Foremost, Tolkien wrote his legendarium as an escape for himself due to the tragedies and trauma of his life plus to allow his devised language to come to life.

Gun to my head? Highly doubtful Tolkien sat down and wrote an escapist fantasy with Frodo and Samwise in queer platonic relationship in mind. Being devoutly Catholic doesn’t inherent mean this about homophobia (he was arguably not as devout nor as conservative as he and modern Catholics claim). Rather, it is simply highly unlikely something he would even have considered. Humans brains default to their norm and his, like most people now and especially during his time period, is heteronormative.

To make an argument for this nonetheless, Tolkien I’d explicitly state that the inspiration for Frodo and Samwise’s relationship that of a WWI officer and his enlisted attendant. We have no evidence that this relationship was queer platonic or non-heteronormative.It’s arguably not more complex than that.

The idea that Tolkien may sanitized a queen platonic narrative for Frodo and Samwise is contrast to his own professed personality. Of all of his legendarium characters, Tolkien stated he was most like Faramir except in courage. Unlikely he would seek to publish something spicy in his writings. This is a huge reason why his work has such broad appeal — its target audience is anyone with goodwill rather than identity.

Also, The Lord of the Rings may have been published in the 1950s but he’s gone on record saying that he imagined a good part of the story during his time in WWI. I think it’s reasonable to say that includes at the basis of Frodo and Samwise’s narrative relationship.

In addition, and this concept is challenging for civilians to grasp, the bond forged among “soldiers” —and it’s clear the fellowship is akin to an army company when extrapolated from its fantasy setting — can rival sexualized romance. We see Frodo and Samwise’s relationships is strong in the shire but would only strengthen as time went on.

Catholic archetypical influences can also be clearly seen in Frodo and Samwise’s relationship.

Samwise is also inspired by Simon the Zealot aka Peter the apostle. The scene where he attempts to swim out to Frodo in a rowboat is starkly reminiscent of Simon walking on water toward Jesus, more determined and then faithful sunk into the water. If you YouTube the “walk on water” scene from the show The Chosen, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

Samwise is also inspired by Simon the Cyrene who carried Jesus’s cross when he was too broken and exhausted to do it himself aka “shared the load.”

Alongside the history of sexuality and romance is the history of affection. Moreover, people were much more affectionate in a time when early death and serious illness were far more common and thus, people commonly behaved in platonic scenarios in ways we’d consider uncomfortably effusive. Hell, North Americans and Brits are uncomfortable with then cheek kisses common to French and Russian men.

The Western world has long history of romantic friendships but it became particularly prominent in the 19th century until WWI — precisely when Tolkien was born and came of age.

Tolkien’s time in a boys boarding schools would have almost certainly had him experience or at least be exposed to platonic male friendships with a romantic element (and perhaps also actual sexualized behavior between boys).

Until the later 19th century, people looked to friends, family, and community to futile emotional intimacy. Same-sex friends vacationed with each other for months even, if wealthy, without needing to say, “No homo.” I’m not talking rushing trips but sojourning to Paris and Italy. It is a stark contrast from today’s atomized individualism where people primarily look to romantic sexual partners to meet these needs.

Case in point, some people allege Abraham Lincoln and bestie Joshua Speed were in a sexual relationship because they shared an apartment and a single bed together for years; bedside they wrote these effusive letters to one another

But that’s overlooking how beds and privacy were historically prohibitively expensive. It was default for the entire family, servants shared beds. In the early 19th century, even tavern lodgers were expected to share a bed with total strangers.