"My peculiar fondness for hobbits? Well, they are quite trusting, easily manipulated, and breed like rabbits. Here is my current plan: Fashion a thin mithril chain, leagues long, with the One Ring looped on the end, which Hobbit One carries by hand. Send him running across the Plateau of Gorgoroth towards Mount Doom. If the chain stops moving, reel it back in, hand the Ring to Hobbit Two, and repeat. With thousands of hobbits, eventually one should make it into the Crack of Doom out of sheer luck. "I have invested centuries into this. I relish the look on Sauron's face when he realizes he shall fall to a brute force attack."

That’s what I’ve thought for a long time; Merry is a great hobbit, smart and eager to be involved. I rule him out in this instance though on the premise that I don’t think he’d be able to handle Gollum the way Frodo does. If Merry had a chance to spend some more time with Gandalf perhaps, and have a conversation such as the one in Bag End (when Gandalf explains everything and throws the ring in the fireplace etc) he’d have a wider perspective. But I think as it is, if Gollum attacked Merry and Sam out in the wilderness, neither of them would have the all important pity to spare his life and thus have no way of getting in to Mordor. I do wish we had even more Merry though!

@@David.Bowman. I was thinking about that, too, especially the whole mercy thing, but I decided that Merry would be smart enough to realize that he needed a guide. The difference is how he'd treat Gollum,; it would be closer to Sam's suspicion of Gollum. But I think it could still work.

Eowyn would have been slain. She could not have taken him solo. She did not possess a weapon capable of harming the Witch-king.

@@octaviusmigtonius2965 Did she need a special weapon? As I said in my original response, without Merry there, Tolkien could have written it as her solo effort, and not even mention any special Westernesse blades. As the scene is in the books, Eowyn certainly seems to strike the killing blow: "Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her. The sword broke sparkling into many shards. The crown rolled away with a clang. Éowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe." The Witch-king himself certainly seemed to think that her threat was real, even without a special sword: "The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no answer, and was silent, as if in sudden doubt." ... "the Black Captain, in doubt and malice intent upon the woman before him," Even if she would need a special sword (which she didn't necessarily as I have argued above), it would have been very easy to have her sword coming from Arthedain, via Angmar and Scatha's Hoard or something. However, I agree with you that in the story that we have, without Merry there to cripple the Witch-king at the last moment, the Witch-king would have slain Eowyn while she was down from the breaking of her arm. And the follow-up makes it seem that Merry's strike probably would have been enough to unmake the Witch-king: "No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will." The breaking the spell part, in particular.

As mentioned in my answer to your reply to my comment about Merry, I think Merry could have done it. I think he could have been smart enough to show mercy. But I admit that it is not a done deal. Just that it could have gone that way, if we want to story to work out roughly the same even with Frodo dead at Moria.

@@anarionelendili8961I definitely agree Merry is a close second, just he might need an extra lesson or two. But since we’re writing in a death for Frodo, we can insert a scenario that gives Merry some prep that sets him up for what’s to come. Maybe during the conversation with Galadriel at the mirror he could see something that is specific to him instead of Frodo.

Quite agreed. Then again, he did revise and rewrite it enough times, before the current version came out. But it is very nice, and helps to keep things... grounded, in a way? I find that it is a hallmark of a good story when it hangs together and the people in it make understandable choices, even if they are wrong choices from the omniscient narrator perspective (like Denethor's despair). It is one of the reasons I really dislike some of the changes in the LotR movies, as they break some of this narrative cohesion (particularly, Theoden).

@@anarionelendili8961 I'll agree with you on the movie changes: Théoden was done poorly, and Denethor down right dirty. Shame... They're still the best adaptations we're ever going to get, but that only makes its relatively few mistakes all the more annoying.

While I agree about Merry being the new Ring Bearer, I think Aragorn would go with Gimli, Merry and Sam, as he had intended to do with Frodo. Maybe Haldir or Legolas as an add-on. Of course, at that point, the question becomes if Pippin would go with the other two hobbits or not? As I mentioned in my own comment, it would be easy enough to think that Merry needs a moment to think What Would Frodo Do, and Boromir tries to take the Ring from him. The orc attack happens the same way, leading him and Sam to leave the Fellowship, while Pippin gets captured by the Uruk-hai, forcing Aragorn and the rest to go after the Uruks, and the rest of the story unfolds almost the same.

You make some interesting points, as usual. I just don't see the Fellowship leaving Frodo's body behind. I think Aragorn would carry him with the Ring still around his neck, like in the book, but this time Frodo wouldn't revive from his injury. This way, you don't have to change what happens to Gandalf in Moria. Then Aragorn could carry Frodo's body to Lothlorien, where Galadriel could have his body washed and placed on a bed in the Elves' version of the House of Healing. There Frodo would be resurrected by Eru Iluvatar, much in the same way as Gandalf was resurrected. Any solution to this problem requires direct intervention from Eru, me thinks.🤔

I think he would be able to read the writing on it🔥🔥🔥

Tolkien himself mentioned that kind of sentiment in connection to his philosophical anarchism and the opposition to the (British) government.

Gandalf knows himself well enough to not take the One Ring for any reason or amount of time.

@@Enerdhil Yeah probably, I was just thinking in the stress of Frodo being dead, hobbits all shrieking, orcs everywhere, I can imagine Gandalf just making a snap decision that it's best if he takes it until they've got enough space & security. The Ring itself might insert this idea in his mind, and indeed it would seem sensible.

@@johannesq6500 I think the best solution to dealing with Frodo's death is what actually happened in the book: pick him up and carry him. That is also what Sam does up Mt. Doom. The Ring can't tempt or control it if you don't look at it and aren't in possession of it. So if Gandalf takes the Ring, even for a short time, does he escape with the rest of the Fellowship, or does he still fall into the abyss with the Balrog? Your choices: no Gandalf the White or a Gandalf the White with the One Ring. 😱

@@Enerdhil Imagine strapping Frodo's corpse to Sam and making him carry it about for months. Imagine the smell.

@@johannesq6500 Of course, it wouldn't be for the whole way.😅 Something would be decided in Lothlorien. My actual solution was to have Frodo resurrected.😁

How’s Glorfindel getting the ring when he’s back in Rivendell though?

@@TolkienLorePodcast I knew someone would ask that @TolkienLorePodcast! I was going to mention in my original post that obviously Celeborn and Galadrial would have to send someone to Rivendell to tell Elrond about the current situation, and my suggestion is that they would would have sent Haldir!

@@sierrablue2007 It would probably take too long for Haldir to get to Rivendell and Glorfindel back to Lorien. Although who knows... The Fellowship 'wastes' a full month in Lorien, and it took less than a month for them to get to Lorien from Rivendell. Haldir, being an elf, could probably jog up the Anduin and take the High Pass to Rivendell much faster than the hobbits walked, and Glorfindel could take the same path down to Lorien. It could just work, timewise.

They would be seen from far away.

I’m pretty sure Grishnakh knew exactly what Merry and Pippin were implying they had. And I don’t think they would keep it for themselves-they were too enslaved to Sauron’s will.

​@@TolkienLorePodcast Thanks! Nice to hear from you.

​@@TolkienLorePodcast How about my crazy solution? Frodo's body gets carried out of Moria. Gandalf falls into the abyss with the Balrog. They carry Frodo's body so they can avoid directly touching the Ring. They carry him to Lothlorien, where Galadriel has his body washed and placed on a bed that is in Galadriel's version of The Houses of Healing. There, with prayer to Iluvatar and healing she learned from Melian, Frodo is resurrected, much like how Gandalf was resurrected. Then he heals and they leave and the rest can stay the same. Am I nuts?😵‍💫

@@Enerdhil I don't think that resurrection would have been in the cards for Frodo. I mean, Luthien had to die herself first to convince Mandos to let Beren and her to be resurrected. I don't think Galadriel would have had similar pull. Gandalf is a special case, and already an angelic being to start with.

@@anarionelendili8961 Look, of course, if anyone can come up with a better way to get the Ents to conquer Isengard, save Rohan and Gondor, and destroy the One Ring, I would be happy to support that. Nevertheless, there is no way to assure all those things will happen without Eru Iluvatar intervening. Tell me, what is better than my crazy solution? It absolutely works. It is possible. Everything else would stay the same. It keeps all Tolkien's storylines by making one tweek.