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What REALLY Happened to SAM When He Wore the Ring
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- Published on Mar 4, 2026
- What REALLY Happened When Sam Wore the Ring
In the Lord of the Ring, there was brief moment when Sam became the Ring Bearer. This moment was not covered in the Lord of the Rings Movies. But this is a very important moment that reveals Sam's true character. It really answers the question most Lord of the Rings fans have: What will Samwise Gamgee do if he got the one ring? JRR Tolkien has already answered that question in the book, The Two Towers. This video reveals what happened during the time when Sam wore the ring.
Content Clarification:
This channel produces original, narration-driven video essays featuring my own voice-over narration, original editing, and structured analysis.
Film clips are selectively edited and combined with stock footage, stock images, and original visuals to support new philosophical and thematic interpretations not present in the source material.
These videos are transformative works, not reuploads, compilations, or substitutes for the original films. 
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This was my favorite part of the books. Sean Aston would have won an academy award if they let him do this scene
its easily the best few chapters in the whole thing
They did film it, they just chose not to use the footage. Not even for the extended editions. They talk about it in the return of the king commentary
yeah i'm surprised how vividly i recall this part twenty five years later. a high point of the books
@fushey it's so exciting!
@thevoidireneed the extended extended version xD!!
"Grow me a garden worthy of Mordor!"
I had a bad day and this made me lol. Thanks for this 😂
Sam: Nah, i pass.
It does sound cheesy when you say it like that😆 no wonder Sam passed on it 😎
What does the Dark Hobbit Command, we have work to do 🌲🌴🌳💐🌾🥀🪷
i can not not hear that now.
The biggest irony is that by rejecting the One Ring, he got all the things the One Ring promised him. Mordor gets turned over to the former slaves who toil not for the will of cruel masters, but to make the former Empire of Mordor their home, to make it a living place. Sam gets to use Galadriel's gifts and bring life back to a ruined Shire, and gets the duties and role of Mayor of the Shire thrust upon him, and he wears that mantle for a few decades, before stepping down and letting someone else win the elections and succeed him, and before he dies, he gets to ride upon the last of the Elven ships to the West, to the Undying Lands to live out his remaining days in the greatest garden in the world, and knowing Sam, he found a way to improve upon perfection and make the gardens jut a little bit better and bloom just a little bit more beautifully.
Whoops, I just posted the same idea not knowing you had first. Good on you. 👏🤝
@je300blk Great minds and all that.
Three words.... PO TAY TOS 😂😅
@sean9374 "Boil 'em, mash 'em, put 'em in a stew."
11:40 as far as I remember, Sam saw the Mordor full of gardens, orcs dropping the swords and started gardening. He as an experienced gardener saw the problem here - "how am I supposed to watch over all the gardens here?? It's impossible". It's more colorful and concrete depiction of his simplicity, not just because he was "humble". He defeated the ring with a logic of a gardener.
Samwise Gamgee. The true hero of the Lord of the Rings.
Oh yeah. Especially if you read the books. The greatest hero and the person who succeeded and made the fellowship successful was Samwise. Frodo may have carried the Ring but Samwise carried Frodo and when it was his turn to carry the ring there wasn't anything the ring could do to tempt him. They ALL played their part but the person who finally succeeded was Samwise.
The series does a great job of deconstructing "the hero" as well via Boromir. Boromir was supposed to be the titular hero, but is easily felled by the ring. The series, however, shows that true heroism exists not in titles, or deeds, but in small acts.
I actually think Gollum was the true hero. That's something the books suggest (albeit not state directly), but the movies totally gloss over. The scene that makes it clear (the fight between the three of them right before Frodo enters Mt. Doom) is absent from the movie.
Everybody, find yourself a Sam. Better yet, find people who you can be Sam for
good luck finding the incorruptible. for they are exceedingly rare.
or better ''be a Sam'' ;)
@14reasons58 “Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” - Marcus Aurelius
@LifeinTheFouthAge What a lovely thought. BTW I love your user name- obviously a true Tolkien lover!
@linnetcooke5967thank you so much, that made my day!
Never was a big Sam fan but I may be now......
Small correction: Sam didn’t resist the Ring because he only had it for a few hours, he resisted it because of who he was.
The Ring corrupts instantly when it finds weakness. Sméagol killed Déagol the moment he first saw it, without ever wearing it before. Time isn’t the deciding factor, character is.
Sam was tempted, but his desires were humble. He rejected the Ring’s visions, gave it back to Frodo freely, carried Frodo up Mount Doom, and spared Gollum, which directly led to the Ring’s destruction.
Tolkien himself said in his letters that Sam was “the chief hero” of the story.
Without Sam, the quest fails, period. I myself had missed this for years 😅 but now Im definitely team Sam
One is the hero
The other the bearer
Together they are the salvation.
Beautifully said.
Also why they did Faramir a little dirty in the films when in the books he's of solid character; he captures the hobbits, gently interrogates them, knows Frodo has the ring, dismisses it, and sends Frodo and Sam on their way. He's incorruptible. He's everything Boromir should have been, had Boromir not felt he could save his people by wielding the terrifying power of the Ring to achieve it.
It would be fun if we saw [or could read] through a "seer" vision or something, an extremely detailed story about how the 3 movies would have went [dont hate me, sorry] if either sam, or frodo died or failed during a part of their adventure, and the butterfly it would have as an effect of outcome for the rest of the characters, in a situation where either happened.
Check out the ROTK Rankin Bass animated film from late 70s - Sam completely different.
Smeagol was never a good person, even before he got the ring, which is why it basically insta-possessed him. He then used that power to become even worse until he was cast out of his villiage.
It's one of my favorite bits in the book, and it made me chuckle when I read it, believe it or not. The Ring searches through his soul for some ambition or other that it can get a handle on and the best it can come up with is he turns Mordor into a garden with the legions of orcs as his assistants. The Ring wants to be on the finger of the conqueror of Middle Earth and instead it gets some guy who sees the possibilities of Mordor's rich volcanic soil. The Ring must have been thinking the Ring equivalent of "Hobbits in general are bad enough, now I get one who wants to landscape. I'm starting to feel like I'm being fscked with."
Better yet, Sam realizes that trying to care for such a massive garden would be too difficult, even with all the orcs in Mordor as helpers, so he scraps the idea.
The image of orcs as gardening assistants made me laugh, thank you
😂
Pls don't swear it dishonors God 😊
@Jesusaddict22 And presuming to speak for God somehow does honor Him?
I always wondered how he could make it to the tower , him using the ring makes so much sense.
Read the books! So worth it.
I allways try to be like Sam. Humble, cautious, a good friend and a gardener.
Me too. I'm a bit plump 😊
Ok
@edgarsmith9102 peak male performance.
@Non-existent.G 🗿
Sean Astin said during a Q&A that they wanted to show Sam hesitating to give the ring back to Frodo, but in Sean's mind the hesitation wasnt greed for the ring but fear of returning the ring to Frodo after knowing what its done to him. I think that sentiment really shows that Sean agrees the ring didnt work on Sam and that Sam was truly a hero for fighting the one ring
I always thought the way Sean Astin acted it depicted what you mentioned perfectly - Sam didn't look like he wanted to keep it, just worried about Frodo's wellbeing getting it back.
18:46 Are you sure Sam was the only one to give the ring up willingly? Bilbo was hesitant, yes. But he wasn't "forced" to give it up.
If I remember correctly Gandalf and to coax him a few times. Thats why he reluctantly dropped it on the ground.
Frodo tried to give it to Galadriel, as well. But one could say Galadriel's natural, magnetism, a sort of magic aura, bewitches people too.
@BlazedMagethat's the film version.
Faramir rejected it too
@Elaineshaw-d6mI never read it so that's fair.
"The pity of Sam ruled the fate of many". Sam is the GOAT.
Sam wasn’t corrupted because he had no strong desires he is humble down to earth guy that only wants the simple things in life he doesn’t care about greatness or some millennia spanning legacy he just wanted to live the life he had
Besides, he was in a life or death situation
11:35 The coolest irony, by Sam’s choice he got his own garden empire anyway, without the ring. With the help of enthusiastic and willing friends, he transformed the entire Shire into a beautiful, hobbit sized garden kingdom without dominating and enslaving anyone.
Sam saying "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry YOU." is my favorite quote in the series. We all need a Samwise in our lives.
I can't even think about that scene without getting at least a little teary eyed
If the roles were reversed:
Frodo: I can't carry it for you, but I can carry y ... dammit Sam how much Lembas bread did you eat?
Sam: * 50.000 calorie burp *
It was also written that while holding the ring Sam was marching up the tower to save Frodo, fighting orcs along the way and the orcs perceived him as a shining elven warrior. I wish they would have done this in the movie
In the movie, I always thought it was odd that when he has to give the ring back to Frodo, he looks like he wants to keep it for himself for a second. I read one interpretation recently which was that this scene shows Sam is actually hesitant because he's worried about forcing Frodo to carry the burden again, so that's why he looks so worried; not because he wants to keep it, but because he's seen what it's done to Frodo and doesn't want to let it continue. I like this because it also means Frodo's line about "this is my burden alone...etc" makes so much more sense, and means that Frodo is showing a lot of compassion and sacrifice in that moment by not allowing Sam to have to take on the burden. But they really didn't do a good job of getting that message across so I'm still not sure what direction Sean Astin was given. He's a fine actor so I have to believe that the impression I got is the one that was intended (i.e.: he's meant to look as though he doesn't want to give up the ring for more obvious reasons). But then Frodo's line is a bit odd in that case, because what he appears to be thinking is "oh no, Sam is going to be corrupted by the ring". This is all to say, I always found the whole interaction between Sam and Frodo over the ring a little confusing in the movie because the dialogue and acting don't quite line up.
@kasroaI agree that it was more out of concern for Frodo, especially since Sam now knew how much it was affecting him.
@kasroa that would be the interview with Sean, the actor who played Sam, saying that he was told to be hesitant to give it up but Sean fought to have him portray reluctance out of concern for his friend.
"Sam doesn't make it far. He's stumbling through the darkness - the ring heavy around his neck - when he reaches the top of the pass (the threshold between the relative safety of the mountains and the nightmare landscape of Mordor itself) and he freezes. Because Sam realises that if he takes one more step forward-"
...it'll be the farthest away from home... he's ever been
The real ones know. This was one of the biggest motivators for Sam.
😂
yawn
It's dangerous business, Samwise, stepping into Mordor. You step onto the ash, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing who's layer you might be swept off to.
Sam wore the ring for a whole day when he was searching for Frodo and he did not resist when returning the ring to Frodo. Sam was the purest of all the Hobbits
He wants brave he found a giant arachnid he was pure and uncorrupted
5:23 "...it'll be the farthest away from home that he's ever been."
Thats what i was thinking too
the bearer of the ring, the wearer of the ring, stands on the very brink of fate.
16:02 Dust. Dumbledore said calmly.
Sam was perhaps the strongest of the ringbearers. He wasn't given the ring, he didn't take it by force or accident, he took it because he had to, he was the only one left and because it was the right thing to do. When the ring tempted him, he rejected it fully because he didn't want or need anything that he couldn't gain himself. One small garden and a person to share it with!
Tolkien was a deeply Catholic author. When he writes that Boromir, or Denethor, or Saruman...was "proud", the reader must register the full Miltonian condemnation of that word. Sam for Tolkien is heroic in his humility.
Prideful is rarely a positive, adjective
great perspective to explore, great vid, thanks
Sam's struggle was what I liked about old cartoon Return of the King. Really only way to faithfully adapt LotR by making it a series with each season covering entire book.
@vananon51, if you hinting at Rings of Power, then of course I'd prefer for people who cares about source material to work on such series.
I mean the ring told him hes gonna be the greatest gardener and conquer all the gardens in the world
Gollum was really the tenth member of the Fellowship. Unwittingly and unintentional but a RngBearer and ultimately, the one who determines the Rings fate
I can definitely relate to only wanting my own garden, not an empire. Great videos.
Sam...and Bilbo. Both showed mercy to Gollum, and both willingly gave up the ring (though Bilbo did need a bit or prompting from Gandalf). Gandalf remarks on this in "The Fellowship of the Ring".
This video alone was more than enough for me to turn into a fan of the channel and I already subscribed. Very, very well done.
I wish this was shown in the movie haha.
Fun fact: Lava is way denser than river folk. Gollum would not have sunk - he would have just bounced and bobbed, stirfrying 👌
I wish they would have put the scorging of the shire in the movie.
Found the orc.
I kind of hated the way that Frodo gets in the movie right before Sam gives him the ring back. I do know it's probably because Frodo's worried about it corrupting Sam and Frodo's own corruption from it making him suspicious.
But after everything Sam did to get back to him, it kind of made me feel weird and I never liked it.
Sam is the Neville longbottom of lord of the rings. The true hero of the story. Frodo is strong, but never would have made it without Sam.
the what
@ARadioheadDeepDivemy bad i didn't finish my thought lol fixed it
Ending someone who seriously life alteringly wronged you is not "purely revenge", if you have a heart that realizes that, if you dont deal with the gollum, that gollum could do what he did to you, to someone else.
Frodo offered the ring at least twice, willingly, without coercion, to others in the story.
Sam isn't the only one doing so, he is the only one successfully giving the ring out, but Frodo's situation and circumstances are different and he must keep the ring because others cannot take it from him.
I could be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that Tolkien once said that Hobbits had a natural defense against the Ring. Not an immunity, but that the Ring itself had a hard time with Hobbits.
Men were easy to corrupt, promising power. Elves couldnhave their egos appealed to, the promise that they could guide with their wisdom. Dwarves were stubborn, but cpuld be promised vast riches. The Ring preyed on the natural weaknesses of each species. Bit Hobbits, being far simpler and more humble, were harder for the Ring to corrupt. Smeagol was an exception because he was alreafy rotten, but Bilbo and Frodo both held onto the ring for decades before the events of the Fellowship in the books, because they had what they wanted.
It could still corrupt though. It pushed Bilbo to go on more adventure, and it slowly corrupted Frodo, but with Sam it had to start back at square one, and wirse it started with someone whos only real desire was seeing his master and friend's mission through.
Sam still would have faiked at Mt Doom, Tolkien I do know explicitly said no one would have been able to destroy it, they wouldnt have had the willpower. Its why Eru had to personally step in and trip Gollum while he was dancing with the Ring.
Again, I could be wrong, but Ivr always liked that idea and think it fits with Tollien's allegories about simplicity and humility.
I, too, recall this
How was Smeagol rotten? Didn't he fight his friend over the ring?
So it was greed that corrupted him, allowing the ring to corrupt him aswell?
I don't think Smeagol was a true hobbit, similar but not the same.
@patdelaney191 Based on.... then being... what exactly..
exactly. the ring teases you with power and greed, stirs you to do anything to achieve your selfish ends, etc.
but hobbits in general don't WANT anything. as long as they have their hobbit holes, a good stew, and a well cured pipeweed, they're content. hell, hobbits don't even want shoes.
sams' garden vision realization is perfectly describing this: he doesn't want a kingdom of gardens grown under his authoritarian whims, he wants HIS garden back home. he wants to return to a 6 foot by 12 foot patch of soil he voluntarily left behind out of duty. he wants to spend his time tending his potatoes and dreaming of the savory dishes they will one day become. when your hearts desire is so small, so simple, how is the ring to get it's tendrils in you as easily?
Sam could easily be Tom Bombadil's aprentince :D
More like Radagast's since tom is too eccentric. Tom is just as likely to kill you as he is to ally with you.
Sam was, without doubt, a ring bearer. He was allways my hero🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩.
I always figured Golem jumped in on purpose after losing the ring so many times, he kills himself to take it with him forever, his in death and no one else's :D
😢.. wonder if . .. the gold was re mined after Mt Doom .. cooled down. . and the ring became a coin. ?!. . .
The story of man. Has just begun?!.
Sounds more like Scrooge McDuck. The number one dime was the one ring.
Very interesting premise. And quite apropro!
The love of money is the root of all evil.
Love your content! Just stumbled across your channel and am making my way through your videos while I work.
I do have a small suggestion for an improvement, though. It would be nice if you had an outro or faded the music out gradually at the end of your videos. Currently, it cuts out quite abruptly and I keep thinking that something went wrong with the video or I disconnected from the internet 😅
2:25 magic the gathering art from the lotr secret lair set
It's touching how Tolkien, after dedicating several paragraphs to Sam's complex and profound thoughts and feelings as he held Gollum at his mercy, concludes with, "But Sam had no words to describe what he felt." I think there's a beautiful reflection from the Doctor in that passage, on the difference between being cultured and being wise, in reference to Sam, a literally small person who felt even smaller, simple, but whom we, the readers, know possessed a unique greatness.
It's touching how Tolkien, after dedicating several paragraphs to Sam's complex and profound thoughts and feelings as he held Gollum at his mercy, concludes with, "But Sam had no words to describe what he felt." I think there's a beautiful reflection from the Doctor in that passage, on the difference between being cultured and being wise, in reference to Sam, a literally small person who felt even smaller, simple, but whom we, the readers, know possessed a unique greatness.
ruclips.net/video/KS8OHBv4PJ0/video.html
didn't the ring also auto translate the orc speech? it's been a while since I read these books but I seem to remember that.
great video
Blessed is tthe mind too small for doubt
He has always been my favourite character in LOTR
Sam is too pure, and simple. My 2nd favorite scene from the book didn't make it into the movie.
Sam takes the ring before Frodo is taken to the tower. The ring starts to appeal to Sam's desires by showing him visions of the beautiful gardens he could create in Mordor. Sam is momentarily tempted, but quickly realizes he doesn't need all that and is quite happy with his simple life and garden
That journey took 17 years?!?
I've heard so many people say bad things about the lord of the rings, they say it's messages are toxic. I'm pretty sure not a single one of the people who say these things read the books. Even if they did they were probably too immature to understand the written words. Most probably just watched the movies and thought "war bad" without realizing that yes war is bad, that is why the message of the lord of the rings is so powerful, so important.
his hand grew smaller and then he put on a gauntlet.
You said the Ring did not tempt Sam with power and armies, but with a garden. But it clearly from the text you then showed, and narrated, that he was tempted with power and armies first, and then gardens when that wasn't sufficient.
That was Gandalf's thinking as well. Its why he gave the ring to Frodo. He knew that the ring could only corrupt what was already in the wearer. That's why guys like Saruman and Gandalf himself were to be very careful. They had a lot of power already, the ring could do a lot with that.
However, as Tolkien puts it, a hobbit has the least desire or potential for any power that the ring could use which is why it could make them invisible but couldn't do much more than that.
And which is why they were the perfect creatures to be relied upon.
You cannot say all hobbits are similarly pure of heart. If Ted Sandman had acquired the ring he would have been just as easily corrupted as Sméagol, or Lobelia Sackville Baggins for that matter.
Indeed there were probably quite a few Hobbits, whom the finding of the ring would have been disastrous.
"Putting on the ring isn't anything like the movies"
Proceeds to describe exactly what the movies depicted XD
Isildur's ring calls to men it whispers to me like a lover. A jailer. But I will not submit.
- Talion.
Yeah, but Frodo made Gollum take an oath, if I remember right, when he joined them this time, that if he took the ring from Frodo it would kill Gollum.
yep. him falling in with the ring wasn't just bad luck, but the consequence of breaking his oath, enforced by Ilúvatar himself.
In my eyes he was always the true hero of the story.
Only when there is no one left to be the hero will I step up and be “ the one”! 😇
This is a good video, but actually there are two people that gave it up freely, the first was Bilbo baggins, and the second one was Tom Bombadil, of course Tom Bombadil is probably not a mortal
He's a multiversal being.
14:16 Pinche Gollum 😫
Does it say in the book that Sam put the ring on. I doubt that Tolkien would skip over that *very important* information.
nice
Samwise Bombadil confirmed😂
so if same could risk the temptation why doesnt he carry it the rest of the way ?
I've read LOTR 3000 years ago (and since I have watched the movies many times)
Thanks for this reminder, I totally forgot what happened to Sam
The wound in Shelob's abdomen's still sore
where Samwise penetrated her with Sting
She's not allied with Sauron in this war
and nursed no appetite for Elvish rings.
Staunch mountain guardian, beyond all worth
no salary could hire a better ward.
She'd never known a fear in MiddleEarth
until this Hobbit, with his spell-wrapped sword.
Bucolic people, rarely moved to wrath
yet dauntless in defense of kin, and friends
like David facing down that guy from Gath
the Little Folk, on whom the War depends.
No witnesses were there to tell the tale
unless a palantir watched Morgul Vale.
Sam was just too pure.❤
Sauron was death afraid of Sam I can imagine.
You missed the part about Frodo making Gollum swear an Oath by the 'Precious' and in Tolkien's world, Oaths have great power; so in this case, the ring itself forced Gollum to destroy himself, it just sohappened (not a coincidence, think by Illuvatar's will) that the ring was being held by Gollum by the edge over the lava when this happened.
Why did not Sauron "detect" Sam?
I thought for sure at 5:21 you were going to say the meme
5:58- It was already described in the movies. The world changes for all the others who wear the ring. It becomes a nightmare for everyone, too, though Sam feels the effect of the ring even more.
The Ring despaired as the only thing he wanted was a bigger garden
Not bigger garden, but his own little garden. Ring *assumed* bigger would be better, but that's not true for Sam.
One of Tolkien’s greatest Hobbit/Samwise moments!
Ru-dy, Ru-dy, Ru-DY!
Frodo: where is it!
Sam: where’s what oh , this old thing
14:56 what is that illustration??? 🤣🤣🤣
TLDR: We were robbed of a sequel about Samwise the Strong, gardener to the world.
Frodo offered the ring to Galadriel
I think Sam is a pure heart that can’t be corrupted or at least not quick to corrupt
That's pretty deep... Not bad
17 years?
My personal interpretation of him questioning why he's alone is this, if you remember, Galadriel told frodo "to be a ring bearer, is to be alone". The very fact he even had the ring in his pocket, he bore the mental weight, and ultimately chose to still destroy it. He knew it was a one way trip, and still decided to go forward. Even with the strain The Ring places on the bearer, he still knew the cost of either outcome, honestly, it really isn't hard to see how WW1 inspired such a world changing story, tolkien is a genius
he felt the need to dominate all the rabbits and taters!
Sam was not the only mortal who gave up the ring: Bilbo did years before. (As I have often said, Tolkien never does anything once.)
Bilbo did give it up, not forced but with some resistance. Bilbo did win over temptation but his fight was different than Sam’s. It doesn’t make Bilbo any less of a hero, he still made it through the battle of temptation.
@5:30 Sam realizes if he takes one more step, it's the furthest away from the Shire he's ever beeeeeen.
Sam was the true hero
So Tolkien said
He should have take the ring to the volcano
The 1980 Return of the King animated film actually has the scene of Sam wearing the ring in it. Amazing scene.
The old movies may not be the same caliber as the live action trilogy, but there is a certain charm to them. The music alone is something i still think back on fondly.
♫"If I... were the Lord... of the Ring"♪
Samwise was shown how it corrupted people and how it was affecting Frodo
I remember reading LOTR back in high-school, Samwise was my favorite character by a long shot, followed only distantly by gimli.
Dont "look" for a samwise, *be* samwise.
Bilbo gave up the ring too, which is worth noting. Splitting hairs about how both Bilbo & Samwise felt emotionally while giving up the ring, (by their own choice, too) is just that, splitting hairs. Your point was made well w/out needing to discount Bilbo’s own ability to give it up, too, as Sam wasn’t the only hobbit to do so (as is claimed at one point in this video.) That only two hobbits were able to do so after having worn it for different purposes, still speaks well of a hobbits priorities and how difficult a time the ring could have with especially sturdy or humble hobbits. Nice work overall.
He means if he takes one more step he will be the furthest hes ever been from the shire
Dark Sam: If I take ONE more step ... well I'll fall straight into the fires from whence it came, won't I?
Frodo: You know what they say "One step to rule them all ..."
God does indeed use the humble.