How Does The Myth Revealed In Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings

Beowulf is an epic poem that has been handed down orally for centuries, but was finally written down in the eighth century. It is the story of an epic hero, named Beowulf, who travels with his men, the Geats, to conquer the many beasts who terrorize the lands of the Danes. The scops describe Beowulf as “greater and stronger than anyone anywhere in this world”(110-111). This example shows one of many qualities that make Beowulf the epic hero that he is. He uses his strength to demonstrate both the dedication and bravery needed to bring peace and justice to the people who have been terrorized for such a long time. Cultural elements exemplified in Beowulf occur in the aspects of the mead hall, the warriors, and their belief system.

Yuri Watanabe Draft 1 EE Working Thesis: How does the comparison of the traditional hero archetype in Beowulf and the portrayal of heroism in The Hobbit show how Tolkien’s idea of a ‘true hero’ was affected by his experience in the First World War? Now that Peter Jackson created the Hobbit films and immortalized the Hobbit in cinematic history, the original novel itself has now been brought up to question. Due to the mainly-male cast and the importance of the quest in Tolkien’s works, there have been several links made between his own creative writing and the Old English poems that he studied at Oxford. Yet, there are traits in The Hobbit that completely oppose those that are in Beowulf.

Two of the world’s most ancient stories, Gilgamesh and Beowulf, have distinctly unique origins that trace back centuries. Gilgamesh has quite a complex history, as it is a collection of various poems that passed through and were changed by many different Near Eastern societies. The original fragments of the epic “are five separate and independent poems in Sumerian” (“Introduction” 5) that detailed the journeys of a historical king named Gilgamesh. Sumerian was “the learned language of ancient Mesopotamia” (“Introduction 5). This indicates the epic’s extensively old age, as Mesopotamia was a kingdom that existed over four thousand years ago.

In The Bible Among the Myths, John N. Oswalt, opens up his book by establishing his expertise in the subject of the Ancient Near East (ANE). Oswalt started his study into the ANE at Asbury Theological Seminary. After attending Asbury Theological Seminary, he went to Brandeis University. This is where his fascination with the subjects and Ideas of the ANE started to grow. Oswalt eventually went on to teach at Asbury Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and Wesley Biblical Seminary.

“All we have to decide is what we do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, besides the will of evil” (Tolkien 304). Growth and courage are both vital actions in life. One cannot hope to live and thrive without growing both internally and externally, and having the courage to stand up for what one’s beliefs. Courage is directly affected by growth, for without growth, one will never obtain the courage to move on and push forward when times get tough in life. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone takes immense growth and no small amount of courage, but can prove to be a pivotal moment within climactic events. In his epic tale

The Ring of Gymes myth assumes that human beings are more prone to commit injustices when no regulations and punishments are put in place. As I expected, people have different views on such subject. For example, my youngest coworker’s opinion on the matter is that people are born unaware of distinguishing what is just and what is unjust, so they learn to be one or the other in relation to society. For instance, she agrees with the fact that human beings would easily commit injustices if they could, and it is only because of the laws put in place by our society that many people behave themselves. Additionally, she thinks that a man who practices moderation may be a just man, but the same man can not claim to be fully happy since he is controlling

“The Lord of the Rings is racist. It is soaked in the logic that race determines behavior.” (Ibata 2). Many people have tried to perpetuate the myth that J.R.R. Tolkien was racist. They cite various scenes in The Lord of the Rings, in both the books and in the movies. These people are lying or ignorant. J.R.R. Tolkien was not a racist, nor did he ever intend for his novels to be viewed as such. There is plenty of evidence to defend Tolkien from these claims such as: the themes of his novels, like The Lord of the Rings; the clear messages in his personal writings and his upbringing; and the characters from his novels.

Tolkien, let the story unfold: Unfettered by the chains of innovation and not blinded by its obscuration of reality, the story itself, had the characters tackle the battles, the triumphs, and the disappointments of the actual good and spiritual humans. That is the thing that great narratives do. The reader is especially attracted to the story in light of the fact that the reader gets the chance to know and admire the real, not cardboard, characters, and the characters are genuine in the light of the fact that they have souls, displaying fundamental goodness in the midst of failings and ready to settle on choices in spite of knowing that choices are however a piece of a bigger story. The reader partakes in a mythic universe of Middle-earth and experiences there—without allegory or specific

150 years before beloved characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins learn the origin of the One Ring, Smaug the Magnificent ascends on Erabor and seizes the dwarf kingdom from Thror- a gold sick dwarf king.

"Three Rings for the Eleven-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. One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie(Tolkien)." Master of storytelling J.R.R. Tolkien continues the lives of the fictitious creatures that he introduced in The Hobbit, in his modern classic The Fellowship of the Ring. He artfully illustrates the truths of the evil that plague the hearts of man. He tells a story of greed, destruction and how mortal men are enslaved by

Incorporating traditional Anglo Saxon beliefs of heroism with the image of Christ on the cross allows the poet of The Dream of the Rood to effectively communicate the benefits of Christianity to pagan warriors. By comparing characteristics, duties, and treatment of heroes in Beowulf and the Battle of Maldon to the depiction of Christ in The Dream of the Rood, it becomes evident that the image of Christ is altered to mirror that of heroic warriors. Through this melding of heroic beliefs and Christianity, the poet of Rood is able to show how Christ can become the ultimate ring giver or Lord.

This paper seeks to highlight the various mythologies used as source material by J.R.R. Tolkien, and how he attempts to create a mythology of his own through using various aspects from the myths and epics he studied. His desire to create a new and inventive mythology led to borrowing heavily from the myths and epics of Europe. This paper will show that through using the basis of other mythologies and epics, Tolkien creates an understandable and accessible mythology for his books. Throughout his writings, Tolkien weaves in various objects, aspects, and storylines from myth in order to provide readers with an understandable fantasy realm, while also providing a look at how these aspects can mesh together in a unique and fresh way. His use of

I owe my ever-deepening interest in J. R. R. Tolkien’s work to a single cinematic shot in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The Moria orcs are fleeing a sinister presence, and the fellowship stands stock still in fear. In the midst of this uncertainty the camera slowly focuses in on the fellowship standing together, as the light of Gandalf’s staff illuminates the sheer emptiness left behind the orcs. And just as the silence reaches its highest point, the staff’s light shines on the stark fear in Legolas’ eyes (portrayed wonderfully by Orlando Bloom). It is a striking image as he glows ethereally, highlighted against the dark stone background. I watched the rest of the film from that scene, although starting with the balrog chase and Gandalf’s death meant that I had sufficiently spoiled the first movie’s plot. I went back to see Bilbo’s parting with the ring, the Nazgul chase, and the forming of the fellowship at Rivendell. Yet that single shot of an old wizard’s light illuminating such an unnatural fear, in such an unnatural being, caught my attention and by the end of the week I had seen all three films. By the end of the month, I had read all three novels and Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales. By the end of the year, I had added The Hobbit and The Silmarillion to my steadily growing ‘have read’ list, and I have not stopped yet. Bakshi’s animated films, Jackson’s films, and the many posthumous publications done through Tolkien’s son Christopher, keep adding to the

Do myths impact the reality of today’s society? Mary Pipher states (2005) “America is poisoning girls with pressures to maintain difficult standards of beauty”. This “standard” of beauty was set by people like the “Goddess of Love”. This Greek Goddess was known as Aphrodite. Aphrodite did not have to worry about felling lonely or ugly as she was the lust of all the Greek Gods. And being lonely she was not, even as her husband was away at work. Whether we know it or not, we keep creating and perpetuating myths (Janaro & Altshuler, 2012).

Mythos, the Greek word for myth means story, appertain to colorful tales that enlightens about the origins of humans and the universe. Myths, as amazing as it sounds, is also a cause for birth of new religions, where and how they originated. Many cultures have myths about how the gods and goddesses came to be, even elucidating the origin of humanity and its traditions. Even ideas about how this world of ours came to existence have many myths, creation myths behind it, disparate in every culture and society, which demonstrates a view on its role in the world. Mythology is simply the study of the myth. There are many psychological theories and meanings that explicate mythology. The most recurrent belief about the psychological value of myth is that myths emblematize contrasting elements of our own psyches or souls. The psychoanalytical frames of reference on myths have indisputably been ineluctable. Myths were and still are progressively seen as expressions of desideratum in the human psyche. But the big question is, what is the beneficence of mythology towards the amelioration of society? If there are myths to decipher or exhibit certain things, character or situations, there also are science and technology, which accommodate every explanation needed to understand each of those things. Many go to science for such interpretation, which conveys the impression of taking care of the signification behind all those natural phenomena,