# Could Sam have destroyed the Ring at the end?



## BalrogRingDestroyer (Jul 24, 2018)

Say that Gollum DID give up and DID NOT go after the Hobbits or that Sam HAD killed him, could Sam be able to overwhelm Frodo and get the Ring into the fire (even if it meant killing Frodo in the process) or would the Nazgul have gotten there first?


True, Frodo was kind of invisible, but Sam still had his hands to feel around and it's unknown how far away from the fire a tired Frodo could go. Unless Frodo was so corrupted by the Ring that if Sam HAD tried to take it from him to destroy it, that he'd have used the Ring's power to make Sam kill himself, I don't see Frodo being able to best Sam in a fight.


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## Squint-eyed Southerner (Jul 25, 2018)

Remember that Sam didn’t accompany Frodo into the Sammath Naur only because of the attack by Gollum; if he were absent, due to the reasons you gave, he would have been standing with him at the brink. In that case, whatever action he took would have happened there.

Tolkien speculated about various possibilities in Letter 246: mostly concerning Gollum's actions, had Sam not made the fateful error failing to recognize the change in Gollum's attitude towards Frodo, which he calls "the most tragic moment in the Tale". His conclusion is that his growing love for Frodo would have caused Gollum to guide him faithfully into Mordor, without the Shelob episode, but it would not be enough to overcome the mastery of the Ring. In which case, though he might, and probably would, have taken the Ring by force, he would have then, possession satisfied, "sacrificed himself for Frodo's sake and _voluntarily _cast himself into the fiery abyss".

I think that this would be the case with Sam: his love for Frodo would war with his hatred of the Ring; in fact, his experience of seeing what the Ring had done to his Master would make him hate it on a _personal _level, beyond any considerations for the "greater world". He would see that it had finally overcome Frodo's will; he would know the Ring would destroy him, even if Sauron didn't; and he would know that he couldn't live with his own guilt, were he to kill Frodo in order to destroy the Ring.

Therefore, I think the likeliest outcome in that situation is that he would grasp Frodo and throw them both into the fire.


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## Sir Eowyn (Oct 23, 2018)

I think you're right, my squint-eyed friend....and the first time I read it, I thought that's exactly what was going to happen. Though it's an interesting question, and turns on the amoral aspect of love. If Sam thought there was any chance for Frodo, I have a feeling he'd sacrifice Middle-earth for him. But it didn't work like that...


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