I still say that even though Frodo learned a lot about Sam, it wasn't because he didn't know him very well. You can live your entire life with someone and not know how they would react to a certain situation. The things that Frodo learned about Sam, and the amazing qualities that Sam manifested, were definitely circumstantial, but their friendship was not.
Before the Quest, a best friend relationship simply didn't need to be as close and intimate as it eventually became, due to their situation. Where I am right now, I would never imagine holding my best friend's head in my lap as he slept, or holding his hand as we climbed a mountain; but if we were in the situation that Frodo and Sam were in, that would be the kind of affection and companionship we would both need to stay alive and sane.
I also don't know how my friend would react to me needing affectionate emotional support. I would certainly learn some things about his personality that would either endear him to me more or tarnish my opinion of him. Perhaps we would go to war together and I would see him mercilessly slaughtering anyone he could find. I never knew he was capable of such a thing! Then again, I might see him put down his weapon and die because he could not bear to kill another living person.
The personality traits are new, but only because the experiences that bring them out are new. The definition of "best friend" changes because the circumstances grow more extreme, and call for more open affection.
Their friendship grew much stronger -- that I'm not denying. I'm saying that just because it was a comparitively mild friendship before the Quest it doesn't mean that it was any less of a true friendship. The evidence I present for this is the fact that it did become so strong. If their personalities were capable of this kind of "meshing", they had to have been great friends -- though on a much simpler level -- before the whole deal.
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