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Ok, so i want to talk about this.
My tweet is in response to a quote from the fellowship of the ring. In it, Frodo is feeling a bit sorry for himself, for having inherited both the Ring and the problems it poses.
1/? https://twitter.com/browofjustice/status/1345093353629597696
My tweet is in response to a quote from the fellowship of the ring. In it, Frodo is feeling a bit sorry for himself, for having inherited both the Ring and the problems it poses.
1/? https://twitter.com/browofjustice/status/1345093353629597696
The quote is this:
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
2/?
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
2/?
People love this quote. So do I! But very often it's used in a "no pain no gain" sort of way, and that's what I want to talk about.
What happens to Frodo after the Ring is destroyed?
3/?
What happens to Frodo after the Ring is destroyed?
3/?
He's a big hero, right, ride off into the sunset for a happily ever after?
Well...no. I mean, he's a hero, sure. Sam can't stop talking about how good it will be to get home and Frodo warns him. "The Shire has been saved, but not for me."
4/?
Well...no. I mean, he's a hero, sure. Sam can't stop talking about how good it will be to get home and Frodo warns him. "The Shire has been saved, but not for me."
4/?
He has a rather rambling time home, and once there, the Shire has been rather destroyed by Saruman. So none of them get their happily ever after: they come home to the fact that everything they loved has been changed, even each other, and not for the better.
5/?
5/?
And that's the trauma story, isn't it? That's what PTSD is like. Even when you leave the dangerous environment, you carry those things with you. The past refuses to stay in the past, even--and perhaps especially--for heroes.
6/?
6/?
You cannot have borne the weight and problems Frodo did, make the choices he did, without being forever changed.
No one passes through the fire and emerges unscathed.
7/?
No one passes through the fire and emerges unscathed.
7/?
The final gift of tenderness of JRR Tolkien to Frodo is his passage to the Undying Lands, the end of his suffering.
He was 33 when he inherited the Ring.
He was 50 when he left the Shire.
He was not even 51 when the Ring passed into the Fire.
He was 53 when he left forever.
8/?
He was 33 when he inherited the Ring.
He was 50 when he left the Shire.
He was not even 51 when the Ring passed into the Fire.
He was 53 when he left forever.
8/?
The two years and few months he spent after the destruction of the Ring and the overthrow of Sauron he spent mostly ill and suffering.
He was forever changed, and not for the better. Yet eventually he found peace...not alone.
9/?
He was forever changed, and not for the better. Yet eventually he found peace...not alone.
9/?
Which is the part I hold tightly when the weight of harm presses. We are not alone, not ever.
PTSD will tell you that you will suffer alone forever, but it's not true. Peace exists, and we will find it, and we are not and will not be alone.
10/10
PTSD will tell you that you will suffer alone forever, but it's not true. Peace exists, and we will find it, and we are not and will not be alone.
10/10
