Heeding the Call
As in all myths and fairy tales, the world created by Tolkien is much more black and white than our own. Still, Frodo and his band [in The Lord of the Rings] have been brought together for a special mission. While the idea of mission in our cynical age seems romantic at best, the record of history is filled with moments where it
becomes clear to a person or a small group of people that injustices are afoot and something needs to be done about it. Whereas in most times and places people more or less sleepwalk into their life’s vocation, in times like these, people find their vocations thrust upon them with a sense of inevitability. One thinks of Martin Luther and his namesake Martin Luther King, Jr. as two real-life individuals in situations similar to that of Frodo and the fellowship of the ring -- not to mention Jesus and his disciples. If The Lord of the Rings has a moral, it’s that there is such a thing as the "fullness of time" and that each of us has an obligation to respond when our time comes.

--from "The Lord of the Rings: A Commentary by John Tintera"