In Shippey’s last chapter, he discusses myth as it relates to Lord of the Rings. One example in particular that stood out to me was his description of the lineage of Frodo’s name. It turns out that Frodo could have been “Froda”. Because ‘a’ endings were considered masculine in some languages. If so, then Froda is a legendary character whose name translates to “Frothi” in Old Norse. And from here, there’s an even greater story behind the name, as it belongs to a ruler who managed to keep a period of utter peace over his dominion. This really isn’t very interesting to me, to be honest – but then Shippey begins pointing out Frodo’s peaceful inclinations throughout the story. I never realized it how much of a pacifist Frodo had really become over the course of the story…it was very cool to read the examples and quotes that Shippey took out of the book.
Shippey didn’t say anything to support or shoot down the following theory of mine; that Tolkien knew this all along, and purposely called Frodo “Frodo” as opposed to something else BECAUSE he wanted him to be an exceptionally peaceful character. But since words meant so much to Tolkien, I find it hard to believe that he did this on accident – calling him this name would have helped Tolkien to develop Frodo’s character. And then couple all this with the fact that Tolkien left out and explanation of the origins of Frodo’s name in the appendices…I definitely think Tolkien was aware of what he was doing when he named Frodo. It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise, in my opinion.
