re: #374 steve_davis

to add my own theory to the mix, sam didn’t feel the effects of the ring because the ring was never sam’s burden: frodo was. so sam felt the burden of having to physically carry frodo into the mouth of mt. doom, but had no sense of the ring’s weight at all.

Actually, iirc, Sam DID carry the ring for a bit after Frodo was bitten by Shelob. He took it from Frodo just before he was captured by the Orcs and taken to the guard tower. He just a. had no desire for it and b. never wore it long enough for it to have any effect on him.