Frodo Baggins — No less a hero than Samwise Gamgee

He bore it. He bore voluntarily the burden of that which such powerful beings as Gandalf and Galadriel would not agree to possess — the One Ring, with its insidious powers of entrancement. He persevered through the arduous voyage, though he had no military training-induced forbearance to resist overwhelming sentiments or forces as would be a core appurtenance of a veteran of many wars. Who was he to begin with, but a buoyant, young-at-heart and simple dweller of the Shire? Yet, he trudged through the travails, not once renouncing the quest, honouring his word. At the stroke of the vital moment, indeed, the Ring overwhelmed him, but that is to be expected, for the influence of the Ring is said to be nonesuch at Orodruin (Mount Doom), but were this to be gainsaid, Frodo was nonetheless much enervated mentally and physically to resist its entrancing powers.

His trust in Gollum may be dismissed as exemplary naïveté, but it may well be said that Frodo reposed faith in Gandalf’s words, “My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many — yours not least.” Gandalf’s fall in the depths of Moria perhaps shattered him further, and he deemed fit to regard Gandalf’s words gravely. The remainder of the Fellowship were secure in the assurance of Gandalf’s leadership, powerful as he now was after his return, but Frodo, who was evidently quite close to Gandalf, had no such encouragement. At any rate, he was right: they could not have made it to Mordor and further towards Orodruin without Gollum’s knowledge of alternate routes.

It is perfectly fine for the fandom to express affinity galore for Samwise Gamgee; indeed, he has merited this ovation. He is the quintessence of loyalty to Frodo and his mission, and of unwavering friendship, ever prepared to stake his very life in defence of his master and friend. Such selflessness, such faith in both the momentousness of Frodo’s mission and Frodo himself often evaded even the best of warriors, as seen in Rohan’s unwillingness to aid Gondor, until thankfully King Théoden chooses to abjure his reticence. Yet, commendable in every aspect though Samwise has been, Frodo was no less of a hero, and Tolkien himself would disapprove of the often unfortunate concomitance, with respect for Samwise, of disdain for Frodo:

Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), ‘that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named’ (as one critic has said). See Vol. I p. 65.2 A third (the only other) commentator on the point some months ago reviled Frodo as a scoundrel (who should have been hung and not honoured), and me too. It seems sad and strange that, in this evil time when daily people of good will are tortured, ‘brainwashed’, and broken, anyone could be so fiercely simpleminded and self righteous.

And

Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) and had produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved. His humility (with which he began) and his sufferings were justly rewarded by the highest honour; and his exercise of patience and mercy towards Gollum gained him Mercy: his failure was redressed.

Also

Frodo undertook his quest out of love — to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could; and also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task. His real contract was only to do what he could, to try to find a way, and to go as far on the road as his strength of mind and body allowed. He did that. I do not myself see that the breaking of his mind and will under demonic pressure after torment was any more a moral failure than the breaking of his body would have been — say, by being strangled by Gollum, or crushed by a falling rock.

Some elements in the fandom may, even in face of such evidence, continue to direct the choicest obloquies at Frodo, but all such obloquies would fail to gainsay the fact that Tolkien himself would not regard Frodo as a failure. Devotion to detail mattered to Tolkien, and he wrote several letters to many readers to convey his views on his universe; evidence as to what he did or did not intend. He did not intend for Frodo to be regarded as a moral failure, and I think it deferential to his universe to accept that. Praising Samwise Gamgee as we must need not involve hating Frodo Baggins in concomitance.