2. Frodo Baggins (Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King)
THE QUEST To destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom and destroy Sauron forever
WHAT HAPPENS? Frodo inherits the one ring from his uncle Bilbo, who stole it from Gollum / Smeagol, who stole it from Deagol, he found it long after Isildur was killed, who in turn cut it from Sauron's finger... With the help of the Fellowship, and later Sam Gamgee and Smeagol, he braves the perils of Mordor to make it to the fires of Mount Doom...
WHY DOES HE FAIL? Possible one of the greatest narrative twists portrayed here so brilliantly on screen...Frodo succumbs to the power of the ring and takes it for himself. It is only the greed of Smeagol and a rather nasty struggle that results in Frodo having his finger bitten off, that the ring is destroyed...as Smeagol slips from the ledge and falls into the lava bubbling within Mount Doom. Had Smeagol not been there at the end...would things have turned out very differently? Or would Sam have been forced to fight his friend to destroy the ring once and for all?