Larner
· 16 April 2013
· Chapter 14: Was Frodo Baggins One of The Wise?
And there were other ways in which he displayed his wisdom: Frodo recognized that in the end he MUST go on alone, that going into Mordor with eight others would be too much, and that the Ring was working to corrupt the others, and was particularly influential over Boromir. He was always compassionate, but he was nowhere as "soft" as Sam had believed, astounding both Sam and Smeagol with his awareness of Smeagol's true motivations in wishing to make his vow ON the Precious and in underestimating Frodo's appreciation for Gollum's proclivity toward violence. Seeing Frodo holding Sting to Gollum's throat must have surprised both Sam and Smeagol equally, I suspect.
I've always suspected that he realized from close to the beginning that he would have to die to see the Ring destroyed, another reason he didn't wish those he loved to go with him into Mordor, for how could Aragorn become the King he was meant to be if he were likely to die along with Frodo when the Ring went into the fire? What would become of the continuity of leadership in the Shire if Merry and Pippin died in Mordor with him?
And his recognition before he got home that the Shire would not be the same for him because he himself was not the same indicates just how wise he truly was.
Yes, I do believe you are right--Frodo Baggins was truly among the Wise.
Larner
· 16 April 2013
· Chapter 13: The Ultimate Friendship
I was thirteen-fourteen. Couldn't find the library's copy of "The Ship of Ishtar," so the librarian in the SF-Fantasy section said, "If you like Merritt you will undoubtedly appreciate this, too," and she handed me The Fellowship, and I was lost. Tolkien and Lewis joined Abraham Merritt and Rosemary Sutcliff as favorite and inspiring authors.
My dad was in the Air Force when I was born, but died when I was a baby. I, too, was seen as one of the school oddballs--very short and too young in my looks for most to take me seriously, and with definitely unusual tastes. Others were reading the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew while I was reading Howard Pyle and Abraham Merritt. My girl classmates were eyeing the boys while I was watching diatoms and fairy shrimp in our drainage ditch and ponds. Other kids were playing on the baseball team while I was learning the ropes of breeding, raising, and training dogs. My classmates were considering growing up to be stewardesses while I was headed for teaching from Kindergarten. And for years it seemed I was the only one in our huge high school who had read The Lord of the Rings!
My life-long friends I made in college, not grade school or high school. My attention was drawn mostly by the nobility of Aragorn and the growing sense of brotherhood I saw between Frodo and Aragorn and Sam. That Aragorn vowed himself from the start as one to protect and guide Frodo was what struck me most in that first reading.
I'm appreciating that friendship known between Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin more now that I am an adult and now have such friends myself. But I always saw it as significant that Frodo's closest friends all were younger than he, although we aren't certain just how old Folco was.
Author's reply
All my closest friends were younger than I was--though only by a couple of years. Still that made the dynamic of the hobbbits' friendship very personal to me. I could never have envisioned those few friends I had sticking by me the way I stuck by them--I was older and should take care of them, not the other way around. (And that explained why I always felt a fifth wheel as my friends began to pair up.)But wouldn't it have been cool if they had looked up to me and cared about me the way Frodo's friends did? It wasn't until I was an adult myself that I realized that Frodo's friendships with his cousins and Sam must have been nurtured over the course of their lifetimes.
I've always imagined Folco as about the same age as Fredegar. Perhaps it seemed logical to me that the two of them were closer to each other than to Frodo, Merry or Pippin.
Larner
· 16 April 2013
· Chapter 12: The Evenstar and the Ringbearer: The Intertwining Destinies of Arwen Undómiel and Frodo Baggins
It is good to see this perspective of the various relationships Tolkien developed in his epic. I grieved for Arwen that in the end she found it difficult to accept that among mortals there is an end, in this world, to our happiness just as there is to our grief, when we leave this life to embrace that which comes next. Yet that she recognized that Frodo needed to leave this world in order to heal properly to prepare for the next was, I believe, the act she needed to make to seal her own choice of embracing mortality.
She was sacrificing her long-held virginity to become Elessar's wife; in doing so she perhaps sanctified that Frodo most likely knew as an unmarried male, sending him to her mother's care in place of herself, perhaps trusting that Celebrian would be able to help guide him through a similar healing process to that which she had experienced after her own terrible wounding at the hands of Sauron's creatures.
Thanks for this thought-provoking essay.
Author's reply
Tolkien was very fond of parallelism, and some of it is obvious (for example the parallelism between Merry and Pippin's storylines, or the connections between Beren and Luthien and Aragorn and Arwen, or even between Bilbo's adventures and those of Frodo, just to name a few) but some are much more subtle and do not jump out at the reader immediately, (like the parallels between Pippin and Faramir, or those between Faramir and Eowyn, or those between Finduilas and Gilraen).
But yes, there were definitely those parallels between Frodo and Arwen that you mention in addition to the ones I cover in my essay.
Antane
· 13 April 2013
· Chapter 13: The Ultimate Friendship
Yes, I do remember Scholastic! :) I do not have any cradle to grave friendships myself. i love the way you say that, how true for our hobbits and their great strength. They have taught me so much about what love is really all about. This quote of Merry's is one of very favorites. Thanks for this great tribute to them! There's a delightful Facebook page called Concerning Hobbits, that you would be right at home at. I certainly am!
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
I don't know if they still do that or not, but it was a great way for kids to get books!
I'm glad you enjoyed this little essay. It was nice to do a little biographical meta without having to do any research or anything.
I might check it out, but even though I have a Facebook page I almost never go to it or do much with it--I am afraid I've never cared much for Facebook, even though I know everybody seems to be there.
Antane
· 13 April 2013
· Chapter 14: Was Frodo Baggins One of The Wise?
Interesting little essay! I had not considered Frodo in this way but he is indeed well-named. He and Bilbo are "especially graced and gifted" as the Professor noted in one of his letters. I think his wisdom comes because not only is he in contact with the One RIng but with *the* One, Eru Iluvatar, and all the grace that would from such an intimate union, even if his conscious mind was not aware of it. He certainly was gifted in many ways. Cheers for all the chosen ones, Frodo, Bilbo, Sam in particular!
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
Oh, of course his wisdom came from Iluvatar; I think that it was a grace granted to him partly in recompense for all he suffered--not a reward, but an amelioration of sorts, and a result of the insight he gained through his sufferings.
Lindelea
· 9 April 2013
· Chapter 13: The Ultimate Friendship
Ah, yes, books. Comfort, adventure, new worlds, (eventually) old friends. I came later to LOTR than you did -- tried to read it at 13, several times, because a brother enthused about it, but found it tiresome for some reason. I think I was unripe. In college something clicked (once I got past the Party and Frodo had left Bag End behind), and I became a lifelong fan.
*hugs*
Author's reply
I am always happy to hear of the various ways my friends came to be a part of this very amazing and diverse fandom! ((hugs))
Lindelea
· 9 April 2013
· Chapter 14: Was Frodo Baggins One of The Wise?
Fascinating. I always learn so much when I read your musings.
Author's reply
Thanks! Sometimes I want to look at the story from the outside, so I am glad I can also do essays and other sorts of musings as well as fic.
Virtuella
· 18 August 2012
· Chapter 12: The Evenstar and the Ringbearer: The Intertwining Destinies of Arwen Undómiel and Frodo Baggins
Very interesting essay, and I am reminded of a story of yours I read years ago on the same theme, one which I found very beautiful.
Author's reply
Probably "The Token"-- it was three ficlets about Arwen with her mother, Bilbo and then Frodo, and dealt with the possible origin of the "white gem".
I'm glad you liked the essay-- I wanted to examine the relationship of Arwen and Frodo in a story-external way for a change, since I think that it was a literary decision Tolkien made.
Antane
· 17 August 2012
· Chapter 12: The Evenstar and the Ringbearer: The Intertwining Destinies of Arwen Undómiel and Frodo Baggins
I love this essay, my dear! I have had much the same thoughts of Arwen's insight to Frodo's wounds myself. I think he and Celebrian had much in common and when they met she would be instrumental in his healing and show him that he could indeed heal and have peace again. Fleming Rutledge's book in one of my very favorites. Sorry I've had no time to fit in an essay myself.
Namarie, God bless, Antane :)
Author's reply
Thank you! Have you read my poem "White Stone" written for last year's B2MeM? It reflects much of what I say in this essay.
Virtuella
· 30 September 2010
· Chapter 11: Characterization in Fanfic: Using Canon as the DNA for Your Characters
That's a very interesting essay. I think Merry is one of Tolkien's best developed characters, which is perhaps what allows us such good extrapolations from canon. I must say, though, that I write in a less systematic manner than you've outlined here, not sitting down and "deciding" on a characters social status, speech pattern etc, but beginning to imagine the character and then intuitively seeing that character develop.
Author's reply
You are quite right about Merry, which is why I chose him as an example.
I'm not always quite so systematic as I sound in the essay myself. Characters do present themselves to me, sometimes nearly full-blown, but I also try to use these principles in making sure that they will fit into canon once I've imagined them. Sometimes I use an OC more than once, and as I develope him or her I try to make sure they have their own place in Middle-earth.
I am far more careful with canon characters, though, and often if I am going to write a particular canon character I will re-read the parts of the books in which they appear in order to "freshen up" my memory of them.
cookiefleck
· 17 September 2010
· Chapter 11: Characterization in Fanfic: Using Canon as the DNA for Your Characters
It's interesting how small details reveal authors' biases, even though a story may be otherwise well-written. It always takes me right out a story if I read that Frodo has (take your pick: striking, gorgeous, amazing, beautiful, stunning) blue eyes. It's hard to take the story seriously when that occurs, unless it's a comedic treatment. Or, for exammple, when one can tell that an author is using fan fiction to proselytize about religion. At that point, I stop reading.
Author's reply
*nods* I try to be careful in using eye-color in fic. No more than one mention in a short story, and as few as possible in multi-chapter fic. And I shouldn't normally need another adjective than blue most of the time. Perhaps I may have used striking at some point-- I don't remember. Usually if I use another adjective besides color for eyes, it's a mood word: stormy, stern, sad, etc. And I think I use "warm" when I describe Sam's brown eyes. Of course, that's now. I don't really vouch for what I've said in my earliest stories, LOL!
Or, for exammple, when one can tell that an author is using fan fiction to proselytize about religion.
JRRT would have hated that. He filled his books with religious symbolism that meant something to him personally, but he did it in a very subtle way. Christian themes and symbols abound, but it's NOT allegory, and he would have been appalled at someone using his work to proselytize.
I think for many of us, it is impossible not to let our beliefs be part of our work, but we should follow his example and make an effort not to hit people over the head with it.
Some people are able to do subtle well. Some either can't or won't be subtle. And some of us try to be subtle and are hopefully soemwhat successful. And some are so subtle that no one actually gets it. That's probably the best of all!
Andrea
· 16 September 2010
· Chapter 11: Characterization in Fanfic: Using Canon as the DNA for Your Characters
That was a very interesting article!
Thank you for showing us how a character takes shape in your stories.
I've always liked your Aunt Dora. She just felt "in-character". Now I know why that is so! You did a great job there!
I also liked jodancingtree's stories about Frodo, Radagast - and Canohando, a very unusual Orc. He looked like an Orc, he behaved like an Orc at first, but deep inside he had a sensitive soul. And Frodo made him realise that.
It was fascinating to see how he changed. Very unusual, but still "in-character"!
Author's reply
I'm glad to know that you like Aunt Dora; really, that brief description we have from Bilbo's gift to her gives us so much to go on! JRRT had a way of bringing even the briefest cameo appearances of a character to life.
I remember Canohando. Indeed, she did a brilliant job with his character! And the way in which Frodo dealt with him did so much to illuminate Frodo's own character as well.
Virtuella
· 21 April 2010
· Chapter 10: Are You On the Outside Looking In...or the Inside Looking Out?
Thanks for these interesting ruminations! There is a lot of food for thought in this essay.
I would suggest a third layer, which sits between the two you have described, and I would call it the structural level. By this I mean issues concerning the crafting of the story, like contrasted or mirrored plot elements, pacing, character development, Leitmotifs etc. These are story-external in that the characters would have no knowledge of them. For example, when the party encounter the frozen trolls and Sam recites his poem, they are not aware that the purpose of the scene is comic relief. But unlike the story-external issues you mention, these aspects are accessible to the reader from the text alone without reference to any external sources. We need not know anything about Tolkien as a person to be able to analyse the way the stories are crafted.
Author's reply
This is true, those are also story-external reasons. I touched on that briefly when I mentioned how JRRT deliberately keeps us away from Strider's POV during the journey from Bree to Rivendell. This is a matter of plot and character development alone, though not one we can appreciate on a first reading.
There are many times when his purpose of theme or plot or tone are served by certain events or characterizations-- and it falls to us to figure out why they "really" happened, which is where the fic comes in.
But you are right that these elements are an intrinsic part of the craft of Story, and not outside elements the way some other things are.
Larner
· 20 April 2010
· Chapter 10: Are You On the Outside Looking In...or the Inside Looking Out?
I love this look at how we write and choose the elements that we include in our writing. Most thought-provoking!
Author's reply
Thank you! That's just what I intended!
Larner
· 4 November 2009
· Chapter 8: The Shire Calendar
Always nice to have on hand when our copies of the Appendices are not available. Thanks.
Grey Wonderer
· 3 November 2009
· Chapter 8: The Shire Calendar
I'm glad you put this here. It will be easier to find that over on LJ. I put it in my memories on LJ but sometimes even that doesn't help me. hehehe
This is a good reference.
Virtuella
· 3 November 2009
· Chapter 8: The Shire Calendar
Very interesting, though I must say I quite cherish that our dates are /not/ always on the same day of the week. Who wants their birthday always to be on a Monday? ;-)
Virtuella
· 8 September 2009
· Chapter 7: Hobbit Names and Naming Conventions
How very interesting! Thanks for doing suhc a thorough piece of research.
That's a noteworthy point, that the hobbits seems to have virtually no surnames derived from occupations, even though in many European languages, such names make up a large fraction of the total of all names.
I think it is so - well, whimsical, I suppose, that Tolkien went to so much trouble in creating this fiction of having translated everything from ancient documents. And rather cute, actually.
Author's reply
You are welcome! Even though it was hard work, it was fun.
Yes, I thought it odd that the only one to be found was "Roper", and it wasn't truly clear if that actually became the name. Later, in the Fourth Age, we have "Gardner", But it apparently doesn't stick as a surname, since Frodo's grandson is named "Harding of the Hill".
To him, the point of the story *was* the languages; he sometimes said he created Arda to have a place where his languages could be spoken.
Aunt Dora
· 8 September 2009
· Chapter 7: Hobbit Names and Naming Conventions
This information is so valuable to writers of happenings in the Shire. Great timing for me. Thank you for it.
Author's reply
You are very welcome! That's exactly what I hoped when I did it. Naming hobbits is serious work, as another friend of mine told me, LOL! But it's fun, too.
Andrea
· 8 September 2009
· Chapter 7: Hobbit Names and Naming Conventions
Dear Dreamflower,
I found this article very interesting! Thank you for all the time you spent on doing the research.
Mr. Lordell goes on to point out that Pippin was the name of Charlemagne's grandson, and shows that the name Lotho also derived from the Carolingian line
You know, in the German town where I live and which is very old, we have a Pipin Street (only with one "p" in the middle).
And this Pippin is one of the Carolingians you mentioned. I'm not quite sure, but I'd say that the street name refers to Pippin the Short, the son of Charles Martell and the father of Charlemagne.
Charlemagne built a palace here and met with Pope Leo in 799.
So, you see, the Carolingians used first names more than once (like the Tooks). I found many Drogos in their family tree and even a Fredegar!
This is really interesting :-)
Author's reply
Yes; sometimes Pippin is spelled Pipin or even Pepin, but it's basically the same name! I knew there was a Drogo in the line, but I did not know of the Fredegar, though that doesn't surprise me.
It really is interesting to see how much work JRRT put into his hobbits and the Shire! Even though it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun.
Mîdhaer
· 7 August 2009
· Chapter 6: The Myth of the One Ring's Power
I have an interesting question for you. Why does everyone think Sauron became more powerful when he made the Ring? If the Ring's power is just a large part of Sauron's power, than Sauron could not have put any more power into the Ring than he himself possessed. Is the Ring a focal point for Sauron's power? Or is there something else involved. Please reply. I'd really like your opinion.
Thanks,
Mîdhaer
Author's reply
The idea was not that he became *more* powerful. The idea was that he was creating something that would give him *specific* power that he did not previously possess-- that of directly controlling the free races. You see, he tricked the Elves into making the Three, the Seven and the Nine (which by the way, were all originally *intended* only for Elves, not for Dwarves or Men). His idea was to make the One, which would *control* the Elven rings, and thus give him the power of controlling the Elves, whom he hated. It didn't work out that way. Celebrimbor knew when the One was activated, and the Elven rings were removed and hidden. But Sauron was able to get hold of the Seven and the Nine, and since he could not get the Elves to use them, he distributed them to Dwarves and Men. The power of the One was domination over the Three, the Seven and the Nine. In the case of the Seven, it didn't work too well because of the nature of Dwarves, though it did exacerbate their inherent greed. In the case of the Nine, it worked very well indeed.
At any rate, he had put a lot of himself into the Ring in order to accomplish his goal, and so when he was sundered from the One, he lost that part of his power. The reason he wanted it back so badly was that when he got it, he would be as powerful as he used to be.
This is a very oversimplified explanation, and there is a lot of discussion among experts about just why and how the One Ring worked, but I hope it answers your question.
Queen Galadriel
· 29 April 2009
· Chapter 20: Three Cousins and a Friend: Journey into Love--Part 1: Pre-Quest
I don't remember if I read this before or not. But in any case, it is fascinating, and I've enjoyed this examination of some of our favorite Hobbits very much.
I hope you'll finish this series!
Queen Galadriel
· 29 April 2009
· Chapter 5: The Importance of Being Bilbo
Yes, Tolkien definitely played an instrumental role in creating the modern epic fantasy with those two stories, and Bilbo's own tale is too often discounted as a children's book.
I hope this inspires someone, I'd love to see some of these too!
Queen Galadriel
· 29 April 2009
· Chapter 6: The Myth of the One Ring's Power
You know, now that I'm no longer writing fanfic of my own, I've become something of a purist. Not such a purist that I can't enjoy other talented authors' suppositions and "what-ifs," and certainly the better AU tales, but enough that some of these crazy "Hollywood" theories really, really get under my skin! I've long thought that some tend to overexagerate the Ring in a way unbecoming to Tolkien's work, because it makes absolutely no sense. If the Ring was all-powerful, well, there would be no story, and this point would not be discussed. You've done a really excellent job bringing out the heart of the matter and backing it up with an amount of canon evidence that I probably never would have found, enough that it can't easily be disputed.
Frodo next! The movie image must be destroyed! ;) Okay, so I'm fine with blue eyes; they've become a part of his character to me. But there's so much else that just never should have been done. I guess it's not all the creators' fault; there's only so much you can show in a movie, after all, and inner dialog gets chucked out - too bad, as that's where the really heroic moments take place. But they made him look like such a weakling, ugh!
You do address that point wonderfully in your stories, though. So bravo, all around!
Author's reply
I do miss your fic, dear! I hope someday you take it up again!
It was not only PJ who decided that the Ring must be overwhelmingly powerful, though his images, I think, really stick in the mind much more. But, as I said in the essay, JRRT himself seems to keep emphasizing the great irresistable Ring--and yet, as I said, though that's what he *tells* us, what he *shows* us is quite different, and underlies the entire structure of the story.
I think PJ did a wonderful job on the visual imagery of the movies, and in bringing M-e to life, and in uniting the story with a remarkable music score by Howard Shore, all mighty accomplishments. But the subtleties of characterization are not one of his strong points, and of course they lost even more in the time constraints of a film.
As for Frodo's characterization-- when the Ring is put in its proper perspective, Frodo's character would "correct itself". I suppose you could say that in the movies, Frodo's character was sacrificed so that the Ring would have more of a character.
(And even Movie Frodo was not quite such a weakling as some fic writers make him appear!)
Virtuella
· 29 November 2008
· Chapter 6: The Myth of the One Ring's Power
Pasting MEFA review:
Wow, Barbara, this was one facinating essay! I'm glad I came across it. What a very astute examination of the exact nature of the ring. I was particularly interested in the concept of the ring's "blind spot". You are right, it could only overwhelm people who were already much in the same "mould" as Sauron. Likewise, it is very conceivable that its lures failed because they were so over the top. Especially in Sam's case that is very evident.
I would like to add to this a more formal thought: The talk of the absolutely irresisteble power of the ring is a hyperbole that is necessary to perpetuate the plot. The epic story of LOTR could not have been based on a ring that was merely said to be *rather* powerful and dangerous - just like in a fairy tale you would never talk of a princess being merely "quite a nice looking lass". On the other hand, the ring *had* to be flawed and limited, because otherwise it *would* have overwhelemed everybody and then there would have been no story. The tension betwen the perception of the ring as being all-powerful and the reality of it not quite getting a hold of people is the catalyst by which the story is developed. Mind you, I would never have thought of it in this way, had I not read your clever essay!