The reason Sam could give up One Ring was because he wanted nothing more than a small garden to tend to. He never desired anything more. Hence, The Ring couldn't tempt him.
Edit: To clarify, Sam never attempted to steal The Ring from Frodo. That is because Sam could resist the temptation of the ring because of his simple desires.
I thought it was cuz he never directly carried it, at least not for long. If The Ring couldn’t tempt him, why couldn’t he be the one to carry it instead of Frodo?
I think Sam wouldn't have the conviction to get things done. He wasn't the one who stood up and accepted the ring at the council. Sam was loyal and didn't have lofty desires, but he didn't have the spirit of adventure and perseverance that Frodo had. He was the perfect ally to help Frodo, but he wouldn't have made a good Ring bearer himself.
I like this idea. Is it canonical?
Not entirely. Sam was tempted, and if he possessed the ring long enough he would have been overcome like any other, but his Hobbit-sense saved him in that one small moment:
""As he stood there, even though the Ring was not on him but hanging by its chain about his neck, he felt himself enlarged, as if he were robed in a huge distorted shadow of himself, and vast and ominous threat halted upon the walls of Mordor..."
"Wild fantasies arose in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dur... He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be. "
"In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command. "
Thank you very much for the disclaimer and the quotes, they explain a lot. Are there any clues in the text that gandalf knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Sam to accompany frodo. With respect to this honest sense, Sam has?
Slammed prime Hobbitussy
That's gotta be a brand new sentence
Side character
Definitely the main character.
Tolkien explicitly stated that Sam was the main character:
"went home, kicked sarumans ass for good, and then got to slammin...
Oh right, the whole battle of the shire isn't a thing because some dork chopped it and Tom bombadil completely out of a movie script.
What? No... I'm not bitter... much
They're saving it for the sequel, "The Shire, An Inconvenient Truth"