[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Hi guys, first, the reason I picked the name 'hobbit social mores' (mores means customs) was to keep it all out of the gutter.

This isn't the usual "are they or are they not" discussion. That's been done. I guess I wanted to look at Frodo and Sam's relationship deeper than just 'they were buds' or 'they were this or that'.

Their relationship was very pure, but it was not simple, not by a long shot. You can't sum it up in one word. Or even two.

So I wanted to dice it down and see what people had to say the depths, the layers, of this profound friendship.

Enidhil has a really great point about there not being enough words in the English language for love.

Thank you Kalimac for bringing in the Latin words for Eros and Caritas (I thought Caritas meant love as in compassion..?). That really helps the understanding of how Sam could so totally adore Frodo without blithely and wrongly categorizing it as "gay."

I applaud the intelligent responses here.

I'll post soon what I think I've learned, to sum up some of the longer posts.