TOLKIEN WEEK 2022 (2/2) | day 4: favorite relationship
↳ frodo baggins and samwise gamgee
Then as quickly as he could he cut away the binding cords and laid his head upon Frodo’s breast and to his mouth, but no stir of life could he find, nor feel the faintest flutter of the heart. Often he chafed his master’s hands and feet, and touched his brow, but all were cold.
‘Frodo, Mr. Frodo!’ he called. ‘Don’t leave me here alone! It’s your Sam calling. Don’t go where I can’t follow! Wake up, Mr. Frodo! O wake up, Frodo, me dear, me dear. Wake up!’
Aight I’ve had a few people ask me for this in response to this post so:
Many times in Tolkien’s works, armies, leaders, heroes, etcetera, launch an attack on The Dread Fortress. This is a very Campbellian behavior, obviously, and usually ends with the hero either dying, or surviving but at a horrible price. Some examples:
Fingolfin: Goes after Morgoth (enemy), manages to wound him, but dies, not only losing his life but forcing a leadership change among the Noldor that arguably contributed to the fall of Beleriand.
Beren: went after the Silmaril (object); though it was for the cause of love, he was still going after an object, a prize, and he failed to achieve his goal (lost the Silmaril, and lost his hand).
Gwindor: Went to Angband for revenge for his brother, wound up captured, tortured, and maimed.
Frodo: Went to Mount Doom to throw the ring into the flame, lost his reason (temporarily) and his finger (permanently) and fortunately, the ring (accidentally).
Finrod Felagund: Went to the Tol-in-Gauroth to fulfill his oath (NO OATHS!), lost his life and a rap battle.
Notably, all of these are presented as ostensibly good, right, or at the very least understandable and morally neutral choices and behaviors. None of these are villains. These are protagonists, heroes, rightful kings, or tragic figures.
BUT
If you go into the Dread Fortress specifically seeking a PERSON you love, things go differently.
Sam: Goes into the tower of Cirith Ungol seeking Frodo. Sings a song. Emerges with Frodo. Loses nothing. Later, escapes another dread fortress with the Eagles.
Lúthien: Goes into Angband seeking Beren. Sings a song. Emerges with Beren. Loses nothing. (You can argue that she loses something when she emerges from Mandos with Beren, but it’s still freely traded, and frankly, Mandos is not a Dread Fortress.) Escapes the Dread Fortress with the Eagles.
Fingon: Goes to the Thangorodrim seeking Maedhros. Sings a song. Emerges with Maedhros. Loses nothing. Escapes the Dread Fortress with the Eagles.
In conclusion, if your boyfriend is held prisoner in the Dread Fortress, don’t get mad. Get your harp, and Get Him Back. You’ll probably even get a cool ride home.
stinkylittlegnome
Sam Gamgee strikes me as the kind of guy who would post a picture of himself holding a fish
I know hes canonically scared of boats or whatever, but he still has. the aura. of a fish holding guy
mirkwoodest
It's because he's actually a guy who takes a picture of himself holding a prize-winning vegetable, which is a species with the same genus as fish-holding guys.
glumshoe
my favorite scene in LotR as a kid was when Sam started miserably freestyling in the tower of Cirith Ungol and the only reason he ever found Frodo was because he deliriously tried to join in
lady-lizbiandeactivated
…i did read some of the novels, but i couldn’t get through them entirely…
…and so i genuinely have no idea whether or not this is serious. coz i mean, obviously, it could be a joke. but it could also have legitimately happened. people who have only seen the films underestimate the amount of random things that happen in the books that could come off as utterly silly and ridiculous if removed from their context.
Haha, well, it is pretty much what happens. Sam is looking for Frodo in the tower of Cirith Ungol and is despairing that he will ever find him. He sits down and does what any self-respecting Tolkien character does during their moments of hopelessness and bursts into song.
It’s a really good song (ten year old Ship had it memorized) and as he begins the refrain a second time, he hears Frodo’s voice answering weakly from above. Frodo is poisoned and despairing and beaten but he is still a Hobbit and cannot resist a singalong even while on the brink of death.
prismaticprince
frodo and sam’s love for each other is literally the only thing keeping middle earth from just spontaneously combusting
No, but like, that’s literally it. Gandalf straight-up says to Elrond this Quest can’t succeed by force or wisdom, but by friendship. If Frodo and Sam hate each other even a little, Middle-Earth is doomed.
And it gets more terrifying when you realize that one of the strongest powers of the Ring is to turn people against each other, and that even if it didn’t, the Ring and the Quest still put Frodo in a psychological state where he can barely keep himself sane, let alone love anyone or anything other than the Ring. In fact, I’m fairly sure the Ring tried to persuade Frodo to kill Sam far more often than the books shows - the Ring tends to encourage murder, from what we see. Instead of listening to the Ring, Frodo somehow manages to keep in the back of his mind that he can trust Sam more than he can trust himself, and I have no idea how Frodo can resist the temptation to think his trust is misplaced.
And sure, one could say, “Oh, but Sam has to understand it, so it’s not all that bad” but you have to remember Sam is a plain, non-Tookish hobbit with no inclination or skills for adventuring around and yet he has to become the entire Fellowship. Name one thing the Fellowship did for Frodo that Sam doesn’t also do. He has to advise, guide and protect him as well as keep his hope alive and remind him of who he is. The amount of pressure he’s under is incredible, and unlike, say, Aragorn, he has no experience to draw from. Plus, Merry and Pippin tend to rely on each other, while Frodo relies on Sam, but Sam himself hardly seems to have anyone to turn to for strength. I’m not saying Frodo doesn’t support him as well as he’s able - actually, Frodo is remarkably consistent about taking care of Sam from Book I to Book VI. But what Frodo is capable to offer (see the paragraph above) is far from being all that Sam needs. And actually, in the last stages of the Quest, Sam is basically living a one-sided relationship under the worst possible conditions, and that his devotion doesn’t even waver despite that just blows my mind.
That the Quest was successful is one of the most incredible and beautiful things that Tolkien wrote. Frodo and Sam walked straight into the Land where no love can exist and managed to become closer to each other than they had been. It’s the biggest fuck you Sauron probably ever got. No, seriously. Frodo and Sam beat a Maia basically by cuddling a lot and talking about food. Like, what the fuck??? I mean, if I told you someone could write a 1000 pages novel in which a pacifist and his gardener beat a minor god via supporting each other emotionally, would you believe me?
It’s classic Tolkien: the surprise element (i.e. flawed creatures can be incredibly noble even under unspeakable distress) might overcome even the most carefully thought out plots devised by powerful evil lords. (See also: the entire Silmarillion, pretty much.)
kitteninteacup
“A pacifist and his gardener beat a minor god via supporting each other emotionally” I would read 50 books with this premise. I don’t love all 1,000 pages, but this is the heart that keeps me rereading
lukosei
The boys™️
I haven’t actually come up with much background on them yet, but as always they are inseparable and they deserve the world and more. They both know gandalf outside of camp cause he visits their hometown frequently and is very good friends with Frodo’s uncles.
