Okay, I was going to write something very profound today, but then someone said something about the Lord of the Rings on Quora that was wrong, so I dropped everything and decided to post this instead. What awful thing did they say, Dear Reader, that prompted me to stop what I was doing and post this instead? Just this: they proposed that rather than going East to Rivendell, Sam and Frodo should have gone west to Lindon and then sailed to Gondor to destroy the Ring.

(Thunder Crash! Ominous sound effects! Unsettling bass line!)

The person who made this suggestion shall go unnamed, both because I don’t want to sully his reputation and I never bothered to look at the Quora poster’s name. However, I will tear this suggestion to shreds. No, no Frodo should not have gone West rather than East.

To explain why, I will go over the basic facts. Frodo is traveling with the One Ring. The One Ring created by Sauron, the bad guy, who is of a race called the Maia. They’re part of the Ainur, these angelic creatures created at the beginning of the world, but they’re the lesser Ainur. The important thing is that it’s Sauron’s Ring and he’s kind of a fallen angel, a higher being. So, it’s an open question who can or cannot wield the ring the way Sauron can. Other Maia, like Gandalf, maybe, Elves, it’s likely, Humans, probably not, but who knows. This is important because Gandalf, who refuses the Ring, doesn’t want the Ring to fall into the hands of some being that would be tempted to use it. That’s why he wants Frodo to have the Ring, as a hobbit wouldn’t try to use it, knowing they could not wield it given how small and powerless they are.

So, with this in mind, why wouldn’t it be wise to go to Lindon and then sail to Gondor? Well, first, it should be noted until a council was held with in Rivendell, it had not been decided that the Ring should be destroyed. That was only decided at the Council of Elrond. Now, you could say, wouldn’t a Council held by Cirdan say the same thing? Maybe, but there’s no way to be sure, I would say. Who’s to say that the same people attend? Gimli, Legolas, and Boromir might not have made the trip all the way to the Grey Havens. No way of knowing how this alternate conversation goes.

However, let’s assume that a Council held in the Grey Havens has the same result and they decide to go to Gondor by ship. What’s wrong with that plan, assuming they don’t get intercepted by a Corsair ship from Umbar? (I mention this because it’s a real possibility) Simply that Gandalf did not want the Ring going to Gondor, because he didn’t want anyone to try to wield the Ring!

This is the same mistake people make when they suggest Frodo and Sam could have just asked the Eagles to take them to Mount Doom. Aside from the fact that Mordor had an air force, the Eagles would be tempted to use the Ring because they are also angelic beings. Gandalf wouldn’t have put that into his plan because he would have avoided other higher beings who would be tempted to take the Ring for themselves. If he had not died in Moria, he likely would have told the Fellowship to avoid Lothlorien so to avoid taking the Ring anywhere near Galadriel. Sure, she may have resisted the temptation, but Gandalf wouldn’t have risked it. He wouldn’t have agreed to go through Moria if he knew a Balrog (another fallen Maia) was living there.

As for Gondor, Denethor would be too tempted to use the Ring for Gandalf to allow the Ring to go anywhere near Minas Tirith. This is borne out by Boromir trying to take the Ring from Frodo. Maybe a human can use it, maybe a human can’t, but the Gondorians would clearly think it was worth a try given how Mordor was pounding them. If that Ring goes through Gondor, Denethor is having the Fellowship rerouted to Minas Tirith so he can try it on.

That’s why the Ring can’t go through Gondor. Too much temptation to use the Ring. Indeed, there are so many different people who are tempted to use the Ring in Middle Earth, that really, the only way the Ring could be destroyed is the way that it was. One of the lessons of the story is that power inevitably corrupts, which is why some powers men aren’t meant to have. Gandalf wouldn’t have wanted the Ring anywhere near any person who thought for a minute they could use it to do good, with the narrow exception of himself, and maybe not even that. After all, Gandalf intended to go with Frodo and Sam to Morder, but he obviously got interrupted. If he had gone to Mordor, would he have given into temptation, knowing for a fact he could have wielded the Ring to destroy Sauron? It’s possible. Probably better that the journey went the way it did. Any other, seemingly easier way, and maybe Middle Earth just replaces one dark lord with another.