Relationship between Frodo and Sam

[Katniss]

edit.

edited due to the erasure of the original post, this answer belonged to. looked stupid staying there by itself.

[Zack]

if anyone has watched the TV series Merlin, some of the fans are trying to do the same with Arthur/Merlin, which is pretty close to the deep friendship between frodo and sam. i agree its sad that thats all a lot of people see.

[Zack]

reading through this thread, i notice that a lot of people are talking about a strong love between friends. JRR Tolkein had read Aristotle and the ancient philosophers, and aristotle defines 4 kinds of love, love of friends, between man and wife, between ppl of opposite sexes, but not lust, and most importantly that between 2 friends, which goes beyond love, and is the deepest kind there is. its like the union of 2 minds, where one rests in the other, and vice versa, w/o any hint of sexuality. i believe this is one of the great themes running through books, which tolkien was trying to give to his readers.
*sorry for the long ramble and any mistakes in the philosophy :)*

[Ingrid]

Truthfully, I was afraid when I saw the title of this thread, that it would be all about how THEY ARE GAY. But, to my pleasant surprise, it is about the opposite. Yay! I think you are right, they are good friends and they understand each other so well. It really is a shame that so many people need to 'homo-size' it. Or sexualize it. That saddens me.

[Indi]

ok, ok, I NEVER saw the gayness of their relationship and suddenly i was blasted with nude anime drawings of them together on the net and was like 'where did THAT come from?'

They go through so much together- it is just a friendship, ok? is anyone going to say that merry and pippin have a thing for each other now, or what?

they are so not gay!! Sam loves the Rosey chick and Frodo... well he has eyes for Gollum
lol

[Christina]

Anne Marie wrote: "'Ramble' on, Zack! :) C.S. Lewis wrote of the Four Loves also. I love the definite of friendship love you have here. I love also Faramir's reaction upon seeing Aragorn leaning over after the soon-t..."

I really appreciate what you said about this "deepest and purest of loves", which DEFINITELY doesn't have to involve romantic/sexual love.
In conclusion: Frodo/Sam are forever NOT gay/bi in any way. :)

[Zack]

wonderful description anne marie. it is a truly a beautiful way of describing it.

[I.J.]

I think in the modern day society it is hard to relate to friendship so strong. Look at the average person's friends on f-book. How many of those friends are true friends even remotely similar to Frodo and Sam.

[Sarah]

Very true now we see friendship as such a casual relationhip when in reality it should not be.:) I have always felt that I only had 1 realy true friend and I have a hard time calling people who I do not feel like I am really friends with "friend"

[Zack]

i know right? thats happened to me as well, there are ppl ive known for 4 years living in the same dorm, but still not true friends.

[Christina]

Friendships can only be strengthened with time, trust, honesty, and understanding, among other things. It is true that in today's world it's very difficult to properly define friendship. Each person should help build each other up, lessen their burderns, and learn from each other. Friendships are opportunities to enjoy life and spend time with other people like-minded or even totally different from you.

[Martin]

I think that Hobbits in many ways were like children: innocent, playful, unbiased and of course without prejudices. If you look at children and toddlers they can actually express great love to those other children that they consider their best friends... regardless of their sex (because it is a perfect and pure love, not sensual). To the adult reader, who is mostly contaminated with prejudices and homophobia, this kind of love between two characters of the same sex appears at first "suspicious", but if we can get rid of those prejudices we can see that this is love as pure as can fictionally exist.

Additionally, I agree that Tolkien is also influenced by the relationship between Master and Servant.

[Alvin]

their relationship is like nothing but pure friendship. one cannot live without the other one.

[Morgan]

In the words of Peter Pan;
"love can mean many things, Felix. It doesn't just come from romance, or family. It can also come from loyalty... friendship."

There are so many examples of people choosing to give pure loving friendships sexual dimensions; like nobody has a right to have such a innocent, deep connection.

It really irritates me.

[Rachel]

No I don't think they did love each other like that...more like brothers, best friends. After being through so much together they had a special bond, which is understandable and beautiful...

Now, Legolas and Gimli on the other hand? I wish they were romantically involved!

[Dan]

people over sexualize as it is the easiet option.
Sam and Frodo are two beings whom share a closeness based on their characters. Sam is duty bound as by virtue of his promise to gandalf to protect frodo on his travels and aid him where he can. It is by this virtue we can determine Sam is a hobbit whom values honour. Whereby when one considers Frodo he is also an honorable (to some extent) hobbit. He takes up this task for the greater good of middle earth. He choses to sacrifice basic rights such as his own safety for the benefit of the wider community, moreover his home place the shire. Why are these two characters so close? for me is they have more in common than people give credit for, particularly Sam. Frodo and Sam work with each other like a well oiled machine. Both benefit each other and for this reason they develop a friendship which would make some question their sexual feelings.

[Tothebarricade]

I ship them. :-)

[Tothebarricade]

Seriously, all were saying is that they'd be cute together. It's not that big a deal.

Just remember that Sam was watching Frodo sleep and said out loud 'I love him.' :)

[Felicis]

Okay so people, a gay relationship doesn't have to be sexual! I'm a lesbian, and I was once in a romantic relationship that was purely based on love, communication and companionship. It wasn't friendship, and it wasn't a sexual relationship. I believe that this is what Sam and Frodo shared. I hate that people believe that relationships have to only be either familial, sexual or platonic.

[H.G.]

Anne Marie, are you the author of "moments of grace and spiritual warfare in the LotR"?! I love that book!


But yeah, I think they're brothers.

[H.G.]

Yaaaay! I love you, Anne Marie!

[H.G.]

Also, I wish our culture used the Greek words for love, where there were many. agape, zeros...but there was also Philia love. Philia is friendship and brotherly love. You can find all the kinds of love in LotR. But Sam and Frodo have Philia!!!!