Frodo Baggins is one of the most iconic characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the other related movies and books which was written by JRR Tolkien. Fans have always rooted for Frodo as he went through plenty of trials and tribulations so as to destroy the One Ring, which he finally accomplished in the fires of Mount Doom.
But towards the end, when everything seems to be at peace and Frodo has the chance to live the rest of his life with family and dear ones, we see him departing on a boat along with other Ring-Bearers to the Undying and leaving Middle-Earth. Why does Frodo leave on the boat to the Undying?
Why Does Frodo Leave Middle-Earth?
In the ending of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Frodo leaves on the boat for the Undying Lands as he wanted to live in peace following the injuries that he went through. Although he seemed to have recovered, the injuries took a toll on him physically, mentally and emotionally, and so leaving Middle Earth and going to the Undying Lands was the only way to live peacefully with his injuries.
From the beginning, Frodo Baggins knows that inorder to save the world from disaster, the One Ring has to be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. He is one of the few characters who are less likely to fall to the temptation of calling the ring his own. He takes on the quest to destroy the One Ring in spite of knowing that it would be difficult, given his stature as a hobbit and his lack of size, strength or the resources to undertake it.
As his journey begins, he begins to encounter the many burdens of being the ring-bearer. He encounters the Witch King and suffers a stab wound on his shoulder from the Morgul-knife, which is one of the first injuries that he has to endure. Even after the end of his quest, the wound would not completely heal and would go on to hurt Frodo. He even gets almost stabbed through his Mithril armour initially.
But as he goes through the journey, Frodo realizes that the burden of carrying the ring makes it slower and heavier for him to move on. In the ordeal that he further faced, he was impaled and poisoned by the giant spider Shelob, which almost succeeded in killing him. He faces dehydration and starvation, but the wound caused by Gollum’s betrayal would be another painful sting that would never truly heal.
Frodo Baggins continuously grows weary from the burden of carrying the ring. It reaches a point where he becomes troubled, and grows distant and quiet. He even wishes to continue the journey when he sees how the One Ring affects the rest of the fellowship. But even when Frodo is aware of the possibility of death, he is resilient and pushes through his afflictions so as to see his quest fulfilled.
As Frodo finally gets to the fires of Mount Doom, he realizes that he is not willing to see the ring get destroyed. Although he was able to resist the temptation of the ring through the journey, the resulting weakness and vulnerability allowed the ring’s darkness to finally catch hold of him.
Frodo’s fingers gets bitten off by Gollum, which then prompts Frodo to take back the ring but ends up pushing it and Golum off the mountain and into the fire, where the ring gets destroyed. In the books, Samwise Gamgee cuts off Frodo’s fingers so as to let go of the ring.
Thus the One Ring gets destroyed and Frodo Baggins was able to complete his quest in spite of the trials that he had to face which nearly killed him. Frodo then gets back home to the Shire, where he tries to live the rest of his life together with his hobbit friends.
But even when he gets back home, his wounds never truly fade and he still feels the sting of the physical and emotional injuries that he had to endure. When he confides to Gandalf that a part of him regrets destroying the ring, the wise wizard tells him that all wounds may not heal with the passage of time.
This is what finally led Frodo to leave Middle Earth and go to the Undying lands, so as to live the rest of his mortal life in peace in spite of his injuries.
