Boromir dying to save Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-hai, Gandalf and his fight with the Balrog, Faramir and his nobility in letting Frodo and the ring go from the forbidden pools. Each character has moments of extreme courage in the face of terrible danger. However, each person listed so far has grown up around magic, honor, duty. Boromir and Faramir are nobility, of the ruling house of the Stewards of Gondor, so they have been trained in combat and raised on the assumption that they would fight for what’s right and defend the weak and innocent. Eowyn is also of noble blood, as is Aragorn the Dunedain, who is very battle-worn and has spent years roaming the wilds and learning the lands. Gandalf too is thousands of years old and has magical abilities that have helped him survive all of the great battles of Middle Earth so far.
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But there is one character in particular that demonstrates immeasurable bravery and loyalty over and over again, without ever having been taught to do so, and that is of course Samwise Gamgee. Being a simple hobbit, from a simple family in The Shire, it is remarkable that Sam ever agrees to leave home at all. He is used to creature comforts, to a soft bed and a beautiful garden, pipeweed, beer, and celebrations at the Green Dragon every other night where he can admire Rosie Cotton from a distance.
There is no valor in his lineage, no history of brave warriors or noble kings, yet when the time comes, he volunteers himself to undertake the dangerous quest to destroy the ring. At the Council of Elrond, when Frodo agrees to take the ring to Mordor, Sam burst in uninvited and says that he won’t let Frodo go alone. Having already faced the perils of the Barrow-downs, and seen Frodo almost killed at Weathertop, Sam knows the danger but is willing to sacrifice his own safety anyway.
In fact, there are several times in both the books and the films that Sam puts himself in grave danger in order to protect his friend Frodo. One such example is when the fellowship is broken at Amon Hen, and Frodo tries to slip away silently without the others noticing, with the intention of journeying the rest of the way to Mordor alone. Sam is stricken by this choice and tries to follow Frodo out onto the river, despite the fact that he can’t swim. ‘Gurgling he went under, and the river closed over his curly head.’ He is preoccupied with helping Frodo that he puts his own fears and wellbeing aside, almost drowning in the process. This is true bravery and loyalty.
The boat on the river isn’t the only case of Sam putting himself in peril to save his friends. Another part of the book is when the two hobbits are journeying through the cliffs on the way to Mordor. They reach a sheer drop, with no way to know what lies at the end of it, but Sam immediately decides that he will go down first, despite the fact that he isn’t particularly fond of heights. ‘Before Frodo could stop him, he sat down, swung his legs over the brink, and twisted around, scrabbling with his toes for a foothold. It is doubtful that he ever did anything braver in cold blood, or more unwise.’ Once again, Sam is willing to throw himself down a crevice so that Frodo doesn’t have to, even though he doesn’t always go about it in the smartest way. He is unapologetically selfless, and his reliability is what helps Frodo survive long enough to destroy the weapon of the enemy.
Things only get more perilous as the two hobbits get closer to Mount Doom, and in the following weeks, Samwise has several heroic moments, including several wrestles with Gollum, entering the old tower of Cirith Ungol despite a possible multitude of orc guards, a fight with Shelob the Spider Deom, and even putting on the One Ring itself. Sam is one of few characters who are able to resist the allure of the ring and give it back willingly, thanks to his stout and true heart. He acts on instinct and does what he believes to be right without any training or guidance, and that is what makes him the bravest character of the entire trilogy.
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