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Having bought recently the "Two towers" special edition bundle, I decided to reread the book, and finally ended with reading it all...
And I was wondering : who do you think was the real hero of the tale, who was finally the one that made it happen, that ended the story.

My choice land on Sam

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

mainly because he's here for Frodo the whole time, because he's the last Ringbearer, the one who in the end carry the weight of the Ring along with his master's weight to the cracks of Mount Doom, and the last one to go to the Grey Havens

I'm interested in knowing what you guys think about it. The choices I put in the poll would make sense to someone who read the books, but then there's always the choice of Other if you disagree with my selection. And if you didn't read the books, then you were warned about the spoiler part in the title

I would say Sam too, for basically the same reasons. I'm not saying that Frodo wasn't a hero, but in the end, he was more of a victim then a hero.

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I had an old signature. Now I've changed it.

Borormir, as he did a nifty impersonation of a pincoushion, as well as dying valiantly.



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"Only the dead have seen the end of their quotes being misattributed to Plato."
-George Santayana

"The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here..."
-Abraham Lincoln, prior to the discovery of Irony.

Your thoughts on Sam almost swayed me, Thou, but in the end I have to come back to Frodo. Sam was a rock the whole way through, I will certainly admit, but Frodo was the one that accepted the challenge and saw it most of the way through, sacrificing his whole mind and body along the way. That sacrifice sets him apart from Sam.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

I have to go with Frodo, because, keep in mind, he was willing to go through all the hell of Mordor alone, to keep his friends safe and away from the temptations of the ring. Sometimes, he does succumb to it himself, but honestly what great hero HASN'T succombed to darkness and came out better for it. Frodo is a great example of bravery where you least expect it, I mean, Aragorn is a hero too, but it's expected of him. Frodo had to really dig deep into himself and find something in there that he never knew he had, a strength in him that was before, totally unknown to even him. Sure, he did rely on his friends to get him from point a to b at sometimes, but I see him as the true hero of the LOTR series.

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Okay, but there was a goat!

Gau! NOT ONCE DID HE EVER SUCCUMB TO THE DARKNESS!!!!!!!!!
hehe, just goofin dude. i went with sam in the end. why? well, he was my favorite character, from beginning to end. everybody is great, but he impressed me the most. i need to read it again. i mean, ive read the whole damn thing like 3 times...maybe 2, and i still dont remember everything. anywho, RAWK ON SAMMY!

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once you can accept yourself, you will never be alone

i went with sam here because with out same, frodo would have been eaten by orcs. Then how would he have destroyed the ring?

Mr. Thou, you said the choices would make sense to those who read the books, but your choice of gollum dosn't make a lick of sense to me.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

In the end he bit of frodo's finger in order to get the ring. Just because he was eventually the one to destroy the ring dosn't mean he was a hero, because he didn't intend to do it.

please explain

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<Nealio> Seymour sounds like evil Winnie the Pooh

Quote (DisasterChild8 @ 5th December 2003 16:35)

Mr. Thou, you said the choices would make sense to those who read the books, but your choice of gollum dosn't make a lick of sense to me.

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

In the end he bit of frodo's finger in order to get the ring. Just because he was eventually the one to destroy the ring dosn't mean he was a hero, because he didn't intend to do it.

please explain

The choice of Gollum made sense for different reasons

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

first, as you said, he eventually did destroy the Ring, basically sentencing Sauron to death. Second, he was the first one to bear the Ring (other than the Darlk Lord himself, of course), and I wanted to include in my choices every Ringbearer. And third, he may not be a hero in the pure classical way, but he is : he's consumed by the power of the Ring, but still manage to be a decent people when acting as Smeagol and not Gollum. I always thought that maybe the Smeagol part of him took the Ring away from Frodo, so that he would die in his place (I know it isn't indicated in any way in the book, but I feel it could be true)

Well, these are the reasons why it made sense to me. I certainly can understand that it doesn't make sense for everyone.

Bilbo and Frodo equally. Yes, hobbits are more resistant to the mind-altering power-drawing effects of the ring(s), but both did an excellent job of containing it's evil to get the job done. I think this aspect of the Hobbit race was clearer in the books than in the movies. Bilbo 'knew' he had to give up the ring and Frodo recognized the urgency in getting rid of it fast, despite his several usages of it. I sure dont remember the pub scene usage of the ring in the books, but it sure was cool how they depicted it in the movie.

Great books; fun movies. Totally worth the price of admission. Did you all notice that after they left Lothlorien they were all wearing the magic warmth cloaks with the leaf clasps? It wasnt discussed like in the books, but the director/producer/costume designers paid attention to the details. Very very nice stuff.

I voted for Frodo, but Bilbo really should have been on the list here, because his ownership of the ring was re-accounted during the Trilogy, not just in The Hobbit.

Mr. Thou, i'm not trying to sound like a jerk, but if you wanted to include ever ringbearer, where's Isildur?

Moderator Edit

I wondered about this too but didn't think it was important enough for a brand-new post. I see that you did... ::shrugs:: -R51

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 5th December 2003 20:30

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<Nealio> Seymour sounds like evil Winnie the Pooh

Quote (Mr Thou @ 5th December 2003 10:39)

Possible spoilers: highlight to view

first, as you said, he eventually did destroy the Ring, basically sentencing Sauron to death. Second, he was the first one to bear the Ring (other than the Darlk Lord himself, of course), and I wanted to include in my choices every Ringbearer. And third, he may not be a hero in the pure classical way, but he is : he's consumed by the power of the Ring, but still manage to be a decent people when acting as Smeagol and not Gollum. I always thought that maybe the Smeagol part of him took the Ring away from Frodo, so that he would die in his place (I know it isn't indicated in any way in the book, but I feel it could be true)

I could very much adhere to this theory, as it has crossed my mind before as well. I'm interested to see how Jackson handles the scene.

I don't think that it would change my mind about who the hero is, but I like your idea and find it credible.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Oops, I forgot to vote. I have two heroes for the two storylines (the Ring Quest and the war) : Frodo and Faramir. Frodo for the reasons everyone said. Faramir because he's an ordinary person surrounded by extraordinary heroes (Aragorn, Gandalf, etc), but he manages to remain decent, kind, just, wise, and good. He overcomes human weaknesses where Boromir failed (and yes, I loved Boromir, too). His struggles are just has hard as those of Aragorn and Frodo. While Aragorn and Frodo deal with Destiny, and Fate, and Evil - big, abstract terms - Faramir has to deal with the evils of the everyday world. Jealousy (evoking Boromir again), betrayal, conflicts of loyalty, honor, justice, conflicts between personal ties and duty, people relationships, people management, knowing that there are things greater than yourself and accepting that.

I loved all the heroes in LoTR, but Faramir literally brought a humanizing aspect to the books and showed, much more successfully than Sam did (in my opinion), that the ordinary world and having ordinary decency is just as important as world-changing struggles.

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"Turd-cookies!...they're hot and soft, though..."

Rose leaves, when the rose is dead, Are heaped for the beloved's bed; And so thy thoughts, when thou art gone, Love itself shall slumber on.  - Percy Bysshe Shelley