Who is Samwise Gamgee

• He's fiercely loyal. He'll face anything for Frodo's sake.


• He's humble. You won't catch Sam bragging about himself. If anything, praise seems to embarrass him.


• He's an optimist. He does what he can to keep Frodo's spirits up, even when things look more and more hopeless.

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

So what exciting things happen to Samwise long after the Quest is over? Well! Let's have a look:

• Samwise married Rosie Cotton and had thirteen kids. Count 'em, THIRTEEN! Elanor, Frodo, Rose, Merry, Pippin, Goldilocks, Hamfast, Daisy, Primrose, Bilbo, Ruby, Robin, and Tolman. Sam must be busy making up for all the kids Frodo and Bilbo never had.


• Sam became the Mayor of the Shire. He must have been very popular, because he was voted in seven consecutive times--and each term lasted seven years.


• After Rosie died many years later, Sam sailed to the Undying Lands to meet up with Frodo. Since Sam had carried the Ring for a short time, he earned the voyage.

Sam's name was originally Samwise Gamgee, yet somewhere in the course of his life he became Samwise Gardner. It's fitting enough, since Samwise and his father before him were gardeners for the Baggins family.

Why did Samwise change his surname? It's possible it was because of past records bearing all sorts of variations of his family's last name; his family wasn't particularly literate. Samwise himself only learned to read thanks to Bilbo.