Does anyone think that Samwise the Brave is the true hero of LOTR?

Question

My sister and I were talking. We have come to a concensus that without Sam's neverending loyalty towards Frodo and his determination to get his master to Mount Doom to destroy the ring, they would have failed. Afterall Frodo's judgement is severely impared as he becomes more and more influenced by the ring.

Does this therefore make him the true hero of LOTR?

Answer 1

No, it's got to be Gandalf.
Samwise is just a sycophantic buffoon.

Answer 2

I think that LOTR demonstrates that, in situations, there are a number of heroes that ALL are crucial at different times.

If you look at the story there are LOTS of different situations where the quest would have failed, if not for different (people).

EG
- Eowyn killing the Witchking.
- Boromir giving up his life to save Frodo.
- Gollum taking the ring at the end & falling into mount doom when frodo could not.
- Aragorn convincing the King of the Dead to help (among other situations)
- Gandalf (where do I start !)

The issue is that Sam's main 'moment', happend right at the end where he took Frodo to Mount doom

Answer 3

Yes, it is generally accepted that Samwise is the true hero of the story. The story is about the power of real friendship not the dark power of the Ring. It was Sam's loyalty towards his friends that gave him the power to triumph. He was never interested in the Ring...which even took over Frodo's mind. Sam - the everyman, the commoner - is able to trumph where nobles, wizards, and even kings had failed before.

Answer 4

I've pondered this question before myself, and it's such a tricky subject to tackle! Samwise was indeed one of the main factors of destorying the ring and without him i too don't think frodo could have done it! But would they have been able to destroy the ring without the likes and infuences of Gandalf, Aragon, Legolas and Gimley! - who also played huge roles into frodo and sams sucess in destroying the ring!?... I come to conclude, that they are all true hero's of LOTR together!

Answer 5

I agree that Sam is the true hero of LOTR. His devotion and commitment to stick by Frodo, even when Frodo turns him away, and his belief that the ultimate goal of destroying the ring can be achieved, makes him worthy of true heroism.

Answer 6

I would not say the hero...But I think that he is the hero to Frodo. I think that Sam is right up there but remember he had his problems too. Kinda a dependant realtionship with Frodo. They are like one person so to speak.

Answer 7

The beauty of lotr is there is no single hero, its an ensemble with so many differing types of heroism on so many different fronts.

Its the united nature of our hero's coupled with their diffuse situations that show how heros start and triumph with their failings as well as their strengths.

I still love the fact that greed lead to the ring being thrown into mount doom, nothing else, and no motive in those last few moments was anywhere near heroic.

Answer 8

Yep. That was the idea. Without the strength of Mr. Gamgee backin Frodo the whole way, fightin Gollum, killin giant spiders and opening all new levels of whoop-*** on dem orcs, things would not have been rosey for are small adventurers.

GO SAM!

Answer 9

So true. I agree whith what you say. Samwise also saves frodo sp many times, like from the spider thing, from gollum etc

Answer 10

Tolkien himself felt that Sam was the true hero of LotRs.

Answer 11

he is the hero.
he not only stands by frodo through every thing and rescues him and caries him and so on but he is also the one that goes back get s the girl and lives happily ever after. true hero antics if you ask me