Logical Ring-bearer?

[Bekah]

I think that his heart was so pure that the will of Sauron would of been in for a big fight to win Sam over to the dark side.

He loved Frodo very much, like a brother. But his heart was not pure; he had his faults. He despised and distrusted Gollum. Might not Sauron play on his feeling toward Gollum and thus destroy him? For as Gandalf said: "Pity? 'Twas pity that stayed Bilbo's hand, Frodo." Frodo understood this later in his journey.

Remember that Galadriel even attempted to take the ring and use it for her own designs. Would Galadriel, arguably one of the most powerful elves in ME be any worse than a half-silvan prince? But then comes the replying statement that Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely - yada, yada, yada.

And Gandalf was terrified of himself if he should take the ring. Legolas was too proud. "A plague on the stiff necks of Elves!" These two, Aragorn, Gimli, and Galadriel - in fact all of the Fellowship and some other characters, except perhaps Merry and Pippin - would have defied Sauron in the end if not in the beginning, and have become like him. Merry and Pippin would have succumbed to Sauron in the end and become his servants, I think.

Then from the beginning, you look at how the journey would have changed Sam to see where he would have been at the end. It's not about the destination, but the journey itself. I think that he would have been in such a position very similar to Frodo.

True enough. We must start from the beginning. I think the part where they started to differ was when Frodo felt pity for the wretched Gollum when he finally encountered him, whereas Sam hardened his heart.

~ Elentari II

[ May 27, 2003: Message edited by: Bekah ]