heroism in j.r.r. tolkien

Upload: shivesh-kabra

Post on 07-Apr-2018

256 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    1/40

    Kabra 1

    Shivesh Kabra

    Mrs. Indelicato-Faw

    ALAR/P II 2nd Hour

    8 April 2011

    2nd Semester Outline

    Setting: The room will be well lit with a relaxed, casual atmosphere. I will be dressed in

    dark clothing, using a PowerPoint as my primary tool for presenting. There will be

    various posters on the walls and stands beside me. There will also be materials on the

    jurors table for them to reference to throughout the presentation.

    I. Introductiona. J.R.R. Tolkien was a revolutionary author, for he invented the epic fantasy

    genre, as we know it today. Whilst this remains slightly untrue, with the

    roots of epic fantasy leading all the way to Homers Odyssey, and other

    English and Irish writers such as E.R. Eddison and Lord Dunsany through

    time, he did open a new realm of epic fantasy through his unique

    characterization of heroes.

    b. Tolkien's letters also show that he was not reticent about his distaste forpsychoanalysis, and particularly psychoanalytical interpretations of myth

    and literature. In fact, his various non-fiction writings consistently criticize

    reductions of the hero myths to formulas and patterns.

    c. This diminution of heroic myths was a particularly common practice forauthors of the time, and even remains so today in many cases; take for

    instance, Rowlings Harry Potter, or Adams Watership Down.

    d. Thesis: In deviating from the trends of authors of his time, John RonaldReuel Tolkien both defies and embraces the stereotypical hero archetype

    by implementing variants of the heroic monomyth, gouging out heroes in a

    nonpareil fashion and thus creating the heroic fantasy we know today.

    e. Media #1: I will provide the jurors with a handout, which will be on thetable before they arrive. The jurors will be able to refer to it throughout

    my presentation. It will essentially break down all my information into

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    2/40

    Kabra 2

    simple bullet points. It will also include synopses of the Lord of the

    Ringstrilogy as well as brief descriptions of the characters I will be

    delineating. My presentation contains loads of technical conjecture so it

    would help provide the jurors some reference if they were to get lost, or

    fail to recall certain aspects of the trilogy.

    II. The Stereotypical Heroa. Transition: While he did completely stray off the path of common hero-

    archetypes he also embraced them, and further developed the realm of

    common-type characters.

    b. Transition: You might wonder, how did the archetype come to be?i. Carl Jung was a Swiss psychoanalyst who brought about the word

    archetype, utilizing it to describe universal figures found withindeeper realms of the psyche. As he defines it, archetypes are

    psychological and mythological motifs common to all peoples at

    all times, which manifests itself recurrently in dreams, mythology,

    religion, and mass culture. While the representations may vary

    from culture to culture/individual to individual, the basic

    'templates' remain the same.

    ii. Fantasy gains most of its strength from the utilization ofarchetypes; it is powerful and appealing at least partially because

    it ignores some of the basic principles of realistic fiction. One of

    those principles, of course, is that all characters should be

    complexly motivated by often-conflicting instincts, and that those

    instincts should exist on the unconscious as well as the conscious

    level.

    iii. The hero, in all its archetypal forms, is the most important figure inthe quest in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, because it represents the

    struggles of ones self for individualization, growth, and centering.

    iv. In identifying with the hero, the individual travels with him inquest of the numen, a Latin term that implies "divine will"

    borrowed by Jung from the religious psychologist Rudolph Otto to

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    3/40

    Kabra 3

    signify the inner powers of the psyche, the universal truth at the

    center of one's own soul.

    v. Commentary: These hero myths vary enormously in detail, but themore closely one examines them the more one sees that

    structurally they are very similar. They have a universal pattern,

    even though groups or individuals developed them without any

    direct cultural contact with each other--by, for instance, tribes of

    Africans or North American Indians, or the Greeks, or the Incas of

    Peru.

    vi. Commentary: Time and time again one hears a story describing ahero's miraculous but humble birth, his early displays of

    superhuman strength, his rapid rise to fame and fortune, histriumphant struggle with the forces of evil, his failure to overcome

    the sin of pride (can be referred to as hybris), and his fall through

    betrayal or a heroic sacrifice that results with his death.

    vii. Audience Interaction: What tales does this pattern bring to mind?They will give varying answers because the spectrum of

    possibilities is so broad.

    viii. Joseph Campbell sees an essential unity in the hero myths of alltimes and places, and attempts to account for them with yet another

    outline--in this case possessing seventeen points--of what he

    names, with a term borrowed from James Joyce's Finnegans

    Wake, the monomyth.

    1. The first stage of the Campbellian cycle of the monomythis known as theDeparture.

    2. Media Transition In: If you feel lost in all of thesetechnicalities feel free to refer to your handout, or these

    posters.

    3. Media #2: I will have a foam board poster, which has all ofthe steps of the monomyth that form theDeparture.

    Creating this poster will add a lot of organization to my

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    4/40

    Kabra 4

    PARALLEL

    presentation because all of the elements of the monomyth

    are hard to keep track of.

    a. The Call to Adventure - The hero starts off in amundane situation of normality from which some

    information is received that acts as a call to head off

    into the unknown.

    b. The Refusal of the Call - Often when the call isgiven, the future hero refuses to heed it. This may

    be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear,

    insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range

    of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her

    current circumstances.c. Supernatural Aid - Once the hero has committed to

    the quest, consciously or unconsciously, his or her

    guide and magical helper appears, or becomes

    known. More often than not, this supernatural

    mentor will present the hero with one or more

    talismans or artifacts that will aid them later in their

    quest.

    d. The Crossing of the First Threshold - This is thepoint where the person actually crosses into the

    field of adventure, leaving the known limits of his

    or her world and venturing into an unknown and

    dangerous realm where the rules and limits are not

    known.

    e. The Belly of the Whale - The belly of the whalerepresents the final separation from the hero's

    known world and self. By entering this stage, the

    person shows willingness to undergo a

    metamorphosis.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    5/40

    Kabra 5

    4. The second stage of the Campbellian cycle of themonomyth is known as theInitiation.

    5. Media #3: I will have a foam board poster, which has all ofthe steps of the monomyth that form theInitiation. Creating

    this poster will provide a reference for the jurors if they get

    lost in all this technical conjecture.

    a. The Road of Trials - The road of trials is a series oftests, tasks, or ordeals that the person must undergo

    to begin the transformation. Often the person fails

    one or more of these tests, which often occur in

    threes.

    b. The Meeting with the Goddess - This is the pointwhen the person experiences a love that has the

    power and significance of the all-powerful, all

    encompassing, unconditional love that a fortunate

    infant may experience with his or her mother. This

    is a very important step in the process and is often

    represented by the person finding the other person

    that he or she loves most completely.

    c. The Woman as a Temptress - This step is aboutthose temptations that may lead the hero to abandon

    or stray from his or her quest, which does not

    necessarily have to be represented by a woman.

    Woman is a metaphor for the physical or material

    temptations of life, since the hero-knight was often

    tempted by lust from his spiritual journey.

    d. The Atonement with the Father - In this step theperson must confront and be initiated by whatever

    holds the ultimate power in his or her life. In many

    myths and stories this is the father, or a father figure

    who has life and death power. This is the center

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    6/40

    Kabra 6

    point of the journey. All the previous steps have

    been moving in to this place, all that follow will

    move out from it. Although this step is most

    frequently symbolized by an encounter with a male

    entity, it does not have to be a male; just someone

    or thing with incredible power.

    e. The Apotheosis - When someone dies a physicaldeath, or dies to the self to live in spirit, he or she

    moves beyond the pairs of opposites to a state of

    divine knowledge, love, compassion and bliss. A

    more mundane way of looking at this step is that it

    is a period of rest, peace and fulfillment before thehero begins the return.

    f. The Ultimate Boon - The ultimate boon is theachievement of the goal of the quest. It is what the

    person went on the journey to get. All the previous

    steps serve to prepare and purify the person for this

    step, since in many myths the boon is something

    like the elixir of life itself, or a plant that supplies

    immortality, or the Holy Grail.

    6. The third stage of the Campbellian cycle of the monomythis known as theReturn.

    7. Media #4: I will have a foam board poster, which has all ofthe steps of the monomyth that form theReturn. By

    creating this poster, the jurors will be able to better keep

    track of all the steps.

    a. Refusal of the Return - Having found bliss andenlightenment in the other world, the hero may not

    want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the

    boon onto his fellow man.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    7/40

    Kabra 7

    b. The Magic Flight - Sometimes the hero must escapewith the boon, if it is something that the gods have

    been jealously guarding. It can be just as

    adventurous and dangerous returning from the

    journey as it was to go on it.

    c. The Rescue from Without - Just as the hero mayneed guides and assistants to set out on the quest,

    oftentimes he or she must have powerful guides and

    rescuers to bring them back to everyday life,

    especially if the person has been wounded or

    weakened by the experience.

    d. The Crossing of the Return Threshold - The trick inreturning is to retain the wisdom gained on the

    quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life,

    and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom

    with the rest of the world. This is usually extremely

    difficult.

    e. Master of Two Worlds - For a human hero, it maymean achieving a balance between the material and

    spiritual. The person has become comfortable and

    competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

    f. The Freedom to Live - Mastery leads to freedomfrom the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom

    to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the

    moment, neither anticipating the future nor

    regretting the past.

    c. Media Transition Out: The monomythic cycle is the standard for theheroes quest, and is even blamed for inhibiting clichs.

    d. One thing that especially holds to the stereotypical hero is the world thatheroes generally tend to preside in.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    8/40

    Kabra

    e. Commentary: Joseph Campbells description of the heros world could notbetter match the condition of Middle Earth at the end of the Third Age.

    i. The world period of the hero in human form begins only whenvillages and cities have expanded over the land. Many monsters

    remaining from primeval times still lurk in the outlying regions,

    and through malice or desperation these set themselves against the

    human community. They have to be cleared away. Furthermore,

    tyrants of human breed, usurping to themselves the goods of their

    neighbors, arise, and are the cause of widespread misery. These

    have to be suppressed. The elementary deeds of the hero are those

    of the clearing of the field. (Campbell 337-8)

    ii. Or as he (Joseph Campbell) elsewhere expresses it, in the sectionon The Hero as World Redeemer, the work of the hero is to slay

    the tenacious aspect of the father (dragon, tester, ogre king) and

    release from its ban the vital energies that will feed the universe

    (Campbell 352).

    f. Transition: Out of all the characters in the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy,Aragorn is prominently, if not predominantly, the most stereotypical

    hero.

    g. Audience Interaction: I will ask the jurors what characteristics of Aragornstrike them as heroic.

    i. Aragorn is the born herodescended from a long line of kings,born to achieve great feats.

    ii. Aragorn has all the traits of the classic medieval hero in that he hasa royal, semi-divine birth, the attempt on his life as an infant,

    upbringing as a foster child, victory over evil, then his marriage

    and assumption of his rightful throne, and peaceful ruling of his

    kingdom, Gondor.

    iii. Aragorn falls under the archetypal category of the hero-warrior.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    9/40

    Kabra 9

    1. Joseph Campbell defines the hero-warrior as a heroiccharacter who withholds not only offensive battle skills, but

    skills regarding survival and defense as well.

    2. The sword edge of the hero-warrior flashes with theenergy of the creative Source: before it fall the shells of the

    Outworn. For the mythological hero is the champion not of

    things become but of things becoming; the dragon to be

    slain by him is precisely the monster of the status quo:

    Holdfast, the keeper of the past (Campbell 337).

    iv. Commentary: Some early critics lamented the lack of a tragicdimension to Aragorn's history, that element ofhybris and doom so

    characteristic of the traditional hero cycle. Even for a conventionalhero Aragorn, they complained, lackedpanache; he was too good

    and solid, to the point of dullness, without the "sharp taste for sin"

    often found in the heroes of tragic myth. The implication of this

    and like criticisms is that Aragorn evinces neither human flaws nor

    personal growth during the course of the story, as one would

    expect in an archetypal quest (Potts).

    v. Commentary: But this is not so true in many cases. For instance,with the Fellowship, Aragorn acquits himself superbly during the

    battles with the orcs in Moria. There can be little doubt, however,

    that the real hero of Moria, and thus far the real leader of the

    Fellowship, has been Gandalf.

    vi. When Gandalf disappears with the Balrog from the bridge atKhaza-dum, Aragorn becomes leader by default, a transfer of

    power marked with his cry, "Come! I will lead you now!" His

    assumption of the cloak of command, nevertheless, comes with

    deep doubts and, as he states at the beginning of Chapter 6,

    "without hope." Even as they leave Moria for Lorien, Aragorn

    takes them "by the road that Gandalf chose" (I, 349). He clearly

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    10/40

    Kabra 10

    has too little faith in his own ability, a too human flaw, making

    way for his road of trials (Potts).

    1. Commentary: It is quite apparent through what we knowabout Aragorn that he falls under the hero-warrior

    archetype, but several things are not quite as apparent.

    2. Commentary: For instance, when does Aragorn atone withhis father? When does he become the master of two worlds

    and cross the return threshold? It is through these

    covered elements, to say the least, that Aragorn isnt

    quite such a stark, set hero.

    vii. Recall the Campbellian monomyth: the climax of Campbell'sheroic monomyth comes at "The Atonement with the Father"which suggests reconciliation with a father figure. The use of the

    word atonement is typically associated with relieving the anger

    and shame of a victim, thus its connotations are more positive.

    However, the atonement often ends up being a Freudian father-son

    battle, where the father is overthrown and the son assumes his

    power.

    viii. Aragorn's triumph at the siege of Gondor challenges the fatherfigure of Minas Tirith, the old, bitter Steward Denethor, who

    immolates himself in the voluntary mode of an aging Fisher-King

    whose reign has come to signify death and decay (Potts).

    ix. Aragorns purpose as a hero-warrior at the point when final battlepreparations are being made are quite fitting of his archetype:

    defeating the dead hand of the past, by redeeming the broken

    promise of the ghostly army at Erech, displacing the ossified

    "holdfast" Denethor, and challenging the ancient ogre-tyrant

    Sauron at his own gates. There is nothing at this stage of Aragorn's

    earlier indecision, and little of the weatherworn, middle-aged

    Ranger in the man who ultimately receives the crown:

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    11/40

    Kabra 11

    1. "Tall as the sea-kings of old, he stood above all that werenear; ancient of days he seemed and yet in the flower of

    manhood; and wisdom sat upon his brow, and strength and

    healing were in his hands, and a light was about him."(III,

    246).

    2. Commentary:Though there are comparisons to "old" an"ancient" here they refer not to decay, but rather to origins.

    Aragorn's coronation represents what Campbell sees as the

    cycle-like nature of the monomyth, which is a return to

    spiritual life at the source; a master of two worlds.

    x. Tolkien challenges the tragic hybris of the traditional mythic heroby having Aragorn magnanimously share the triumph of hiscoronation; he acknowledges that his heroism is not an individual

    matter but dependent on the heroism of others by having Frodo and

    Gandalf pass the crown to him, instead of taking it himself from

    the tomb of the last king as is the custom in Gondor (Potts).

    xi. Commentary: This represents his crossing of the return threshold.Though it might seem quite apparent now, it is often overlooked,

    as it is a somewhat hidden element of Aragorns roles the

    Campbellian monomyth.

    xii. Aragorn's doom doesn't quite fully meet the expectations of astereotypical hero either for he meets his death by his own will on

    the top of a hill, the House of Kings, near Minas Tirith. This only

    really relates to the doom ofa stereotypical hero in a relatively

    small degree.

    xiii. Commentary: This is another one of the more subtle variants of theheroic monomyth that we see throughout the Lord of the Rings

    trilogy, though it is significant because it does complete Aragorns

    heroic cycle, as it is his freedom to live.

    xiv. Commentary: Aragorn seems like a completely heroic characterand early critics disliked him because he was too heroic, so to

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    12/40

    Kabra 12

    speak.Through his somewhat veiled monomythic elements and fact

    we often overlook how he fits into the heroic cycle, he remains a

    somewhat unique heroand not soplainly in sightas one would

    think.

    h. Transition: Gandalf too remains a hero, and quite prominently so.i. Audience Interaction: What about Gandalf makes him a hero in your eyes?

    They will say something along the lines of mentor.

    i. Gandalf can be classified as a member of the shaman-heroarchetype, but his monomythic cycle is quite accelerated.

    1. Commentary: Gandalf, from the start is the natural leaderof the entire fellowship, being the oldest and the wisest.

    2. Commentary: The prevalent emotion in general is the heroworship of a young man for one older, braver, and wiser.

    The entire company treats Gandalf as an exalted Father-

    figure, the only exception being Boromir who wants to

    oppose Aragorn at every possible occasion.

    ii. Commentary: Gandalf is a very interesting character because hismonomythic cycle is extremely accelerated in order to

    accommodate his age in the sense that most character development

    happens over a time; but because Gandalf is so old, his heroic

    phases must be hastened. When Gandalf disappears with the

    Balrog at the bridge of Khaza-dum, he begins his Initiationphase

    of the monomyth.

    iii. Indeed, this early in the story, by The Two Towers in fact, Gandalfhas already reached the penultimate stage of the Campbellian

    monomyth, having become a master of two worlds, with power in

    both the material realm of Middle-earth and the spiritual realm of

    Valinor. No more does he appear the occasionally tired and cranky

    old man of his former incarnation. As Aragorn becomes the

    political leader of the West's forces, Gandalf becomes

    spiritualleader, in Campbell's term the boddhisattva who, though

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    13/40

    Kabra 13

    personally enlightened, chooses to remain engaged in the affairs of

    humanity to assist others, the divine returned in flesh from

    Paradise to share his spiritual wealth with a needy world (Potts).

    1. In fact, he closely resembles Campbell's description of theshaman that is glossed in his discussion of "The Road of

    Trials," which outlines the hero's crossing of the

    netherworld. The hero-shaman "undertakes for himself the

    perilous journey into the darkness by descending, either

    intentionally or unintentionally, ... [to] a landscape of

    symbolic figures (any one of which may swallow

    him)." (Campbell 101). If he can overcome the monsters,

    he returns from the land of the dead cleansed and purified,with his energies and interests focused upon transcendental

    goals and actions (Potts).

    2. Commentary: Finally, like Aragorn, Gandalf actuallycontinues to grow in vigor and power as the battle against

    Sauron approaches its climax.

    iv. Commentary: Gandalf, though he clearly a shaman-hero, is notquite such a typical character in the sense that his monomythic

    cycle is extremely catalytic. Consequently, his supportive hero

    role is allowed to take full effect and aid the other heroes in their

    character development.

    j. Transition: Frodo is automatically categorized as a hero, being our mainprotagonist.

    k. Audience Interaction: What about Frodo strikes you as a genuine-heromaterial? The jurors will say something along the lines of resolves the

    major conflict.

    i. Frodo, like Bilbo before him begins as an immature hero (basicallya child). Only really concerned with basic desires like food,

    security and friends. To fit him into the Jungian scheme of

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    14/40

    Kabra 14

    archetypes, he is classified as a Trickster Hero, using guile to get

    his way.

    ii. Commentary: Though he is not quite so deceptive as his uncleBilbo, he does have more of a hero's quest forced upon him, which

    he denotes early on in the trilogy as a classic fairy tale (in essence).

    l. The most prominent way Frodo exhibits his heroism is through hisphysical acts of courage.

    i. Frodo's physical heroism evolves in the combat with physicaldangers in the first book; his cry for help when Merry is caught by

    Old Man Willow; his stabbing of the barrow-Wights hand as it

    nears the bound Sam; his dancing and singing to protect Pippin and

    their mission from discovery; his stabbing of the foot of one Riderduring the night-attack; and his valor through brandishing his

    sword, and courage, by refusing to put on the Ring, telling the

    Riders to return to Mordor at the edge of the Ford.

    ii. Commentary: He continually fails these tests throughout the firstbook, against the Ring Wraiths and the Black Rider; relying solely

    on manifestations of deus ex machina. Even though he fails, he

    still shows courage and valor and the deus ex machina simply

    keeps the plot from collapsing with his death... Essentially what

    the courage and valor does for Frodo as a character is that it

    exhibits a type of wisdom and self-control.

    iii. Commentary: Frodo takes hold of his own quest through his heroicact when resisting the pull of the Ring in The Fellowship of the

    Ring.

    1. "For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercingpoints, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of

    himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to

    choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so.

    He took the Ring off his finger" (I, 519).

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    15/40

    Kabra 15

    2. Commentary: Rather than being saved by someone else,say Gandalf, and like the scene when Frodo tells the Black

    Riders to shoo off at Ford, Frodo was able to defend

    himself. This is cruicial in his character development

    because he realizes he can't have everyone else do

    everything for him; he has to take on his own quest to

    defend the cause of the fellowship.

    iv. Commentary: It is through this lens that we perceive Frodo as thehero that we do, but he isnt such a typical hero. For one thing, he

    is a hobbit, and doesnt look particularly strong. Most characters

    we recognize as heroes are displayed with much grandeur, not such

    humility.m. Transition: Frodo is also a hero in a greater quest. Something most tend to

    overlook is the fact that the main quest in The Lord of the Rings is not the

    Ring Quest, its not Aragorns quest, its not Mary and Pippins quests, the

    greatest quest is the Shire Quest because it allows the entire plot to

    happen.

    i. Ultimately it is the hobbits main goal to protect their shire, notdeliver the Ring to Mordor. The Ring Quest happens in order to

    protect their home. If there were no desire for the hobbits to protect

    their homes, they would have never consented to joining the

    fellowship.

    ii. Essentially, Frodo does not deliver the ring to the fires of MountDoom to save the greater population of the world, but rather to

    save the shire. In this way, Tolkien defies the hero's quest through

    his unique characterization of Frodo.

    n. Frodo has to meet his goddess and temptation. Like Aragorn, Galadrielplays the role of goddess-temptress in Frodos monolithic quest; having

    passed her test he receives her in the form of light in a vial. This follows in

    accordance with Campbell's monolithic cycle.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    16/40

    Kabra 16

    o. Until the breaking of the fellowship, Frodo's quest is tied to Aragorn's.Afterward, he continues along his own separate Road of Trials; "The

    original departure into the land of trials represented only the beginning of

    the long and really perilous path of initiatory conquests and moments of

    illumination. Dragons have now to be slain and surprising barriers passed-

    -again, and again" (Campbell 109).

    i. Commentary:In Frodo's case, the trials follow the patternestablished by the introduction to his journey. He has threats from

    enemies, has temptations to use the ring, descents into 'hell', being

    wounded, and having many people help him along the way.

    ii. Early on his separate road from Aragorn, he is threatened byGollum, and ends up winning his help. Then he is lead to CirithUngol, where he experiences a nearly physical death by Shelob

    and the orcs.

    p. Commentary: On its surface, the rest of Frodo's story suggests Campbell'smonomyth: the magic flight and rescue, the crossing of the return

    threshold, his celebration as hero serving as the master of two worlds

    phase, and his freedom to live. But, unlike the Campbellian hero in his last

    stages, Frodo did not discover the bliss within him; he did not come to

    peace with himself. Frodo's achievement of his quest came at too great a

    personal cost (Potts).

    i. Tolkien once said in explaining Frodos heroic failure to one of hisfans: It can be observed in history and experience that some

    individuals seem to be placed in 'sacrificial' positions: situations or

    tasks that for perfection of solution demand powers beyond their

    utmost limits, even beyond all possible limits for an incarnate

    creature in a physical world--in which a body may be destroyed, or

    so tainted that it affects the mind and will.

    ii. Unlike Gandalf and Aragorn, Frodo does not come of the hellishdimensions any stronger. Gandalf for instance, came out as a

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    17/40

    Kabra 17

    super-powered Gandalf the White. Aragorn comes out with an

    army of zombies.

    iii. Frodo, on the contrary, comes out weakened both physically andmorally, as the ring continues to dominate his mind and body.

    Campbell's monomyth can be stretched to say that Sauron is his

    father (referring to "father's atonement"), in the sense that as he is

    the father of the Ring, and the ring dominates Frodo, they are

    interconnected (Potts).

    iv. If, like all trials in the underworld, this one signifies a rite ofpassage and a stage in the hero's growth, it is for Frodo the growth

    of recognition that he too can fall (Potts).

    v. Frodos moment of greatest hybris leads immediately to thehumble and somewhat horrified acceptance of his fallibility. He is,

    like that other wounded hero Oedipus, much saddened but wizened

    by self-knowledge at the end of his trials.

    vi. Though Frodo has been compared to a Christian martyr, thearchetypal symbolism of his sacrifice goes back far further than

    the blood of the lamb. The sacrifice sits at the center of the

    Fisher-King myth: out of death, whether real or symbolic, comes

    renewed life(Potts).

    vii. Commentary: Frodo, therefore, must in his innocence give upeverything--his physical, psychological and spiritual well-being,

    and ultimately life in Middle-Earth itself--so that Middle-Earth

    may thrive.

    III.Tolkien Redefines the Heroa. Transition: All of the characters aforementioned do indeed represent

    Tolkiens revolutionary craft, but none so effectively as the instance of

    Gollum.

    b. Audience Interaction: What are some traits and characteristics you recallabout Gollum, and based on these observations, would you classify him as

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    18/40

    Kabra 18

    an antagonist or a protagonist? The jurors will answer something along the

    lines of antagonist or bad guy.

    c. Although Gollum is indisputably derived from hobbit stock, he has, ofcourse, become something else, "a small slimy creature," pale and skeletal,

    wiry and tough. He has held the Ring for over five hundred years. Since

    Bilbo bears it for sixty-one years and Frodo for only eighteen, it is clear

    from the start of the story that Gollum, whatever defects of his character,

    has been exceptionally unfortunate.

    d. Having started life as a hobbit not unlike Bilbo, he has had the misfortunenot only to be present at the discovery of the One Ring, but to carry it for

    almost ten times as long as any other Ringbearer. There is little doubt that

    Gollum is a picture of what any of the other Ringbearers might have been,had circumstances treated them less kindly, or their own characters been

    less strong.

    e. The Cain-like Smagol rationalizes the murder of his cousin Degol forthe gold Ring he holds because it is his birthday (I, 84).

    i. Commentary: Smagol deserves a gift, something "precious" likethe Ring, because the occasion celebrates the fact of his birth, his

    special being.

    ii. Commentary: The change in the name also accents his fall. Hisstrong desire overcomes him and so he becomes a monster... His

    name (Gollum) is guttural and embodies his evilness in a sense.

    f. Commentary: His whole story and background leads one to believe that heis purely evil for he committed the murder of Degol.

    g. "Tree and stone, blade and leaf, were listening: (Arthur: III, 160).i. This is taken note of when Aragorn senses fear in the land as the

    Army of the West approaches Mordor. The nature depicted in this

    statement reflects good things (growth and greenery, also

    remember the big trees that are good). Desolation is always

    associated with evil, as is machinery; Fangorn characterizes

    Saruman as having a mind "of metal and wheels," and having no

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    19/40

    Kabra 19

    concern for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the

    moment. Gollum embodies this conflict in the story (the gap

    between alive and dead). By being essentially Dead-in-Life. He is

    older than anything, no other of his race would be able to survive

    that long, but Gollum still eats to survive (Arthur).

    h. Commentary: Now, there are several things you should know aboutGollum. It is crucial thatit is realized that absolutely any hobbit that has

    gone wrong,that has been mutilated at twisted by the ring, can be

    classified as Gollum.

    i. "It is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious" (I,59).

    1. Tolkien presents the good Hobbit and heroic Bilbo as adivided self, "stretched thin" into a Gollum-like being

    because of his years carrying the Ring (Arthur).

    2. The scene opens after all with Bilbo's birthday party, toreenact the original fall of Gollum, on his birthday. The

    role of Deagol is played by Bilbo's nephew Frodo: on

    Bilbo's birthday, instead of receiving a gift, Bilbo, like

    Gollum, must give away a gift--to the other Hobbit

    relatives and friends and to Frodo. But once he actually has

    to give up the ring Bilbo retreats into a Gollum-like

    personality as seen by the way he starts to talk: Bilbo

    refuses to give away the Ring because he feels himself to

    be more deserving and Frodo less deserving of carrying it.

    ii. Recall when Frodo shows Bilbo the ring after he asks to see itonce again. Frodo though reluctant at first, manages to draw the

    Ring out.

    1. To his distress and amazement he found that he was nolonger looking at Bilbo; a shadow seemed to have fallen

    between them and through it he found himself eyeing a

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    20/40

    Kabra 20

    little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony

    groping hands. He felt a desire to strike him (I, 244).

    2. Commentary: Bilbo is described as a wrinkly creature orsomething of the other, and mention of a shadow is made.

    The shadow aforementioned is Gollum. The Ring's

    absolute power has already taken possession of Frodo's

    mind and it implies that Bilbo, had he held onto the Ring

    for very much longer, might well have been transformed

    into a creature like Gollum. But it also points out that

    whatever sympathy we are able to feel for Bilbo, and the

    Ring-desire of an ex-Ring bearer, we should be able to feel

    in equal measure for Gollum. The comparison is asimportant as the contrast.

    iii. Recall when Sam finds Frodo damaged after his Shelob battle, andSam holds onto the Ring for a while. When he tells Frodo that he

    has the ring, Frodo says, 'No, no!' cried Frodo, snatching the Ring

    and chain from Sam's hands. 'No you won't, you thief!' He panted,

    staring at Sam with eyes wide with fear and enmity (III, 188).

    1. Commentary: Even our main protagonist acts like Gollumwhen hes after the Ring. Also note how he behaves like

    Gollum in the sense that he calls Sam a thief and also

    take note of the fact that Gollum continuously called Sam

    something alone the lines of a dirty thief throughout the

    ending stages of the Ring Quest.

    iv. Commentary: It is through these observations that we can safelysay a hobbit that has gone wrong can be interchangeably referred

    to as Gollum. Consequently, we can say Gollum is our hero.

    v. Audience Interaction: What about a hero makes you essentiallyroot for them? They will respond with something along the lines

    of sympathy or apathy as the root cause of why they choose to

    side with the hero.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    21/40

    Kabra 21

    vi. Transition: Exactly! It is also in this way that Gollum becomes ahero in our eyes. That is, if you can past the fact that hes hideous,

    demented, dark, andpathetic.

    vii. Commentary:Although Gollum has been dominated by the Ringfor more than five hundred years, he has not fallen under the

    dominion of Sauron. He is still free to hate Sauron; he is not a

    Ring-Wraith.

    viii. Even while he is Gollum, tied to the Ring "with no will left in thematter" (I, 64), he remains Smagol as well. And as Smagol, he

    draws upon the sympathy of the reader. His iron will gives him a

    distinct characteristic; almost like a Byronic hero, but not quite.

    ix. He continuously draws on our sympathy as readers throughout theRing Quest as Sam is always extremely harsh out of precautionary

    measures.

    1. Don't kill us ... Don't hurt us with nasty cruel steel! Let uslive, yes, live just a little longer. Lost, lost! We're lost. And

    when Precious goes we'll die, yes, die into the dust. (III,

    221)

    2. Commentary: All along, Sam being our main protagonistssidekick has had our support. But as Sams cruelty draws

    out Gollums helplessness, we tend to shift our support

    more towards Gollum. As this continues for a time, Gollum

    continues to hold our sympathy.

    x. Commentary: Gollum also holds to all of his promises, but this ispartially untrue since Gollum is held to most of his promises by the

    power of the Ring itself. But he does more than simply keep his

    promises. He is often spontaneously helpful and good-hearted

    (Arthur).

    1. When Sam asks him to find them something to eat inIthilien, Gollum comes back with two rabbits, which he

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    22/40

    Kabra 22

    gives without demur to Sam, though he himself is very

    hungry (Arthur).

    2. Commentary: This too draws on our sympathy because heis self-sacrificing. The hobbit side of him actually wants to

    help, but his crazed alter ego is driving him to act as he

    does all for the Ring (Arthur).

    xi. Commentary: When Frodo goes into his Gollum-state towards theend of the Ring Quest, he draws on the sympathy of the reader.

    We feel bad for him because, well, he is helplessly under the

    control of the ring. Thus, in a sense, this sympathy must extend to

    Gollum because he was a normal hobbit under similar

    circumstances to that of Frodo.xii. Commentary: Gollum, though he may look like it, is not

    completely evil.

    1. "A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face.The gleam faded from his eyes and they went dim and grey,

    old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he

    turned away, peering back up toward the pass, shaking his

    head as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came

    back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very

    cautiously he touched Frodo's knee--but almost the touch

    was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the

    sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they

    beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had

    carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin,

    and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved, pitiable

    thing" (II, 324).

    2. Commentary: Here there is a glimmer of Gollum's trueinner greatness. The evil inside him was conquered by the

    power of love. Through this lens of greatness, Gollum rises

    as a hero.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    23/40

    Kabra 23

    3. Commentary: Gollum retains an ability to appreciate thebeauty in life, and has a genuine fear and hatred of the

    wasteland. A wholly evil creature would hardly be able to

    talk about Minas Ithil like this:

    a. Tales out of the South ... about the tall Men withshining eyes ... and the silver crown of their King

    and his White Tree: wonderful tales. They built

    very tall towers, and one they raised was silver-

    white, and in it there was a stone like a moon, and

    round it great white walls, (Arthur: II, 249)

    b. Commentary: Or to remember Mordor withnothing but horror, horror not just at the tormenthe endured, but at the place itself. When he

    discovers that Mordor is Frodo's destination, his

    reaction is one of graphic loathing:

    c. Ach! Sss!' said Gollum, covering his ears with hishands, as if such frankness and the open speaking

    of the names hurt him. 'We guessed, yes, we

    guessed ... and we didn't want them to go, did we?

    No, precious, not the nice hobbits. Ashes, ashes

    and dust, and thirst there is; and pits, pits, pits, and

    Orcs, thousands of Orcssess. (Arthur: II, 222)

    4. Commentary: As you can see, he isnt completely evil, if hewas he wouldnt be so perturbed by the dark characteristics

    of Minas Ithil. Though he isnt evil, he is positively

    twisted.

    xiii. Now on we go! ... Nice hobbits! Brave hobbits! Very, very weary,of course; so are we, my precious, all of us. But we must take

    master away from the wicked lights, yes, we must (Arthur: II,

    236).

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    24/40

    Kabra 24

    1. Commentary: His schizophrenia in a sense provides himwith a very humane sense of complexity.

    2. Commentary: He helps Sam and Frodo faithfully throughthe marshes, and only after he is reminded of the strength

    and cruelty of Sauron--when the Nazgul fly overhead--does

    he conceive the idea of taking the Ring for himself, and

    even once the idea has begun to trouble him, he still retains

    traces of goodness; there's a chink of light in his brain.

    Smagol even argues with his Gollum side saying Frodo is

    nice (took off the rope which "burns us") (Arthur).

    3. Commentary: Of course he hates Frodo also, in much thesame way that he loves and hates the Ring, and loves andhates his Gollum-self. Torn between responding to love

    with love and protecting himself from wickedness, Gollum

    eventually betrays the hobbits largely from his fear of

    Sauron. These would be complex feelings for an archetypal

    Monster, but not for a believable and struggling

    hobbit/human (Arthur).

    4. Commentary: This complexity makes him a hero. No othercharacter in the entire trilogy maintains such complex

    emotions and feelings. We can better relate to him, and

    thus more effectively sympathize (Arthur).

    5. Not least of Smagol's endearing qualities is his charmingmanner of speech. In The Hobbit, the first thing he says is

    "Bless us and splash us, my precioussssss!"10 and he

    continues to talk in this child-like way all the way to the

    wastes of Mordor. "Wake up, wake up, sleepies!" he

    whispers to Frodo and Sam in the journey to the crossroads.

    "They mustn't be silly," he hisses (II, 310). He can also be

    delightfully sarcastic. When Frodo asks him if they must

    cross the Marshes, Gollum answers:

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    25/40

    Kabra 25

    6. No need, no need at all ... Not if hobbits want to reach thedark mountains and go to see Him very quick. Back a little

    and round a little ... Lots of His people will be there

    looking out for Guests, very pleased to take them straight to

    Him, oh, yes. (Arthur: II, 233)

    a. Commentary: Gollum is quite playful and childish.Interestingly enough, this playfulness annoys Sam

    so much that he cant even reply to this twisted

    reflection of himself without insulting it. These

    peculiarities make Gollum seem much more human

    as it provides more unique depth of character

    (Arthur).xiv. Commentary: The Shire quest sets the main goal of the hobbit in

    the Lord of the Rings; to save their homes.

    1. Commentary: Their primitive mindset instinctively drivesthem. Gollum, a twisted mirror image of a hobbit, also in

    some respects plays into the hero's main shire quest. He is

    still a hobbit at heart, which is evident in that one of his

    schizophrenic sides is still Smagol, and hobbits are the

    main heroes of the Shire Quest. For example, if Gollum,

    out of his own greed, didn't guide Sam and Frodo as far as

    he did, they could have very well perished and never have

    succeeded into their quest.In the greatest quest any hobbit

    has ever undertaken to this point, Gollum saves the day.

    i. Transition: Gollum is the primal case of Tolkiens literary genius.Gollums depth of character and complexion, along with his humane

    aspects make him a hero truly unmatched.

    IV.Conclusiona. Thesis: In deviating from the trends of authors of his time, John Ronald

    Reuel Tolkien both defies and embraces the stereotypical hero archetype

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    26/40

    Kabra 26

    by implementing variants of the heroic monomyth, gouging out heroes in a

    nonpareil fashion, and thus creating the heroic fantasy we know today.

    b. Tolkien redefined heroes, as we know them today, making them as starklyheroic as Aragorn to as unexpectedly laudable as Gollum. Even in cases

    of blatant heroism, Tolkien rendered a new dimension of complexity,

    straying from the clichs of the monomyth, making him an unparalleled

    author of the heroic fantasy genre. Tolkien brought together the many

    threads of the myths he knew, invested them with the colors of his own

    literary genius, and wove them into what we know as Middle-Earth.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    27/40

    Kabra 27

    Works Cited

    Arthur, Elizabeth. Above All Shadows Rides the Sun: Gollum as Hero. Fall 1991. 18.1.

    Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Jan. 2011.

    Bradley, Marion Zimmer. Men, Halflings, and Hero Worship. 1968. File last modified on

    2003. 109-127. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Literature Resource Center. Web.

    25 Jan. 2011.

    Cambell, Joseph. The Hero With a ThousandFaces. 3rd ed. 1949. Novato: New World Library,

    2008. Print.

    Carpenter, Humphrey, ed.L

    etters of J.R.R. Tolkien. London: Allen & Unwin, 1981. Print.Potts, Stephen. The Many Faces of the Hero in The Lord of the Rings. Summer 1991. 4-11.

    Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Jan. 2011.

    Rogers, Deborah, and Ivor A. Rogers.J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1980. Print.

    Shippey, T. A.J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. London: HarperCollins, 2000. Print.

    Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Return of the King. 1954. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.

    Print. The Lord of the Rings.

    - - -. The Two Towers. 1954. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Print. The Lord of the Rings.

    - - -. The Fellowship of the Ring. 1954. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995. Print.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    28/40

    Kabra 28

    Secondary Outline

    y To what extent did Tolkien himself consciously use heroic archetypes? The JungianO'Neill makes the case that "Tolkien's work is probably the clearest repository of Jungian

    themes in recent literature" (O'Neill 16), so much so that he predicates the direct influence

    of Jung on Tolkien. He cites as further evidence the alleged common origins of

    Jung's numen and Tolkien's Numenor (O'Neill 163-4), even though Tolkien's letters

    denied the derivation of Numenor from the Latin (Letters 361).

    y A member of family departs from home (to travel, war, collect berries, or die)2. Aninterdiction is addressed to the hero (don't look in this closet, don't talk to strangers, don't

    defile my shrine)3. The interdiction is violated4. The villain reconnoiters (seeks out hero

    or addresses him)5. Villain receives information about his victim6. Villain attempts to

    deceive victim to take possession of him or belongings7. Victim submits to deception and

    thus unwittingly helps enemy8. Villain causes harm or injury to member of family or [a.

    Member of family lacks or desires something]9. Misfortune is made known; hero receives

    request; is dispatched10. Seeker agrees to/decides counteraction11. Hero leaves home12.

    Hero is tested, attacked, etc., leading to magical agent or helper13. Hero reacts to future

    donor/helper14. Hero acquires magical agent15. Hero delivered to object of search16.

    Hero and villain join in direct combat17. Hero is branded (wounded, marked, or receives

    token)18. Villain is defeated19. Initial misfortune is ended20. Hero returns21. Hero ispursued22. Hero is rescued from pursuit23. Hero arrives unrecognized24. False hero

    presents claims25. A difficult task is proposed to the hero26. The task is resolved27. The

    hero is recognized28. False hero or villain is exposed29. Hero receives new appearance

    (new looks, castle, clothes)30. Villain is punished31. Hero is married, ascends throne

    y The turning point in the narrative allows a shift in Tolkien's theme and the beginning ofthe second part of the epic novel in The Two Towers. The remaining members of the

    Fellowship are divided into two separate groups in this next book, a division symbolizing

    thematically not only the nature of conflict in battle in the macrocosm but also the psychic

    fragmentation resulting from evil. It is no mistake that the title is "The Two Towers"--the

    double, again, symptomatic of the divided self. There are not only two towers but two

    monsters.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    29/40

    Kabra 29

    y A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernaturalwonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero

    comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow

    man. (Campbell 23)

    y 1. The hero's mother is a royal virgin.2. His father is king and3. Often a near relative ofthe mother, but4. The circumstances of his conception are unusual, and5. He is also

    reputed to be the son of a god.6. At his birth an attempt is made, usually by his father or

    maternal grandfather, to kill him, but,7. He is spirited away, and8. Reared by foster

    parents in a far country.9. We are told nothing of his childhood, but10. On reaching

    manhood he returns or goes to his future kingdom.11. After a victory over the king and/or

    a giant, dragon or wild beast12. He marries a princess, often the daughter of his

    predecessor, and13. Becomes king.14. For a time he rules uneventfully, and15. Prescribes

    laws, but16. Later he loses favor with the gods and/or his subjects,17. Is driven from the

    throne and city, after which18. He meets with a mysterious death19. Often on top of a

    hill.20. His children, if any, do not succeed him.21. His body is not buried, but

    nevertheless,22. He has one or more holy sepulchers.

    In Lord Raglan's The Heroy Gollum's ability to love Frodo is decisive in locating his position in Middle-earth's scheme

    of good and evil. If, as W. H. Auden writes, "the primary weakness of evil is a lack ofimagination, for while Good can imagine what it would be like to be Evil, Evil cannot

    imagine what it would be like to be Good,"13 then Gollum epitomizes the struggle

    between the opposing forces: he can imagine what it would be like to be good. As I have

    noted before, good and evil are clear and consistent in Middle-earth and, with few

    exceptions, the good guys are very good and the bad guys very bad indeed. But this is not

    to say that the demarcation between them is unfailingly rigid. Some characters--Elrond,

    Arwen, Treebeard--are indeed wholly good, and other characters--the Lieutenant of

    Barad-dr, the Nazgl, the Orcs--are indeed wholly evil. Most of the characters, however,

    contain both good and evil, and though some resist temptation more successfully than

    others, even the best may fall and the worst repent. Each of the major characters is

    revealed at some point in relation to the temptation of the Ring: Aragorn, Gandalf, Elrond,

    Boromir, Faramir, Denethor, Saruman, Frodo and even Sam, are all exposed to the lure of

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    30/40

    Kabra 30

    absolute power. Four of them succumb to it--Boromir, Saruman, Denethor and Frodo--but

    the first three of those characters play only peripheral roles in moving the action of the

    story forward, and Frodo falls only at the very last. But Gollum vacillates back and forth

    between the possibility of good and the lure of evil, and this lies right in the middle of the

    spectrum of Tolkien's exploration. He might be said to represent the average soul.

    y But if evil, once it has possessed a person, is allowed to win without any further struggle,then there would not be much hope for us mortals, since all of us are, incipiently,

    Gollums, likely to be present when a Ring of Power is found. If Gollum, who was

    unfortunate enough to be swimming in a river when a circle of bright gold glittered on its

    bottom, had been irrevocably lost, what kind of hope could the world have retained, and

    what kind of interest would that world hold for readers? But Tolkien implies that there is

    at least a chance that Gollum may be cured before he dies, and this chance, this hope,reverberates throughout the story. Gollum reflects the position of Middle-earth itself;

    when Gandalf says, "Alas, there is little hope ... for him," then adds, "Yet not no hope," (I,

    64) he might, with a change of pronoun, be speaking not of Gollum but of the world, since

    the Quest seems a fool's errand from the first and there is little hope that the Ring will go

    into the Fire--but not, thank God, no hope.

    y although Aragorn and Gandalf search for Gollum initially through a great part of thewilderness, it is in the Dead Marshes that Aragorn finally confronts him: "Lurking by astagnant mere, peering in the water as the dark eve fell, I caught him, Gollum. He was

    covered with green slime." (I, 266) In fact, although Gollum lurks always on the edge of

    the company's trail, both the first and the second time that he actually confronts a

    company member, the meeting takes place by the Marshes of the Dead. Not only does he

    always seem to surface there, but by his own account he is the only creature in Middle-

    earth who can find a safe path through them. Yet he does not love them. He calls the

    candles of the corpses "Tricksy Lights." He hates the stink of the Marshes, but "good

    Smagol bears it," though he does not bear the Tower of the Moon, which has become a

    place of death; he urgently tries to get the hobbits past its exhalation of decay.

    y Even Gollum was not wholly ruined. ... There was a little corner of his mind that was stillhis own, and light came through it, as through a chink in the dark. ... It was actually

    pleasant, I think, to hear a kindly voice again, bringing up memories of wind, and trees,

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    31/40

    Kabra 31

    and sun on the grass, and such forgotten things.But that, of course, would only make the

    evil part of him angrier in the end--unless it could be conquered. Unless it could be

    cured.(i, 64)

    o In the same way Gollum hates and loves the ring, Gollum hates and loves Frodo becauseFrodo and the Ring are interconnected.

    y In the end, because of the ring Frodo is his ultimate enemy. Tolkien introduces the themeof the hero as a monster early on in the book when the Gollum-Smeagol (a Prime example

    of this) split is introduced. This is interesting because this is unlike the hero we see

    superficially--Frodo, the innocent hobbit--and rather Frodo is the enemy.

    y Aragorn is the "born hero"--son of a long line of Kings, born to achieve great feats in histime. Frodo is the one who has heroism thrust upon him, and to complete and fulfill the

    analogy we can safely assume that Sam achieves heroism undesired and unrecognized.

    Frodo accepts the charge of the accursed Ring because it has come to him by chance and

    because the great ones--Elrond, Gandalf, Galadriel, and even Aragorn--are afraid to trust

    themselves of its power. Sam cares even less for heroic deeds; he simply wishes to guard

    and remain with Frodo. This makes Sam a interesting hero. His motives are not at all

    heroic.

    y the character who is arguably the fourth major hero of The Lord of the Rings, is SamwiseGamgee. He does appear to be the least of the four; he functions for most of the story asFrodo's helper and sidekick, even as comic relief, and as a simple gardener, simple in

    every sense of the word; he seems from the outset to be of too humble stuff from which to

    make a hero. this could be useful in proving my thesis!

    y Frodo ... lay back in Sam's gentle arms, closing his eyes, like a child at rest when night-fears are driven away by some loved voice or hand" (III 186)

    y After Frodo dies, Sam becomes more of a hero [see Stephen Potts' lit crit nc "Sam as ahero"] and Frodo [see direct quotation above]. After Frodo is 'killed' by Shelob, he is weak

    and child like, and Sam is forced to support him. Sam even carries him at several points.

    so in a sense, sam evolves from the child-subordinate figure that needs to be kept from

    getting into mischeif (aka killing gollum) to the authoritative parental figure.

    y Tolkien intentionally contrasts the hierarchy of good characters, linked by the symbolicvalue of fellowship into an invisible band or chain of love, with the hierarchy of evil

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    32/40

    Kabra 32

    characters and fallen characters linked by the literal rings of enslavement--a chain of sin.

    y For most of the approach to Mordor, Frodo is still the leader of the little band includingboth Sam and Gollum, and provides the balance necessary to keep these very different

    helpers (both in some sense Jungian projections of Frodo's hobbit soul, as the Jungian

    O'Neill notes) from killing each other. When Gollum abandons them in Shelob's lair at

    Cirith Ungol, this psychic triumvirate collapses. When Frodo receives the sting of Shelob

    and "dies," Sam is left alone to make, as the chapter title has it, "The Choices of Master

    Samwise." Like Aragorn following the underworld "death" of Gandalf, Sam must evolve

    rapidly from helpmate to master of his own doom. That the hero's mantle passes here to

    Sam is evidenced by his assumption of Frodo's three magic tokens, the sword Sting, the

    phial of Galadriel, and of course the Ring itself. Although he must return the burden of the

    Ring upon Frodo's resurrection, he retains the sword and the phial. As Marion ZimmerBradley observed in a 1966 essay on heroism in The Lord of the Rings, Sam becomes the

    "tall, towering elf-warrior" seen by the orcs of Minas Morgul.

    y Sam does have a small measure of wisdom, and this wisdom manifests itself in the courseof the quest in Sam's increasing ability to make choices in the face of necessity. At first,

    like Frodo, he is thrust into events, essentially drafted, though not unwillingly, to be

    Frodo's companion by Gandalf and later Elrond. Sam's first independent commitment to

    the fulfillment of the Quest comes at the same time as Frodo's, when the Fellowshipbreaks up. Both hobbits defy interdictions to do so, Frodo the interdiction against using

    the Ring, Sam Aragorn's direct command to remain with the Company.

    y I have reserved for last, because most intense, the strong love between Frodo andSamwise, and the curious part played in it by the creature Gollum. Toward the end of the

    third book Frodo and Sam reach classical "idealized friendship" equivalent in emotional

    strength to the ardor of Achilles and Patrocles or David and Jonathan: "passing the love of

    women."

    y Having been strengthened by the quest, however, Sam--who enjoys with FrodoCampbell's rescue from without, magic flight, and crossing of the return threshold--is the

    one who wins the fairy-tale rewards of Propp, the marriage (to Rosie Cotton) and throne

    (the mayoralty of the Shire). Like Aragorn, he rules long and wisely and, significantly for

    the Frazerian imagery of the story, brings fertility to the Shire, by spreading around the

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    33/40

    Kabra 33

    soil of Lorien (thus bringing to the Shire the golden mallorn trees of Lorien as Aragorn

    brings to life the White Tree of Valinor) and in being fruitful himself; according to the

    appendix, thirteen children are recorded from the union of Samwise Gamgee and Rose

    Cotton, from whom several enduring Shire dynasties emerge. It is also consonant with the

    Frazerian fertility motif that Sam's voluntary departure from the Shire, and his rumored

    departure from Middle-earth, come on September 22, the autumnal equinox.

    y Both Aragorn and Gandalf serve their functions are heroes in synchronization.Almost synonymously, they project a single archetypal psyche. Together they rejuvenate

    Theoden and defeat Saruman's orcs at Helm's Deep, with Gandalf presenting the former

    more spiritual function, and Aragorn a more physical one. "For a time, Gandalf continues

    to give Aragorn the direction he still needs, as when he transmits Galadriel's advice to

    pass through yet another underworld, the Paths of the Dead. At the siege of Gondor, it isGandalf who as the White Rider challenges his spiritual opposite, the Nazgul, and rallies

    the hearts of Minas Tirith, while Aragorn rallies the army of the dead and then the forces

    at the Mouths of the Anduin under the standard of Numenor, thus finally proving his

    worth as a warrior-king and earning his birthright as the successor to the throne. Aragorn's

    own spiritual function as Fisher-King, as bringer of life, comes to the fore in Gondor's

    Houses of Healing after the battle, when he uses athelas to cure Faramir, Merry, and

    Eowyn, among others." (Potts 8)y Frodo makes his own choice and proclaims his emancipation from the others at the end of

    Volume I--as Aragorn clearly realizes when he says: "'Well, Frodo, I fear that the burden

    is laid upon you ... I cannot advise you'" (i, 412). Frodo is cognizant both of Aragorn's

    offer to guide him to Mordor and Aragorn's commitment to his word. "'If by life or death I

    can save you, I will'" (i, 183). Yet Frodo realizes that Aragorn's quest is not really his: "'I

    will go alone. Some I cannot trust and those I can trust are too dear to me: poor old Sam,

    and Merry and Pippin. Strider too: his heart yearns for Minas Tirith, and he will be needed

    there ...'" (i, 418).

    y But it is Sam who has courage to speak up and to explain Frodo even to Aragorn, to readFrodo's heart, to disobey Aragorn (the only time anyone does so ) and to slip off alone with

    Frodo.

    y Generally speaking there is a love for heroes, and so in this sense Tolkien embraces the

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    34/40

    Kabra 34

    stereotypical hero. But in having awe and admiration within the groups of heros (that too,

    between men), he somewhat strays away from the granted.

    y Whatever hobbit chronology, neither Merry nor Pippin quite achieves full adult statureuntil they return to the Shire to set their own country in order; Gandalf resigns his

    authority, saying in effect, "you do not need me ... you have grown up." Then Merry's

    firmness and Pippin's courage show echoes of Thoden, of Aragorn, even of Denethor and

    Gandalf. They have to some extent become what they admired. And it is Merry who

    perceives why owyn belongs to the story and Arwen does not. For owyn, too, achieves

    the passing of the "Heroic Age"--the age in which girls rebel against their sex and their

    limitations and dream of male deeds. Gandalf says with pity:She, born in the body of a

    maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours ... who knows what she spoke to

    the darkness, alone, ... when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bowerclosing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?(iii, 143)She does indeed

    achieve great deeds in male disguise and chafes at her "imprisonment" in the Houses of

    Healing. When she meets Faramir she is abashed, after she complains to him, thinking that

    he might see her as "merely wayward, like a child" (iii, 328) yet it is Faramir who sees

    owyn most clearly. He describes her love for Aragorn in unmistakable terms--simple

    hero worship on a masculine level: "'And as a great captain may to a young soldier he

    seemed to you admirable. For so he is. ...'" And owyn, suddenly understanding, acceptswhat she is, and is not: "'I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders.

    ... I will ... love all things that grow and are not barren. ... No longer do I desire to be a

    queen'" (iii, 242-243). In other words, no longer does she desire to be a king, i.e., not to

    identify with Aragorn, but to be a woman. This is not a new theme--Wagner, at the end of

    Siegfried, puts such words into the mouth of Brunhilde--but it is apt to the picture of the

    passing of the Heroic Age.

    y This whole ordeal also relates to the greater shire quest of hobbits. The Shire quest notonly makes the characters pertaining to it relatively unique heroes, but it also provides

    leverage for other characters to become heroes (e.g. Gollum). This makes them unique

    heroes often found in Tolkien's works. The two more minor characters are in a sense

    heroes, not just protagonists because of how they develop, and how they play a major role

    in this greater quest.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    35/40

    Kabra 35

    y It is Sam who gets them to their goal at the Cracks of Doom, as it is ironically Gollumwho delivers the Ring to the fires. Frodo has no will of his own anymore; he merely

    endures in the face of forces over which he has no control.

    y Tolkien himself describes Sam, in a 1963 letter, as "lovable and laughable" but "trying,"vulgar and smug, in his "mental myopia" a "more representative hobbit" than any other in

    the story (Tolkien 329). He is, in short, the hero as humble as everyman, with his own

    mixture of virtues and vices, not so much hybris.

    y Why did tolkien name him "cheif hero" of the trilogy? he seems pretty useless Othercritical essays point towards Tolkien's essay "Ofermod" see [Sam the special hero 2]

    y Wilson speaks with some contempt of the "hardy little homespun hero" and the "devotedservant who speaks lower-class and respectful and never deserts his master"1 thus

    displaying a truly cataclysmic ignorance of the pattern of heroic literature. Both Frodo and

    Sam display, in full measure, the pattern of the Hero in Quest literature, although of

    another order than the shining gallantries of Aragorn.

    y It is in Elrond's house that the intensity which will eventually enter this relationship is firstshown: Sam came in. He ran to Frodo and took his left hand, awkwardly and shyly. He

    stroked it gently and then he blushed and turned hastily away.(i, 237)

    y Frodo, the hero, is aspiring of Aragorn, and Sam is obsessed with Frodo. Frodo becomesa role model off of which Sam becomes a hero, and Frodo also provides Sam with all themotivation he needs to fulfill his quest. Sam is an interesting hero, because he isn't the one

    being loved, he is the one loving in all his entirety.

    y Although Sam Gamgee lacks the semi-divine or tragic status demanded by most mythicparadigms, he does suggest a lower level hero, the fairy-tale fool of classic tradition, like

    the various Jacks, little tailors, and youngest sons who from unpromising raw material

    forge futures of wealth, honor, and power; for this reason, Sam best fulfills the folk-tale

    morphology of Propp, functioning in this position as a plebeian counterpoint to Aragorn.

    y I would like supper first, and after that a pipe.' 'No, not a pipe. I don't think I'll smokeagain.' At this his face clouded.'Why not?' said Pippin.'Well,' answered Merry slowly, 'He

    is dead. It has brought it all back to me. He said he was sorry he had never had a chance of

    talking herb-lore with me. Almost the last thing he ever said. I shan't ever be able to

    smoke again without thinking of him, and that day, Pippin, when he rode up to Isengard

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    36/40

    Kabra 36

    and was so polite.''Smoke then, and think of him!' said Aragorn. 'For he was a gentle heart

    and a great king and kept his oaths. ... Though your service to him was brief, it should be a

    memory glad and honourable to the end of your days.' Merry smiled. 'Well, then,' he said,

    'if Strider will provide what is needed, I will smoke and think.'(III, 145-146)

    y In this scene Merry goes through puberty. He becomes a much more mature individualfrom here on out. Aragorn teases Merry, but also confesses to weariness. Merry becomes

    more mature in a much different way than that of Pippin, who became less rebellious,

    Merry was much deeper. He is moreso affected by his service to his king who he

    worships in a sense. Again this is interesting because it shows both faces of the "same"

    hero.

    y If none of this seems proof that Tolkien intended Sam to be seen as a heroic figure (and Iwas frankly skeptical myself when the possibility was first proposed to me), he does

    confirm that and more in a 1951 letter to editor Michael Waldman. After expressly

    comparing the love story of Aragorn and Arwen (as "high" matter) to the "rustic" love of

    Sam and Rosie, he refers parenthetically to Sam as the story's "chief hero" (The Letters of

    J. R. R. Tolkien 161). If Gandalf is hero as shaman-sage, Aragorn the hero as warrior-

    king, Frodo the hero as martyr-saint, what sort of hero is Sam?

    y Perhaps the author's own answer may be found in his essay "Ofermod," his afterword tohis verse drama "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son." Here he praises hisOld English model, the poem The Battle of Maldon, as "the only purely heroic poem

    extant in Old English." He points in particular to the lines spoken by the old retainer

    Beorhtwold ("Will shall be the sterner, heart the bolder, spirit the greater as our strength

    lessens.") as the best expression of the "northern heroic spirit ... ; the clearest statement of

    the doctrine of uttermost endurance in the service of indomitable will."11 Tolkien finds it

    especially noteworthy that these words are spoken by a subordinate, one who expects to

    gain neither honor nor glory from victory. Fighting for honor is the less meritorious

    "chivalric" motivation to heroic action of a Beowulf or, in this case, a Beorhtnoth.

    Beorhtwold, on the other hand, does what he does out of "the heroism of obedience and

    love," (Beorhtnoth 22) when pressed by "bleak, heroic necessity" (Beorhtnoth 20); this is

    the heroism which Tolkien holds to be "the most heroic and the most moving"

    (Beorhtnoth 22). This is the heroism of Sam.

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    37/40

    Kabra 37

    y When ordered later to remain behind, Merry reacts with almost childish desperation. "'Iwon't be left behind, to be called for on return. I won't be left! I won't!'" (iii, 73). And he

    disobeys with the connivance of the other "disobedient son," owyn in her male disguise

    as Dernhelm.Together owyn and Merry face and slay the Nazgl, both striking an enemy

    far beyond their strength for the love of a father, Thoden. Later Faramir, owyn, and

    Merry all lie in the shadow of the Black Breath, and additionally Faramir lies in the

    shadow of a father's displeasure. Gandalf has had to counsel him when he goes in

    desperation on his last mission: "'Do not throw your life away rashly or in bitterness ...

    your father loves you, and will remember it ere the end'" (iii, 90).

    y Pippin's memory, his admiration for Boromir, that lies behind his service to Denethorwhich ultimately saves the life of Faramir. Generally, love acts upon a hero in the sense

    of a love-interest, not out of admiration. Pippin's case is quite peculiar because he

    performs his heroic deeds out of admiration.

    y Sam has begun to foreshadow the eventual conflict and denouement. Still insensitive,seeing only his own fear for Frodo, he wishes to kill Gollum. Frodo, having come through

    his own first sufferings to compassion, protects the wretched creature from Sam. And

    from that moment Sam's love and Gollum's hate become the millstones between which

    Frodo is eventually broken--both victor and vanquished.

    y Love is the dominant emotion in The Lord of the Rings, and love in the form of heroworship is particularly evident in the relationship between Aragorn and the other

    characters and between Frodo and Sam. Other forms of love are also apparent; the most

    important of these is heroic love which includes love of honor and love of country;

    additionally there is Gandalf's paternal and Goldberry and Galadriel's maternal love.

    Relatively little romantic love is depicted and what is appears to follow the chivalric,

    although not courtly, love convention. Underlying all of these is the love of the

    fellowship--that of one man for another; this love extends beyond the initial fellowship as

    the original members extend their relationship to serve and battle with others.

    y And at the very end of their Quest, Sam held no more debates with himself--"he knew allthe arguments of despair" and had absorbed them. He takes Frodo in his arms trying to

    comfort him "with his arms and body" so that "the last day of their quest found them side

    by side" (iii, 217).

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    38/40

    Kabra 38

    y If Gandalf plays the ideal Father, and Aragorn the heroically loved elder brother--andthere is some hint of the sullen rivalry between Achilles and Agamemnon in Boromir's

    jealousy of Aragorn--then Peregrin Took, the hobbit Pippin, is most emphatically the

    spoiled youngest child. Here we reemphasize the peculiar chronology of fantasy, for

    Peregrin is twenty-nine years old, but four years short of his "coming of age," and thus

    equivalent to a boy in his teens. He is literally treated like a child. He falls asleep and is

    carried to bed while Frodo talks with the Elves. Elrond's "heart is against his going" on the

    dangerous Quest. Gandalf, who lets him come, nevertheless, in Pippin's words "thinks I

    need keeping in order," and singles him out, several times, for testy rebuke. He is in fact

    the childish mischief-maker of the company, yet even Gandalf treats him indulgently

    when he is not squelching his bubbling spirits.

    y When they cast away their arms and gear, Frodo throws away even the orc-knife, saying,"'I'll bear no weapon, fair or foul,'" (iii, 214) and lets Sam clothe him in the grey Lrien

    cloak. But Sam, even at that edge of desperation and despair, retains some spark of hope;

    and though casting away his own treasures, he retains the gifts of Galadriel and the elvish

    sword which Frodo had given him. Once again, watching awake for the last time while

    Frodo sleeps, Sam fights his own battle with despair and gives up his own last hopes.

    y I do not know what put it into your head, or your heart, to do that. ... I did not hinder it, forgenerous deed should not be checked by cold counsel. ...(III, 32)

    y Filled suddenly with love for this old man, he knelt on one knee, and took his hand andkissed it. 'May I lay the sword of Meriadoc of the Shire on your lap, Thoden King?' he

    cried. 'Receive my service, if you will!''Gladly will I take it,' said the king; and laying his

    long old hands upon the brown hair of the hobbit, he blessed him. ... 'As a father you shall

    be to me,' said Merry.(III, 50-51)

    y The 1st quote represents Pippin's choice to fight for Benethor, and Gandalf's astonishedreaction. Pippin was quite impulsive, as was Merry in his choice to serve the other great

    king though Merry was not motivated by his ego. The twins' differing motivations are

    interesting because they represent two sides of the same hero in a sense.

    y One by one he forsakes the other possibilities: vengeance; suicide, "that was to donothing, not even to grieve!" (ii, 341)

    y Sam takes the heroic option. Aragorn and Gandalf feared the ring, Elrond refused to even

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    39/40

    Kabra 39

    guard it, and Galadriel decided it was best to not take the ring after confessing to

    oncoming temptations. Frodo, unaware of it's conswquence decides to take the ring

    anyway, and Sam heroically inspired follows Frodo. This was the spotlight of Sam's

    character development, and he holds these characcteristics throughout the rest of the

    trilogy.

    y Then, suddenly, as before under the eaves of the Emyn Muil, Sam saw these two rivalswith other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a

    creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and

    before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, but at its breast it

    held a wheel of fire.(III, 221)

    y "Aragorn lifted Pippin and set him in Gandalf's arms, wrapped in cloak and blanket" (II,201)

    y Pippin really doesn't like being treated as a child, so he tries to rebel when he looks intothe Palantir, the ball Gandalf takes from Sauron's fort. This even scares Gandalf, and so he

    chooses not to use it as well, and Gandalf cautions Aragorn against it (II, 200) as well, but

    it shows how the young grow into independance and eventually theorize in their own

    manner. But the father-son/ family relationship still remains, especially with Pippin and

    Aragorn. Aragorn carries Pippin on Shadowfax into war almost exactly like a child. (See

    above quote)y for a moment it appeared to Sam that his master had grown and Gollum had shrunk: a tall

    stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud, and at his feet a little

    whining dog. Yet the two were in some way akin and not alien: they could reach one

    another's minds.(II, 225)

    y Pippin looked out from the shelter of Gandalf's cloak. He wondered if he were awake orstill sleeping, still in the swift-moving dream in which he had been wrapped ... since the

    great ride began." (III, 1) Gandalf first scolds, then lectures, and finally forgives Pippin in

    a truly fatherly fashion. Their relationship in Minas Tirith continues to be that of loving, if

    stern father, and willful, but no longer rebellious child.

    y Frodo is clearly on the brink of that at ultimate condition: he may be robed in white, buthe holds at his breast the wheel of fire.Tolkien is paving the way for the moment at the

    Crack of Doom, when Frodo fails in his resistance to the Ring and when Gollum and

  • 8/6/2019 Heroism in J.R.R. Tolkien

    40/40

    Kabra 40

    Frodo switch roles at last. Gollum is indeed the "shadow of a living thing." He is the dark

    side of Frodo's white fire at this last crucial point, and as the shadow of greatness, he must

    have the potential for greatness himself.

    y Merry provided ponies for the group's flight, led them into the Old Forest, and after theattack on Weathertop it is consistently and logically Merry on whom Aragorn calls for

    help to bring them, quietly and without credit, through danger. Frodo is too beaten, and

    worn.Sam is absorbed in Frodo, thus hostile.Pippin is too irresponsible.

    y But our perceptions of Gollum's complexity do not all grow out of the way that he mirrorsFrodo. He exists as a character in his own right, and his fascinating ambiguity can serve to

    locate many of the story's major explorations. Gollum is far from one-sided, and his

    ability to remain multi-faceted after five centuries of carrying the Ring illuminates

    Tolkien's treatment of power and of the hobbits as representatives of the kind of power

    which is good in Middle-earth: the power to resist, the power to remain unchanged.