Voronwe.
It's true that I havn't read all of Letters although I did search the index for Sam so I could get some idea of how Tolkien viewed his participation.
I havn't found much.
On the subject of
grace. Wasn't the whole point of divine intervention, the shoring up of Frodo's will, resolve if you like, is so that he could actually get the Ring to Sammath Naur? Does it make a huge difference how that intervention is made manifest?
For example, as Prim says in an earlier post:
Well, this is a dramatic instance of Sam saving Frodo from the Ring, but in the book Sam does the same in another way, does he not? On Mount Doom he holds Frodo's hand to keep him from reaching for it.
In other places I have the impression that Tolkien considers Sam almost an appendage of Frodo--"Alone he went, with his servant. . . ." Sam's will intervening might be part of the same grace that lets Frodo's own will resist in other places.
I must agree with you on this:
Nor do I think that that is what the filmmakers were getting at. I don't see Sam as acting as an instrument of Grace. This is one area that I agree with those who contend that the filmmakers have removed the divine influence from the story and replaced it with a very human intervention.
Other than Gandalf being sent back and the Eagles at the Black Gate,
I can't think of any area of the film where divine intervention was knowingly included.
All I'm asking is whether or not Tolkien could have accepted Sam saving Frodo from claiming the Ring at Osgiliath.
Cerin: Brief, succinct and to the point. But why a fried egg?