1. So very true. I love Sam in LOTR. His role evolved in such a way. I remember when he stuck that nasty looking spider thing and how I remember thinking, “After a while, you can’t be scared of everything. You gotta fight!” You can’t always ignore the fight around you. Sometimes, you gotta step in and do something!

  2. When I was reading this, Zac, I remembered an assignment I used to give my English classes—a short paragraph describing your hero. I was blown away the first time because so many picked a superhero. I intended “hero” to mean someone you want to be like, and they missed the point. They immediately thought “someone who saves the day.” Hehehe! Next time I gave that assignment, I was a bit more specific!

    Becky

  3. Lovely post, Zac. Thanks for writing it. Your comments about Sam reminded me of a LiveJournal post I wrote back in 2002 about a conversation I had with two of my brothers, where we started by talking about the moral underpinnings of LotR, ended up discussing the state of the church and what could be done to improve it, and came to a similar conclusion:

    … the church would be much better off if we were all more like hobbits in general and Frodo in particular. Not trying to take the spotlight, not wanting power or glory for ourselves, not even imagining that we could make everything right if we only had the means (i.e. like Boromir with the Ring), but humbly serving each other and quietly doing what God wants us to do, even if other people think we’re crazy to do it.

  4. sheesania says:

    This is why I often wish for more…well…weak characters in the fantasy I read. I like cool magic as much as the next person, and it can be great fun to watch the Average Hero of the quintessential fantasy story gain awesome powers and pulverize the villains. But sometimes I wish for a character without special powers, Chosen One status, high birth, or even unusual cleverness. I find it very moving to watch someone look frankly at what abilities they do or don’t have, and then faithfully, stubbornly work at what they can do – however small it is.

    Sam is a great character in this vein, probably my favorite in LOTR. (Gosh, I need to read those books again!) The obligatory Sanderson reference is Marsh from the Mistborn trilogy. He got the absolute worst deal of any character in the ~20 Sanderson books I’ve read – to expound on why would require spoilers, but suffice to say that he went through a great deal of death, pain, and inner turmoil. Time and time again his plans are foiled and he’s forced to abandon them. But he stubbornly refuses to give up on his ultimate goals. He doesn’t think he can overthrow the Lord Ruler, but he still decides to help Kelsier in the hopes that a future leader can overthrow him. He doesn’t think he can keep Ruin from using him as a pawn, but he still decides to mess up Ruin’s plan as much as he can. In the end, he was arguably the most responsible for the final victory – even though we get maybe 100 pages of him across a ~2,000-page trilogy! He isn’t a Chosen One, his awesome powers and high birth only cause problems for him, he lacks Kelsier’s brilliance and charisma – but he will do everything he can to save the world even if it destroys him.

    Ultimately, these characters are the most moving to me because, in a way, I can be them. I can’t get cool magic to help me accomplish my goals. But I can look honestly at my strengths and weaknesses and then do what I can wholeheartedly – trusting my Author to weave me into His story.

What do you think?