This Replacement Goldfish For Frodo

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: Rosie Cotton. The beloved wife of Sam Gamgee at the end of The Lord of the Rings, having given birth to the first of what would be a lot of kids…a LOT of kids…in later years, she literally is part of the conclusion of the overall story. So you’d think that she would be a larger part of that story but she’s only introduced by name when Sam suddenly thinks of her on the slopes of Mount Doom and first appears directly during the Scouring of the Shire. Her seemingly out of nowhere introduction has been bemusing people since publication, arguably even more so with time, especially as both general queer readings of Sam and Frodo’s relationship and the more slashfic approaches out there have only gotten busier over the years. Is Rosie’s late appearance essentially an error on Tolkien’s part, one that later writers or editors would seek to avoid or rewrite given current expectations of a story? How does Rosie complicate the dynamic of Sam and Frodo as understood, or in fact is that a question of complication at all? What do the various depictions – or lack thereof – of Rosie in the different adaptations of the story over the years demonstrate in terms of what the character can mean or be seen to mean? Can something be said about how we get more of a sense of individuals sparking off in a romantic relationship in the Shire from Sam and Rosie more than anyone else – even if it’s only across four lines of dialogue or so? And how many times will Jared’s cat Fuchsia join us for this recording? (Hint: more than once!)