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The Frodo-Sam pairing is interesting - Frodo is ultimately on a spiritual journey towards (or through) death to a spiritual life in the West. Sam's journey on the other hand will end in marriage & family. If there is this 'pairing' of the two, does it represent in some sense a 'single being' torn in two - one part towards the spiritual life, one to 'hearth & home'? Of course, in a sense we could see a 'distorted' pairing of Frodo & Boromir - both obsessed with doing something with the Ring, & both single mindedly rejecting the possibility of family life in pursuiit of their quest. So, does the renunciation (Frodo) or rejection (Boromir) of family ultimately & inevitably lead to loss of life?
Tolkien's ideal seems to be marriage & family, its his happy ending - for those that have them. A happy ending = marriage & children. Yet marriage always seems to be seen as the reward for struggle - Sam may start out as Frodo's 'partner', yet he ends as Rosie's, while Frodo ends up partnerless. So partnership always seems to begin as a same sex thing, where sex barely comes into it (sexual partnership always comes as a reward for struggle, & only seems to enter some character's minds once the struggle has been achieved & they are able to rest - I won;t pursue this as its off topic, but there's a fascinating article in the latest Mallorn, 'Warm beds are good:sex & libido in Tolkien's writing' by Ty Rosenthal, who points out 'Its telling that Sam Gamgee needs to be called to join Frodo at his departure from Bag End not because he has his hand down rosie's blouse, but because he is saying good-bye to the beer barrel'
Of course, the negative pairings abound - Gandalf/Saruman, Aragorn/Boromir, Boromir/Faramir, Denethor/Theoden, Denethor/Eowyn (in the sense that both face apparently ultimate depair, & one gives in & kills himself while the other stands &fights on the field - effectively Eowyn will do what Denethor will not). We could even find a pairing of Tom & Goldberry with Galadriel & Celeborn (or more significantly perhaps with the Ents & the Entwives).
So we have two kinds of pairings, it seems to me - the starting out pairings, which are usually same sex ones, where the partners seem to be reflections/aspects of one being, & the final, mature pairings of marriage partners, which is the ideal - unless one considers (& Tolkien may have done) the ideal to be the spiritual journey to 'God'.
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