Quote Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon View Post
Omg you people don't understand the character of Samwise. The reason he was able to resist the ring is because he already knew of something much more powerful than the ring; friendship, love, and loyalty. Part of the draw of the ring is the belief that the ring is the ultimate powerful force in the world.

Hell, based on that the damned thing tempted people who never even touched it (Boromir?)

Sam Gamgee is probably the baddest of asses.
It was pretty clear that Boromir was the weakest of the fellowship when it came to willpower, this would be the main reason that the ring put some kind of focus on him when it came to using it's power. Also, before Boromir had even seen the ring, he was tempted to make use of it at the discussions they had. It was like a nuclear bomb - there would always be those who wish to wield it's power.

Certainly men were far more susceptable, as were dwarves, when it came to surrendering themselves to the powers of the rings, let alone the one ring, but hobbits were known to be able to resist it's powers for many years. I would say that if Samwise were carrying the ring for as long as Bilbo or Frodo then there is every chance he would have been 'corrupted' by it.

So yeah, pretty much what nuke just said. Tolkien does indeed sing the praises of Sam and deservedly so, but despite this I wouldn't say he was the toughest of the toughest. Also, I reckon we're best to exclude fantasy world characters because let's face it, every fantasy universe has someone who is "tougher than all others ever were", which is kind of crap. Personally I put Aragorn down as the toughest mofo out there when it comes to LotR, but maybe I'm biased towards the idea of a king that would lead his army to death. Alternatively, you could say that the eagles were pretty tough, too... and yeah, Tom Bombadil, proper legend.