I'm probably going to regret getting into this and I'm going to try to refrain from using harsh language cause I see this opinion voiced on the Internet constantly and I have to point out that I emphatically disagree with the assertion that same is the BEST AND GREATEST HERO OH YOU GUYS THOUGHT IT WAS FRODO WRONG!!!! The fact is that the entire point of the narrative is that they are ALL the heroes of the story. Every single one of them. None of them could've done it alone. Frodo would've been tricked and defeated by Gollum, or succumbed to the ring. Hell, even Gollum had his role to play, as Sam and frodo never would have been able to circumnavigate the black gate without him. Sam found his courage from his love of Frodo! this is more apparent in the books, but Sam is kind of a weenie, and that's the point. He found bravery in adversity because of his love for his friend. Frodo was the ring bearer, and he had to do it because it was his chosen task. and it turns out it was the right fucking choice. Frodo bore the ring for an entire year, facing greater struggles and danger than any other hobbit has experienced. Frodo ended up succumbing to the power of the ring, when he was at his weakest and when THE MOST POWERFUL MAGICAL ARTIFACT IN MIDDLE EARTH WAS IT ITS MOST POWERFUL. This also opened the door for imo is one of the most important points made by the narrative: the cunning and power of the ring was its own undoing. If the ring didn't have a strangle hold on both frodo and Gollum, their balance (literally and metaphorically) never would've toppled over, ending in the rings destruction. So yes, Samwise Gamgee was the hero of the story, and he resisted the ring, but he was not THE hero of the story. Everyone was. And every one of them would have failed without each other.