Frodo is the protagonist of The Return of the King, and this book concludes his character development in the trilogy by portraying his self-sacrifice to destroy the Ring. While Frodo began the trilogy as an innocent and cheerful hobbit, by the final book he has been wounded, traumatized, and corrupted by his quest. He admits to Sam that he has no hope left, but his love for Sam motivates him to continue to try despite his despair. This despair is symbolized by his inability to remember the Shire, as he tells Sam, “this blind dark seems to be getting into my heart. As I lay in prison, Sam, I tried to remember the Brandywine, the Woody End, and The Water running through the mill at Hobbiton. But I can’t see them now” (897). His inability to even imagine what he is trying to save suggests the extent of the Ring’s power over him by this point.

Frodo finally succumbs to the Ring’s influence in The Return of the King, beginning to become a corrupt creature like Gollum and seeking to claim the Ring for his own. He is aware of this transformation, warning Sam that “I am almost in its power now.