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. Introduction a. 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 for psychoanalysis, 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 for authors 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 Ronald Reuel 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 the table before they arrive. The jurors will be able to refer to it throughout my presentation. It will essentially break down all my information into

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 Hero a. Transition: While he did completely stray off the path of common heroarchetypes 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 within deeper 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 of archetypes; 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 in the 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 in quest of the numen, a Latin term that implies "divine will" borrowed by Jung from the religious psychologist Rudolph Otto to

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 the more 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 a hero's miraculous but humble birth, his early displays of superhuman strength, his rapid rise to fame and fortune, his triumphant 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 all times 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 monomyth is known as the Departure. 2. Media Transition In: If you feel lost in all of these technicalities feel free to refer to your handout, or these posters. 3. Media #2: I will have a foam board poster, which has all of the steps of the monomyth that form the Departure. Creating this poster will add a lot of organization to my

Kabra 4 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 a mundane 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 is given, 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 PARALLEL 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 the point 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 whale represents the final separation from the hero's known world and self. By entering this stage, the person shows willingness to undergo a metamorphosis.

Kabra 5 4. The second stage of the Campbellian cycle of the monomyth is known as the Initiation. 5. Media #3: I will have a foam board poster, which has all of the steps of the monomyth that form the Initiation. 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 of tests, 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 point when 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 about those 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 the person 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

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 physical death, 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 the hero begins the return. f. The Ultimate Boon - The ultimate boon is the achievement 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 monomyth is known as the Return. 7. Media #4: I will have a foam board poster, which has all of the steps of the monomyth that form the Return. 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 and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

Kabra 7 b. The Magic Flight - Sometimes the hero must escape with 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 may need 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 in returning 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 may mean 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 freedom from 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 the heroes quest, and is even blamed for inhibiting clichs. d. One thing that especially holds to the stereotypical hero is the world that heroes generally tend to preside in.

Kabra e. Commentary: Joseph Campbells description of the heros world could not better 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 when villages 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 section on 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 Aragorn strike 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 has a 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.

Kabra 9 1. Joseph Campbell defines the hero-warrior as a heroic character 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 the energy 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 tragic dimension to Aragorn's history, that element of hybris and doom so characteristic of the traditional hero cycle. Even for a conventional hero Aragorn, they complained, lacked panache; 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 at Khaza-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

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 know about 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 with his 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's heroic 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 father figure 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 battle preparations 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:

Kabra 11 1. "Tall as the sea-kings of old, he stood above all that were near; 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 hero by having Aragorn magnanimously share the triumph of his coronation; 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 a stereotypical 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 the heroic 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 character and early critics disliked him because he was too heroic, so to

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 so plainly in sight as 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-hero archetype, but his monomythic cycle is quite accelerated. 1. Commentary: Gandalf, from the start is the natural leader of the entire fellowship, being the oldest and the wisest. 2. Commentary: The prevalent emotion in general is the hero worship of a young man for one older, braver, and wiser. The entire company treats Gandalf as an exalted Fatherfigure, the only exception being Boromir who wants to oppose Aragorn at every possible occasion. ii. Commentary: Gandalf is a very interesting character because his monomythic 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, Gandalf has 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 spiritual leader, in Campbell's term the boddhisattva who, though

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 the shaman 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 actually continues to grow in vigor and power as the battle against Sauron approaches its climax. iv. Commentary: Gandalf, though he clearly a shaman-hero, is not quite 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 main protagonist. k. Audience Interaction: What about Frodo strikes you as a genuine-hero material? The jurors will say something along the lines of resolves the major conflict. i. Frodo, like Bilbo before him begins as an immature hero (basically a child). Only really concerned with basic desires like food, security and friends. To fit him into the Jungian scheme of

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 uncle Bilbo, 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 his physical acts of courage. i. Frodo's physical heroism evolves in the combat with physical dangers 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 Rider during 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 first book, 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 heroic act when resisting the pull of the Ring in The Fellowship of the Ring. 1. "For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, 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).

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 the hero 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, not deliver 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 Mount Doom 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, Galadriel plays 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.

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 pattern established 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 by Gollum, and ends up winning his help. Then he is lead to Cirith Ungol, 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's monomyth: 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 his fans: 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 hellish dimensions any stronger. Gandalf for instance, came out as a

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 and morally, 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 of passage 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 the humble 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, the archetypal 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 up everything--his physical, psychological and spiritual well-being, and ultimately life in Middle-Earth itself--so that Middle-Earth may thrive. III. Tolkien Redefines the Hero a. 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 recall about Gollum, and based on these observations, would you classify him as

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, of course, 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 misfortune not 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 for the gold Ring he holds because it is his birthday (I, 84). i. Commentary: Smagol deserves a gift, something "precious" like the Ring, because the occasion celebrates the fact of his birth, his special being. ii. Commentary: The change in the name also accents his fall. His strong 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 he is 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

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 about Gollum. 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 a divided 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, to reenact 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 it once again. Frodo though reluctant at first, manages to draw the Ring out. 1. To his distress and amazement he found that he was no longer looking at Bilbo; a shadow seemed to have fallen between them and through it he found himself eyeing a

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 or something 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 as important as the contrast. iii. Recall when Sam finds Frodo damaged after his Shelob battle, and Sam 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 Gollum when 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 safely say 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 essentially root 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.

Kabra 21 vi. Transition: Exactly! It is also in this way that Gollum becomes a hero 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 Ring for 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 the matter" (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 the Ring 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 us live, 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 protagonists sidekick 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 is partially 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 in Ithilien, Gollum comes back with two rabbits, which he

Kabra 22 gives without demur to Sam, though he himself is very hungry (Arthur). 2. Commentary: This too draws on our sympathy because he is 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 the end 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 true inner greatness. The evil inside him was conquered by the power of love. Through this lens of greatness, Gollum rises as a hero.

Kabra 23 3. Commentary: Gollum retains an ability to appreciate the beauty 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 with shining eyes ... and the silver crown of their King and his White Tree: wonderful tales. They built very tall towers, and one they raised was silverwhite, 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 with nothing but horror, horror not just at the torment he 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 his hands, 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 he was 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).

Kabra 24 1. Commentary: His schizophrenia in a sense provides him with a very humane sense of complexity. 2. Commentary: He helps Sam and Frodo faithfully through the 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 the same way that he loves and hates the Ring, and loves and hates 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 other character 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 charming manner 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:

Kabra 25 6. No need, no need at all ... Not if hobbits want to reach the dark 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 drives them. 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. Conclusion a. Thesis: In deviating from the trends of authors of his time, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien both defies and embraces the stereotypical hero archetype

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 starkly heroic 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.

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 Thousand Faces. 3rd ed. 1949. Novato: New World Library, 2008. Print. Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. Letters 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.

Kabra 28 Secondary Outline y To what extent did Tolkien himself consciously use heroic archetypes? The Jungian O'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. An interdiction 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 is pursued22. 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 of the 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.

Kabra 29 y A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: 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 of the 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.  y In Lord Raglan's The Hero 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 of imagination, 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

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 the wilderness, it is in the Dead Marshes that Aragorn finally confronts him: "Lurking by a stagnant 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 Middleearth 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 still his 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,

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 because Frodo and the Ring are interconnected. y In the end, because of the ring Frodo is his ultimate enemy. Tolkien introduces the theme of 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 his time. 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 Samwise Gamgee. He does appear to be the least of the four; he functions for most of the story as Frodo'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 nightfears 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 a hero"] 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 symbolic value of fellowship into an invisible band or chain of love, with the hierarchy of evil

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 including both 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 Zimmer Bradley 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 course of 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 Fellowship breaks 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 and Samwise, 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 Frodo Campbell'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

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 is Gandalf 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 read Frodo'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

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 stature until 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 bower closing 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, accepts what 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 not only 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.

Kabra 35 y It is Sam who gets them to their goal at the Cracks of Doom, as it is ironically Gollum who 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 Other critical 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 "devoted servant 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 first shown: 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 becomes a role model off of which Sam becomes a hero, and Frodo also provides Sam with all the motivation 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 mythic paradigms, 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 smoke again.' 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

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 individual from 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 I was 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 warriorking, 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 to his verse drama "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son." Here he praises his Old 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.

Kabra 37 y When ordered later to remain behind, Merry reacts with almost childish desperation. "'I won'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 Denethor which 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 hero worship 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 all the 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).

Kabra 38 y If Gandalf plays the ideal Father, and Aragorn the heroically loved elder brother--and there 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, for generous 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 and kissed 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 astonished reaction. 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 do nothing, not even to grieve!" (ii, 341) y Sam takes the heroic option. Aragorn and Gandalf feared the ring, Elrond refused to even

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 rivals with 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 into the 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 or still 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, but he 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

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 the attack 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 mirrors Frodo. 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.