What still hurts Frodo, even years after returning home to The Shire?

Frodo is still hurt by the stab wound he received from the Ringwraiths, specifically the Witch-king’s Morgul blade at Weathertop. The wound is not an ordinary injury: its dark magic threatens to turn its victim into a wraith, and even after Aragorn and Elrond save Frodo, it never fully heals.

After returning to the Shire, Frodo’s shoulder wound aches again on the anniversary of the attack. In the book, he also suffers recurring illness connected to his other injuries, including Shelob’s sting. These lingering pains help explain why Frodo cannot simply resume a peaceful, ordinary life after the War of the Ring.

A common mix-up is Frodo’s missing finger. Gollum bites it off while Frodo stands at the Cracks of Doom, but that injury is not described as the recurring source of pain in the Shire. His desire for the Ring is also real psychological damage, but the question’s physical answer is the Ringwraith wound. In both Tolkien’s story and the film adaptation, Frodo ultimately leaves Middle-earth because his wounds—physical and emotional—run too deep for him to heal completely in the Shire.