The very, very queer history of Lord of the Rings – from Gandalf’s sexuality to Frodo and Sam

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Almost 70 years after JRR Tolkein published the first in his Lord of the Rings epic fantasy trilogy – a new vision of Middle Earth has finally arrived on our screens.

And as Amazon Prime drops its highly anticipated prequel series Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power, now feels like the perfect time to look back at the queer history of the series. 

Of course, as with any other hugely popular fiction series, there is a rich LGBTQ+ fanbase that has lifted the subtext of the novels to create hugely popular queer readings of Middle Earth. 

The queer subtext of the series has been around since the beginning, with Scottish poet Edwin Muir heavily criticising Tolkien for his writing of men where “hardly one of them knows anything about women”.

Meanwhile, openly gay poet WH Auden, once said: “No fiction I have read in the last five years has given me more joy.”

As one of the most influential fantasy texts of the 20th century, literary analysis has dug deep and found rich LGBTQ+ representation and metaphor.

In 2021 the Tolkien Society put on a controversial set of talks exploring queerness in Tolkien’s work including one talk called: Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings.

While it whipped up some controversy from right-wing mobs, who pushed against new readings and interpretations of the series, it also opened further conversation about queerness in Middle Earth. 

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The 20 minute talk, available to watch on YouTube, is led by non-binary professor Cordeliah Lodgson, who discusses the theme of the transition of Gondor, one of the main ruling Kingdoms in Middle Earth, and its use as an analogy to transgenderism.

The talk touches on characters such as Éowyn (discussed later) and her defiance of the gender binary, along with Faramir and Denethor, and their place in the books’ queer undercurrents.

Frodo and Sam. (New Line Cinema)

Within the series there are several queer-coded relationships that have gained huge traction in the LGBTQ+ community – not least that between Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee.

In the source material, Frodo and Sam are both hobbits thrust into the greatest quest of their life as they start on their journey to Mordor. 

Across the pages of the three books there are several interactions between the two best friends which show their deep and unending bond. 

In The Two Towers, as Sam watches Frodo sleeping, Tolkien writes: “He shook his head, as if finding words useless, and murmured: ‘I love him. He’s like that, and sometimes it shines through, somehow. But I love him, whether or no.'”

There are other scenes in the trilogy such as when Sam embraces and kisses Frodo’s body in desperate grief after believing him to be dead that also show this connection and deep love between the hobbits.

As one of the most popular ships within the series, of course fans were given all new material to mull over in the Peter Jackson movie trilogy in the early 2000s. 

The movies certainly reflect the tender, intimate relationship between the pair and at the end of the final film, Return of the King there is even a moment where it is clear that Frodo (Elijah Wood) wishes to kiss Sam (Sean Astin) on the lips. 

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