not live happily ever after. Society changes around them for the better or worse. The hero stays the same or the change he endures makes him an outcast, an outsider to the world around him. Suddenly the hero is enemy number one. There is no longer a place for him.

Consider for a moment the story of one Frodo Baggins from The Lord of The Rings trilogy. A young hobbit who took upon himself a great undertaking, a journey that no normal person would or any sane person as it would seem. Frodo took up the One Ring and with Samwise Gamgee they went to the end of the world, to Mount Doom. However, the ring had a toll on Frodo, it corrupted him. It changed him. Much like the ring-bearer before him, Bilbo Baggins, it became a great burden. To carry the world's darkness for the sake of all life was a titanic undertaking for one person, whether they were big or small.

Fast forward and at the end of their journey, after they saved Middle Earth, Frodo was not the same. He did not smile the way he used too. The joy he once felt at the Green Dragon was lessened, dulled in life. There was a scar that lingered on his soul. Where the ring once hung around his neck was the weight of his own darkness, his own unyielding and twisting desire. In the end he knew where his truth path must go. Into the West. He would leave with Gandalf and Bilbo. In Hobbiton there was no place for a person marked by the dark ways of the past. He knew this to be true. In time he may have gotten worse, perhaps he would be no better off than the deformed Gollum.

Ponder for a moment why it is so hard for us to accept the hero's sacrifice. Why do we yearn that they could be happy? Because we ventured with them from there and back again. We were there for the entire length of the journey. The reader and audience in the theaters shared the same feelings. They shared the hardships and laughed when hilarity ensued. For this goodbye to be the end was too much, it was heartrending.

It was hard to say good bye to someone we came to like. The pages you once turned quickly brought you toward the back cover and this was where the story led you. To sacrifice so much and in the end find yourself with something that seemed so final. A period in life's sentence. He had to say farewell. So we said farewell as the vessel carried him west.

Was Frodo Baggins a tragic hero? Ponder this as you consider other heroes who may have led a similar journey or met a familiar fate. Think of the goodbyes.