Friendships and Overtones in LOTR

Hello everyone!

With rereading LOTR, especially Two Towers, I've been reminded of a lot of the romantic overtones that comes off between say Frodo and Sam, or Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn (especially the first two). A classmate mentioned though a possible reason why these overtones seem so clear to us is because of how often we don't see healthy relationships and friendships like these within media. This, paired with watching a lot of meta literary device videos, has led me to think a bit more about male friendships and writing friendships and how those two intersect with Middle Earth.

Many of the stories and characters we encounter are male, especially for protagonists. However, Tolkien is NOT one for stereotypes. Many of our protagonists are emotionally vulnerable with one another, emotionally and mentally support each other, have solid banter back and forth (see Legolas and Gimli), and impossible loyalty (see Sam with Frodo). Part of the fun with writing friendships and romantic relationships is that... all of these happen in both! All of these can easily switch between "Besties" to "I wanna kiss you" - specifically that if the dynamics stay platonic it makes sense but if they develop into a romantic dynamic it can feel appropriate as well.

While of course I love both the friendship and the perceived overtones, what do you guys think? If we had more friendships like this in common media do you think the overtones/seen chemistry would completely disappear? Do you think the aspects of their friendship are key to creating romantic chemistry? Why or why not?

Elendil