The Corrupted Influence Of Power In Lord Of The Rings

Hobbit Essay: Emerging Hero Is Bilbo Baggins, from The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien a lonely hobbit or is he the most heroic hero there is? Bilbo learns that he is capable of doing many things during his adventure, learning many things that were hidden away from his great ancestors on the Tookish side. Bilbo learns from Thorin and the other dwarves how to be courageous, heroic and intelligent, but above all else how to lead the expedition into the great unknown with a victory. His traits and will to learn stand out to the other dwarves who later begin to admire his greatness.

Lord Acton once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." He was probably referring to the powerful kings and queens who held power over many people. But, we could see how power is something many of the characters in Tolkien's story are trying to have and hold onto in some form or another. In The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien tells us a story about Frodo Baggins who is ordered by Gandalf to destroy the powerful ring discovered accidentally by his older cousin, Bilbo. Like the rest of the hobbits, Frodo has lived quite peacefully and well, not having to worry about how dark and dreary the rest of Middle Earth was becoming under Sauron's growing power. Now, Frodo,

He tries to also play on Frodo’s trust by saying “I am no thief” and asking him to “Just lend me the ring.”

     Frodo Baggins also takes on a moral code as he accepts his role as the Ring Bearer. Hobbits by nature are fun loving and non-competitive, but Frodo says to Elrond, “I will take the ring. . .though I do not know the way.'; (Tolkien, p.324) When sitting in the chair of the Guardian Kings of Gordor at the top of Amon Hen in the Seat of Seeing, Frodo sees the world covered by Orcs, Lorien in smoke and Borenings’s land on fire and finally sees and feels the Eye of Sauron. He cries out, “I will do now

How can an author write a story which appeals to a present day audience? Richard H. Tyre published an article in 1978 that gives an answer to this very question. Tyre explains how most kids today choose to read books like the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings series, and even The Wizard of Oz. An existing theory that Tyre came up with explains that each of these books, along with many others, have one thing in common: 6 plot elements. Not only do these stories contain the same 6 elements but those elements are in the same order! Tyre states that “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected.” (Tyre 2). J.R.R. Tolkien is the author of The Hobbit. The Hobbit revolves around one hobbit in particular named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo embarks on a journey with 14 others to recover a treasure that is guarded by a dragon. Along the way Bilbo faces many challenges that range from running into huge trolls, to taking part in fierce battles. Due to it’s main character hunting for treasure, facing most of the dangers alone, battling during the wee hours of the night, eventually finding the treasure, after sweating/crying/and enduring injuries, just to have the treasure revealed to him as not what he expected, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is undoubtedly a perfect example of Tyre’s 6 plot elements.

First of all, he gains courage in the story. Before he went on this adventure, he was timid and to himself. This is because hobbits didn’t go on anything dangerous, especially adventures. This all changes as soon as Bilbo goes on this journey with Gandalf and the dwarves. We see our first example of this when he tries to steal from the three huge, nasty

When given great power some people become corrupt. Frodo Baggins displays this in The Fellowship of the Ring. He is trusted to hold and protect the one ring of power and immediately he develops traits that show that he is becoming excessively protective of the ring. “Frodo drew the Ring out of his pocket again and looked at it. It now appeared plain and smooth, without mark or

The moment that affected him the most was when the only member of the fellowship, he had one hundred percent trust in, Gandalf, descended to his apparent death. This moment caused Frodo to lose trust in the rest of the Fellowship, because the chaperone role was passed down to Aragorn, who Frodo had only been acquainted with for three months. This moment sparked the beginning of Frodo’s mental derailment, convincing himself to escort the Ring to Mordor, himself. Frodo starts to the regret his decision to carry the ring, and he starts to lose faith in the task at hand. He starts to comprehend the idea that his venture is not accomplishable without the guidance, wisdom and powers of the grey wizard, Gandalf.

Cultural change happens when new materials and ideas are introduced to a culture that help change the way people live. Through cultural change, there are certain consequences that arise. Cultural lag, for example, is an outcome of cultural change. In order to explain what cultural lag is, one must know the differences between material culture and nonmaterial culture. Material culture applies to the objects that belong to a group of people; on the other hand, nonmaterial culture refers to the attitudes and ideas toward a certain object. I’m going to use the One Ring as an example. In the Lord of the Rings, there were several rings made and were then distributed to each race. The rings themselves symbolize the material culture in the movie. However, the rings were made for the sole purpose of seducing each race to succumb to evil. Therefore, depending on each character, the attitude they gave the ring would be considered nonmaterial. Material and nonmaterial culture rely on each other. Cultural lag happens when the changes in society occur faster than what that society can process. Material culture would be the change in society, and the nonmaterial culture would be the attitude towards the change. Basically for something new that is introduced to a culture, that society will create new norms to go along with what is being introduced. To further explain why cultural lag happens, one must understand that it takes longer for the beliefs of people to change. So, the creating of new norms takes longer.

“The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defense, repeating it to his ‘precious’ over and over” (The Fellowship of the Ring 62). This quote gives a look into the strongest moment of shock that impacted young Sméagol’s life forever. Gollum is a fictional character unlike any other in The Lord of the Rings series, as he is portrayed as having undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are six recurring symptoms that must happen in conjunction with traumatic factors in order for someone to be diagnosed with PTSD, and unfortunately for Sméagol his actions and history sync perfectly into the diagnosis. Due to the fact that Gollum is a fictional character out of a book, it seems that the author, J.R.R. Tolkien, may have purposely given these attributes to Gollum to display PTSD. Though Tolkien may argue that his time in the war did not highly influence his books, subconsciously Tolkien, like many who were in the war, could have had undiagnosed PTSD or known someone who did. As a combat veteran, Tolkien and his friends were more likely to develop PTSD. This may have resulted in portraying these symptoms on to one specific character, Gollum. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder “is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event” (NIMH), just as Gollum had and continues to be put through. He has had a rough past of loss and exile, as well as continuously trudges through horrific events and torture in which he must

"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

Power, despair, corruption, all are conceived by the ring of power, the one ring that’s sole purpose is to bring evil to the world and destroy the race of man. In the epic novel “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” by J. R. R. Tolkien, the author uses the ring as a symbol of evil that corrupts almost every soul it encounters. Tolkien carefully uses the ring to symbolize how even the smallest objects can cause so much pain and death and bring fear to the hearts in Middle Earth (setting in the book). The ring lies in the heart of the story, giving temptation to almost every character it crosses or has crossed and even transforming once thought to be harmless folk into the most twisted and sinister villains. The separation

Many would say that power corrupts. The phrase penned by John Dalberg, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” has become a cliché idiom thrown about when discussing power. Does it really though? Does power really corrupt every man it touches? Power is merely a tool, neither inherently good nor bad. Power, similar to “magic”, is subject to the one who wields it. If something wicked wields power, the power will lead to wicked things. However, power in the hands of good will lead to good things – it is a reflection of the heart. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s book The Fellowship of the Ring his characters exhibit different reactions to power. Some crave it, others lust for it, and one in particular shuns it. Power is a tool;

There is a famous quote by David Brin which states: “It is said that power corrupts. But actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.” This quote means that not everyone can be corrupted, but sometimes, people are too weak to handle the pressure. Additionally, power comes in many forms, but one way that really stands out is when it boils down to influence on other people. Furthermore, in real life and in novels, power often corrupts people and characters. In both the novels Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, power has the ability to bring out the worst qualities in human nature in the antagonists, a concept that can be also be applied.

This quote shows that Frodo has refused the call to adventure. Upon refusing the call Gandalph raises his voice and orders Frodo to take the ring out of the shire. Frodo, a timorous hobbit, then obeys Gandalph and sets out on his journey.