Emerald and gold: Sam and OL's (Other Lovers)

[serai]

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Samwise Gamgee. Best of hobbits, friend of friends. The moral and emotional centier of The Lord of the Rings. As a person in Middle-Earth, not just a character in a story, Sam is vastly unassuming. When the story opens, there's nothing remarkable about him, really, other than a rather dreamy fondness for things magical. He has a good living at an honest trade. A pleasant fellow of a lower station, the most any landed hobbit would think of him would probably be gratitude that he isn't any trouble. "A fine fellow to have about the place," they would say, and promptly move on to other things. Indeed, one of the greatest pleasures in reading the story is the measured, step-by-step revelation of just what in buried in this gentle, common gardener, so deep he has no idea himself that it is there.

As Sam, whose own heart is so large, is the heart of this story, and he being one of the few characters that expresses his love in words, it seems natural to imagine he is active in a love affair. And given that, there really isn't anybody who would fit the bill as completely as Sam's master, Frodo Baggins. Sam is clearly starry-eyed already when Gandalf hauls him through that window, and the deepening and tempering of his devotion through ice and fire and death feels like nothing so much as Sam simply falling into his fate. Clearly, this is what he was made for, as seems true of so many in the book, and so Sam is fated to love Frodo. Even if Sam did not want to bed his master, it's hard to imagine that he would refuse if asked, or that he would not take at least some pleasure in it, in that case. Love can transcend anything.

Unlike a number of fine writers in this fandom, I have trouble envisioning Sam with anyone else in the story. I've enjoyed the stories I've read, but for me when it comes time to write, Sam loves only the two people that Tolkien said he did: his beloved Frodo and his dearest Rose. It's frustrating sometimes, because I would love to explore the possibility of Sam finding love or pleasure with others.

So I should like to know your thoughts. Have you written Sam with an OC or another canon character? What gave you the impetus, and was it easy or not? Have you read fics with Sam loving someone other than Frodo or Rosie? Did you like them? Why? Why not?

Even if Sam is involved with another character, it seems to me that it would by definition be brief. Frodo dominates Sam's attention in the first third of his life, it seems, and after that he is married with a family. How do you view the idea of the permanence of Sam's major loves vs. the relative brevity of an OC affair? Do you feel that Sam would love another character just as intensely as he does Frodo or Rose? Is it even possible to see Sam doing this, and what do you think would drive Sam into or keep him out of another's arms?

I wonder if I'll ever find another written character like Samwise. Tolkien took a very old demi-character of lore (he even has the traditional name: he is Good Sam, the faithful servant) and created someone who grows exponentially as the tale goes on, and yet in the end is who he always was. Every part of his story is uniquely Sam, livable by no other being (again as is true of everybody else in the book.) He's given every characteristic that would endear him to a romance writer - good, brave, loyal, forthright, humble, strong, we could go on - and so there's a lot of potential there. (And now I'm starting to have porny inklings of Sam being the Gardener of the Shire after the War, in more ways than one. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.



It would be cool to hear all the angles on this. So spill it. The microphones are on.



P.S. Sorry if there's anything eye-rolling up there. Felt like sounding high-falutin' for a while.

Comments

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

Well, straight off, I have to admit that I only have eyes for Sam/Frodo, as a real pairing. OTP! ;-)

I think Sam and Frodo's relationship is one of the truest, most believable things I have ever read, and those two are my favorite literary characters of all time. About the 2nd time I read LOTR, I noticed that there are only 2 places where Sam doesn't put a "Mr." in front of Frodo. One is when he's beseeching Frodo to wake up from Shelob's sting, and the other is... crap, I can't remember. I think it's during the same chapter. I always wonder if Tolkien did that on purpose, like Sam is so overcome with emotion for Frodo that he "forgets" himself and his station.

I will read just about any pairing (I'm not easily squicked), but whenever Sam is paired with someone else I feel like he's just having a fling, until he can get back to his true love. :-)

I'll tell you what's hard for me to read - fics in which Frodo is with anyone else. I keep thinking, "Why would he be with Merry/Pippin/Aragorn, when he's got Sam RIGHT THERE?!" I feel like he's cheating on Sam in those fics. LOL

This is kind of incoherent, so I hope you follow me!

[elycia.livejournal.com]

Have you written Sam with an OC or another canon character? What gave you the impetus, and was it easy or not? Have you read fics with Sam loving someone other than Frodo or Rosie? Did you like them? Why? Why not?

In three of my fanfics in progress, I am writing Sam having dalliances with OCs, but to me, the love of his life is Frodo. I cannot, even for a moment, wrap my head around Sam having a love relationship with any character other than Frodo or Rose. In one of my fics, Sam deliberately fools around with other willing young hobbits his age so he won't be completely incompetent when he finally lands in Frodo's bed. In another, he loses his virginity when his well-meaning brothers take him to visit a hobbit who makes it her business to turn boys into knowledgeable men, so to speak. In a third, the circumstances surrounding Sam's pairing with the OC are--let's just say, highly unusual. (Don't wanna give away the plot here...)

Was it easy? More accurately, I suppose, it was *logical*. I've written pre-quest slash, but my sensibilities tell me that Frodo never grew to appreciate Sam's uniqueness until during or after the quest, and that their physical relationship would not have developed without this understanding. And Sam, presumably, IS a healthy young hobbit, which means that prior to the quest, he's probably either getting some elsewhere or turning blue. :D

I'll read almost any hobbit pairing (men, elves, and other species bore me), and I'll buy almost any hobbit tumbling any other hobbit(s) out of the passion of the moment, especially when all participants are young and hopelessly horny. And I'll read ANYTHING, no matter how perverse the pairing, if it's humor or a parody. :D But I can't imagine "getting into" any story that portrayed Sam as loving anyone other than Frodo. Even Sam/Rosie stories get on my nerves after a while, even though I believe his devotion to her was sincere.

Tolkien himself has Sam's daughter say that she knows Sam lost "his treasure" when Frodo left. Not his best friend, or his master, or any of that; no, his treasure. That's awfully hard to argue with. :D

Was that enough of an answer?

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I suppose I'm different in that I think Sam has a great capacity for love -- and the kind of understanding that knows that you don't love one person the less if you love another person too. I do think that Frodo and Rosie are the "Great Loves" of his life, but I can see him loving, and being loved, by others. And not just in a sexual sense by any means!

Did you ever read my story "Speed the Plow" incidentally? You might enjoy it.

[rubynye.livejournal.com]

To be atrociously lazy, what she said. But then, I've never thought that a great love was at all diminished by not being an only love.

(And I was so going to red RSF's "Speed The Plow"> *grin and wave*)

[cara-chapel.livejournal.com]

In MoS, Sam's affair with Jolly Cotton is friendship love; he cares a great deal for Jolly, but he knows all along that Frodo owns his heart. He simply despairs of having him-- and as Tolkien shows us in the LOTR text, when you give in to despair you make critical mistakes, and people get badly hurt.

In meta terms, Jolly was actually necessary as an expository tool for emotional and characterization information about Frodo and Sam that Frodo, Sam, and Bilbo couldn't tell the reader themselves. And he helped Sam firm up his emotional development and learn a few things so he could be ready for the larger relationship with Frodo.

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

And I will worship at your feet forever for writing MoS. It's truly the greatest piece of fanfic I've ever read, and I've read a lot. If I'm being completely honest, it's one of the best books I've ever read, period. You have a magnificent style and such a gift for dialogue. *fangirl*

I loved the scenes with Jolly. I think Sam needed Jolly at that moment, and they were so sweet together. :-)

[elderberrywine.livejournal.com]

Well, I doubt that this will come as much of a shock to anyone, but for me, it's all about F/S. Even reading it for the first time at age 14, I had totally bought into the F/S aspect (I guess I was rather precocious) and was absolutely floored when Sam ran off with Rosie at the end. Quite honestly, LOTR would never have held the place in my heart that it does if I had not found the appendix, which went a long way towards redeeming Sam in my eyes. But then Sam was always my favorite character and I always saw Frodo through his eyes.

I must guiltily admit that S/OC fics, and even S/R, are difficult for me as a reader, and quite impossible for me to write. Oddly enough, F/OC are easier, but possible because in LOTR, we never really hear Frodo's inner voice. He's a more complex character, thus, and other relationships, at least for me, are more believeable. But I am the old-fashioned type, I'm afraid, so I clutch my appendix to my heart, and remember how it ends.

As you say, Every part of his story is uniquely Sam, livable by no other being (again as is true of everybody else in the book.) He's given every characteristic that would endear him to a romance writer - good, brave, loyal, forthright, humble, strong, we could go on - and so there's a lot of potential there. And I would add that we see straight into Sam's heart, far more so than any of the other characters. Plus, he's got most of the best lines in the book.

[danachan.livejournal.com]

I'll have to be lame, but, what rabidsamfan says. (And have you read "Speed the Plow"? It was pretty nifty, if I say so myself.) I tried to think it out in my own words, but I'm tired and the day is long, and that just works the best for me.

[trilliah.livejournal.com]

I know I'm a little late catching this post, but I thought I'd hop in anyway, as a bona-fide F/S OTPer-to-the-point-of-psychotic.

I'm not entirely sure what I have to say about it, so forgive me if this seems a little rambly; I'll be trying to figure it out myself as I go. Just a pre-warning.

For me, Sam has always loved Frodo. It's one of those things you never really think twice about; one of those relationships where the character grows up knowing already he'll only ever love the other. Sam knew Frodo most of his life; Tolkien's clear indication that both Sam and Frodo were interested in magic and elves and adventures would seem to imply there'd be a natural, even inevitable, camaraderie between them, sooner rather than later. Sam would be the eager child, then the steadfast friend, and finally the lover, as their respective ages allowed. The thought that Sam would even *need* to turn to someone else for a serious relationship is almost laughable.

This isn't to say I don't think Sam was ever *with* anyone else. Romantic as it might seem that Sam was 'saving' himself for Frodo, somehow I doubt it. He's a wonderful guy, yes, but he's got hormones, and as Tolkien clearly showed us, he's got common sense. He knows Frodo is above his station. He knows Frodo is twelve (or fifteen, depending on where you get your dates) years his senior. Perhaps if you believe this Middle-earth to be as homophobic as our own, he knows Frodo is a male (though I never see that coming into play, myself; perhaps I'm just an idealist). Knowing these things, Sam is going to try his darndest to talk his heart out of what it feels for Frodo. He's going to experiment; he's going to play kissing games at parties, and more daring games as he gets older. He's going to have playmates--in a time before STDs, who wouldn't? But as for a serious relationship--well, his heart was claimed a long time ago, so I don't see how he could ever give it to another.

It isn't just the hopeless romantic in me that sees it this way. Just looking at the circumstances as they stand, it seems--well, to reuse the word, inevitable. Day turns to night, winter to spring, the planet spins on oblivious through the stars, and Samwise loves Frodo. Put him with anyone else you please, but it will always feel like a lie to me.

Not sure I *answered* much, but at least you know how my brain approaches this particular topic. :)