Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Music: The Sun Is Up
In a short scene of artistic license, I turn the Frodo & Sam Theme into an original song called, “The Sun Is Up”. This is the third time viewers will hear the song: first as a melody on the serinette, next as the tune whistled by Sam while returning home from the Green Dragon, and now as Sam opens up the curtains at Bag End in the morning. The scene also shows a bit more of what Sam does for work and what Frodo wears to bed.
What Sam Does for Work
I have previously described the relationship between masters and servants, but have not told as much about the type of tasks they might perform outside of serving food, acting as entertainment, and maintaining the grounds of the estate. Assuming the lives of servants in the Shire resembled those of servants in the Regency and Victorian eras in England, Sam would have followed a lengthy daily schedule as he took on various roles in the household.
Sam cooks breakfast for Frodo and his friends, mentioned by Merry at the beginning of “Chapter 6 The Old Forest” in Book I. This aligned to work done by a scullery man or kitchen maid in large Victorian households, analogous to Brandy Hall and Tuckborough, or a single cook in a small household, analogous to Bag End. English servants arrived at work around 6:00 a.m. to start the fire and make breakfast for the staff. Around 8:00 a.m., a footman would awaken the single gentlemen by drawing open the curtains and calling to them. This was also Sam’s job, as he thought how “he drew back the curtains at Bag End on a summer’s morning” while rescuing Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol in the first chapter of Book VI. Here, the cultures of Victorian England and the Shire become very different. While Victorian servants took their meals in dining rooms separately from employees, Sam always ate with Frodo. The first meal of this kind appeared in Book I, “Chapter 3 Three Is Company” when Frodo “took his own tea with Pippin and Sam Gamgee in the kitchen” as their “last meal at Bag End”.
The rift between Victorian and Shire culture widens when considering the work after the meal. Around 9:00 a.m., the scullery man washed inexpensive cookware, while the footman washed more expensive serveware. For hobbits, dish washing was done by all, as Bilbo washed the many dishes dirtied by the dwarves in The Hobbit during “Chapter 2 Roast Mutton”, and three travelers “left the washing up for Lobelia” before departing. This implies that on a regular day, Frodo and Sam washed the dishes together before going to their work. Sam would likely clean Frodo’s bedroom and then go to the garden while Frodo went to his office.
This work period would not last long in the Shire, as hobbits needed elevenses. The meal consisted of a warm drink in Victorian households but may have included food for hobbit households. After more work in the garden, luncheon would occur at 1:00 p.m. Once again, a wealthy Victorian family would be served by a chef while servants took “dinner” in their own dining room, but Frodo and Sam likely ate together. Sam may have put a stew on the fire after elevenses, as he famously made a similar meal in Book IV, “Chapter 4 Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit”. However, he liked to watch the meat closely and test the broth, rather than letting the stew cook on its own. According to historian Ruth Goodman, who also wrote How to Be a Victorian, a less carefully prepared stew known as pottage, from an Old French word meaning “pot food”, was more common in the Tudor period during the 15th through 17th centuries.
The next gardening session for Sam would last until 4:00 p.m., when the hobbits took tea, as Bilbo had mentioned to Balin in The Hobbit during “Chapter 18 The Return Journey”. Wealthy Victorians had tea around the same time, while the servants took tea afterwards at 5:00 p.m. Making tea for the staff was the job for the stillroom maid, also known as the cafeterie maid. The word came into British English from French as a space to make coffee, while American English received the cognate cafeteria from Mexican Spanish in 1839. The concept of a cafeteria being a self-service restaurant arrived in the 1890s, while modern cafeterias at schools and workplaces came around 1915. Bag End does not have a cafeterie, but it does have pantries, as Bilbo bragged during the first scene of The Hobbit. That word arrived in English from Medieval Latin panataria or “room of the bread servant” via Anglo-French around the early 14th century.
At this point in the day, Sam’s work likely varied based on time of year, assuming the times of sunrise and sunset in the Shire followed patterns in Cornwall, UK, upon which the fantasy landscape was based. During the summer, he likely would have continued gardening until dinner at 7:00 p.m., if not supper at 9:00 p.m. Sunset in Cornwall was at 9:35 p.m. on June 21, 2025, the summer solstice. During the bleak winter months, the Sun would have closed her fiery eyes around the time Sam went in for tea, as sunset in Cornwall was at 4:18 p.m. on December 21, 2025, the winter solstice. Due to the early darkness, Sam would have to work indoors. He was good with his hands, as he mentioned “knowing a bit about rope-making” to an Elf in Lothlórien, and he directed “the cleaning up and restoring of Bag End” after the scouring of the Shire. He might have proofread Frodo’s writing and given suggestions, just as Frodo shared his lament for Gandalf only with Sam, while Sam provided a final verse, in Book II “Chapter 7 The Mirror of Galadriel”.
Sam’s day likely ended around 10:00 p.m. after he checked that the fires were safe for the night. If he became tired, he may have “sat curled up at Frodo’s feet” as he did while Frodo talked to Gildor in “Three Is Company”. When Frodo at last decided to go to bed, Sam may have filled a hot water bottle for him, a common practice in Victorian households before modern heating systems. Hobbits did have water bottles for drinking water, with Frodo carrying his from Bag End to Cirith Ungol until it was “slashed up” by orcs, so it is reasonable to assume that they had the hot water variety. With his master “given satisfaction”, as the Gaffer would say, Sam could lock the doors and return home to 3 Bag Shot Row.
What Frodo Wears to Bed
A more accurate title might be “What Frodo Does Not Wear to Bed”. As a bachelor in a society inspired by late medieval through Regency era culture, he likely wore nothing. In The Birth of the West, which I reviewed but a few weeks ago, historian Paul Collins emphasized that, “Everyone slept naked” when describing “Ordinary Life in the Tenth Century”. As mentioned during a discussion on cleanliness when describing my portrayal of Orcs, upper class people in the medieval period were undressed and bathed by servants, meaning most people were comfortable with nudity. Even during the American Revolutionary War at the end of the 18th century, British soldiers often slept naked to preserve their shirts, since it was difficult to get new shirts while away at battle, although civilians around this time were beginning to sleep with just a shirt.
Sentiment towards nudity did not shift until the Victorian era, when nakedness was viewed as an issue of both cleanliness and morality, but younger generations fought against these ideas. During the 1920s and 1930s in England, nudity became a central tenet of a utopian movement. Self-proclaimed gymnosophists, coined from Ancient Greek words meaning “naked wise ones”, believed that getting rid of the social construct of clothing would “usher in the Golden Age” where “a person who wears more than a loin cloth… will be stigmatized as indecent and degenerate”. Some also considered themselves Heliophiles or sun-worshippers, as being without clothing allowed sunlight to touch every part of their bodies.
As the movement drew more attention, the phrase “nudism” became popular, entering English in 1929 based on the French nudisme, and gymnosophists soon were called “nudists”. Unfortunately, by 1933, the Nazi Party decided nudity was a great idea and created Nacktkulter, literally “naked culture”, to inspire interbreeding among people with “the best racial background”. Perhaps after surviving World War II, Tolkien was trying to reclaim nudity for those who loved nature.
Finally, the modern American dislike of nudity has been thoroughly covered in previous posts, including my review of the podcast Articles of Interest that features an episode titled “Nudity” and my decision to overly clothe the Drúedain or woses to decrease controversy. However, since non-sexual nudity is accurate to both the original text and its historical equivalents, I have decided to begin desensitizing the viewer as early as reasonable. The song sequence and ensuing conversation takes place while Frodo lies in bed and Sam slides next to him before falling onto the floor. This scene should feel like a daily exchange between an annoyed master and his innocent servant. The only cause for concern might be the scarring on Frodo’s right shoulder, an artistic license to be explained in a future episode.
The Song Itself
The song begins as Sam draws open the curtains of Frodo’s bedroom at Bag End and sing/shouts, “Wake up, Mr. Frodo!” He is more-or-less singing in the key of E major at 120 BPM. The classic hobbit-instruments—string quartet, snare and bass drum, and tin whistle—then play the introduction, the now-familiar Frodo & Sam Theme. The drums create a heartbeat rhythm, first heard during the instrumental to “Gandalf Warns about the Ring”. Each of Sam’s lines ends in a rhyme: “blue”, “do”, and “you”. However, the final line is interrupted by Frodo, who does not rhyme, although he has the decency to sing in the correct tune and rhythm. The song ends with a musical “splat” as Sam falls stunned to the floor upon learning that “Gandalf has come to visit” after many years of absence. While this scene is of my own invention, the combination of references to later scenes found in the original text, a whimsical song, slapstick comedy, and the genuine affection between Sam and Frodo, even if they sometimes aggravate each other, makes this deviation feel like a lost fragment of the original Red Book of Westmarch.
Listen to the song here: