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Why I can't swing Pre-Quest Frodo/Sam
It seems like the LotR hobbitslash fandom is drifting more and more towards pre-Quest relationship stories between Frodo and Sam. And I just don't think it could happen.
The Shire is a highly socially stratified world, and element of the books that Peter and crew were quite fresh with, i.e. Frodo getting drinks for the Gaffer and sitting with him in the Prancing Pony. This would never happen in the text. Frodo is gentry, and while the Gaffer might comment on his eccentricities out of earshot, he would certainly never behave with anything less than extreme deference to Frodo's face. Sam, as the Gaffer's son, would know these unspoken rules of society. He is a servant, Frodo a member of the Squirearchy.
For Sam to initiate a relationship during this period would be absolutely unheard of. Indeed, for Frodo to initiate it would be exceedingly improper. Bedding the servants is just Not Done. Not that Frodo would ever think of it that way, but Sam seems a bit more in touch with the rules of propriety, and probably would. It's not that they wouldn't be willing to bend the rules for each other, it's just that I can't see them seeing it. Neither of them would be on each other's mental radar as acceptable mates, even if they were both aware of their own homosexuality. The possibility of loving each other would not be one that they would have seen.
And yet I see F/S as a fully possible, if not downright canonical, pairing. Because as soon as they leave the Shire, the old ways fall behind them. They are living hand-to-mouth in the wilderness with none of the comforts of home and the constant possibility of death or worse hanging over them. The social barriers begin to break down. We can see this in canon as Sam, while still deferential to Frodo in address, slowly takes charge of their quest, becoming the real leader of the affair. He disobeys Frodo, corrects him, cajoles him. He oversteps his bounds, because they are no longer there. They are all alone, and there is no one to disapprove just as there is no one else to turn to for comfort in the cold of the night.
Frodo's relationship to Sam seems to have changed even more. In FotR he seems like a big brother, fond and amused and a bit patronizing. Sam is the servant, and while they are quite friendly, that is never forgotten. By the end of all things this is completely gone. Frodo sees Sam as his equal or his better. Sam still clings to Frodo's elevated status, but seems quite willing to take charge himself when it's needed. They've been living for so long outside of the Shire's social structures that they've ceased to be conscious of how they would be expected to view each other. They shift from seeing each other as master and servant to seeing only two people who were meant for each other.
I also see this perceptual shift as causing quite a bit of tension when they return. True, Sam seems to have successfully climbed the social ladder, but there's still very much a sense of class separation between the two. Having become used to its absence, how would they react to it once its pressure was felt once again? My guess is that class issues played more of a part in the Grey Havens than Frodo would like to admit. In the Shire, theirs is the love that dare not speak its name, regardless of hobbits' acceptance of same-sex relationships.
So, a question for the hobbitslashers: why pre-Quest? There are a thousand possible first times on the journey that are a good bit more probable. Pre-Quest is free of canonical constraints, and I suppose it gives a chance for happy!sex that isn't there with post-Quest, but...it just seems so AU.
The Shire is a highly socially stratified world, and element of the books that Peter and crew were quite fresh with, i.e. Frodo getting drinks for the Gaffer and sitting with him in the Prancing Pony. This would never happen in the text. Frodo is gentry, and while the Gaffer might comment on his eccentricities out of earshot, he would certainly never behave with anything less than extreme deference to Frodo's face. Sam, as the Gaffer's son, would know these unspoken rules of society. He is a servant, Frodo a member of the Squirearchy.
For Sam to initiate a relationship during this period would be absolutely unheard of. Indeed, for Frodo to initiate it would be exceedingly improper. Bedding the servants is just Not Done. Not that Frodo would ever think of it that way, but Sam seems a bit more in touch with the rules of propriety, and probably would. It's not that they wouldn't be willing to bend the rules for each other, it's just that I can't see them seeing it. Neither of them would be on each other's mental radar as acceptable mates, even if they were both aware of their own homosexuality. The possibility of loving each other would not be one that they would have seen.
And yet I see F/S as a fully possible, if not downright canonical, pairing. Because as soon as they leave the Shire, the old ways fall behind them. They are living hand-to-mouth in the wilderness with none of the comforts of home and the constant possibility of death or worse hanging over them. The social barriers begin to break down. We can see this in canon as Sam, while still deferential to Frodo in address, slowly takes charge of their quest, becoming the real leader of the affair. He disobeys Frodo, corrects him, cajoles him. He oversteps his bounds, because they are no longer there. They are all alone, and there is no one to disapprove just as there is no one else to turn to for comfort in the cold of the night.
Frodo's relationship to Sam seems to have changed even more. In FotR he seems like a big brother, fond and amused and a bit patronizing. Sam is the servant, and while they are quite friendly, that is never forgotten. By the end of all things this is completely gone. Frodo sees Sam as his equal or his better. Sam still clings to Frodo's elevated status, but seems quite willing to take charge himself when it's needed. They've been living for so long outside of the Shire's social structures that they've ceased to be conscious of how they would be expected to view each other. They shift from seeing each other as master and servant to seeing only two people who were meant for each other.
I also see this perceptual shift as causing quite a bit of tension when they return. True, Sam seems to have successfully climbed the social ladder, but there's still very much a sense of class separation between the two. Having become used to its absence, how would they react to it once its pressure was felt once again? My guess is that class issues played more of a part in the Grey Havens than Frodo would like to admit. In the Shire, theirs is the love that dare not speak its name, regardless of hobbits' acceptance of same-sex relationships.
So, a question for the hobbitslashers: why pre-Quest? There are a thousand possible first times on the journey that are a good bit more probable. Pre-Quest is free of canonical constraints, and I suppose it gives a chance for happy!sex that isn't there with post-Quest, but...it just seems so AU.
no subject
I can see where pre-quest is appealing, but something about it seems to me to deny some of the inherent...reality of Tolkien's world. Yes, we all wish the Shire was a happy gay pagan poly paradise, but it's not. It's Victorian England with little people.
no subject
I can see where pre-quest is appealing, but something about it seems to me to deny some of the inherent...reality of Tolkien's world. Yes, we all wish the Shire was a happy gay pagan poly paradise, but it's not. It's Victorian England with little people.
Oh, definitely. I mean, I guess if we figure it's Victorian it's not like two guys couldn't be having sex--particularly if they were both in the upper class, but Frodo and Sam could hardly date! Frodo would pretty much be taking advantage of Sam if he went after him, which he wouldn't do. I guess it's not the time period or the characters that make it impossible so much as the time period and these characters together. Another gardener might want to bend Frodo over the kitchen table regardless of what society would think, but Sam wouldn't.
But I don't mind fanfics that demand that kind of suspension of disbelief, probably because in return I get Bag End *and* sex and biscuits and tea at once.:-) Iirc, when I took the BitofEarth "What kind of Frodo/Sam slash are you?" test I got Rivendell.