Samwise Gamgee: The Grounding Hero of Tolkien's World

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Frodo: You've left out one of the chief characters — Samwise the Brave. I want to hear more about Sam… Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam.

In several of his letters, Tolkien called Sam Gamgee the “chief hero” of his story even though his name roughly translates as “half-wit.”

In a letter to Milton Waldman, Tolkien calls Sam the "chief h…