[LúthienTinúviel]

I see Frodo as both the more complex of the two (Sam and Frodo) and the stronger. Sam's loyalty remains the same throughout the book. He starts off with that task, and he sees it through. Now, don't get me wrong, his journey was one of immense courage and stregth, but I think Sam is more loyal than anything else, wich is a kind of strength.

As for Frodo, he didn't just have one person to be loyal to. By accepting the Ring, he took upon himself the burden of the future of all of Middle-earth and its inhabitants. His responsisbility was to everyone. He had to make the choices that would determine the fate of the world, and he was hunted, both physically and mentally, at every step of the way. The hordes of Sauron were after him. The Ring bore down on him with relentless evil will. He saw his friends torn apart. He suffered the guilt that if he did succeed, he saved Men but doomed the Elves, and if he lost, he doomed everyone, but more particularly the race of men. He was beset from without and within. The Ring tried to control him and the people around him. After the Ring's power grows stronger on the way to Mordor, he staggers on. If even Gandalf, Elrond or Galadriel could not bear the Ring, what does that say of Frodo?

Sam did carry the Ring, but only very briefly. Only time could say whether he could carry it as Frodo did. They were both strong, but Sam's situation was much simpler than Frodo's.

Sorry about the rambling, but I love Frodo. I cried so many times in the book when he was tired or naked or cold. And in the movie, Elijah Wood was so amazing that at the end, when he's standing by the water and later when he's embracing Sam in the boat, he looked so sorrowful and haunted that it broke my heart.

Namárië,
Lúthien