Goondor

Sam is the only lower class hobbit of the main four and as such he holds himself at a distance from the others, and puts them—especially Frodo—up on a pedestal. From birth, Sam has grown up in a world where he’s less than the gentlehobbits. His father tells him he’s reaching above his station for learning to read, no his purpose is to serve his betters. And the other hobbits aren’t immune to this mentality. Iirc there’s scene in fellowship where where pippin treats Sam more like a pack mule than a friend.

Even in Mordor, Sam constantly refers to Frodo as his master. They are at the end of the world and they are STILL not equals. Sam clings to that normalcy of the Shire but that normalcy entails holding onto a world where he’ll always be less than Frodo. Again and again he sacrifices his own safety and comfort for Frodo—giving the last of the water to Frodo, refusing to eat, literally planning to kill himself when Frodo is “killed” by Shelob.

We can talk all day about Sam Gamgee and devotion—a devotion that IS genuine—but you miss a lot when you don’t factor in the hobbits’ unequal social status. This is something that they do overcome—I’d argue they return to the Shire as equals. Hell, Sam subsumes Frodo’s social status when Frodo leaves the shire. One of the draws of their story to me is watching this superficial master-servant relationship grow into a very genuine love and friendship between equals.

ROUND FOUR POLLS [HERE]

PROPAGANDA BELOW

1. Elrond's irl children have a running joke that he loves Aragorn more than the three of them combined but everyone knows it's just a joke and the truth was that he loved all his children equally: but his love for Arwen, Elrohir and Elladan could be split across thousands of years like a slow burning candle. But he would only have Aragorn for a century or two — simply a blink in the eye of time, so his love for him was fiery and blazing — a sandstorm in an hourglass.

2. Toddler Aragorn was 100% spoilt, and it was entirely Elrond's fault. Most of the Dunedain fosters would normally come to Imladris as adolescents, as per general medieval fostering custom, and leave by adulthood. Aragorn, however, came in as a baby due to his circumstances, and Elrond — whose last baby was a baby 2800 years ago — went FERAL

3. Baby Aragorn was the bane of Glorfindel's life. He would make it a point to personally torment him. Four year old Aragorn once braided Glorfindel's hair to his chair so remarkably it took Erestor an hour to free him. When Elrond found out, he gave Aragorn extra dessert for being clever enough to do such good braids.

4. The best day of Elladan's life was the day Aragorn got his first haircut at the age of three, because Elrond cried for some inexplicably paternal reason and Elladan prayed Mandos would strike him down in that moment so he could die laughing hysterically.

5. Have I mentioned that baby Aragorn was very spoilt? However, nobody in the House of Elrond said anything of it, because that baby being a little spoilt was small payment for bringing joy to a family shrouded in grief for centuries.

6. Aragorn was 10 when Thorin and his company passed through Imladris, and he was OBSESSED with the dwarven lord. He would follow him around, beg him to play chess with him, ask if Thorin wanted to hold his pet lizard. Thorin would never admit it, but he too grew to adore the boy across those few days.

7. The entire household of Imladris spent decades placing bets as to when Elrond would accidentally call Aragorn 'Elros'. Elrond, for his sins, made sure that he never once mentioned Elros to him — so that Aragorn would grow up knowing he was loved for being him, not a facsimile of a long dead twin... until the day they parted, and Aragorn put a small heirloom from his family in Elrond's hand. A tiny gold ring traditionally given to elflings on their first begetting day — that had once belonged to his own ancestor, Tar-Minyatur.

8. Elrond used to scare Elladan and Elrohir with the idea of Ungoliant when they were younger, but when they tried the scare tactic on toddler Aragorn, he was very excited and wanted to hear more about the enormous spider. So they had to resort to drastic measures and tell him about an even more fearsome creature that ate little boys who didn't go to bed: Arwen Undomiel, the giant werewolf prowling the forests of Lothlorien.