The One Ring Tempts Samwise - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King CED

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The One Ring Tempts Sam

The power of the One Ring tempts Sam, but he soon recovers his Hobbit sense (Side 1, 14:43).

"As Sam stood there, even though the Ring was not on him but hanging by
its chain about his neck, he felt himself enlarged, as if he were robed in a
huge distorted shadow of himself, a vast and ominous threat halted upon the
walls of Mordor. He felt that he had from now on only two choices: to forbear
the Ring, though it would torment him; or to claim it, and challenge the Power
that sat in its dark hold beyond the valley of shadows. Already the Ring tempted
him, gnawing at his will and reason. Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he
saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across
the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the
overthrow of Barad-dur. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun
shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and
trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for
his own, and all this could be.

In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him
firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense:
he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a
burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small
garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a
realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command."

- LOTR Book VI: The Tower of Cirith Ungol

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