Sam's Debate and the Voice of Despair

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

I think that it was just Sam talking to himself. I mean, Frodo wasn't much of a conversationalist by that point was he?

[Mithadan]

Although Sam had borne the Ring for a short period of time, I doubt that the Ring or any other evil will played any part in Sam's debate. Rather, it was simply an internal dialogue brought on by extended weariness, deprivation and suffering. It could be summarized as "I can't go any farther... I must go on."

To the contrary, to the extent any external force was at work, it was likely a product of those who live in the West. Once Sam resolved to carry Frodo, he found that Frodo was light and was no great burden to him. While the West no longer was directly acting in Middle Earth as a physical presence, other than through the Istari, we cannot discount the ability and desire of the Valar to influence events. There are several mentions of Frodo having "fair" dreams while struggling along towards his goal. So maybe Lorien or others of the Valar had some hand in inspiring Sam to go on?

[Finduilas]

I think that the atmosphere of Mordor carried despair. I think that the will of Sauron had so perverted the air, rock, and earth that anything there against his will would find it difficult to function.

I will give this more thought, and see if I can come out with a more comprehensible post.

[William Cloud Hicklin]

This appears to be a crescendo of an internal argument that took place with Sam on a couple of instances.

A real grammatical pet peeve of mine, and most musicians':

Increasingly we see and hear 'crescendo' completely misused when what is meant is 'climax.' Crescendo 'increase' is a direction to add more volume or get louder- it is the process of getting 'bigger' which leads up to a climax: NOT the climax itself. Its opposite is decrescendo or diminuendo- getting softer.

The English cognate, crescent, was originally an adjective which by common use in the phrase 'crescent (waxing) moon' came to be a noun for the shape itself.

[MatthewM]

William- that has nothing to do with the question.

I think it was purely an internal debate of Sam's. Everybody has debates like this with themselves, going back and forth with something they are pondering, be it something of little importance or a lot of importance- it's normal, and Sam isn't any different.