9 Things You Didn't Know About The Ring In Lord Of The Rings

It's obvious, really: Samwise Gamgee is the real hero of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien thought this himself. In a letter he wrote to Milton Waldman, he called Sam "the chief hero" of the story. Damn, Frodo. That sucks. But it makes sense. You could say that without Sam, Frodo never would have made it all the way to Mordor. You could say that Sam ran interference for Frodo's bum rush to the end zone.

But it's not the end of the story. Every hero needs a sidekick, but doing a sidekick's job doesn't make the sidekick the hero. On the other hand, doing the hero's job ... well, that a hero of a sidekick makes. Remember how Sam picked up the ring after he thought Frodo was dead? In the film, he goes super-Saiyan-Sam (but still in a very Sam way) and brings the ring back to Frodo in Cirith Ungol. But in the books, Sam carries the ring for two whole days and is forced to wear it several times to keep from being seen by the orcs. Yet when he finds Frodo again, he gives it back immediately: "'All right, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, rather startled. 'Here it is!'"

He just gave it up. Gandalf would barely touch it. Boromir was tempted to evil just by looking at it, but Sam carried the ring for days — after spending most of the trilogy right beside it, no less — and gave it back right away. If the ring's powers of corruption work in tune with a person's natural inclinations, then Sam must be as good as Sauron is evil. You go, Gamgee.