There’s still a bit of an argument left over from the Lord of the Ring days that Samwise Gamgee was the true hero since he stuck with Frodo through thick and thin when he could have shrugged his shoulders and figured that being sent away by the ring-maddened Frodo was a blessing. But Sam was a better character than that from the start since starting out as a simple gardener and being the type of character others bowed to out of gratitude was a huge leap for the hobbits in this story since they weren’t given a lot of respect from the start due to their smaller stature. Frodo is, in many peoples’ opinions, still the weakest hobbit when it comes to anything but being the ringbearer since in a fight he was utterly useless, and even against Gollum he was ineffective. One can argue that Frodo was stronger than many think since he was able to resist the evil of the ring for so long, but at some point, it began to wear on him, much more than it wore on Bilbo back in the day, so thinking that he was insanely strong wasn’t all that possible. But Sam, the loyal gardener turned warrior, was the kind of character that one could get behind. But learning that he still tears up at the scene in which the entire kingdom bows to the four hobbits, Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin, is kind of amusing.
It is a rather powerful scene since if we break down what the hobbits did for Middle Earth, without being asked as they volunteered, it’s pretty impressive, and worth the other races bending their knee in thanks and respect. Frodo was the ringbearer obviously and was able to keep the evil of the One Ring at bay for a while, but he did make some pretty dumb decisions, such as setting off on his own. It’s debatable as to how smart this was, but according to Tolkien, it must have been needed for the story, since otherwise amassing a rolling army to penetrate Mordor might not have made much of a tale. Still, Frodo was kind of hard to get behind most times since he couldn’t fight, he was thought dead at one point since a cave troll delivered a stabbing thrust that should have skewered him, and on top of all that, Frodo usually depended upon his friends to save him. Merry and Pippin weren’t that much use to start with in the story, but they started proving their worth when they helped Frodo to escape, but their plan after that wasn’t exactly solid since they were abducted and didn’t manage to fully escape until they made their way into Fangorn Forest, where they met Treebeard and eventually marched on Isengard to pay Saruman the White a visit.
Eventually, the two of them would part as Merry would stay in Rohan while Pippin went with Gandalf to Minas Tirith, where he would eventually go on to light the signal fires and be dubbed the Guardian of the Citadel by the mad steward. Merry would eventually go with Eowyn into battle, where he would help her against one of the ringwraiths, while Pippin took his place within the battle as well. The two would also join the fray near the gates of Mordor, and held their own quite well since they survived to the end of the fight. Sam and Frodo on the other hand took on Gollum, who poisoned Frodo against Sam while also taking advantage of the effect that the ring was having on Frodo. Sam could have left when he was framed by Gollum and spurned by Frodo, but he stuck around and eventually saved Frodo from the orcs after Shelob paralyzed him. The fact that Sam fought off the giant spider was amazing but also probably had Dungeons and Dragons fans cringing since multiple 20s were probably popping up in their minds just to think of what would be required for a hobbit, even a trained one, to survive such a fight. The feats of skill and sheer luck would be insane to think of, especially since a monster that size has so many huge advantages. But getting past that, the fact is that apart from Frodo, the hobbits really did earn that moment near the end when Aragorn states “My friends, you bow to no one.” Like a few actors, Sean Astin has moments when he shows his emotions, and this apparently is one line that makes him well up since it is rather powerful. Whether one wants to think that Frodo earned those types of honors alongside the others or not, the fact is that the scene does make Astin, and probably a few others, tear up whenever they see it.
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