Tolkien Tuesday: Choices, Conflict, and Corruption
The Lord of the Rings was huge when it came out. Come on, ninety percent of Led Zeppelin's lyrics are references to Gollum or the Misty Mountains.
Pictured: Nerds
The movies (not ever gonna talk about The Hobbit movies, so when I say movies I mean strictly Lord of the Rings) blew up the popularity even more, capturing new readers like myself.
How has one man been able to influence generation after generation?
Tolkien set the standard for every fantasy story that has come after, and his lore is so richly detailed that you can almost believe it's true. There's some magic in the work that has kept it so alive all these years.
Peter Jackson and crew did a fantastic job adapting the work that Tolkien himself said could never be properly put into movie format.
There's a reason he said that.
New readers, inspired by their love of the movies may find that the pacing is a hell of a lot different in the books. Once you get past The Hobbit, shit gets into super-nerd territory, and it's time to learn up on some Middle Earth history whether you like it or not.
Let's dive into The Fellowship of the Ring.
The movie does a great job cutting what needs to be cut, getting the adventure started, all while still introducing the audience to some of the lore behind it all.
It all culminates in a thrilling battle between Aragorn's intense gaze and the Uruk-hai's inability to concentrate on what they are doing because of said gaze.
The fight rages and Uruks are falling left and right across the battlefield. Finally, Boromir, who has been kind of a pain in the ass, defends the hobbits to his last breath, taking a pile of orcs with him.
Viggo’s judgmental side-eye is more dangerous than any sword. Credit: IMDB
First-time readers may be pretty surprised when they reach the end of the Fellowship book, where it ends with Frodo and Sam sneaking off with the echo of possible battle behind them.
That’s it.
Hmm, well surely it will show up in The Two Towers then?
Nope, we just see the aftermath. Aragorn is too busy looking to the horizon to realize that anyone is in danger until he hears Boromir's horn. He kills not a single solitary orc, and we get a brief glimpse of the battle from Pippen remembering what in Arda happened to he and Merry.
How is it that Tolkien can build to this moment and avoid showing the fight at all?
In the book, the Company moves down the river after visiting Cate Blanchet and her real-life elven immortality, just like in the movie, while hoping to avoid orcs.
They get attacked while in their boats, fight the rapids, and deal with an unseen Nazgul flying on a fell beast at night. One would think the upcoming battle is what this whole last part of the book is leading up to.
Tolkien wants something deeper, though.
He knows that there will be plenty of hacking and slashing throughout the novels. Why keep going to that plot point when there is so much more to explore?
To Tolkien, conflict wasn't about just dragon fire and glorious charges of the Rohirrim, conflict was about making choices. These choices weren’t about just survival, but rather, victory.
I won't pretend like I know what it's like to be on any battlefield, and I certainly can't know what it was like in the trenches of World War I.
Tolkien did though. He knew all too well that there was an internal battle just as important as the external. A soldier that held on to hope just might see that day of triumph.
In the book, the real conflict isn't about if orcs will attack, who will survive, or how many arrows are in Legolas' quiver. (There's a finite amount in the books btw).
The true struggle is making choices where one path looks evil, and the other path looks no better.
Aragorn especially is put into a tough spot. In the book, he already has his OP sword Anduril and is ready to liberate the kingdom of Gondor. He wants to be king. So bad, in fact, that it begins to sway what he should do.
If Gandalf were still with the group, the choice would be easy because Aragorn never intended to go to Mordor with Frodo. He was going to be king, and that was final.
With Gandalf seemingly dead, Aragorn becomes responsible for this halfling with some dangerous bling and maybe...he should just take Frodo to Gondor first?
The initial temptation is there. He wrestles with it, hoping to get clarity, which is why he misses the orc fight altogether.
We all know he isn't alone in that struggle.
Uh oh. Credit: IMDB
Boromir wants to take the Ring to Gondor so badly that he falls to corruption by it.
To Tolkien, this was the real fight.
The battle inside of a man desperate to save his homeland is exactly what Tolkien wanted to show. That is the climax of the story.
The power of the Ring is so terrifying that you don't even need to be the bearer to be influenced by it. Slowly it worked on his mind from the moment the council of Elrond decided to destroy it.
There's more in the book about this slow fall. Difficult choices become the centerpiece of conflict.
Throughout the book, Boromir's ideas seem reasonable. He wants to avoid the mountains, avoid the evil in Moria, and take the Ring closer to Gondor where there are still good people fighting the darkness.
Rohan is more mysterious in the books, and not even Gandalf is all that sure the horse-lords haven't already fallen to the grip of either Sauron, Saruman, or both. Boromir knows without a doubt that Gondor is still good. Why not take the Ring there?
All his logic is pushed aside time and time again. For all his leadership, Gandalf is dead, and to Boromir, this is because his own wisdom was ignored.
Orcs are close behind them, and their secrecy is essentially lost because of all these choices–decisions that Boromir has constantly been against.
That moment you realize all your wisdom will become memes. Credit: IMDB
At first, Boromir just wants to talk with Frodo at the end of Fellowship.
Tolkien describes Boromir's actions as nothing out of the ordinary. He's smiling and polite, yet there's something in the way he holds himself that brings doubt into Frodo's mind. It's that subtlety that works so well in conflict like this.
The most dangerous villain isn't the shadow that we see coming from miles away, but the darkness in our own hearts.
Suddenly, Frodo and everything they are trying to protect are in immediate and extreme danger.
On this journey, we have been worried about the armies of Sauron finding them, hunting them down, and some epic battle to decide their success in the end.
What makes the internal conflict so great is that it's hiding in plain sight. The doubt, the anger, the desperation begins to spill over as we see Boromir succumb to his anxieties.
The evil was right among the group all along.
That's far scarier than orcs coming from dark lands far away. It's the realization that we are our own worst enemies.
Boromir learns a valuable lesson, and it's unfortunate that he only lives a short amount of time to realize it. There is redemption for him, but the price is everything.
He went against Tolkien's main theme in the lore deep underneath the story: harmony.
The world in Tolkien's lore is built through song (oversimplification, but still). There's freedom as long as it harmonizes with the tune. Once something goes against that harmony, corruption begins to enter the world.
Boromir thought it was all up to him. There's a fine line between valor and pride, and the nuance here is what makes the conflict jump out of the story.
This internal struggle is so vital to the rest of the series.
So much focuses on Sam and Frodo walking through rocks, walking through marshes, walking up up up the stairs, and walking even more in Mordor. So much walking that you can easily question just what the hell Tolkien was thinking.
The entire time, though, something is looming deep and dark over both of them. The Ring is there, constantly trying to pull one or both down so that it can be discovered.
Will Sam become corrupted, just like Boromir?
Will everyone they meet, especially Boromir's brother, be in just as much danger.?
The enemy is always right there with both of them. They can reach out and take it for whatever logical reasons they make themselves believe. Friendship will mean little if corruption sets in deep.
Thankfully Sam is the goodest boy.
Good decision making runs on potatoes. Credit: IMDB
Conflict is more than just what physically stands in the way of your characters. It's easy to focus on walls being besieged and the magic tongues of fire licking at the heels of your main characters.
But, what burns inside of them? What dangers do they always carry?
The reflection of the enemy in the mirror cuts deeper than any sword.
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