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| Frodo the Ringbearer |
This post is an expansion of a reply I gave in the LOTR book-to-movies character-assassination forum
that I started recently on Fanfiction.net. I had been lamenting the fact that in the Peter Jackson films just about every main character is stripped of almost all the personal, powerful and heroic qualities/moments Tolkien graced them with. Soon enough, someone replied that what works in books can't work in movies (which is why words will always trump film) and that characters need weakness in order for us to identify with them, and that they (Aragorn, Elrond, Frodo, etc) can't be perfect. That got me thinking about 'perfection' and what is means to be 'good' and the result was this musing:
I will first talk about 'perfection'. To be 'perfect' (as understood by most people now-days) is to be someone who is always right, never wrong, makes no mistakes, is flawless, and never derailed by anything - with a good moral compass to boot. Because none of us except Christ Himself can make the claim to be totally perfect we wouldn't want to read about people like that because that would exclude us. Being moralistic (always obeying the law and doing everything the 'right' way) is actually a bad thing - when always 'being right' starts to trump mercy and compassion and love then it becomes a sin.
Are Aragorn, Elrond, Frodo and the other defenders of the West 'perfect'? Actually, they aren't. Instead, Tolkien bestows upon his heroes something other then perfection, something far better (although to the untrained eye and heart these things can often be confused with being perfect), Tolkien gives his protagonists virtues: Love, hospitality, courage, compassion, loyalty, peacefulness, integrity, bravery (sometimes taken to quite an extreme level), mercy - and in the book it is mercy - or rather pity - that is the thread upon which the fate of all of Middle-Earth is hung.
We love Elrond Halfelven not just because he's an ancient warrior badass, but also because he is kind and gentle and meek. Is he dangerous? Absolutely. Is he powerful? Without question. Can he mean? Angry? Can he treat the Men and Dwarves and Hobbits and the non-Noldor Elves who come to him for counsel, aid and healing with the same regard as the dirt under his feet, too good for him even to look at? Yes, he can, he possesses free will after all; and if he desired to behave like this towards others, he could (or if Agent Smith steals his cloths and his house and pretends to act like him = fail).
But does he actually behave like this in the great tale of the War of the Ring that we all love so much? He...does...not.
And there lies the secret of virtue, the mystery of holiness, the beauty of the 'good guys' that Tolkien has made for us. Elrond (I'm using him as the main example here) is immortal and powerful, mighty in battle and skilled in healing and very wise, but how does he behave? That is the ultimate key. How does he treat others who are below him in power, wisdom and strength? How? He is kind to them, he heals them and advises them; he protects and shelters them in his fortress/home - the Last Homily House east of the Sea - where time seems to slow down and all grief and weariness and fear are lifted from their hearts. Tolkien doesn't just describe Elrond as being noble and great - Elrond himself confirms Tolkien's words by his actions and deeds - deeds which range from fighting in the Last Alliance for seven years, to helping a frustrated Thorin understand his map, to allowing an aged Bilbo to stay in Rivendell for as long as he likes, even though Bilbo is just a small Hobbit and compared to Gandalf and Glorfindel is very small in terms of power, wisdom and usefulness.
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| Three of the Immortals: Gandalf, Elrond and Glorfindel |
Elrond's hidden realm, Rivendell (as well as Lothlorion), is itself a kind of paradise: a blessed valley where evil things will not come. Once you have reached it you find it very hard to leave. You are safe there, in the company of beings who are not in it for themselves; that are not going to hurt you, or lie to you or steal from you or slander you. There you will rest, and be healed of your hurts and sorrows. And there you will hear hymns and songs about the Blessed Realm and tales about the mighty heroes of old. You will feast in the company of the real Immortals and maybe attend (or sneak into) a secret Council in which the fate of the world is discussed. You are safe there, safer perhaps then you are among your real family in your real home. I myself have been in the monastery/house of a kind and holy monk and can confirm it by my own experience: I was safe, I was loved; I did not want to leave; I was showered with hospitality and gifts that I had no right to receive but were shown and given to me anyway, and not because I had anything to offer.
Aragorn grows up in Rivendell, in this kind of atmosphere; and when he leaves to wander Middle-Earth and struggle against Sauron he takes these virtues with him and gives every good thing he has to ensure the safty and survival of four clueless Hobbits who have no idea what they're in for. He becomes a hero to them, and they in turn his friends, for whom he would pursue to the ends of the world to rescue, even if it means starving in Fangorn or getting killed by the Rohirrim and never returning to Gondor or marrying Arwen.
Captain Faramir also displays great wisdom and bravery and kindness. And although Boromir falls, he repents and dies a good death, laying down his life for two beings he never knew existed until a few months ago. King Theoden is very kind and condescending, with an appetite for Hobbit-lore that few others (including many readers) seem to have. If it hadn't been for his death in battle he would have sat in his Golden Hall in Edoras and listened to Merry and Pippen talk all day about the Shire and the ways of Hobbits and would have not thought it beneath his dignity to do so. I could go on and on, but what I'm trying to say is that it's not about being 'perfect'; it's about being righteous: of being merciful and brave and willing to give of yourself - like the Rangers - so that others - whether they know it or not - can be happy and free from evil and tyrannic beings; even if it means dying.
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| Boromir defending Merry and Pippen |
In the end - or at least one of them - The Lord of the Rings is about becoming a hero and saving the world. And when I think about it, there is no other story that can top that; not one. And Tolkien has given it to us in its finest, most grandest form, which is why I love both it and him. Tolkien himself wasn't a 'perfect' person, but that didn't stop him from believing that true heroes are real and that ordinary mortal people like us can become like them, or at least aspire to. After all, saving the world can be a long and hard and messy business, and not all heroes make good choices or go on to good ends. Some of them return home only upon their shields (or in elven boats) and yet there is always someone there - someone they saved or whose lives they enriched in some way - to sing their lament, to state that their lives and trails and sacrifices weren't all in vain; to cry:
''Out of doubt, out of dark, to the day's rising
he rode singing in the Sun; sword unsheathing.
Hope he rekindled, and in hope ended;
over death, over dread, over doom lifted
out of loss, out of life, unto long glory.''
(funeral song for Theoden; The Return of the King)
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| Theoden-King, Lord of the Rohirrim |
''And in hope ended.'' What is hope? Who gives hope? Whence comes hope? Why do some have it and others do not? The deaths of Theoden the King and Denethor the Steward are a study in two completely opposite - and opposing - worldviews: that of the Defiant Hero and the Despairing Defeatist, both paths freely chosen by each. Theoden has the choice of not going to aid Gondor, to not charge into the Pelennor Fields were death seems to await all, yet he does so regardless - ''Ride now to Gondor!''- defying both death and despair, and in doing so he achieves immortality in the hearts and memories of all those who come after - including the readers: remembered as ''a gentle heart and a great king who kept his oaths, and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning." King Theoden has hope, even though the battle appears hopeless and that the armies of Sauron will have the victory, and he and Merry and Eowyn and Eomer confront doom and defeat head-on and in doing so are made worthy forever of their 'long glory'.
The Steward Dethathor, in contrast, has no hope - being deluded by Sauron and filled with pride and despair - and does not wait for aid or healing or the news at the coming of the dawn, but taking Faramir with him he goes to the Tombs of the Kings and there a pyre is built upon which he will burn himself along with his wounded son. ''Why should we wish to live any longer?" he challenges Gandalf, ''For thy hope is but ignorance...Go forth and labor in healing! Go forth and fight! Vanity...against the Power that now arises in the East there is no victory. The West has failed!'' So he burns alone on his pyre while Theoden dies with his knights on the fields of Gondor, and the hearts and beliefs of those who possess hope and courage and love verses those who do not, or who reject them, are laid bare by Tolkien for all to see - and to choose between.
For it is the choices that the heroes make during the War of the Ring that are the most defining thing about them. Some have accused Tolkien of not developing his characters enough and maybe this is somewhat true, but what I have noticed as I read and reread The Lord of the Rings that the 'character-development' (which I prefer to call 'character-revelation') is extremely subtle - almost invisible, like when one is wearing the One Ring, but still there. The problem is is that many of the big, bold 'heavyweight' characters like Theoden and Elrond and Aragorn have already spent decades, centuries and Ages 'developing' in the wings. When we (through the Hobbits) encounter them for the first time, we are seeing them at their height of development and person-hood, ready to take on the challenges, destinies and duties placed before them - which is what they have been doing the whole time. It is the Hobbits that go through the most noticeable character development, for the events of LOTR are almost entirely seen and related from Frodo's, Sam's, Merry's and Pippen's eyes; the eyes of the smallest, most 'normal' people finding themselves entangled in events beyond their comprehension with beings out of myth and legend that they never expected to encounter.
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| Samwise the Hobbit attacking Shelob |
Again, is is the choices the characters make and the deeds they do that are perhaps where the most character-revelation lies, and were their virtues and goodness shine. With one spoken sentence, one gesture, one act, Tolkien tells us more about his heroes then dozens of pages of inner angst-ridden ''I'' point-of-view stories that has have flooded into literature. Encountering Tolkien's people is almost a relief to me because there are things about them that I don't know, that aren't explained, that don't make it into the story. Aragorn, Frodo & Co are allowed to have some privacy within their own beings. They are not psycho-analysed, their thoughts and feelings and opinions are not laid compleatly bare for all to see; many aspects of their lives - including their histories - remain a mystery. And I am glad of it. Who am I after all to think that I can know everything about a person in a story when I cannot ever know the inner thoughts and feelings of the people I love the most? whom I 'know' the most in real life? Vanity. And there's the fact that despite the perceived lack of 'character development' readers world-wide have fallen in love with Tolkien's heroes and voted in many different polls The Lord of the Rings as the ''greatest book of the century'' (and this was before the movies came out). Very telling, that. And why? Because, quite honestly, in Tolkien's world the heroic is celebrated; the home that you love is protected and fought for as a place that has meaning and value; the enemies who want to destroy/enslave your people are defied and resisted at all costs; your neighbors and friends are reveled as 'lords of great dignity and power;' your struggles become their struggles; their victories become your victories; and there is mystery and magic and wonder and the glory of the goodness of the good that makes you want to enter in and remain there for as long as you can so you can experience it to its fullness.
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| The honoring of Frodo and Sam - ''Praise them with great praise!'' - on the Field of Cormallen by the Captains of the West |
Tolkien gives us Joy: ''a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.''*
All the protagonists in The Lord of the Rings have this virtue, some more then others, some more potently seen and expressed then others, and it runs mysteriously throughout the book like a secret underground spring that sometimes erupts out into the open like a geyser shooting into the air, its spray glittering in the sun, combating gloom and despair (of which there is also a great deal of as well). There is a collective joy, such as in the Hall of Fire in Rivendell where the Elves (and certain hobbits) sing and tell stories about the first Ages. There is personal moments of joy such as when a despairing Eomer sees the black ships of Umbar coming up the Anduin and thinks his doom is at hand and then he sees Aragorn's banner of the Tree and Stars flow out from the topmost mast and realizes that the King is come and hope is renewed. Old Tom Bombadil is Joy personalized; the Shire is a shelter and haven for joy as must of us know it, small and simple, taking delight in the ordinary stuff of life like beer and smoking, while in Lothlorien the joy is beautiful, tragic and yearning, bordering on the holy and terrible. And everyone finds a way to express it: they sing, they dance, they cry, they hold feasts and parties and exchange gifts. No one is ashamed of showing it, from the mightiest of Elves to the smallest of Hobbits.
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| Elves singing in the trees at Rivendell |
Yes, Middle-Earth is also a very dark and deadly place, for the schemes and lies and wars of Morgoth and Sauron have made it so; but no one can overturn the desire of Eru, and the Lords of the West still sit enthroned in Valinor and ''above all shadows rides the Sun'', and the heroes and saints of Arda laugh and love and weep and fight and die without once caring whether or not it makes them too 'perfect' or too 'good' or too 'heroic'. Such triviality is beyond them; they are fixated on one thing: 'to do the deed at hand' - be that deed to arrange a birthday party in the Shire or to defy a Balrog in Moria - they do these deeds with the same fierce passion, the same unbreakable determination and the same uncompromising love and duty to 'lord and land and league of friendship.' For so their Sub-Creator has willed it, and so they are; and there they will abide, undefiled, in that Middle-Earth, those true heroes and champions of the Good 'unto the ending of the world.'
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