Well, several things.
The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien, is a book trilogy following the journey of a wide cast of characters as they struggle to destroy the One Ring and defeat the dark lord Sauron.
There are about a million different connections between Christianity and these books but today I am focusing on one: Samewise Gamgee.
If you've read the books or seen the movies, you're probably smiling to yourself or yelling excitedly. Sam is a fantastic character. What you might not know is that he is a Christ-like character. Here's how:
1. A faithful friend
Sam is ALWAYS there for Frodo. No matter what. When Frodo tries to go off alone to destroy the ring without taking any one else from the Fellowship with him (in Fellowship of the Ring), Sam gets into the water to follow him. He tells Frodo that yes, he's leaving but that Sam is coming with him. This is a representation of Christ. Christ is always there for us, maybe not even when we want him to be.
2. He will always come back.
During Return of the King, Frodo tells Sam to leave, taking Gollum's word over Sam's. When this nearly kills Frodo, Sam comes to the rescue, with the phial of Galadriel. Even after how awful Frodo was to him, Sam saved him. Christ is the same with us.
3. He will carry us.
At the end of Return of the King, as they have almost reached the top of Mount Doom to get rid of the ring, Frodo can no longer go forward on his own. To this, Sam says, "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!" He the carries Frodo the rest of the way to the top. Christ will never carry our loads for us. He can't. But he can carry us through these burdens.
Need I say more?
Sam is a symbol for Christ. Here's a final quote from Sam to show that he was wise and good and Christ-like from the end of The Two Towers:
"I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something...That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for."
-Sam, The Two Towers