The Two Towers by J.R.R Tolkien (Harper Collins 1991, 2007)
The overwhelming force that is the army of Minas Morgul has passed down the valley on its way to assault th6e city of Minas Tirith and Frodo is left alone in the shadows at the beginning of the long climb to Cirith Ungol with Sam and Gollum.
Suddenly, despite his escape from the Lord of the Nazgûl, Frodo is overcome by despair.
“Frodo stirred. And suddenly his heart went out to Faramir. ‘The storm has burst at last,’ he thought. ‘This great array of spears and swords is going to Osgiliath. Will Faramir get across in time? He guessed it, but did he know the hour? And who can now hold the fords when the King of the Nine Riders is come? And other armies will come. I am too late. All is lost. I tarried on the way. All is lost. Even if my errand is performed, no one will ever know. There will be no one I can tell. It will be in vain.’ Overcome with weakness he wept. And still the host of Morgul crossed the bridge.”
“And still the host of Mordor crossed the bridge”. Alan Lee depicts the scene that Frodo saw as the Witch King leads his army to war.
Perhaps the choreography that I spoke of in my last post on The Two Towers has had its effect, albeit one that was unintended. The shock and awe was all intended to drain morale from the defenders of Minas Tirith but it is Frodo who is lying on the ground, all hope gone and no strength left to continue his journey. We can imagine that repeated phrase, “all is lost”, resounding over and over again within him, gaining an ever tightening grasp upon his heart. And there is still the terrible climb up the stairs of Cirith Ungol yet to be attempted; a task that will require all the strength that he possesses.
At a moment like this when all seems lost something has to pierce the darkness and for Frodo this something is one of exquisite simplicity. We must assume that Frodo must have fallen into a swoon, overwhelmed by the horror of what he has witnessed, or at least to have appeared to have done so, because it is Sam’s voice that breaks through to him.
“Wake up, Mr. Frodo! Wake up!”
And in those simple words, just for the briefest of moments, Frodo is transported back to the Shire and breakfast is about to be served. Of course the moment cannot last and the awful reality must return but when it does Frodo has strength to resist it. He knows that it is likely that all is in vain, that Gondor will fall before the power that has come against it but it is almost as if this no longer matters. “That what he had to do, he had to do, if he could, and that whether Faramir or Aragorn or Elrond or Galadriel or Gandalf or anyone else ever knew about it was beside the purpose.”
The early fathers of the Christian Church taught that an essential foundation of the spiritual life was a renunciation of despair and this is true. For Frodo this renunciation is expressed in the words “what he had to do, he had to do”. And it is worth emphasising here also, that for Frodo, and for many others also, the spiritual life is not some state of endless bliss but a bloody minded refusal to give in, a determination to go on putting one foot in front of the other. Tolkien puts this wonderfully as he concludes this passage by saying of Frodo that “he prepared to take the upward road”.
Frodo does renounce despair at this point in the story and there is a sense in which he will have to repeat that renunciation over and over again before the end of his journey and when his mind can no longer do so his body will have to do it and when his body can no longer do so Sam will have to carry him and renounce despair for him. But just before the renunciation that we have described here there is that moment of pure grace when another reality than the one he must return to breaks in from outside through Sam’s voice and simple words. This moment of grace will not always be repeated but it comes here, just Frodo has to take the upward road, and it is enough, though barely. Frodo will make the journey to Orodruin.
Wisdom from The Lord of the Rings 
“I Am Too Late. All is Lost” captures pretty well my midlife crisis.
Many thanks for sharing this, Brenton. What I wanted to share is that the renunciation of despair is often not some act of heroism as Boromir would have understood it but the courage to take one more step and then another one and then one step more. And then in Frodo’s case he is carried on one occasion by orcs, on another by Sam, and then his task is fulfilled by a creature who only wishes his harm. A strange kind of grace and not one that anyone would wish for if they could choose. And then on the question of timing Frodo reaches the Cracks of Doom at just the right time, at the kairos moment, and he has no control over this at all. None of this would have been of comfort to him and my guess is that the gentle purgatory, as Tolkien put it, that he went through in the Undying Lands was a slow healing that he could not find in the Shire. I think that eventually he would have seen how grace completed the work that he tried to do in a way that he would have recognised as his own but also understood as entirely the work of God. I think this because Tolkien wrote his story, Leaf by Niggle, during the time that he was trying to complete both The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarilion. This means that Frodo, and Tolkien, and you and me will all reach the point when all we will be able to do is to praise. And that will all be gift as well.
Peace and all Good be with you, Brenton. You are often in my prayers and always with grateful thoughts.
Dear Stephen, this is such a lovely note, once again. Perhaps 2026 will see us on a hike together…. The Lord willing and all that business about the creek rising.
Can I add one more thing to your amazing response? Because I am not in Mordor and have sunshine and family and a world of lovely things, I can do the next step, and maybe the next, but I can also laugh at myself. Not in a mean way! But when I had the feeling that my life has slipped away and I haven’t done the thing yet, after the moment of terror, I can step back and laugh. I have done lots of “things” and that magical and elusive “thing” isn’t real. Some people draw a target around where their arrow hit the bale of straw; I succeed on something and draw the target above that success. Plus, I have always known that this might be my last breath, so why don’t I feel that now in this decade like last decade. And finally, I believe that I am bringing heaven into my daily life, linking my work to a much grander story than the cosmic hiccough that is my lifespan. So why panic?
So, I follow Sam and Frodo, and I can also laugh at myself. It really is a stronger position to be in.
Thank you so much, Brenton. I would also love to meet up and walk with you again. I hope that we will. Laura and I are about to head up to the English Lake District for a week and we will hike in the fells there. My mother grew up there and I always feel connected to her when I go there. My next reflection on the blog has just been posted and now it’s time to get ready.
Frodo’s despair always gets me when i read and reread this passage. I wonder where we drawn strength from when we are at that utmost despair. I think i loved how Tolkien wrote in HOME through Gandalf how Frodo was Bronwe athan Harthad or Endurance Beyond hope. He remains my favorite character and i love how that he went on even though maybe it woudln’t matter at the end.
I am not sure that Frodo consciously draws strength from any particular source but he is given it at this crucial moment in the story when he is in danger of falling into despair. Such strength is only given to us when we need it.
And Frodo is my favourite character too. Not because he is greater than Sam who many regard as the true hero of the story but because I identify more with him. I do not have Sam’s simple courage. If I achieve anything it is because of the people who care about me and because of sheer grace.
I identify with Frodo too more. Sam is very courageous and does things out of his really solid true hobbity heart, like I feel like there’s not one bad things about Sam.
Thinking of your topic of despair, how many times do other characters in the book have felt “utlmost despair”? How did they manage to move on? I have made a list:
1) Aragorn when he felt despair at Boromir’s passing
2) Pippin when he thought that Frodo had failed at the black gate
3) Faramir felt a lot of despair when he had to try to overtake Osgiliath and the Causeway Forts at his father’s bidding
4) here for Frodo when he sees this vast army come out from MInas Morgul but he is no where close to Orodruin where he has to help with the destruction of the RIng but may be too late.
5) When Sam thinks Frodo is dead, how can he move on without his master?
6) Gimli at the paths of the dead?
It is an interesting topic to talk about and even worth a mini-essay. 🙂
Thank you, Kaleena. Your examples are so helpful. There are so many struggles with despair in The Lord of the Rings. I know that I will be returning to this theme many times.