Kroger on Camelback marks meat down Wednesday mornings, saved me $40 last month.

I did the same thing last year, hit 87 books and spent way too long thinking about whether Tolkien basically rigged the whole thing so Frodo had to fail. The thing that gets me is Sam does carry the ring, just for like ten minutes when he thinks Frodo is dead, and he gives it right back the second he finds out otherwise, so the book kind of already answers this. He never gets tempted because he never has to hold it long enough to get worn down, and that's the whole trick, nobody gets tested by it in the same way. If Sam carries it the last stretch through Mordor, where the ring is heaviest and the pull is worst, I feel like he'd end up just as wrecked as Frodo, maybe worse because he has nothing to lose by putting it on. Gollum only gets his finger because Frodo got him to that exact spot, so take Frodo out of the walk and the whole ending falls apart.