Who played frodo and sam9/3/2023 When Frodo reunites with Sam at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, Sam takes Frodo’s hand in a small, intimate moment, which McKellen worried may be lost on two straight actors. In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring's cast commentary, Ian McKellen, a gay icon in his own right who played Gandalf the Grey, revealed that he was responsible for the inclusion of a small but crucial moment between Sam (Sean Astin) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) that featured in the books but might not have made it into the films without his suggestion. The books are incredibly in-depth about the closeness of Sam and Frodo’s relationship. Their bond is incredibly tender and profound. And, we know from, of all people, Sir Ian McKellen, that queer fans of the books very much picked up on the Sam/Frodo relationship. The Lord of the Rings was published all the way back in 1954, meaning that there’s virtually no way to gauge the temperature of queer fan readings of the books when they were first published, but there’s no question as to whether or not there was material for queer fans to latch on to. It even precedes the popular fanzines that popped up when Kirk/Spock was finding its footing. It’s difficult to discern the exact roots of where Sam and Frodo as a ship truly began, because unlike so many of the most popular slash ships today, Sam/Frodo predates the existence of the internet itself. Not only did The Lord of the Rings bring Sam/Frodo, Gimli/Legolas, and a gaggle of other slash ships to the attention of mainstream audiences - it also created one of the most passionate and fan communities on the internet, one that’s alive and well today. With the debut of The Lord of the Rings films, Hollywood brought a crucial piece of queer-coded literature to the big screen, whether it was intentional or not. For years, Sam and Frodo’s affectionate relationship was one of literature’s most devoted (but not always acknowledged) ships. The Lord of the Rings’ plethora of close-knit male friendships made the classic book series rife for potential queer readings among eagle-eyed fans - there just wasn’t any internet or an easy way for a community to talk about these interpretations. For as long as there has been literature, there have been queer readings and interpretations of iconic fictional characters.
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