Sam who?

[Elianna]

Essex: This scene is put into the movie while Gandalf et all are on their way to Edoras. Not too far out of context.
It was one of my guesses that part of the reason lay in that Gandalf had just finished being dead...
I still don't think Gandalf would've really thought Sam dead. He knows that Merry and Pippin had been captured by the orcs, probably figured out they were still alive because Saruman thought they, being Halfings, might have the Ring. Sam, if captured, would've been kept alive too. Right?

[Morsul the Dark]

ok.gandealf comes back to life.......and where does he go ? to lothlorien.....ok in the book sam had looked into the mirrore as well as frodo........so galadrial may have told him this.......and told him about sams extreme sorrow about the happenings in the shire. so he may have assumed that sam had either followed frodo OR gone back to the shire to try and set things right.. i think PJ's excerpt was mainly from the scene and assumed it would make sense.. i wasnt all that confused..at least thats how i intrepret it any thoughts~~

[Kitanna]

This is what my friend said when I asked her the very same question. She thinks Gandalf thought Sam probably just went home because that's all he wanted to do anyway. I agree with that and disagree because of all people Gandalf would know just how loyal Sam is to Frodo, but then again there could still have been a chance for Sam to go home.

[The Only Real Estel]

ok.gandealf comes back to life.......and where does he go ? to lothlorien.....ok in the book sam had looked into the mirrore as well as frodo........so galadrial may have told him this.......and told him about sams extreme sorrow about the happenings in the shire. so he may have assumed that sam had either followed frodo OR gone back to the shire to try and set things right.. i think PJ's excerpt was mainly from the scene and assumed it would make sense.. i wasnt all that confused..at least thats how i intrepret it any thoughts~~

I very fine explanation of it, except that I still don't think Gandalf would just let the matter rest in a sort of 'oh well, he's gone, to bad' sort of way. I don't doubt that as soon as Gandalf could he would've found out for sure. And besides, surely Galadriel would've also included Sam's final resolution to go with Frodo? To many holes in this opinion for me, but it was an angle I hadn't seen/heard before.

Kitanna: I disagree with your friend's explanation also ( I'm very disagreeable on this subject, aren't I? ). Gandalf understood Sam's loyalty to Frodo, perhaps he understood it better than anyone else, he probably wouldn't have bought Sam leaving him. Of course Sam had the chance, he had it all along, Elrond himself told every member of the Fellowship that Frodo alone was required to continue on the Quest, but Sam wouldn't have taken any of the opportunities, & Gandalf no doubt knew that.

[Morsul the Dark]

well personally id like to think that at least now we've got another theory to ponder and perhaps ur right and im wrong...i mean i did forgot that galadrial knew sam had followed frodo........i do however think gandalf may have been merely traveling with haste knowing time growing quite short and was merely flustered i know he had time to think but as i recall(im now thinking about the movie i forget exactly how it went in the book) he had forgotten his own name he may have merely overlooked sam...or perhaps he thought sam had gone with frodo and it was merely reinforcement of the thought.

[wilwarin538]

i agree with morsul, like in TTT he hardly even remembered what his name was so maybe when aragorn, gimli and legolas informed him about what had happened aragorn thought that gandalf would atomaticaly think sam went with frodo so didnt bother mentioning him, so sam (like his name) just slipped gandalf`s mind.

[The Only Real Estel]

aragorn thought that gandalf would atomaticaly think sam went with frodo so didnt bother mentioning him, so sam (like his name) just slipped gandalf`s mind.

So did Aragorn & co. have to totally refresh Gandalf's memory? If so, with Gandalf remembering no one's names, they would've had to explain Frodo, & most likely he wouldn't forget to mention Sam. Oh well, no one really knows...