[lathspell]

I don't Sam would get a control over the Ring if he had it from the beginning. He would just bear it as did Frodo and problaby do the same thing as Frodo in the end, refuse to throw it in the cracks of doom. As Gandalf points out in The Shadow of the Past, the Ring's power starts inmediately after you've got it.
Sam did give the Ring back to Frodo in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, but at that time he only used it a short time, and his love for Frodo was greater. Frodo was appointed for the mission, not Sam. But if Frodo was killed in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, or by Shelob, I guess there is a way Sam might have thrown the Ring in the cracks of doom. His love for his master, Frodo, and his hate against the Ring might prove greater than the powers of the One Ring. Than he will be able to finish the mission, but that's only when he can beat the Ring.

This of course is only speculation, but it's a way to see things.


Carannillion - what about the mingling of orcs when Frodo and Sam are running along with them? At the end of their trip doom awaits them for certain, but they are saved by luck. Or are there other powers at work of which we don't know (yet)?

greetings,
lathspell