1) Frodo & Sam making it to Orodruin: Has to be #1 due to the sheer difficulty and desperation of their situation. The sheer act of making it intact was clearly the most taxing, physically and mentally, especially for two individuals of such small stature and power. Had it been, say, Gimli and Legolas, it wouldn't have been as impressive.

2) Samwise charging Shelob: His finest moment, IMHO. I'm a little biased as Sam is my favorite character in literature, but his was a shocking effort against an incredible foe. Alan Lee's illustration in the 60th (50th? don't remember) Anniversary Edition of the trilogy encapsulates the moment as well as any of his other brilliant pieces of work.

3) Eowyn taking on the Sorcerer King of Angmar at Pellenor: Spontaneous and completely selfless was her effort to protect Theoden and the courage to whip of her helmet and laugh bitterly in the face of that ultimate bad-ass gives me shivers every time I read it. Merry had a lot to do with taking him down(the ol' back stab), but Eowyn showed why she hated the thought of being considered merely a shield-maiden.

4) Gandalf vs. the Balrog: Arguably the #1 act of heroism, but I say it's fourth only because of Gandalf's great power. When I saw "Dragonheart" I couldn't help but think that whomever does the film had damn well better make the Balrog the scariest thing ever seen on film.

5) The Fall of Boromir: OK, you can feel free to tee off on me on this one, but when he came out of his "spell" and took on the Uruk-Hai, the guy kicked some serious ass.

Others I considered:

>Travelling the Paths of the Dead (except Legolas, of course).
>Eomer at Pellennor Fields .
>Sam taking on the Orcs in Cirith Ungol (I know he was charged up by the Ring, but he still rocked).
>The Three Hunters (all I can think of is "Marathon")
>Faramir's last mad dash to Minas Tirith while being buzzed by Nazgul.

Thoughts?