#maybe if you're like an elite hermit with the mental health of a well loved child but

[cornerful]

Frodo had felt himself trembling as the first shock of fear passed. Now a great weariness came down on him like a cloud. He could dissemble and resist no longer.

'I was going to find a way into Mordor,' he said faintly. 'I was going to Gorgoroth. I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.'

Faramir stared at him for a moment in grave astonishment. Then suddenly he caught him as he swayed, and lifting him gently, carried him to the bed and laid him there, and covered him warmly. At once he fell into a deep sleep.

This always moves me, how Faramir is so openly tender to him (and they only met this morning.) That he physically carries him when he can't stand any longer and makes sure he'll sleep warmly. There's no "oh gee...sucks for you wow" *awkward shoulder pat.* There's no self-ashamed, emotionally beaten down worry about being "uncool" or "unmanly" for showing kindness.

Poor Frodo is just exhausted from the weight of the world on his shoulders, and having to hide and hide the nature of his quest, and when he gets an opportunity to tell someone out loud the horrible truth of what he has to do, all of a sudden it's too much for him.

Adrenaline and stress can keep us going through fear and fire and foes for a long time, well past what the body can normally handle. It's when there's an island in the stream, a break, an interlude of safety from ongoing trauma that we collapse. An overtired soul will break eventually under strain, but if it is allowed a reprieve, even a short one, that is when we get some of the sweetest moments of rest.

Faramir says that he should have been chosen in Boromir's place, and that might be true. All the same I'm very glad that it was he that Frodo and Sam met in Ithilien, and not someone less wise.

And good grief am I glad that Frodo and Sam have each other. On this journey they each have only the other as confidant and true friend, paddle in the stream, reminder of what is good and true 🍀

#it's dangerous to go alone take this *hands a hobbit another hobbit* #I'm so serious though isolation is Not good for your brain #maybe if you're like an elite hermit with the mental health of a well loved child but #anyway behold another of my love letters to tenderness. it's important #lotr newsletter #lotrn307 #yall like my stream metaphor 😎 i am perhaps Overfond of those heh