system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[LOTR] How long can you be a ring-bearer for before you're permanently damaged?

Frodo needing to go to the west to heal makes sense, since he went through a massive ordeal. But then Sam gets to go too, after carrying the ring for a few days.

Is any amount of time with the ring going to do permanent damage? Can you pick it up for 5 seconds, leave, and have a happy life?
gpt
Sam is allowed to go as he was a ring bearer and essential to their victory not so much due to the rings toll it took on him. In the books he is offered a spot and denies it because he wants to have a life with his wife and kids, he later sails across the sea after his wife dies.