Excellent summary of our discussion.
Watson makes excellent points about means and ends i think, and how that would
be counter to the type of hero that frodo is ... for tolkien the ends don't
justify the means.
The other argument is purely mechanical ... using the ring (not in the sense of
putting it on, but somehow simply drawimng on it) might have been a nice
trigger to draw the attention of the Eye (either with or without the rest of
His possible corporeal body :P).
I definitely think that it would have been reckless before the Black Gate ...
and there's stages on the Emyn Muil where Frodo seems to intimate to Sam that
he feels watched.
However, he is dominating on Emyn Muil ... pretty much in the same way he is on
Mt Doom. Is it possible that he's not drawing on the Ring, but that the Ring is
somehow augmenting him? I think someone made this point in HoF ... that the
Ring has a presence ... it terrifies the Orcs of the Gladden fields when
Isildur is wearing it .... "they shot their arrows wildly then fled in terror"
(of the ring?). I realise Isildur was wearing the elendilmir as well, but the
Ring seems to have an intimidating presence that doesn't require active use
...this effect works for Sam as well when he's climbing up the tower of Cirith
Ungol.
So, I think it's a bit of Frodo and a bit of the Ring ... which is how things
often seem to end up in LoTR.
Anyways, that's my few cents worth ...
Demosthenes
