: : : : "Me, Sir!' cried Sam, springing up like a dog invited for a walk. 'Me go and see Elves and all! Hooray!' he shouted, and then burst into tear."

: : : : "But you won't send him off alone surely, Master? cried Sam, unable to contain himself any longer...'No indeed!' said Elrond, turning towards him with a smile, 'You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to seperate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not.' Sam sat down, blushing and muttering. 'A nice pickle we have landed ourselves in, Mr. Frodo!' he said."

: : : : I believe the above quotes should emphasize Sam's foolishness or at least his ignorance to the danger he would be going into. Sam is portrayed as well as the Shire as being the child race in Middle-Earth, unaware of the dangers and world around them. Though Sam does play a significant part in the overthrow of Sauron, I ask what differenciates between a hero, a fool, and a soldier.

: : : : "Now it had come to it, Sam felt reluctant to give up the Ring and burden his master with it again... 'You'll find the Ring very dangerous now, and very hard to bear. If it's too hard a job, I could share it with you, maybe?"

: : : : It was posted below that Frodo had failed his quest, the above quote should reveal no one who could carried to throw the ring into Mount Doom could. After only a short period of time, Sam had already begun to be controled by the ring. Only Gollum in all Middle-Earth was truly capable of finishing the Quest.

: : : : And response to Faramir as a hero, his actions were done for the sake of his people and himself. He was born into the role of leadership. He had little choice though still some choice. I understand why Aragorn should be considered a hero, but I see his earlier life as more important than considering his part in the War of the Ring.

: : : : P.S. Only Tolkien knows why Sam is given the last phrase.

: "I have come" he said "But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!" - Frodo the Return of the King. Yes here we see the true hero!

::The Ring would make anyone give in to its power.It distorted Frodo,but only in the end.

: "I will take the Ring, even though I do not know the way" seems to me Frodo was as ignorant about the quest as Sam, Merry or Pippen. Emphises on TAKE, he did not say i will destroy the Ring even though i do not know the way, he said i will take.

: Ryan Williams

::He said "take" because he wasn't sure that he would succeed in his mission to destroy the Ring.But he meant to do it,and of course he wasn't ignorant about the quest,he understood fully the responsibility that he had taken on himself.