Okay, Marileangorifurnimaluim (can I ask where you got your name? and what it means?), I do see what you are saying... Sam's heartfelt devotion. I guess it never phased me because I've been on the receiving end of that kind of devotion. I've had a good friend follow me beyond their sense of safety, on pure trust (they told me afterwards, I didn't know at the time.) It stunned me then.
But it never surprises me to read about it with Sam and Frodo; it seems perfectly natural. Maybe because I've been reading the books since I was, oh, ten.
I see the same kind of devotion in the men, as in Race of Men, such as Beregond's devotion and loyalty to Faramir. Why doesn't that raise eyebrows? Perhaps because they are in uniform?
I will have to do some more thinking on the manservant issue. I think of it in biblical bondservant terms (the awl through the ear into the gatepost, etc) and the british side of things is a bit fuzzy for me. But it makes a great deal of sense.
Too bad they can't quite maintain that in the movie.
Regards.
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.
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