Samwise
Samwise Gamgee; the gardener of Bag End; the other Ring-bearer
Lineage and Nature
Samwise (Samwise Gamgee, “Sam”) was a gardener of Bag End in the Shire — the servant and firm friend of Frodo, and in the end the truest heart of the whole tale: the plain, loving hobbit whose loyalty never failed through any danger.
The Quest
- He went with Frodo from the Shire and followed him through Moria, over the Emyn Muil and the Dead Marshes, and stood by him when Shelob struck — taking up the One Ring himself in the dark that Frodo was carried off (the brief, perilous moment of his bearing it), and restoring it to his master at last upon the slopes of Mount Doom.
- In the last ascent to Orodruin, Sam carried his master when Frodo could go no further; and in the returned Shire he was the Mayor and counsellor who “scoured” the land of Saruman’s ruffians and laid it to rights.
The Last Days
Samwise dwelt long, married and raised his family in the Shire, and served as Mayor for many years; and the tradition tells that at the last, in his old age, he took ship at the Grey Havens and sailed after Frodo into the West — “the last of the Ring-bearers to go”.
Significance
Samwise is the mythology’s proof that heroism lies in the steady, loving and humble rather than in the great: the Ring-bearer’s companion who, by fidelity alone, carried the Quest to its end.