The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers Archetypes

Gollum is, “...as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes on his thin face.” (Pg. 82) He is a lonely fellow, and believes that Bilbo’s fate is sealed. Gollum underestimated Bilbo’s expertise, and promptly challenges him to a high stakes riddle contest. If Bilbo fails to answer Gollum’s riddle correctly, he becomes Gollum’s lunch. If Gollum loses, Gollum has to tell Bilbo how to escape. Bilbo thinks on his feet in an effort to gain his freedom. In the form of a riddle, Bilbo asks Gollum to identify the object in Bilbo’s pocket. The cave is extremely dark and Gollum can’t see what is in Bilbo’s pocket, so Gollum cannot know the answer. These circumstances parallel with the scene between Bilbo and Smaug in chapter

When Bilbo feels pity for Gollum, and decides not to kill him, he takes risks, as leaping over Gollum may fail, causing Bilbo to fall prey to Gollum. In this situation, Bilbo pushes himself to spare Gollum and make daring decisions, where Bilbo is not aware of the consequences. Therefore Bilbo signifies risk-taking when sparing Gollum, despite the unpredictable consequences that result from his decisions. Lastly, Bilbo demonstrates pushing himself to take risks, despite the danger, is during when Bilbo is chosen to survey inside the Lonely Mountain, Smaug's citadel (pg. 198-201). Bilbo understands that he must uphold his position as a burglar, and be the first to enter the Lonely Mountain, where Smaug inhabits. When Bilbo enters Smaug’s lair, is a primary example of Bilbo’s risk-taking, despite the prominent danger. Bilbo exploring Smaug's stronghold is the climax of danger during The Hobbit. During this situation, Bilbo pushes himself greatly, to explore inside the Lonely Mountain, in order to manifest his capability as a burglar, Bilbo surpasses his ability to take risks and discovers the extent of his risk-taking abilities. He ultimately finds greater courage within himself, as a result of pushing himself to take risks. Bilbo knows of Smaug, who represents the great danger within the mountains. He takes this opportunity to exceed his risk-taking skills. Therefore Bilbo takes risks by upholding his burglar responsibilities, despite facing the

By putting his life in danger Bilbo shows a true example of heroism. Though the dwarves were still skeptical of his abilities, they were starting to take into consideration of what Gandalf had said about this little hobbit. Continuing their adventure the group is attacked by goblins where they are eventually saved by Gandalf. Throughout the turmoil of the attacking goblins Bilbo gets lost in the caves and finds himself alone in the darkness. It is in this event when Bilbo finds Gollum’s ring. Gollum was a sickly looking creature that had been dwelling in the caves for many years. Bilbo used his wits to outsmart the creature by playing a riddle game with him and eventually made it to safety. Having Bilbo win the riddle game shows that his smart and witty mind aids him in becoming the hero. Bilbo wasn’t some tough strong stereotypical super hero, he used his smarts to outwit his foes and to triumph over evil. Though Bilbo at the time did not know the power of the ring that he had retrieved from Gollum’s lair (the power of invisibility), it was his heroic fate that he found it as it assist him in becoming the hero of the story. Fate has it that Bilbo will become a hero, but Bilbo also has the courage on top of his fate to get the dwarves out of life threatening situations.

One of the most apparent character archetypes used in this novel is the everyman, a simple, adventure less, commonplace character that is played by Bilbo Baggins. In the beginning of the story, Bilbo is the classic everyman that lives in the Shire, but is soon thrust into a world he does not understand. As the story progresses Bilbo fulfills the role of the hero all while making a full circle back to the beginning and thus completing the Hero’s Journey. Another important figure in The Hobbit is Gandalf, who takes on the role of both the herald and the mentor. Gandalf’s role as the herald is clear as he embarks Bilbo on his adventure in the beginning of the novel. His role as the mentor is a longer and more subtle one as he guides Bilbo through his obstacles while letting Bilbo overcome them himself. His dual role helps support the storyline in building the full circled journey. The shadow role and the threshold guardians create a conflicting force that rivals the protagonists. The shadow is portrayed as Smaug and can be referred to as the antagonist throughout the expanse of the book. Bilbo and the dwarfs entire journey is based on their rivalry against the dragon guarding the homeland of the dwarfs, The Lonely Mountain, as he stands in the way of what they want, "Bilbo was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug's roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an accountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact he was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell" (231). The use of this character in the Hero’s Journey is what creates a story and adds the necessary conflict to create the plot and engage the reader with the momentum it builds. Threshold guardians play a similar role in gathering momentum,

Archetypes make for a great story, without them there would be no story to follow. These three examples fit together in order, Beowulf makes his journey, receives

Tolkien uses a larger amount of dark imager in The Hobbit then he does light. This is because the narrator concentrates chiefly on Bilbo's feelings about situations and places. Bilbo isn't very happy to be on the adventure and it considerably shows in his descriptions of people and places. Throughout the better part of the tale, he mentions his warm, hobbit-hole in the ground and wishes to be back there rather then journeying to Smaug's mountain.

In chapter 5, the hobbit stumbles upon Gollum, who is clearly a threat to Bilbo, but although he stays aware, he plays Gollum’s game in order for him to survive and escape. Gollum uses literally uses language to try and kill Bilbo, but Bilbo uses it to save his life in the game of riddles they play. However, Bilbo isn’t a master of language yet, who runs out of riddles to ask so instead asks a casual question “What have I got in my pockets?”. Gollum’s demand to know what is in Bilbo's pocket, and Bilbo’s refusal to reveal it is a example of perseverance although he’s life in at stake. When Bilbo wears the ring he inadvertently stole, he had the opportunity of killing Gollum, but refuses because he’s kind and sympathizes with the weak and pitiable. At times like this, it’s clear that Tolkien made Bilbo a moral character; and this morality and kindness is what establishes Bilbo as a hero in the

Tolkien creates the ring as the epitome of evilness to give it a mind of its own. With this symbolism, the ring is able to maneuver itself and corrupt whom it pleases. It takes on the evilness of the beholder and enhances their evil thoughts to the point in which evilness is the only thought that consumes them. As described by another hobbit, Frodo, the ring has “an unwholesome power that sets to work on its keeper at once.” In Sméagol’s instance, the ring is able to take a strong hold of his soul with just a look at “the bright and beautiful” gold that it entails. Such evilness is personified by Tolkien because Tolkien sees it as something that takes action, not something that is acted upon. The power that the ring possesses eats away at him until he is an entire different creature. The ring destroys Sméagol and creates Gollum, an outcast and a murderer. The theme of temptation displayed by Tolkien coincides with the temptation that evilness

Greed is a common, yet detrimental factor in society today. All around the world people experience this type of attribute, whether it is for power or for the simple concept of desiring more in life. In order to further this prevalent theme, Peter Jackson created the film The Hobbit-Desolation of Smaug, in 2013. In this film, he continued the adventure of Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves and set them off to reclaim their ancient dwarven city guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Throughout the entire movie, the characters face many tough obstacles, those being orcs, elves and most importantly the evil dragon. Those elves actually came to their rescue later on in the movie, proving their loyalty. Those noble elves were Tauriel and Legolas. Also, a major character in the movie was Gandalf, which was the powerful wizard. In the movie, he aided in their adventure by leading them to the proper trail while also providing them with many struggles they may encounter on the way. While all of the characters and setting play a key role in shaping the movie as a whole, the theme of greed is a much greater aspect throughout the film. Peter Jackson implements personification, symbolism, and foreshadowing in his movie in order to point his audience towards the bigger message, greed is the root of all evil.

He offers him guidance and advice on many occasions. Gandalf helps to protect Frodo from outside forces and inside temptations. When Gandalf is around, Frodo feels stronger. He learns how to control the power of the ring with Gandalf’s help. Frodo faces many tests and trials along the way to Mount Doom. He is kidnapped, attacked, and imprisoned along the way. He narrowly survives many situations that would break lesser hobbits. In addition to the outward trials, he also faces the constant temptation to use the ring to gain power for himself and for others. He finds support in the travel companions that join him along the way to help him in his quest to destroy the ring. These warriors become his allies. He also meets enemies along the way. He encounters characters that want to use the ring for their own gain. His greatest enemy is Sauron, the Dark Lord who wants to get the ring so he can rule all of Middle

However, after the riddle game, Gollum go back to his island to get his precious golden ring that make him go invisible. It was ring of power that if you try to slip the ring on your finger, it will make you go invisible. However, he couldn’t find it in the island. There, Gollum families over his “precious,” a magic ring until he accidentally loses it which Bilbo end up finding it. When Bilbo found it he puts on it and was able to discover the magical power in it. When Gollum didn’t find his magic ring he suspicious the hobbit of stealing the ring and then he runs at him in an anger. The archetypes characters I have seen in this character is Devil figure and the creature of nightmare. The reason I think the creature of nightmare archetype character goes along very well with his character because he was very dark who have lived in the island for many years in the darkness with the monster look and he tried to threaten the life of a hero, Bilbo, where he was just trying to trick him by playing the riddle game, so if he wins he can eat

The Hobbit is a fictional novel written by J.R.R Tolkien. The novel is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who was approached by a group of dwarves who were in search of treasure in the mountains. Along the way, the group faced many obstacles and bumps in the road. On the contrary, Thomas C. Foster wrote a book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, that gives students a bit of insight on how to understand what they’re reading, and it also helps students to figure out the true meaning of different situations and things that are written in literature. In the book, Foster went on to explain different archetypes that are typically hidden in literature. Some archetypes that Foster elaborated on were the hero’s quest, death, resurrection, and communion. Archetypes such as the hero’s quest can be applied to the the journey that is depicted throughout the novel: The Hobbit. Aspects of this archetype that will be discussed later include the quester, a destination, a stated reason to embark on the journey, obstacles along the way, and the actual reason for going on the journey.

An archetype is defined as an image, story-pattern, character, setting, symbol, or situation that recurs frequently in literature and in life. It demonstrates universal human experiences and associates strongly with readers through a subconscious understanding. In the Epic of Gilgamesh the main character, Gilgamesh, is an example of a superheroic archetypal hero. He took on an epic quest for everlasting life by following the archetypal steps of a hero’s journey. Through suffering due to tragedy, realizing the nature of his quest, seeking help from a mentor, experiencing failure, and returning home with a companion, Gilgamesh’s story followed the situational archetype of a hero’s journey.

The Hobbit tells the story of a Hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins that goes on an adventure. It is a captivating story but is has an amazing amount of archetypes within it. It is truly a work of art.

Gollum, previously known as Smeagol, is one of the first bearers of the ring of power, and when he comes into the ring’s presence for the first time, the power makes him so corrupt that to get his hands on it he kills his friend Deagol. “‘ Smeagol had been watching him from behind a tree, and as Deagol gloated over the ring, Smeagol came softly up behind. “Give us that, Deagol, my love,” said Smeagol, over his friend’s shoulder. “Why?” said Deagol. “ Because it’s my birthday, my love, and I wants it,” said Smeagol. “I don’t care,” said Deagol. “I have given you a present already, more than I could afford. I found this, and I’m going to keep it.” “Oh, are you indeed, my love,” said Smeagol; and he caught Deagol by the throat and strangled him, because the gold looked so bright and beautiful. Then he put the ring on his finger’” (Tolkein Pg. 52). This text shows that Gollum, or Smeagol, is corrupt due to the rings power only by being around it. The need for the ring was so great that it pushed him to kill, a devastating act on its own, but he kills his own friend. This proves that with the power of the ring Gollum becomes immensely corrupt. After Gollum first obtains the ring he grows to feel a great hatred