One Ring To Rule Them All

The Storyworld of The Lord Of The Rings

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Concluding Post

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Adaptations of LOTR

Many people forget Peter Jackson’s three film installments of The Lord of the Rings are not original works. Before Jackson’s films hit the theaters, there had already been two radio series on BBC, one on USA, multiple video games released, and an animated film released in 1978. On top of that, the books written by Tolkien were released in the 1950s and 1960s. Peter Jackson’s films themselves are remakes. This leaves the question: what are some adaptations of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and what are possible future adaptations?

The most recent adaptation of The Lord of the Rings is The Hobbit series, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Based on Tolkien’s 1937 novel The Hobbit, the film was released in three installments: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). The story is still set in Middle-earth sixty years before the events of The Lord of the Rings. It is the tale of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo’s extended cousin, who is convinced by Gandalf the Grey to accompany thirteen dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield, on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from dragon Smaug. 

What about future adaptations of The Lord of the Rings? My prediction is there will be another film series for Middle-earth. If you look at the success of The Lord of the Rings film series, which earned around $6 billion dollars in box-office tickets and merchandise ($10 billion if you include The Hobbit), all the areas point to Middle-earth returning back to the screens. They could make a film series for The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Ring’s prequel’s prequel. Based on the success of multiple film installments for long stories, I think The Silmarillion will be made in multiple films. 

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A will of its own.

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Changes from the Books to the Films

One interesting aspect to look into are the differences between Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films and J.R.R Tolkien books. In this context, “change” has a very broad definition to it. It includes alterations to the books’ plot, book scenes that are not included, new scenes written by the film-makers, and overall plot, character, or setting elements that are different. Here are several examples of changes from the books to the films that were necessary to put the story on the big screen:

Elijah Wood, the actor who plays Frodo in the films, was only 18 years old during most of the filming for The Lord of the Rings. When introduced in the film, he appears as a very young hobbit who spends most of his time at play. In books, Frodo is a 33-year-old hobbit who has just come of age in hobbit society. The youthful age of Frodo is portrayed in the film because youthful actors are more popular with modern audiences, especially protagonists. 

The film opens with a prologue, narrated by Galadriel, showing the forging of the rings of power and the One Ring, the Battle of Last Alliance of Elves and Men, and the thought disappearance of the Ring and later discovery of it by Bilbo Baggins. This prologue was originally discussed to have be narrated by Frodo. However, filmmakers realized Frodo would have known too much about the ring too soon in the story.

The final film, The Return of the King, does not depict the events of the chapter, “The Scouring of the Shire” in the book. It is the penultimate chapter in the book, which basically depicts Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin returning home to the Shire only to find it has been despoiled and corrupted by Saruman and his minions. According to screenwriter Philippa Boyens, this scene was not included because “The huge climax your main characters have been striving for, for three films, just ended. You can’t start the story up again with this scene and play out an episodic ending”.  

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Languages of Middle Earth

Inventing languages was a lifelong occupation for J.R.R Tolkien. Though J.R.R Tolkien was a philologist by profession, he spent much of his spare time constructing his own languages. Starting at age 13, Tolkien began constructing his first Elvin tongue, Quenya. Though familiar with Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and several ancient Germanic languages, Gothic, Old Norse, and Old English, his Elvin languages were mostly influenced by his love for the Finnish language.

In 1940s, Tolkien invested a great effort in creating and detailing the linguistics of Middle-earth. It is important to note in The Lord of the Rings to consider languages in their “primary world” aspect, namely their literal development by Tolkien as a linguist, and their “secondary aspect”, namely their imagined development in the history of Middle-earth in the books and films.

The Elvish languages are the most well-known in the films. Little do people know, the elvish languages has a family tree of languages and dialects descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language (in Tolkien’s case, Primitive Quendian). Though Sindarin and Quenya are the most famous and most frequently used in the films, they are by no means the only ones. Here is a chart of the family of Elvish languages and their development by Tolkien:

In The Lord of the Rings, for Mannish languages, Tolkien came up with a literary device using real languages to translate the fictional languages. For example, he translated Westron, also known as Common Speech spoken by man, into English. A natural consequence of this is that Tolkien never worked out the languages he replaced because they never appeared in the texts. Here are other examples of using this device of rendering an imaginary language with a real one: 

rendering Rohirric, the language of Rohan by Old English

rendering names in the tongue of Dale by Old Norse forms

rendering names of the Kingdom of Rhovanion by Gothic forms

The language of the Dwarves, called Khuzdul, took a different course, compared to the Mannish languages. Because Khuzdul was kept secret by the Dwarves and never used in the presence of outsiders, it was never translated to any real-life language. 

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Journal Analysis & Reflection

Based on notebook breakdown halfway through the semester, I mostly use my journal for storyworld notes, other class notes, and creative writing. I was pleasantly surprised by the even distribution of use for these categories. Most of the time, I found myself taking notes in my journal for this class and other classes. This includes notes taken verbatim, but also brainstorming ideas for class papers and projects. The creative writing includes made up stories, but also stories created from my observations and thoughts. For the looking back/looking forward and personal categories, there is definitely some overlap. When I write about my personal affairs, they are generally about my long-term personal goals and reflections. It doesn’t surprise me that only a small portion of my writing is to-do lists. It is easier to jot to-do list on the notepad of my phone or computer. 

Looking forward, I plan on doing a better job annotating my journal entries (marking the number and time of the entry), so future analysis will be easier to conduct. Also, this helps with the organization of the journal in general. I plan on continuing to jot class notes and to brainstorm ideas, but I plan on focusing more on personal entires and creative writing (more of the intend purpose of a journal). Specifically, I want to write more about my accounts everyday as opposed to long-term personal reflections. I feel that it is important write about reflections of my day-to-day life, and creating stories from my life and observations.

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The Music of Middle Earth

In addition to the storyline, cinematography, special effects, visual effects, quality of acting, and music all play vital roles in making a movie successful. These elements are the bridges that connect the audience to the movie, making the story “live” for the audience. One of my favorite elements in The Lord of the Rings is the music of Middle-earth. Here is a sample of some the most notable tracks in all three films:

The music in films can make us feel that we are in another place and time. It captures our emotions by creating an ambiance of happiness, sadness, tension, fear or excitement. Music helps suspend our disbelief about the fantasy of the story. It helps us identify with distinct characters, places, and cultures. Music composer Howard Shores does all these in The Lord of Rings, successfully taking us into Middle-earth. 

The music of The Lord of the Rings has an Eastern sound, using woodwind instruments from Africa and East India. Quaint and mysterious, the music gives us the feeling of being in a far away land and contributes to the suspension of disbelief that helps the audience subconsciously consent to be taken to a place with which they are not familiar. To quote Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings, “I wanted the music (of The Lord of the Rings) to reflect Tolkien. I wanted the music to also bring the world of Middle Earth to life.” Adding this regarding Howard Shore’s huge task, “It’s doing two jobs at once. It’s providing an emotional link - a bridge between movie and the audience - and it’s drawing the audience in. But it’s doing it in such a way that it’s also telling you a lot about the cultures of this world.”

Every major place, race, and character in this film has a musical theme attached to it. Giving each of these elements a music theme makes them “alive”, and contributes to the essence of Middle-earth. This technique is called leitmotif, which is a musical phrase associated with a character, a feeling, or an event. Here is a quick overview of some of the main leitmotifs in The Lord of the Rings:

Concerning Hobbits

The theme for the Shire. The theme is very light and cheerful. A slide flute accompanied by a full orchestra a Celtic or Irish feel. The soundtrack starts with a solo flute playing the theme, followed by a solo violin and then the complete orchestra repeating the theme.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Theshirehymn.ogg

The One Ring

The theme associated with the One Ring and its history. The soundtrack is a minor-key string melody that plays over The Lord of the Rings title card for all three films. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Historyofthering.ogg#filelinks

Mordor/Sauron

A menacing, ominous, and “ethnic” flavored theme associated with Sauron and Mordor played by the rhaita.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mordortheme.ogg

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Frodo The Christ Figure (and Fan Fiction)

While there is no one complete Christ figure in The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn, Frodo, and Gandalf all embody some aspect of Christ throughout the series. Each undergoes a kind of sacrificial “death” and rebirth, but, most importantly, each exemplify the Old Testament threefold Messianic symbolism of prophet (Gandalf), priest (Frodo), and king (Aragorn).

Like Jesus who carried the cross for all the sins of the world, Frodo bears a burden of terrible evil for all of Middle-earth. He carries the burden of the Ring as Christ carried the burden of sin. For that reason, Frodo too is a living sacrifice. Throughout the series, there are many pronounced parallels between Frodo and Christ. The wound inflicted to him on Weathertop by the Witch-king is a figurative of Christ’s spear wound on the cross. Frodo walks his “Via Dolorosa” to Mount Doom just like Jesus when he walked to Golgotha. Frodo’s Via Dolorosa is at the very heart of Tolkien’s story, just as the crucifixion is the heart of many gospel accounts. As Frodo approaches the Cracks of Doom, the Ring becomes a crushing and unbearable weight as the cross was for Jesus. By the time Frodo reaches Mount Doom, he is so weighed down by the power of the Ring that Sam has to carry him. By carrying Frodo up to Mount Doom, Samwise Gamgee, Frodo’s friend and loyal servant, parallels Simon of Cyrene, who aids Jesus by picking up his cross to Golgotha. When Frodo accomplishes his mission (by losing his finger and the Ring into the pit of Mount Doom), he, like Christ, says, “it is done”. Overall, Frodo’s entire journey into Mordor resembles Christ’s descension into the grave. At the same time, Christ’s ascension to heaven is very similar to Frodo’s departure to the Undying Lands, as he leaves Middle-earth for finishing his mission.

For the last half century, The Lord of the Rings have attracted millions and millions of fans around the world through its books and films. Naturally, fans of the series like to create their own version of the story, spin-offs, and side stories. Though because the central plot of The Lord of the Rings solely deals with the mission of destroying the One Ring, new fanfiction of the current version of the story is not as common as fanfiction of side stories. For example, one story I particularly liked, Dear Diary, focused on the relationship between Eowyn and Faramir. Because their relationship was a particularly minor plot in The Lord of Rings, I enjoyed reading their detailed diary entries of their thoughts, adventure, and developing love.

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The Lord of the Rings: Story Background

Though the first novel of The Lord of the Rings was published in 1954, the franchise did not make its debut on the big screen until 2001. In first scenes of The Fellowship of the Ring, the narrator begins with a summary of the prehistory of the Ring: twenty rings once existed, in which three were made for the elves, seven for the dwarves, nine for men, and one for the Dark Lord Sauron to rule them all. In the battle to end Sauron’s reign of power, an army of men and elves managed to defeat him. Thought to be lost forever, the Ring was found by Gollum in a river a thousand years later. 

The scene then skips to an image of the peaceful Shire, where wizard Gandalf the Grey has come to celebrate Bilbo’s birthday. The plot of the story is made clear when hobbit Frodo Baggins inherits the Ring from Bilbo Baggins. Gandalf tells Frodo the history of the Ring and counsels him to take the Ring away from the Shire for good. Frodo, accompanied by his loyal friend Sam Gamgee, and his two cousins, Merry and Pippin, is tasked with this journey. After escaping from the Black Riders, they arrived at Rivendell, where they received consultation from Elrond and his Council about the Ring. After confirming it is the One Ring and that it must be destroyed in Mordor, the fellowship of the ring was born: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and Boromir, the ruling steward of Gondor. 

Near the end of the film, the fellowship becomes scattered from a skirmish between them and orcs along the path from the River Anduin to the hill of Amon Hen. As a result, Frodo, along with Sam, chooses to venture to Mordor without the other. This pivotal point sets the stage for the rest of the story and hits on a major theme, the limitations of the fellowship. The fellowship initially serves as Frodo’s backbone for his journey to Mordor, but their roles are ultimately limited by the nature of the task at hand. Frodo has to ultimately make the journey only with Sam. 

The nature of the Ring, another theme, puts its own limitations on the fellowship. Its corrupt power of addiction puts a heavy burden for whoever carries it, and forces the bearer into tremendous isolation. The power and influence of the Ring is so strong that many have rejected it when offered (Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, Aragorn, and Faramir). On the other hand, the hobbits’ complacency and lack of ambition appears to make them less susceptible to the Ring’s powers. However, over long periods of time, no one is immune to its powers. 

Another central theme to the story is the contrast of fate and free will. The story is structured in a way where past decisions and events have vital influence on current and future events. For example, Gandalf discusses the possibility that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and that Gollum has a crucial role to play in its destruction. Another instance is the number of times Gollum has been spared, because he is needed so he may destroy the Ring by falling into the Crack of Doom with it. On the other hand, characters’ free will to make decisions is also very prominent in the story. For example, Frodo’s choice to bear the Ring to Mordor is the central plot to the story. In end, his inability to throw it away is also key. 

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Make me choose

↳ legolasmissedandhitmyheart asked: Edoras or Minas Tirith?

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The chart above shows the points of interaction from character to character and each respective character’s journey as The Lord of the Rings progresses. The key on the bottom left also highlights major battles or pivotal scenes in each of the movies. For example, in the picture below (a zoomed segment of the above picture):

The Council of Elrond marks a major event in the story because it signified the formation of the Fellowship of the Ring. Elrond of Rivendell and all who were summoned to the Council decided the only way to be free of Sauron’s evil was to cast the Ring back into Mount Doom. To everyone’s surprise, Frodo volunteered to take on this perilous task. All that agreed to accompany Frodo (Aragon, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir,....etc.) became what’s known as the Fellowship of the Ring.

Character List

The Lord of the Rings is one of the longest film and novel trilogies. Because of the length, the character list is quite sizable. Here’s a breakdown of only the main characters in Tolkien’s epic:

Aragorn 

The descendant of Isildur, and raised by the Elf King Elrond, Aragorn is the heir to the throne of Gondor, but at the beginning of the trilogy, he hides this identity and pretends to be a ranger named Strider. As the trilogy progresses, he shows himself to be a noble leader with a pure heart, ready to assume his role on the crown once and for all. 

Frodo

An ordinary hobbit, but protagonist of the trilogy, Frodo is chosen by Gandalf to return the One Ring back to Mordor. His mission to destroy the ring involves a treacherous journey and countless dangers such as orcs, wraiths, and volcanoes. However, his perilous journey to Mordor is not his only burdensome task. His real challenge is to bear the ring without giving in to its temptations. This resistance is Frodo’s inner journey, in which his pure heart is constantly under assault by his darker yearnings for power.

Gandalf

A grandfatherly wizard whose knowledge that Bilbo possesses the ring sets the whole trilogy in motion. Gandalf selects Frodo to carry the ring and Sam to be his protector. In the mines of Moria, he provides the other members in the fellowship the model for sacrifice as he fought Balrog to the death. Most assume he died in this battle, but Gandalf returns as Gandalf the White later in the trilogy. Affable, slow, and deliberate, but a skilled fighter, Gandalf shows remarkable wisdom and insight throughout the series to help the fellowship achieve its quest. 

Sam

Frodo’s most loyal and constant companion, Sam is a ordinary hobbit who was chosen by Gandalf to accompany Frodo on his journey to Mordor. Sam’s dedication to protect Frodo on his journey is comparable to Frodo’s dedication to destroy the ring. As the trilogy progresses, it is Sam who proves the most indispensable to Frodo, and the two are so isolated in their journey that they normally don’t know what the other members of the fellowship are facing. Though the other members of the fellowship make it possible for Frodo and Sam to continue their journey, Sam himself makes it possible for Frodo to carry on.

Gollum/Smeagol

Before becoming obsessed with the ring, Gollum was a hobbit named Smeagol. Once Smeagol laid eyes on the ring, he became obsessed with it, and years later, it became Gollum’s sole reason for living. His transformation into the disgusting Gollum serves as a cautionary tale of the evil effects of the ring. Once aware Frodo possesses the ring, Gollum follows him the rest of his journey. Though in the end Gollum becomes completely evil and obsessed with the ring, he struggles between good and evil as the series progressed. 

Sauron

He is the embodiment of evil in The Lord of the Rings. Sauron, with the help of the Nordors, forged the Rings of Power with the goal to control all of Middle-earth. Lusting for more power, he himself forged the One Ring who ruled all the other rings. In the War of Last Alliance, Isildur managed to cut off Sauron’s finger with the Ring on it, causing the destruction of his corporeal form and scattering his armies. In The Lord of the Rings, Sauron lies dormant as the eye in Mordor, doing all in his power to obtain the Ring back from Frodo.

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Tolkien’s stories chronicle the struggle to control the world (called Arda) and the continent of Middle-earth: on one side, the angelic Valar, the elves and their allies among men; on the other, the demonic Morgoth and his minions, mostly orcs, dragons, and enslaved men. The continent of Middle-earth is the main setting of the stories in Tolkien’s legandarium. According to Tolkien, the geography of Middle-earth was intended to align with that of our real Earth in several ways, and with some climatological, botanical, and zoological similarities. For example, the Hobbits’ Shire aligns with the temperate climate of England, and Mordor lies in present-day Sicily.

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The origin of The Lord of the Rings traces back to 1954, as a sequel to Tolkien’s The Hobbit, published in 1937. Published in three volumes, the novels were titled The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. In 1997, Peter Jackson began storyboarding the series and assigned a crew to begin designing Middle-Earth at the same. It was not until 2001 when the first film came out in theaters. Even though The Lord of the Rings is the last installment in Tolkien’s legendarium, a collection of his literary writing, it is his most popular film and novel series. 

The reason I chose this series as my storyworld is because it is my favorite film series of all time. Tolkien creates the perfect storyworld filled with adventure, fantasy, drama, character development, elves, humans, hobbits, and orcs, and Jackson brings it to life in a legendary film series.

As darkness threatens to overcome his world, a simple Hobbit must destroy a powerful ring before it destroys him....