The best prism to see Sam’s love for Frodo is through the words of a friend of mine who is not even familiar with the story, but has been told by friends about it, who states, “It’s the purest kind of love. From soul to soul.” She echoes, all unknowingly, The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth [Gospel] by Ralph C. Wood: “Sam and Frodo give incarnate life to what the Old Testament means when it describes a friend as a person ‘who is as your own soul.’ (Deut. 13:6). Their mutual regard is also akin to the friendship of Jonathan and David: ‘the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul’ (1 Sam 18:1).” (136).

            Knitted souls is the most apt description of their love. Sam always saw Frodo’s bright, shining soul and loved it and him ever more and more, even when that soul became a very troubled, anguished, tormented one. It is that soul which Sam tends to and nurtures in all he does. He loved it since he was 9, at the latest (when a certain tween moved into Bag-End), and he was loving it at 109 if he lived that long. He was created to love it, since without that love Frodo would not have been able to accomplish what he was created to do. “The measure of love is to love without measure,” said the great Bishop and Doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622). (Also attributed to St. Augustine, 354-430). Frodo returned that love. In the Dead Marshes, he called Sam “my dear hobbit - indeed, Sam, my dearest hobbit, friend of friends [...]” (LotR 610).

            It was no coincidence that Sam was born the same year Frodo’s parents drowned. There was never a time when Frodo wasn’t watched over by his Creator, Who took away two guardians, but replaced them with another to be ready when the time came. Of course, Sam’s love was extended to Rosie and to their many children and grandchildren and to his parents and siblings, but he was created first and foremost to love his Frodo and that determined all his actions. He considered himself to belong to Frodo and Frodo to belong to him. Rosie was half of Sam’s heart, but Frodo was the other half. Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote that Sam voluntarily endured torment and terror on the Quest “only for the sake of one he loves beyond everything else” (Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism 90) and that love approached “religious devotion” (88) by the time he and Frodo were near the Fire. After they returned, Sam “longs to stay with Frodo forever” (90) but he also wanted to be with Rosie. Frodo was able to grant both wishes, leastways for a little while, when he invited Sam to live with him and to bring Rosie.

            We can learn much from Samwise the stouthearted, Samwise the loving, a light in Frodo’s darkening world and our own, to guide us all “when all other lights go out” (LotR 367). The elder hobbit said on the Stairs of Cirith Ungol, if their tale was ever told, there would be clamoring to hear more about Sam so the Ring-bearer made sure his beloved friend’s enduring love and heroism received pride of place in the reverent tribute which is his part of the Red Book of Westmarch. In those pages, we learn that Sam nearly drowned rather than leave his master’s side; he gave tender kisses to Frodo’s forehead and hand; he made a promise to return if he could to Frodo’s body and never leave him again like a human Greyfriars Bobby which British fans will recognize as the faithful dog who remained at his master’s grave until his own death; he cried “I’m coming Mr. Frodo!” (LotR 879), despite his terror of being discovered, and sang to him in the Tower so Frodo would know he was not alone in that terrible place. That gardener of flowers and his master’s soul was the guardian angel who made sure Frodo ate and drank, going without himself when necessary; who held his treasure either in his arms or by the hand as they slept; who wanted to be the first to drink what they found in Mordor so that if it was poisoned, Frodo wouldn’t be harmed; who, despite his own exhaustion and starvation, carried his master when Frodo could walk no longer; who, while Mount Doom was exploding around them, felt “only joy, great joy” (LotR 926) that his Frodo was once more his Frodo and not a slave to the Ring. “You are worth what your heart is worth,” Pope John Paul II said. That makes Sam priceless.

            It took great strength and courage for Sam to always be there for his master and love without end, even as his heart broke when he was accused of being a thief by his beloved. “Love is not blind,” Rabbi Julius Gordon said. “It sees more, not less but because it sees more, it is willing to see less.” The words of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who spoke of how Jesus viewed sinners aptly describes how Sam viewed Frodo, as the Ring-bearer was twisted by his terrible burden: “He saw that a jewel had fallen into the mud and though encrusted with foulness that it was still a jewel,”(Fulton J. Sheen’s Guide to Contentment 155).

            In some ways, as the Quest progressed, Frodo became the younger hobbit and Sam the elder as the Ring-bearer leaned more and more on his Sam’s love, guidance, hope, and strength as he was less and less able to go on himself. Sam’s care became the love of a parent who loved his child even when that child sometimes did unlovable things, but was not loved any less because of it; who was forgiven automatically and without thought, because though the act was bad, the child was not. The words of Washington Irving fit well here:

A mother’s love endures through all; in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of [...] the commendation of a single soul in judgement against itself. She remembers the [...] innocent eyes of her child so can never be brought to think him all unworthy. A mother’s love ever lives, ever forgives and while it lives, it stands with open arms and gives and gives, the strongest thing in the universe, never failing, enduring forever, always hoping [...]

            Though he is not speaking of Frodo and Sam either, the words of Fr. Patrick Hannon reveal much of their love for each other and the Ring-bearer’s love for all Middle-earth: “And I remember once again that love - fierce and mighty and unrelenting - has no rival. It gives us permission to face unimaginable suffering unafraid” (The Geography of God’s Mercy: Stories of Compassion and Forgiveness 47). Frodo endured his suffering because Sam was there; Sam endured his because Frodo was there. They weren’t unafraid but they were there for each other and that is what saved them and their world.

            Sam knew Frodo suffered greatly from his burden, but Sam suffered, perhaps, even more, as he watched his master decline more and more into darkness. As much as the younger hobbit did to stop that, he was helpless to stop it entirely. St. Therese of Lisieux said that the greatest suffering on earth is to see people we love suffer and not to be able to do anything about it. Sam knew that suffering, but “this jewel among the hobbits” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 88) was also Harthad Uluithiad - Hope Unquenchable (Sauron Defeated: The History of Middle-earth, Vol IX 62). Anything that the Gaffer had drilled into Sam about his “place” burned away as Frodo and Sam passed through hell together and the elder Ring-bearer became not just Sam’s master, but his best friend and brother. Elijah Wood described their relationship beautifully when he said: “Quite simply, it is love. [...] It is that unconditional love that says, regardless of what you do or where you go, I will always be there for you” (The Lord of the Rings: Official Movie Guide 46).

            This love is at its heart a very spiritual, sustaining, nurturing, self-donating, heroically sacrificial love. It does not take; it only gives. It is not selfish; it is selfless. It is agape love, the highest and purest form of love, entirely focused and poured out on the beloved. It is God’s love. It was what gave Jesus the strength to bear His cross. It was what gave Frodo the strength to carry his as he offered himself up as a living sacrifice and was then given a reward commensurate with his complete donation of heart, body, mind and soul. It was what gave Sam the strength to carry Frodo, not only physically but emotionally and spiritually and be Hope-bearer for the Ring-bearer. It was what gave them the strength to be willing to die for others. It is love incarnate.

            It is a shame that this friendship which is “a thing of exquisite beauty, even holiness” (Gospel, 135) has been misunderstood by some. Sean Astin is, however, very clear about it:

I don’t believe Sam and Frodo are homosexual. I really don’t. [...] To me, The Lord of the Rings depicts a powerful bond of love between two male hobbits, with the complete absence of sexuality. In that sense, it’s remarkably innocent and pure. [...] As far as I’m concerned, it comes down to this: Sam is the best friend anyone could ever hope for. His relationship with Frodo is a perfect study in dedication, devotion, and heartfelt companionship. Despite the hundreds of interactions I’ve had with folks who prefer to see the bond of Frodo and Sam through a prism of homoeroticism, I remain convinced that the power of their friendship derives primarily from the purity and innocence of their love for one another (There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale [There and Back] 246, 248).

            The heart of the tale contained in the Red Book is this love story. The tender reunion of the two hobbits in the Tower of Cirth Ungol is the most beautiful scene in the entire tale. There is nothing erotic or sexual about it; quite the opposite for it shows the purity and innocence of their love so well. The bath at Crickhollow and running about in the fields after the terrifying ordeal with the barrow-wight also show how completely natural and unashamed the hobbits were around each other’s naked bodies. Tolkien was devoutly Catholic. He already understood, a half century and more ago, what Pope John Paul II taught decades later about the Theology of the Body. It is our society that has grown so corrupt that nakedness has to equal sexuality. It doesn’t and it didn’t in this story. There was nothing there but complete love and trust as Sam blissfully held his beloved master.

            Sean knew such love as demonstrated in the films made some people uncomfortable, as they “might not be accustomed to experiencing that level of emotional honesty in their own lives [...]” (There and Back 247). However, he thinks that it’s good that they feel awkward because maybe “it’s cracked the armor in which some people wrap their emotional lives. Personally, I think that’s a great achievement” (ibid). Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Europeans are much more at ease about openly affectionate, platonic love existing within the same sex, but the tide may be slowly turning in North America as well.

            In fact, it is being taught at a Catholic boys school in Potomac, Maryland, along with the other examples of manly love in the tale: Éomer telling Aragorn of his love for him; Faramir hugging and kissing Frodo and Sam on the brow goodbye, “after the manner of his people” (LotR 680); Legolas, Gimli and the Grey Company going on the Paths of the Dead out of love for Aragorn. The school is instilling in the future men of our society that true love is self-giving and stories of these friendships, as well as those in C.S. Lewis and Robert Louis Stevenson, are helping accomplish that.[i] Such love also exists in that bastion of manliness, the armed forces, where the bonds men sometimes form in combat are so strong that they even surpass the love of women.[ii]

            We desperately need the light that shines out from these men and hobbits, so pure and bright, and from the pure love Sam and Rosie, Aragorn and Arwen & Faramir and Éowyn gave each other.

            May such love live forever! What a world it would be!

Works Cited

Astin, Sean. There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale. New York: St. Martin’s, 2004.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer. “Men, Halfings, and Hero Worship.” Understanding The Lord of the Rings: The Best of Tolkien Criticism. Ed. Rose A. Zimbardo and Neil D. Isaacs. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004, p. 90.

Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Hannon, Patrick. The Geography of God’s Mercy: Stories of Compassion and Forgiveness. Chicago: ACTA Publications, 2007.

Sheen, Fulton J. Fulton J. Sheen’s Guide to Contentment. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1967.

Sibley, Brian. The Lord of the Rings: Official Movie Guide, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Tolkien, J.R.R. Sauron Defeated: The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IX. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

Wood, Ralph C. The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth. Louisville, KY: Knox, 2003.