The Middle Earth Popularity Cup

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Just a short note to the previous voting, if I may:

Gaffer is actually a "common man" and he is a very good person. "Empty rhetoric" is no way for him, he is actually even "wiser" than Frodo, in the more "down-to-ground" way. Have you seen, for example, the Magnificent Seven? "The villagers won..." The heroes win, but that does not make any single one of those others, non-heroes, any less significant.

Not wishing to steer this vote any further afield, but as an actual character, Gaffer is by far more interesting and deep than Frodo. Certainly, Frodo is a more important character than poor old Gamgee, but then Gaffer is much more indicative of actual Hobbits than Frodo (Bilbo and Frodo had that odd and uncharacteristic Tookish strain that was antithetical to stolid Hobbitishness).

In addition, we see the true genius of Tolkien's writing and his love of dialect and language more so in the Gaffer than in Frodo. To me, the Gaffer is more 'real', if one can say that about fictional folk, and he is a wonderful personification of old, befuddled but wise folk we all know or have met at one time or another. One can love Gaffer like one would your own cranky grandfather; Frodo, however, is a bit too whiny and melancholy (in a stilted literary sense) for my taste, and it is Gafffer's son, Samwise, bred of the same tough stock and prone to uttering the same bits of folksy wisdom, that saves the quest.

So if, indeed, your poll is asking who is the more popular, rather than most important character, my vote would certainly be Gaffer over Frodo.

The same would go for the Beleg vs Maggot question. Obviously, Beleg is an important figure and his friendship and loyalty are unquestionably great; however, he is a literary cipher without personality or depth, whereas we get a true sense of who Farmer Maggot really is. Ergo, I would choose Maggot.