Which LotR character reminds you most of yourself - and why?

[Iris Alantiel]

Well, for me it varies from day to day - some mornings you wake up and you feel like Aragorn, and then there are days when you feel like Gollum. But overall I'd have to say that if I actually think about it really hard, I'm most like Sam. He's incredibly and almost blindly loyal; he has this amazing determination, born out of that loyalty; and he never lets go of hope. Also, he goes on this incredible journey and does great things, but at the same time he would be content to just stay at home in the Shire and enjoy the simple things, and I can see both aspects in myself at different times.

Regarding what Rynoah said, about whether we really connected with the characters or whether we mold ourselves after them, I'm not sure. In my case, I first read The Lord of the Rings when I was pretty young (like 9 or 10) so it's hard to remember whether I was already like that or not. But I remember Sam was always my favourite when I was a child, so it definitely wouldn't surprise me if I had tried to mold myself to be more like Sam because I admired him.

As for which character Tolkien is, I would imagine that there's a little piece of Tolkien in most of the characters, since he created them all.