HEROES OF TOLKIEN-SAM'S FRAME Part 3

Since this section began with Frodo, then the next one has to be about his best friend Samwise Gamgee. Samwise, mostly known as Sam, is the perfect definition of what a hobbit is: he loves cooking, eating, gardening and he wants to lead a calm life. But he happens to hear about the Ring Frodo has to carry to Rivendell so he is charged to be his companion to that journey. But as we all know he proves to be his companion to the whole journey to Mordor.

He always gives Frodo hope that everything will end fine and that they will manage to return to Shire. He has a very good heart and he is really courageous. He is loyal to the point of fighting with Orks in order to save his master and best friend. He loves Frodo and is ready even to carry the Ring for him. He takes care of his master and worries a lot for him, in fact he worries most for him than for the destruction of the ring. He is not distorted by the ring and if it wasn't for him, Frodo would never have reached Orodruin. He is suspicious about Gollum and turns out to be right with his suspicions as Gollum betrays them and tries to take the Ring from Frodo. And even when his master sends him away, he senses that he is indeed in danger, and goes back to save him.The truth is, that Sam is the one that provides Frodo with support and very useful help when it's neccesary!!!!!

SOME PLUS MATERIAL-Part 1

Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

Ash nasg durbatuluk, ash nasg gimbatul, ash nasg thrakatuluk

agh burzum-ishi krimpatul!

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all

and in the darkness bind them!

Farewell sweet Earth and northern Sky,

for ever blest, since here did lie

and here with lissom limbs did run

beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun,

Luthien Tinuviel

more fair than mortal tongue can tell.

Though all to ruin fell the world

and were dissolved and backward hurled

unmade into the old abyss,

yet were its making good, for this-

the dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea-

that Luthien for a time should be.

INFO:

The first verse is about the way the Rings of Power were shared.

The second is the command that was given to the One Ring by Sauron when it was secretely made into the unceasing fires of Orodruin.

The third part is a song Beren made for his beloved Luthien Tinuviel, when he was about to face the most lethal peril of his life, when he was about to enter Mordor in order to remove one of the Silmarilli away of the Iron Crown of Melkor. He sang it outloud and Luthien heard his song and came to him, and together they both managed to regain one of the lost Silmarilli.

HEROES OF TOLKIEN-FRODO'S FRAME Part 2

Ok. Let's start. I reckon the wisest way to begin is to analyse the main character in the Lord of the Rings: the ring-bearer, in other words, Frodo Baggins.

Frodo Baggins in a Hobbit. (Hobbits are small-sized humans with hairy feet, happy mood, love for food and a tendancy to remain silent and not to care about the rest of the world). Frodo, loves a good meal, but apart from the hairy feet, he is very different from the other Hobbits. He is curious about the outside world. He loves adventure and this love of his, pushes him to the dead-trap-journey of bearing the ring to Mordor. He knows the Elvish Language very well and he also comes to know a brief history-line of Middle Earth. His knowledge will be very helpful in the future. Frodo differs yet in another thing too: he is not afraid of water whereas most of the Hobbits hate water and fear boats. As a concequence, he won't feel like a fish out of the water when he has to cross a river for various reasons!

Frodo's inside world is very complex and at the same time, truly amazing. He is decisive, ready and willing to take great responsibilities. He does not seem ready to give up when difficulties and hard times appear on the scene. He has a good heart and that is what makes him reliable. But, he is vulnerable as well. He is slowly controled by the dark power of the one Ring. He has the power though to overcome it with his own strength of character and the help of his dearest friend and co-traveller Samwise Gamgee. He does not reveal his identity easily and can hide very well the purpose of his journey most of the times.

I think this is the portrait of Frodo's character. Every comment is well accepted. Stay connected, the next part will be soon here!

HEROES OF TOLKIEN AND THEIR CHARACTER-FRAME Part 1. Introduction

If someone decides to carefully study the Tolkien-characters, he will notice two main axons upon which the author builts his heroes: The characteristics that indicate the origin, the tribe and traditions of the hero and the ones that indicate the hero's special and unique soul-synthesis.

The first group refers to some crucial characteristics that the different tribes of Middle-Earth possess. They help us to understand the background of the hero, his traditions and customs and his ethic code. For instance, it helps us to seperate an elf from a dwarf, justify his positions and behaviour, or even forsee his reactions and outbursts. Furthermore, this group of characteristics has a primordial role to the way the plot will go on!

The second group deals with the personal characteristics, the ones a person develops according to his life experiences, the influences of the environment he lived, his inner morals and the degree of his mind and heart corruption. These characteristics are a very valuable and reliable compass as they indicate us which way the hero will follow in a certain situation. They also give us an idea of the treatment the hero will probably receive from the anti-hero in case he falls to the hands of the latter.

The combination of these two groups is what helps us to understand the plot and the way events evolve. If someone has a clear picture of thes two axons of Tolkien's works, he will be able to easily depict situations, reasons and consequences and find what is hidden behind the visible facts. Good luck people!!

TOLKIEN'S INFLUENCES - PART 3 - NIBELUNGENLIED

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. It tells the story of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, his murder, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge.
The Nibelungenlied is based on pre-Christian Germanic heroic motifs (the "Nibelungensaga"), which include oral traditions and reports based on historic events and individuals of the 5th and 6th centuries.

In this poem, everything turns around the Ring of The Nibelungs. This Ring, among all the other treasures the Nibelungs possess, is the most important to them, the most loved. They warn Siegfried, that, as he is the slayer of the Dragon, he can legally claim all their treasure apart from the ring. But he thinks that the ring may have some supernatural powers, and as being blind by his greed, he takes it as well. He did not listen to the Nibelungs' warning and the ring doomed him. His fate was from now on doomed to a bad and quick end.

The similarity with Tolkien's masterpiece: the Lord of The Rings is, apparently, very obvious. In the First Days, in The Great Battle where Elves and Men were allies (the Days of The Last Alliance), when Isildur, son of Elendil, took revenge for his father's death and cut the finger of Sauron which had the Ring of Power, he managed to almost destroy the evil spirit of Sauron. He would have totally vanished evil from Middle-Earth, but he was greed, and the power of the ring made him blind. So, when he and Elrond, the Half-Elven, reached the depths of Mount Orodruin, regardless all the urges from Elrond, Isildur did not throw the ring into the roaring fires of the mountain, the only place where it could be destroyed. Thus, Isildur found a tragic end because he kept the Ring. His fate was also doomed by a ring and by the desire to possess something he shouldn't have.

The Nibelungenlied is the main axon upon which Tolkien based The Lord of the Rings. The Ring of the Nibelungs gave him the inspiration for the Rings of Power made by Sauron and the Elves and eventually lead to the creation of one of the best works of authorship of his era!

TOLKIEN'S INFLUENCES - PART 2 - BEOWULF

Beowulf is an Old English,heroic,epic poem of anonymous authorship, dated between the 8th and 11th century A.C.,and relates events described as having occurred in what is now Denmark and Sweden. Commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature, Beowulf has been the subject of much scholarly study, theory, speculation, discourse, and, at 3183 lines, it has been noted for its length!

Tolkien has been strongly influenced by this Saxonic poem. He himself used to say through his letters: "Beowulf is among my most valued sources..." It seems that Tolkien has been influenced in two levels by this poem.

Firstly, in the level of hero-lines and basic characteristics. Beowulf was for him an endless source of elements as to how to build his heroes. Thus, many of the heroic achievments and acts of chivalry in Beowulf are quite similar with those of the heroes of Tolkien especially in the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings.

The second level of influence is this of language. Many names Tolkien invented, are based to the origins of the names of Beowulf. Some examples are the following:
Beorn-Warrior, hero-Beorn
Beor-Bright,shining-Beor the Old
Eotenas-giant-Ent
Fródan -The wise one/old-Frodo

Grimmon-Mask-Grima
‘him wæs géomeor sefa murnende mód’-‘sad was their heart and mourning in their soul’-‘has pity in her heart and mourning in her soul’.

These are some examples of names that are similar to those of Tolkien's names. First comes the name in Beowulf, secondly the meaning and third comes the similar name in Tolkien. There is also a verse that is used both in Beowulf and Tolkien as well. It is a stereotypic verse and quite often used by Tolkien.

Beowulf has definitely contributed to the shape of Tolkien's work. It has been a guide for him, a valuable linguistic tool and source of many useful elements. Tolkien had the perfect base upon which he could start his work and eventually, Beowulf helped him in maturing the ideas he had in mind while adding precious elements from the saxonic poem!

TOLKIEN'S INFLUENCES - PART 1 - KALEVALA

The Kalevala is a Finnish epic poem.It is held to be the national epic of Finland and is traditionally thought as one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. Kalevala seems to have played a very significant role to the way Tolkien displayed the tragic fate of Turin Turumbar in the "Silmarillion". In fact, Turin reminds a lot of Kullervo, son of Kallervo of the finnish poem. Kullervo is doomed and has a really ill fate since he happens to seduce his sister without knowing the relationship between them and, when she found out the truth, she was so full of shame that she jumped into rapids and drown herself. Kullervo, after commiting some murders upon his embarassement, rage and sorrow, talks to his sword and tells that after it has drunk too much innocent blood it is finally time to split the blood of a really guilty man. After saying that, he thrusts himself upon the blade.

His counterpart in "Silmarillion", Turin Turumbar has a very doomed life as well. It happens that he has a long-gone sister of whom he knew the existence but not the appearance or any other details. So, one day he met a woman, involved with her and was in love with her as she was in love with him. She did not recognise him becasue she was under a spell and was deprived of all her memories. When her memory returned, she was so ashamed of what had happened and she finally jumped into a river and drown. Turin, after a burst of sorrow and fury, talks to his sword telling how, by really malicious means, it had taken innocent people's life. He said it was time for it to extinguish a really troublesome existence and kills himself with the sword.

The similarity is very obvious although Tolkien adds his personal tone and works things out with greater detail and art. He was aware of his influence by this Finnish masterpiece and the influence was obvious in his work though he did not just copy a hero-model. He was just based on a character and structured his hero including some clues from the Kalevala.Nevertheless,Kalevala offers to the eager reader a better understanding of Tolkien's work!