Frodo or Sam?

[Luthien_ Tinuviel]

Sam seemed to gain in strength (or perhaps in importance) as Frodo's strength diminishes.

Both, I would say. Importance in his role, taking on more responsibility, and so forth. Up to The Tower of Cirith Ungol, Frodo made most of the decisions about everything. Afterwards, as Frodo diminishes, Sam takes more responsibility for the quest in a practical way. He provides many of the solutions and makes decisions on his own. One could say that Frodo looked after the emotional aspects of the quest (the burden of bearing the Ring), and Sam took care of physical practicalities (such as finding water and so forth). In this way, Sam is as much responsible for the completion of the quest as Frodo is.

And Luthien - you're not alone, I love Sam too. Definitely, imho, the best character in the Fellowship. So shy and simple, yet so loyal and brave in so many ways . . . don't you just want to give him a hug?

Of course I do. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I wish I had my copy Letters at hand, so that I could find the quote I'm thinking of pertaining to this subject.... I would actually assume that Tolkien started writing LOTR with Frodo in mind, only to find Sam coming to the foreground. These sorts of things seem to happen a lot, and the way he wrote, I can see how possible that would be.