> > And then we have the servant, Sam, in LoTR... 
> complete with
> a 'lower class' accent, to further complicate the mess.  

Nah, that's what every Kindergartener recognizes as "the buddy system"

The convention is straight out of Shakespeare -- who was probably using
an older convention, but I've not studied the older conventions, e.g.
        Lear has his York
        Hamlet his Horatio
        Prospero his Ariel
        Romeo his Mercutio (sp)
        MacBeth had his Banquo (until he off'd him)

Goes back way further than that - there were buddies in the Bible, too,
and even in the sagas of Gilgamesh, which is even older than that. It's
a human thing

and so on.... 
        Crosby had his Hope, too.... =g=
                And cried, don't stop, I want Lamore!

Now that's just bad 

> darkelf, who just loves Tolkien

Sam's my favorite character -- in the books and the movies, 

(and I'm mostly tweaking at chu with this reply -- which is a lot more
fun than dealing with lawyer committee politics) tygress

I love Tolkein. Don't think much of his imitators, but admire his work
tremendously.

Laurie had a dog named Frodo Phoenix


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