Preface
This, as a work of fan-fiction, uses the beloved characters brought into being by the imagination of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien and, as is common, both seeks to fill in gaps and to postulate What if...? I do not own the characters or the story on which this work of my own imagination is based. I admit to having borrowed from as well as being inspired by other writers of fan-fiction, and in some parts my version of the narrative follows off plot devices crafted originally by those such as Baylor, Lindelea, Anglachel, Tom Fairbairn and others--I pray they will not be angry but flattered that I found their works intriguing enough to serve as springboards for my own meanderings, and a few of their OC characters of sufficient rightness to include here.
This is a story told from the point of view of Samwise Gamgee, in his own words, told in my version of the vernacular he chose to use. He is, in many ways, more complex that Tolkien’s Sam, just as Frodo is more complex than Tolkien’s Frodo. He has been conditioned to see himself as working class, but has been given a gentleman’s educational advantages, being taught alongside and in part by the Young Master. How would this conflict of roles have affected him? How would, now and then, his unusual educational background have manifested itself, and how would it have affected how others, through increased exposure to his camouflaged intelligence and perceptiveness, come to change their attitudes and behavior toward him? How would this in the end lead in the end to his election as Mayor (although I don’t bring the story to that point)?
I also consider Frodo’s experience as perceived by Sam. How would the presence of as malevolent an agent as Sauron’s Ring as it reawakened have affected Frodo and his relationships with others and, ultimately, himself? How would this be perceived by those who knew and loved him? What would he have experienced in the wake of his return to the Shire, and in light of the growing realization he had been too drastically changed to find once again his place in Shire society? If he found his body as well as his spirit is failing him, how would he have responded to it? How would he have learned or chosen to attempt to exorcise the demons within? If such attempts should come to light, how would others respond to them, to the revelations they bring?
These two were not peers, and there was an extreme difference in their ages. So, how would Sam go from being the gardener’s lad to Frodo’s best friend, dearer than brother?
Then at the end I shift focus from Sam to Aragorn. How would he have responded to the knowledge his Friend had finally chosen to leave Middle Earth, and then to the evidence of physical and mental anguish?
The relationship between Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee is one of the most inspiring ever described in literature. How it came to be is a matter of general fascination, as are speculations on on what happened during the two years before Frodo left Middle Earth. I have been exploring these situations as well as postulating what could have occured between Sam and Gandalf and other characters along the way, how Sam might have been prepared for his own part in the quest and for his role afterwards.
As Tolkien himself did in The Lord of the Rings I’ve kept to our own calendar names and titles for holidays, rather than using the calendar names from the appendices. Not as fascinating for many, but I feel it is acceptable.
That Bilbo might involve Frodo in copying as well as binding books I felt would be consistent with his and Bilbo’s interests in translation and study, particularly in a culture which has not yet developed movable type. And that such items as caddis fly larvae and woolly bear caterpillars might worm their way into a story I’ve worked on is something that I’m certain would make my mother sigh with recognition.
I hope this effort stimulates thought as well as entertains.
No slash, but a deliberate level of angst.
Mostly book canon.
B.L.S.
10/10/2004
In loving memory of Lynn Bickford S. For you, Mom.