Well done, Sam Gamgee
“Tolkien would be happy to know that, at last, he is not alone in his opinion that Sam is ‘the chief hero’ of The Lord of the Rings. Many have written books on the significance of Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn, or on the roles of women, but I have found no one … who has devoted more than three paragraphs solely to Sam. Many, far from praising Sam’s role and character, find fault with his seemingly exaggerated attitude of servitude or see him only as playing some necessary literary device. Few acknowledge or praise his unique loyalty to Frodo or even see him to be one of the central characters in the book, as Tolkien has stated he is. I find that Sam’s servant/friend relationship with Frodo is as moving as anything else in the book.”
So says Hannah Holder in her enlightening and detailed article on the loyalty of hobbit Samwise Gamgee. She discusses his Christ-like humility and sacrifice, as well as showing how he’s not at all a push-over, as many seem to believe.
The article answers many questions, but it also asks some interesting ones, with the author musing, “I wonder if it ever crossed Sam’s mind that he should serve and be willing to die for Frodo because Frodo was willing to die in an attempt to save the rest of Middle-earth? Was Sam simply following on a smaller, more concentrated level what he saw in his master’s life?”
Holder shows clearly the huge number of Christian themes that Tolkien incorporates into the story. Not only is there humility and loyalty, there’s suffering, and it’s suffering that produces perseverance, character and hope (Romans 5:4).
Perhaps Tolkien invented Sam to be a figure somewhat like himself? Or as someone he wanted to be? In any case, Sam is a person whose sense of duty we’d do well to learn from, and Holder’s article is a compelling read to start us along that path.
Go to /prism-magazine/issue3/welldone.html and read her article online (or simply go to the Prism website, click on “back issues” and “Issue 3”, and then on her article at the bottom of the page).