The way I interpreted Tolkien’s answer was more that Sam was the classical hero in the sense that once he returned home, he got a happy ending with Rose. Frodo on the other hand was irreversibly wounded and did not have a hero’s ending, having to leave to his beloved Shire to heal in Valinor.
He did not claim that Sam’s story was more heroic in the sense most people would associate with the word.
The way I interpreted Tolkien’s answer was more that Sam was the classical hero in the sense that once he returned home, he got a happy ending with Rose. Frodo on the other hand was irreversibly wounded and did not have a hero’s ending, having to leave to his beloved Shire to heal in Valinor.
He did not claim that Sam’s story was more heroic in the sense most people would associate with the word.
All true, but I never thought of it that way. Sam avoided PTSD whereas Frodo was crushed by it.