What does Frodo do instead of destroying the ring?

What does Frodo do instead of destroying the ring? He takes it for himself. At the Crack of Doom, Frodo stands over the fire but cannot willingly cast the One Ring into it. The Ring's power has steadily weakened his judgment throughout the journey, and at the final moment he claims it as his own.

This is not an accidental drop or a decision to return the Ring to Gollum. Frodo explicitly declares ownership, putting the Ring on his finger and becoming visible to Sauron. The Nazgûl then rush toward Mount Doom, but Gollum attacks Frodo, bites off his finger, and falls into the fire while clutching the Ring.

The outcome reflects Tolkien's idea that the Ring could not simply be defeated through personal willpower at the very place of its destruction. Frodo's earlier endurance still matters: he carried the Ring farther than anyone else could. Samwise Gamgee also briefly carries it, but never claims it for himself. The Ring is ultimately destroyed through Gollum's obsession and an act Frodo could no longer choose freely.