Nobility in the books

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Dûrbelethwen

I noticed it seemed like every major character in Professor Tolkien's books about Middle Earth are of the nobility with the exception of Sam. I do not see why this is? Sam showed that a person does not have to be of the nobility to be a hero.

Bear in mind the subject matter - "ordinary" people are often no more than pawns or arrow fodder in high-matter such as the control of the war. I have bumped up a thread called "Master Samwise can read" which may interest you and I won't repeat the comments I made there regarding Sam and social mobility. However, Sam, in many ways is one of the most admirable characters in the books, modelled on "ordinary" men whose courage in WW1 so inspired Tolkien. If you look at British history, it is seldom until very recently that commoners have played a significant role. Sam is symbolic of a slightly more meritocratic world order.