Sam Gamgee Was A Brave And Loyal Hobbit

I wrote a while back about the character Tom Bombadil from the Lord Of the Rings. He's a fascinating character to me for the fact that he represents true neutrality and is obviously very powerful. The One Ring held no power over him. Another character I admire is Sam Gamgee.

Sam is just a simple hobbit from The Shire. His father was the gardener for Bilbo Baggins, and Sam grew up knowing Frodo Baggins. Sam was learning to take over the duties for his father. One day he overheard Frodo and Gandalf The Grey talking about The One Ring and the doom that it represented.

Sam always wanted to get out of The Shire and see more of Middle Earth. Plus, he deeply respected Frodo and worried about what might happen to him. Gandalf caught Sam eavesdropping on his conversation with Frodo. He put Sam in charge of keeping an eye on Frodo during the journey to destroy the ring. Sam took great pride in his duty.

After the party visited the elven forest of Lothlorien, Frodo tried to leave everybody, including Sam. He wanted to destroy the ring himself and spare everybody the burden. Sam followed him and refused to leave his side. At one point, Sam carried the ring and defended Frodo from sure death.

He may have been a simple hobbit, but he was very brave and loyal. There's a "modern day" assumption that Sam was gay because of the way he acted towards Frodo. The fact was he married Rosie Cotton and they had many children together. Frodo left Sam Bag End when he left The Shire for The Undying Lands.

Another interesting fact is that Sam himself went to The Undying Lands after his wife passed away. He earned that right as one of the Ring Bearers. If not for Sam, the quest to destroy the ring might have failed. You have to respect his bravery against the overwhelming odds that he and Frodo faced. Frodo would not have made it without him.