The Significance of Archetypal Pattern Within Frodo’S Journey in J.R.R
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHETYPAL PATTERN WITHIN FRODO’S JOURNEY IN J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
ASTRI ARINI WALUYO
Student Number: 024214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHETYPAL PATTERN WITHIN FRODO’S JOURNEY IN J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
ASTRI ARINI WALUYO
Student Number: 024214029
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2009
i A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHETYPAL PATTERN WITHIN FRODO’S JOURNEY IN J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS
By
ASTRI ARINI WALUYO
Student Number: 024214029
Approved by
Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. July 29, 2009 Advisor
Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. July 29, 2009 Co-Advisor
ii A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHETYPAL PATTERN WITHIN FRODO’S JOURNEY IN J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS
By
ASTRI ARINI WALUYO
Student Number: 024214029 Student Registration Number:
Defended before the Board of Examiners On and Declared Acceptable
BOARD OF EXAMINERS
Name Signature
Chairman : Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M. Pd., M.A. __
Secretary : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. __
Member : Maria Ananta, S.S., M. Ed. __
Member : Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. __
Member : Dra. Th. Enny Anggraini, M.A. __
Yogyakarta, August 31, 2009 Faculty of Letters Sanata Dharma University Dean
Drs. I Praptomo Baryadi, M. Hum.
iii (anonymous)
iv v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma :
Nama : Astri Arini Waluyo
Nomor Mahasiswa : 024214029
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ARCHETYPAL PATTERN WITHIN FRODO’S JOURNEY IN J.R.R. TOLKIEN’S THE LORD OF THE RINGS beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, me- ngalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini yang saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 22 Agustus 2009
Yang menyatakan
(Astri Arini Waluyo) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank to Allah SWT, for giving me all the blessing and staying with me through everything. Thank you for all the process and things that I went through and finally get me into writing this page. Thank you so much for all my best friends – Eling, Vera, Wanti, Maria. Thank you very much for the laugh and the shoulder to cry on. I will never get here and be the person I am right now without you. You girls are the best friend in the world, God bless you for that. For Angga and Nando, thank you so much for the valuable lesson learns, I will never ever forget all that through the rest of my life. Thank you so much Paulo for being a great father for me. I could never thank you enough for every single great lesson about life. I know that God is giving much blessing for me through you. God bless you and your family. I would also like to thank to all my students in Indonesian Air force Academy (AAU) and Taruna Nusantara High School. Thank you for so much encouragement and I think I learn more from you guys. Thank you also for teachers, lecturers and staffs from AAU and TN, Ibu Naning and Mayor Abi. Thank you for your kindliness, friendship and encouragement. Thanks for the members of English Debating Community Sanata Dharma – Karlina, Ambar and the newbies, also other EDS all across Jogja and Indonesia. Thank you so much for your support and encouragement through jokes and mockeries. Well, somehow they do work! I will never find a community where I can learn a lot about everything as much as I learned from members of EDS. Thanks for all my colleges my dear friends from Sanata Dharma University – English Letters Department. I would like to thank you all for each of your unique contribution for this thesis. I would also like to thank to my colleagues at work in NGOs, who each also provides unique encouraging motivation. I would also like to address thank to my family. For the constant encouragement to move forward, I would like to thank my little brother and sister –
vi Iyar and Puput. Thanks also for my parents, may you find happiness wherever you are. Last but not least, I would never able to finish this thesis without my advisors. I would like to thank to my major advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum. Thank you so much for being patient as well as giving me guidance and valuable knowledge to get me through the long way. I would also like to thank and apologize for the previous advisors Paulus Sarwoto, S.S, M.A and Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani, M.A. Thank you for providing guidance and valuable knowledge and I apologize for not getting this thesis done earlier.
Astri Arini Waluyo
vii TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE...... i APPROVAL PAGE...... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE...... iii MOTTO PAGE...... iv DEDICATION PAGE...... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS...... viii ABSTRACT...... x ABSTRAK...... xi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION...... 1 A. Background of the Study...... 1 B. Problem Formulation...... 3 C. Objectives of the Study...... 3 D. Definition of Terms...... 4
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW...... 5 A. Review of Related Studies...... 5 B. Review of Related Theories...... 9 1. Theory of Plot...... 9 2. Theory of Archetypal Pattern...... 11 C. Theoretical Framework...... 16
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY...... 18 A. Object of the Study...... 18 B. Approach of the Study...... 20 C. Method of the Study...... 22
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS...... 24 A. The Plot of the Story...... 24 1. Exposition...... 24 2. Complication...... 28 3. Climax...... 59 4. Failing Action...... 60 5. Resolution...... 63 B. Monomyth in the Hero’s Journey...... 64 1. Departure...... 64 a. The Call to Adventure...... 65 b. Refusal to the Call...... 67 c. Supernatural Aid...... 68
viii d. The Crossing of the First Threshold...... 69 e. The Belly of the Whale...... 71 2. Initiation...... 71 a. The Road of Trials...... 72 b. The Meeting with the Goddess...... 74 c. Woman as the Temptress...... 76 d. Atonement with the Father...... 77 e. Apotheosis...... 79 f. The Ultimate Boon...... 79 3. Return...... 80 a. The Refusal of the Return...... 81 b. The Magic Flight...... 82 c. Rescue from Without...... 83 d. Crossing of the Return Threshold...... 83 e. Master of the Two Worlds...... 84 f. Freedom to Live...... 86
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION...... 87
BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 92
ix ABSTRACT
ASTRI ARINI WALUYO (2009). The Significance of Archetypal Pattern within Frodo’s Journey in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
Archetypal study is a branch of structuralism. Thus, its application on literary study involves analyzing the structure of a novel. One of structuralism principals in analyzing literature is to see literature as part of wider structure. Moreover, archetypal study analyzes recurrent patterns or symbols presented within myth and literature. Based on the chosen topic, the writer formulates two problem formulation: First, how is the plot described in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings? Second, based on the plot analysis, how is archetypal pattern being reflected within the adventure of Frodo Baggins? Since this research is a library research, then the first source used is the novel itself, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The secondary sources include several theories and criticisms taken from books and internet. This research use structuralism approach, in which the writer analyze the plot structure within the novel and compare it with narrative pattern exists in many stories and myths illustrated in archetypal theory. Thus, the main theory used in this thesis is archetypal theory, which is important to analyze Frodo’s journey in order to conclude its significance. Other theory used in this thesis is theory of plot, which is used as a tool to analyze the whole plot of the story to help the writer of this thesis find Frodo’s journey within the plot. After having analyzed the novel, the writer discovers that the archetypal pattern within Frodo’s journey described within the plot of the novel signifies the hero of the story. The plot is analyzed by dividing the story into five stages of plot based on theory of plot from Pickering and Hoeper. By analyzing the plot of the story, the writer of the thesis analyzed how the archetypal pattern is reflected in the plot. The writer finds out that the three stages of hero’s journey, which consist of departure, initiation and return, as well as each of its sub-stages were found within Frodo’s journey. Since Campbell’s Monomyth theory illustrates the archetypal pattern within the hero’s adventure, the writer of this thesis believe that Frodo is the hero of the story. Therefore, the existence of archetypal pattern within the adventure of Frodo Baggins signifies that the hero of the story is Frodo Baggins.
x ABSTRAK
ASTRI ARINI WALUYO (2009). The Significance of Archetypal Pattern Within Frodo’s Journey to Determine the Hero of the Story in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Studi tentang arketipe merupakan salah satu cabang strukturalisme. Karenanya, penerapannya pada studi karya sastra termasuk menganalisa struktur pada suatu novel. Salah satu prinsip strukturalisme dalam menganalisa karya sastra adalah memandang bahwa karya sastra merupakan bagian dari struktur yang lebih luas. Selain itu, studi arketipe menganalisa pola dan simbol yang muncul secara berulang- ulang dalam mitos dan karya sastra. Berdasarkan topik yang telah dipilih, penulis menciptakan dua perumusan masalah: Pertama, bagaimana plot dijabarkan dalam novel The Lord of the Rings karya J. R. R. Tolkien? Kedua, berdasarkan analisa plot, bagaimana pola arketipe tercermin dalam petualangan Frodo Baggins? Karena penelitian ini merupakan penelitian perpustakaan, maka sumber utama yang digunakan adalah novel itu sendiri, The Lord of the Rings karya J. R. R. Tolkien. Sumber-sumber sekunder meliputi beberapa teori dan kritik yang diambil dari buku dan internet. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan strukturalisme, dimana penulis menganalisa struktur plot cerita dan membandingkannya dengan pola naratif yang ada di banyak cerita dan mitos seperti yang diilustrasikan dalam teori arketipe. Karenanya, teori utama yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah teori arketipe, yang merupakan teori penting untuk menganalisa perjalanan Frodo agar dapat mencapai kesimpulan mengenai signifikansinya. Teori lain yang digunakan dalam skripsi ini adalah teori plot, yang digunakan sebagai alat untuk menganalisa keseluruhan plot cerita untuk membantu penulis dalam menemukan perjalanan Frodo yang merupakan bagian dari plot itu sendiri. Setelah menganalisa novel tersebut, penulis menemukan bahwa pola arketipe dalam perjalanan Frodo yang digambarkan dalam plot novel tersebut menunjukkan pahlawan dalam cerita tersebut. Plot cerita dianalisa dengan membagi cerita menjadi lima tahap plot berdasarkan teori plot dari Pickering and Hoeper. Setelah menganalisa plot cerita, penulis menganalisa bagaimana pola arketipe tercermin dalam plot tersebut. Penulis menemukan bahwa tiga tahapan perjalanan pahlawan, yang terdiri atas keberangkatan, inisiasi dan kembali, dan masing-masing sub-tahapannya ditemukan dalam perjalanan Frodo. Karena teori Monomite dari Campbell mengilustrasikan pola arketipe dalam perjalanan pahlawan, penulis tesis ini percaya bahwa Frodo adalah pahlawan cerita tersebut. Karenanya, adanya pola arketipe dalam petualangan Frodo Baggins menunjukkan bahwa pahlawan cerita tersebut adalah Frodo Baggins.
xi 1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Theory of archetype, describing about collective unconscious pattern within human mind, is such a fascinating theory. The study came up from the combination between anthropology and psychology. While theory of anthropology points their evidence from the same structure that exists within cultural artefacts created by different culture during different periods, theory of psychology believes that the archetypal symbols in the cultural artefact are the reflection of collective unconscious mind that is genetically inherited. The most notable students of Freud, C. G. Jung, stated that the mind is not tabula rasa (a clean state), in which archetype to mind is like organ to the body. Both psychology and anthropology believe in the existence of archetypal pattern, which are reflected through various cultural artefacts all across the world such as myth, cultural practice, traditional ceremony, etc, while literature is also one form of cultural product.
In 1928, a Russian formalist critic, Vladimir Propp, published The
Morphology of the Folktale, after studying the structure of the plot of Russian folktales. He explained in the book, 32 points on plot structures and 3 characters generalized from the folktales. Two decades later, an anthropologist, Claude Lévi-
Strauss believed that there is a similar pattern, which exists within various myths from different cultures although geographically separated very far away. This
1 2
research opened a new passage to develop research on mythology through structuralism in 1950s. Structuralism believes that there is an underlying pattern within all myths existed all across the world although they came from very different cultures, are separated in different places, and existed in different periods. Being a structuralist, by researching similar pattern among hundreds of myth, Joseph
Campbell managed to come up with study about a universal pattern of mythology within the plot of stories, published in The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949).
Nowadays, the pattern being applied as a reference for some famous authors such as
J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series and George Lucas’ Star Wars series.
As the oldest story, mythology usually involves the war between good or a heroic figure versus evil, and the use of magic in achieving greater good or victory against evil. The effort of writing mythology also existed since long time ago by some authors whose works are still today’s favourite such as Homer’s The Iliad. The writer of this thesis is excited to study how the pattern discovered by Joseph
Campbell is reflected within the literature works of a man who tried to create the myth of England through literature, J.R.R. Tolkien. It has been more than half century since the work is published, yet the novel still exists in today’s bookstores and in billions of people’s bookshelf. Fans of Tolkien’s works all over the world also still actively engaged in many activities including reviewing his works, publishing journal, and even conducting festival. The writer of this thesis see that the survival of
Tolkien’s works in reader’s heart is almost inherent with the survival of myth or folktale among indigenous community. Therefore, it would be interesting to see how 3
archetypal as one of the factors behind the survival of myth, applies within Tolkien’s most successful work, The Lord of the Rings.
As for the second reason, the writer of this thesis is excited to conduct a research using archetypal approach. Despite of the fact that archetypal is such an important finding within study of culture and psychology, Indonesian undergraduate researcher rarely use this approach to study literary text. In the other hand, in western world, theory of archetype has been playing a very significant role in producing many literature works including Star Wars and Harry Potter series, since many fantasy literatures are built based on theory archetypal pattern as the backbone of the plot.
The writer of this thesis would like to present an attempt to maintain knowledge on archetypal theory by applying it within research on literature text. The writer hopes that the thesis can somehow provide contribution as a source for future attempts to study archetypal theory or to use archetypal theory as an approach of research.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How is the plot described in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings?
2. How is the archetypal pattern reflected within Frodo’s journey?
C. Objectives of the Study
The first objective is to see how the plot is developed. In this case, the writer will give the stages of the plot development. After revealing the plot development, the writer would like to find out how does archetypal pattern reflected within the plot. 4
The finding of the archetypal pattern within the plot, will be used as the basis to see the significance of the archetypal pattern reflected within the plot of Tolkien’s The
Lord of the Rings.
D. Definition of Terms
The key words that needs to be clarified is archetypal. According to A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (Guerin et al, 1999:160), archetypes are similar motifs, themes, or certain images that recur in many different mythologies. Although the archetype might take form in specific shapes and wrapped in different culture, similar sense and pattern can be found.
From the same source as mentioned above, archetype can be found in form of image and pattern or motif (Guerin et al, 1999:160-166). Archetypal image is image recur in many different mythology such as the trickster image or joker in Monkey
King (Chinese legend) and Kancil, and mother-earth figure that can be found within many goddess in many cultures such as Kwan-In in Chinese mythology, Dewi Sri in
Indonesian mythology and Gaia in western mythology. In the other hand, archetypal pattern or motif is the pattern recurs in many different mythologies such as in
Oedipus Rex and Sangkuriang, which both tells a story about a son, who killed his father and married his mother, or a story about nasty stepmother that can be found in
Bawang Merah – Bawang Putih as well as in Cinderella. This research is more related to archetypal pattern because the research studies the archetypal pattern reflected within the plot. 5
CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
In order to analyze the problem that has been formulated by the writer, it is also important to include some other review of previous studies on the work by other researchers or writers. This could be used to help the writer to develop the thesis and to show that the thesis is different from other previous studies done to Tolkien’s The
Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The related study being reviewed to help the writer develop the thesis and clarify the position of the study is written by Patrick Grant, a specialist in
Renaissance literature, who teaches English at the University of Victoria, British
Columbia. The essay is published in http://www.cgjungpage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35&Ite mid=40, (accessed on February 28, 2009) and the title of the essay is Tolkien:
Archetype and word. Patrick Grant believes that “the group of friends to whom
Tolkien first read The Lord of the Rings, the so-called Inklings, found Jung temperamentally attractive”. Therefore, the essay that written by Patrick Grant “has been centrally concerned with the analogy between Tolkien and Jung, but it is not simply an "archetypal" assessment of The Lord of the Rings” since the essay is also discussed about the language and the individuation process reflected in the novel.
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In the website mentioned above, Patrick Grant mentions that “The Lord of the
Rings can be read, with surprising consistency, as an interior journey through the psyche as Jung describes it”. Thus, the first section of the essay describes the characters in The Lord of the Rings that correspond to Jungian archetypal symbol such as Tom Bombadil as “king of the forest, who is associated with wood and water in a manner”.
During the next few paragraphs, Grant describes several theories by Jung. He said that The Lord of the Rings corresponds to a psychic process called
“individuation”, which basically means the "realization of a whole man achieved in a balanced and fulfilled life when consciousness and the unconscious, are linked together in a living relation." Furthermore, Grant describes other archetypal images that are often revealed through dream or literature works such as shadow (“the elements which a person represses as incompatible with his chosen ideal”), anima or animus (the feminine side of a man's unconscious, and the masculine side of a woman's”), hero (someone who went through an adventure or a quest), and wise old man archetype (a figure who helps the hero during difficult situation).
Grant described that Frodo is the hero in the novel since he was the one going through the adventure, which represent individuation process. Other heroic figure in the novel is Aragorn, the “king in exile, preserver of a noble lineage, who passes through the paths of the dead, fights a crucial turn in the epic battle, and proclaims a new dispensation”. Grant also stated that there is always opposite site or the shadow for each archetype. Frodo’s shadow is Gollum, a hobbit who was fallen into the 7
power of the Ring. Moreover,” the negative counterparts of the heroes, are the Black
Riders” and the loss of self of the Black Riders “is indicated by the fact that the black riders have no faces”.
Galadriel is the major anima in the novel, who had positive and negative side within herself that she managed to repress when Frodo showed her the Ring. “Shelob the spider-woman is the destructive anima who often poisons to kill” as the opposite site of Galadriel. Other anima figure is Arwen, and the marriage between Arwen and
Aragorn represent “a divine pair” or “the ideal union of anima and animus”. In the other hand, Éowyn is the victim of her own negative animus, which then healed by
Faramir
Gandalf is the wise old man, especially appears when the hero is in trouble.
As the white old man, Gandalf provided the hero with magical talisman, which is the
One Ring itself. Just like other archetype, the wise old man also had a wicked aspect too, in this case is represented by Saruman, the wicked magician. According to Grant,
“Sarumans multi-colors, like the facelessness of the riders, indicates a dissolution of identity” or the self.
All of the archetypes within the characters of The Lord of the Rings are presented in such a way through the plot providing the reader with the experience of individuation while reading the novel. According to Grant, in the end, the most effective mediator between the ordinary reader and world of Middle-earth is “the character who is in the end closest to ourselves and who also must return to ordinary life, is Sam Gamgee”. Therefore, by all of the aforementioned explanation, Grant 8
believes that “the trilogy seems to fully correspond to the Jungian classification”, in which the character of Sam Gamgee is employed to reflect the reader in the novel.
In relation with myth, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_lord_of_the_rings, it is a common knowledge that
Tolkien’s work represents his attempt to write myth for England. Along with C. S.
Lewis, Tolkien believed that England does not have any myth of its own, thus they had to create it themselves. This effort turned out to be a great success, since the masterpiece still being people’s favourite even half century after its first publication proven by its achievement as "Nation's Best-loved Book" in BBC polling that conducted via the Web, SMS and telephone in 2003. The same website also suggest that in its early publication, Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings received positive reviews from several mass media such as Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, New York Herald
Tribune. Moreover, in 1957, the book achieved “International Fantasy Award” as the best fantasy literature ever published.
Based on the assessment mentioned above, the writer of this thesis believes there are more things that connect Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings with myth of
England. After reviewing an essay proving that there are many Jungian archetypal images within the characters in the novel, the writer of this thesis wants to analyze the archetypal patterns within the plot based on a theory from a well-known anthropologist, Joseph Campbell, and to see the significance of the archetypal pattern within the plot of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. 9
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Plot
According to Robert Stanton in his book, An Introduction to Fiction, plot of a story is the entire sequence of events in the story. It is a chain of action formed by cause or result of the previous event. “These events may include not only physical occurrences, like a speech or action, but also a character’s change of attitude, a flash of insight, a decision – anything that alters the course of affairs.” In other words, plot is an important element, because it gives many information that are having a close relationship to one another about the novel itself and it cannot be omitted.
Furthermore, according to Stanton, the plot is the backbone of a story and has its own laws: “It must have a true beginning, middle, and end; it must be plausible and logical, and yet it should occasionally surprise us; it must arouse and satisfy suspense.” Means that plot is a self-evident element and to understand the story further, we should have all the information about the events, the links of cause and effects about the story itself (1965:14-15).
In terms of dividing the plot of a story into five elements representing five stages of the plot, the writer of this thesis used a theory from Pickering and Hoeper as illustrated below, a. Exposition
It is the beginning of the stage in which the author provides the necessary background information, sets the scene. It gives description about the situation and 10
the time when the action takes place. It may also introduce the characters and the conflict or the potential conflict. b. Complication
It is the rising action, breaks the existing equilibrium and introduces the characters and the underlying or inciting conflict. It is place for conflict to be developed gradually and intensified. c. Crisis
It is the climax. It is a moment at which the plot reaches its point of greatest emotional intensity; it is the turning point of the plot that may lead to its resolution. d. Falling action
It is reflected as the tension subsides once the crisis has been reached and the plot moves toward its appointed conclusion. e. Resolution
It is the final stage of the plot. It records the outcome of the conflict and establishes some new equilibrium or stability. The resolution is also referred to as the conclusion or denouement (1986: 21-22).
The entire plot elements mentioned above are revolve around the conflict of the story as mentioned by Hogins that conflict is “the element of the plot around which all other elements revolve” (Hogins, 1975: 941). Moreover, Betty in her book, The
Norton Introduction to Literature, added that conflict can be “a clash between characters, between a character and his environment, within himself, a clash of forces 11
in the universe, even a struggle for meaning on the part of the reader” (Betty, 1973:
604).
2. Theory of Archetypal Pattern
Based on a research on hundreds of tales and myths from all across the world, Campbell found an underlying pattern for all the hero’s journeys within the myths and tales. He described his founding within a theory, which he named Monomyth as illustrated briefly in the following quotation, The standard path of the mythological adventure of the hero is a magnification of the formula represented in the rites of passage: separation-initiation-return: which might be named the nuclear unit of the Monomyth. A hero ventures forth from the world of the common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man. (Campbell, 1948: 30) Theory of archetypal pattern applied as a tool in this research is Monomyth theory from a well-known American mythology professor Joseph Campbell in his book The
Hero with a Thousand Faces. This theory is regarded as one of the best because it is based on a very comprehensive research over hundreds of myth that spread all across the world. In his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell compiled his findings within 3 main chapters, which are Prologue, Part One: The Adventure of the Hero, and Part Two: The Cosmogonic Cycle. The theory that is relevant to support this research is on the second chapters of the book, which is about the journey of the hero as described within the next paragraphs.
“Part One: The Adventure of the Hero” is about theory of the fundamental pattern of a hero’s journey that applied to all myths, which also known as Monomyth. Three 12
chapters from Part One describes the three stages of the hero’s journey, which consists of departure, initiation, and return as illustrated below. a. Departure
This stage represent the phase of myth when the hero was about to depart to journey to achieve his quest. The phase begun as the hero receives or hears the call to adventure until the hero completely leaves the place where he originally came from. i. The call to adventure
The call to adventure represents a situation in myth that encourages the hero to start his adventure. The call could be in form of threat towards his society, so that the hero should do his quest to the land unknown to him (Campbell, 1949: 58). ii. Refusal of the call
Somehow the adventure can happen because the hero’s refusal to obey someone’s suggestion or he has the manner against the trait in his society. One of the examples given by Campbell is in the tale of Sidharta, in which he wanted to retire from life and become Buddha against his father, who provided him with many concubines
(Campbell, 1949: 68). iii. Supernatural aid
Supernatural aid represents the existent of a protective figure, usually in form of old man, who gave the hero many advises, amulet and even power that he needs to achieve his quest. One of the most famous examples of protective figures within fairy tale is Merlin in Arthur tale (Campbell, 1949: 69). Moreover, a more modern version of protective figure could be Dumbledore from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. 13
iv. The Crossing of the First Threshold
The first threshold means the border between the land familiar and the land unknown to the hero. He must cross this border and continue exploring the land unknown to him. Usually the border is guard by the threshold guardian that should not be challenged by anyone (Campbell, 1949: 82). v. The Belly of the Whale
In this stage, the hero appeared death to his society. Campbell took examples from the tale of Joseph in the well or Jonah in the belly of the whale (Campbell,
1949: 92). Thus based on the example, later the hero would be back to his society bringing victory from the adventure he already accomplished. b. Initiation
The second or the core stage is initiation, which often regarded as the whole point of the myth because this part illustrate the adventure of the hero in order to achieve his quest whether it is winning a war or accomplishing certain task to bring goodness to his community. In this stage, the hero undergoes a series of adventure with various challenges until he accomplished his quest or the task given to him. This stage is consisted of six sub-stages as illustrated in the following paragraphs. i. The Road of Trials
The road of trials is the stage whereas the hero must undergo a set of problems or multiply tasks in his way to achieve his quest. Usually the hero is able to conquer every challenge by the help of magic or following suggestion from a protective figure
(Campbell, 1949: 97). 14
ii. The Meeting with the Goddess
In this stage, the hero met a mother-like figure or a universal mother or a Goddess and a unity happen between them. A mother represent provider of the knowledge, while the hero represent the one who will get the knowledge. In this phase, a mother or goddess figure is united with the hero that lead to development and enrichment of each soul (Campbell, 1949: 113-116). iii. Woman as the Temptress
An irresistible woman figure is presented as a temptress for the hero. This sometimes seemed as if it was one of the trials. The hero’s success can be noticed from his rejection towards this woman figure (Campbell, 1949: 123-126). iv. Atonement with the Father
The hero achieved understanding with a father-like or authority figure, in order to understand himself as well as this figure the hero develop and enrich his soul
(Campbell, 1949: 133-136). v. Apotheosis
The hero’s perception upon reality changed. In this stage, he usually attained new power, or can see things in larger point of view. The hero accept his destiny and usually started by a willingness to sacrifice himself (Campbell, 1949: 149-151). vi. The Ultimate Boon
The hero now obtained his quest for his and his society benefit. This is the point when the adventure is accomplished and the turning point for the hero and the society around him (Campbell, 1949: 173). 15
c. Return
Return is the hero’s journey to come back to his home after he accomplished the quest throughout the long journey described in the initiation phase. This is the part where the end of the myth is concluded. This stage is consisted of six sub-stages as illustrated in the following paragraphs. i. Refusal of the Return
The hero might enjoy the life in other world and refused to go home. Usually, the world the hero desires is the world of eternal life like the Atlantis or something like paradise. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell said “Numerous indeed are the heroes fabled to have taken up residence forever in the blessed isle of the unaging
Goddess of Immortal Being” (Campbell, 1949: 193). ii. The Magic Flight
As the hero journeyed home, a chase or pursuit from opposition might happen as written by Campbell “This flight may be complicated by marvels of magical obstruction and evasion” (Campbell, 1949: 197). iii. Rescue from Without
The hero is attacked or successfully blocked, and he needs support from ordinary world. One of the most famous examples is “in the tale of Red Ridinghood, who was eaten by the wolf but rescued from its belly by the hunter” (Campbell, 1949: 211). iv. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
The hero arrived at home and went through common and ordinary days. In this phase, the adventure is completely over, thus the hero went back home, rejoin to his 16
family and friends, and attending normal daily activities as he had before left for the adventure (Campbell, 1949: 217-224). v. Master of the Two Worlds
The hero was not the same person anymore since he had new understanding or skill both from divine and human worlds from his experience accomplishing his quest. The hero attained knowledge or skill beyond nature of mankind. To illustrate the form of hero as the master of the two worlds, Campbell provided the example of
Khrisna and Jesus, in which both figures were master of human and divine universe since they were human as well as God (Campbell, 1949: 229-237). vi. Freedom to Live
This is the moment when the kingdom is restored and the world where the hero lives is set back into balance. In this phase, the hero often passed his experience and properties he gained during his adventure to his friend or as a contribution to his kingdom. The famous example of this phase was in the prince and princess story, when the prince brought back the princess to the castle in her kingdom (Campbell,
1949: 243).
C. Theoretical Framework
There are two kinds of theories being applied in this research, which consists of theory of plot and archetypal pattern. Both theory of plot and theory of archetypal pattern provided tools for the writer of this thesis to study the novel. 17
Since the topic of this study is about the plot of the story, the writer of the thesis should analyze the plot of the story based on theory of plot. Moreover, the theory of plot is used to answer the problem formulation number one about the plot of the story. The outcome from studying the story based on theory of plot is the analysis of plot of the story from the beginning until the end. The analysis of the plot is important in this thesis to provide the basis before finding the archetypal pattern within the plot.
Finally, from the outcome of plot analysis, the writer of this thesis analyzed the archetypal pattern within the plot. Thus, theory of archetypal pattern becomes the tool for the writer to answer problem formulation number two to produce analysis about the archetypal pattern within the plot of the story. 18
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The novel was usually published in three parts, yet it consists of six books, prologue, and appendices. George Allen and Unwin is the first publishing company, which published the first and the second series, The Fellowship of the Ring (prologue, book
I and book II) and The Two Towers (book III and book IV) in London, in 1954. The same publisher published the third book, The Return of the King (book V, book VI, and appendices) in 1955.
The edition used in this study is the film tie–in edition 2001, which was published by Harper Collin Publisher in London. The book, which covered all the story, consist of 1160 pages; 1137 pages contain the story from the whole six books of The Lord of the Rings, prologue, appendices, and indexes; while the remaining pages contain the map and the editor’s and author’s personal comment. Each book consists of some chapters ranging from nine to twelve, and each chapter consists of around 20 pages.
The prologue, which gives some background of the story, consists of 15 pages. The appendices consist of 98 pages divided into six parts, which tells about annals of the kings and rulers, chronology of the lands, family trees, calendars, writing and spelling, and languages spoken by different races.
18 19
In 2003, Big Read survey which conducted by the BBC awarded The Lord of the
Rings the Nation’s Best-loved Book (taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/, accessed June 2009). In 1999 poll of www.amazon.com customers judged the Lord of the Rings to be their favourite book of the millennium (based on http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/802-
The_Lord_Of_The_Rings_best_foreign_book.php, accessed June 2009). In 1998,
New Line Cinema accept Peter Jackson’s proposal to make an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, and this time it was not an animated or cartoon version. The most sophisticated technology and the best actress and actors were brought into play. The movie was made in three series; The Fellowship of the Ring was released on
December 19, 2001; The Two Towers was released on December 18, 2002; and The
Return of the King was released on December 17, 2003. Based on http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_Oscars_did_the_Lord_of_the_Rings_trilogy_ win (accessed June 2009), the movies were a huge success as they won 17 Oscars, four for The Fellowship of the Ring, two for The Two Towers, and 11 for The Return of the King.
Generally, The Lord of the Rings is about conflict between good versus evil. The story begin as Gandalf, an old wizard, found out that the ring that belong to his hobbit best friend, Bilbo Baggins, is the One Ring. That ring had an enormous power that it could be used by the enemy led by Sauron, whose desire is to become the most powerful ruler, to destroy Middle Earth. To stop this, the only way is to destroy the
One Ring by throwing it to the cauldron of Mount Doom, which became the task of 20
Frodo Baggins. Through various happening and fantastic adventure during the journey from Hobbiton to Mount Doom, the One Ring was destroyed and the kingdom and goodness was restored.
B. Approach of the Study
Structuralism first emerged in French on 1950s pioneered by Claude Lévi-Strauss and Roland Barthes. It emerged from “the belief that things cannot be understood in isolation - they have to be seen in the context of larger structures they are part of”
(Barry, 1995:39). In its development, structuralism applied to study many fields including anthropology, linguistic, and literature.
In terms of study of mythology, the writer of this thesis sees that the position of study of mythology is between anthropology, psychology and literature study. It is part of the study of anthropology because mythology is artefact that is part of culture.
It is part of the study of psychology because the cultural artefact itself is product of mind. Moreover, it is part of literature study because the culture is expressed through literature or narration (especially after the written form exists).
Besides applying structuralism in linguistic research, researcher like Lévi-Strauss continue to apply structuralism in mythology and cultural study, in which they tried to find the larger structure or universal structure that comprehend most myth in society. In researching on mythology, many researchers including Lévi-Strauss believed in the basic assumption that it is not a coincidence that many myths exist within culture geographically separated very far away have many similarities on 21
pattern especially on its characterization and plot (Ahimsa-Putra, 2006:83). From this basis assumption, structuralism on mythology developed into many branches including archetypal and narratology. In archetypal study, researchers, like psychologist C. G. Jung and anthropologist James G. Frazer, try to reveal the universal symbol presented in many mythologies. The archetypal study also divided into two branch, some researcher especially psychologist like C. G. Jung are interested in revealing and explaining why and how the universal pattern existed, while anthropologist like Frazer are more interested in revealing and mapping the archetypal images.
The archetypal image exists within myth or story can be in form of pattern or symbol. Symbol usually can be found within the character, setting or object within the story. In the other hand, archetypal pattern usually found within the narrative or the plot. The study of the archetypal pattern can be related to narratology, which in fact, is an attempt to find universal narration applied in literary works. A narratologist would “look at individual narratives seeking out the recurrent structures which they are found within all narratives” (Barry, 1995:241). In this light, theory of archetypal pattern becomes a tool to study the individual narrative.
In relation with the thesis, the topic to be analyzed in this thesis is the significance of plot in relation to the archetypal pattern within the story. The approach applied is structuralism as stated in Barry’s Beginning Theory that the essence of structuralism is “…the believe that things cannot be understood in isolation – they have to be seen in the context of the larger structures they are part of” (Barry, 2002:39). The writer of 22
this thesis also believes that in order to understand the significance of the plot, the writer must analyze the structure inside the story (the plot) using theory of archetypal, which produced from analyzing the corpus between hundreds of myths and tales all across the world.
Moreover, Peter Barry also described in the book that a structuralist would try to find “a network of intertextual connections”, “a projected model of an underlying universal narrative structure”, and “the convention of a particular literary genre”
(Barry, 2002:49). In analyzing J.R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the writer of this thesis applied structuralism approach to analyze the plot and the archetypal pattern within the plot. In analyzing the plot, the writer of this thesis tried to analyze the plot by comparing with a universal narrative model by using Monomyth theory from Joseph Campbell.
C. Method of the Study
A library research was applied in conducting this study. The sources used are primary and secondary sources. The primary source was J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The secondary sources was several theories and criticisms taken from books and internet.
The first step conducted is to read J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.After that, the writer chose the most interesting topic to be discussed from the book, and decided that the plot is the most interesting topic since it might significantly carry archetypal pattern. The third step is to analyze the plot by using theory of plot, in 23
which the writer divides the story into five stages based on the theory of plot. Finally, the writer tries to describe the archetypal pattern reflected within the plot and analyzed the significance the archetypal pattern within the plot of the novel. In doing this, the writer uses theory of archetypal pattern to see if the same pattern applied within the hero’s journey in the plot of the story. 24
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter describes about the analysis and the explanation to answer the problem formulation. It is divided into three sections. At the first section, the writer of this thesis will illustrate the plot analysis of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
Meanwhile, at the second section, the writer will illustrate the archetypal pattern within the plot that is explained within the first section. At the third section, the writer of this thesis would like to describe the significance of the archetypal pattern within the plot of the story.
A. The Plot of the Story
In this section, the theory of plot discussed in Chapter 2 will be used as the tool to analyze the plot in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. According to the theory, a plot in a story consists of five elements; those are exposition, complication, climax, failing action and resolution. Therefore, this section is divided into five sub-sections accordingly. The five elements would revolve around the conflict, which in this case the One Ring.
1. Exposition
Exposition is the introductory part of the plot to lay out the background of the story. As previously mentioned in chapter 2, it is the part of the story where the author introduces the character, setting and the potential conflict. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s
24 25
The Lord of the Rings, the author introduce the story in a fictional village namely
Hobbiton of The Shire. This village was a peaceful village, where fictional creature namely hobbit lived mostly by farming and gardening. The Shire was also part of a fictional area namely Middle Earth. The very first hint that particular conflict would rise was the finding of the long lost magic ring, One Ring, in the possession of a hobbit namely Bilbo Baggins. Along with it the main characters, Frodo Baggins, and other major characters such as Gandalf the wizard and other hobbit characters such as
Sam Gamgee, Perregrin Took (Pippin) and Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) were introduced. They are the most influential characters throughout the story because those characters play significant role to develop the story that will be explained more while the explanation on plot developed.
The One Ring came up publicly when Bilbo decided to display the power of the magic Ring during his speech in his 111th birthday. He suddenly put on the ring on his finger making him disappeared. Described in the novel that Bilbo gave speech during which he said goodbye, and suddenly “He stepped down and vanished. There was a blinding flash of light, and the guests all blinked. When they opened their eyes
Bilbo was nowhere to be seen. One hundred and forty-four flabbergasted hobbits sat back speechless.” (The Lord of the Rings: 30).
Gandalf the wizard, who was present in his best friend birthday, happened to recognize the ring as the lost evil ring that caused a great war many years ago. As soon as Gandalf witness the strangeness that happened to Bilbo, he came to Bilbo to 26
make sure that Bilbo would hand down the ring to his nephew, whom he adopted as son, Frodo Baggins, before he left.
The One Ring can be recognized by the Elvish letter encrypted upon the Ring, which said
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. (The Lord of the Rings: 49)
One Ring was said to have the power to make people disappear as soon as he or she wore that just like what it did to Bilbo when he wore the Ring. Other than that, the ring also had the power to manipulate people to do evil things and obeyed only to the ring maker, Sauron. This power started to work on Bilbo and Frodo, who were both reluctant to surrender the Ring to other. While Frodo gave a loud cry when Gandalf threw the Ring into the fire, Bilbo responded to Gandalf’s suggestion to leave the
Ring for Frodo by saying “It is mine, I tell you. My own. My precious. Yes, my precious. … I won’t give my precious away, I tell you.” (The Lord of the Rings: 33).
Frodo came home to find out that Bilbo had left and he inherited the ring. After
Gandalf explained about the power of the ring and that the ring bearer might carry a huge burden, Frodo refused to accept the Ring and offered it to Gandalf, who refused it at once because Gandalf knew that the ring might manipulate Gandalf and use his wizard power to accomplish evil thing. The quotation below illustrates the debate between Frodo and Gandalf over who should be the Ring bearer,
‘But I have so little of any of these things! You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?’ 27
‘No!’ cried Gandalf, springing to his feet. ‘With that power I should have power too great and terrible. And over me the Ring would gain a power still greater and more deadly.’ His eyes flashed and his face was lit as by a fire within. ‘Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength. I shall have such need of it. Great perils lie before me.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 60)
Gandalf suggested that Frodo should leave the Shire secretly to Rivendell, the closest Elven kingdom. He said to Frodo,
...you are leaving the Shire – and that should not be known, until you are far away. And you must go, or at least set out ... the direction should certainly not be known. If you want my advice, make for Rivendell. That journey should not prove too perilous, though the Road is less easy than it was, and it will grow worse as the year fails. (The Lord of the Rings: 64-65).
Following Gandalf’s suggestion, Frodo sold Bag End, the house that he used to inherit from Bilbo. He moved to Crickhollow in Buckland the neighbouring village.
His best-friends helped him to move out. While Merry and Fatty Bolger carried his luggage and furniture to the new house by cart, Pippin and Sam departed the next day along with Frodo on foot. The plot developed to the next stage as Frodo left the Shire.
2. Complication
As soon as the adventurer hobbits walked out of Hobbiton, the conflict was more recognized and it was intensified as the travellers begin the journey. Moreover, the closer they were to Mount Doom, the mountain which cauldron was hot enough to destroy the Ring, the more the conflict was intensified. The intensified conflict is reflected as the quest to destroy the One Ring begun and many obstacles were 28
presented throughout the journey. This part of the plot is called complication. This is the longest part of the plot since it describes the long and adventurous journey to destroy the One Ring, which in the book it was stretched throughout not less than 52 chapters. Moreover, since the novel is about adventure, the complication stage of the story mostly illustrated in form of the various obstacles in form of monster attack, difficult journey, duel or war, etc.
The first obstacle came to Gandalf as he left Frodo in Hobbiton and went to his superior, Saruman, to find more information about One Ring. Turns out, Saruman had been manipulated by the dark power that he got from watching dark object named
Palantìr, a kind of crystal ball. Saruman opposed Gandalf’s idea to destroy One Ring, and instead he persuaded Gandalf to join him to rule Middle Earth with the power of the One Ring. As Gandalf declined, Saruman said “I did not expect you to show wisdom, even in your own behalf; but I gave you the chance of aiding me willingly, and so saving yourself much trouble and pain. The third choice is to stay here, until the end” (The Lord of the Rings: 253). Then Saruman kept him hostage at the top of his tower, Orthanc.
In the Shire, the three hobbits that were on the journey from Hobbiton to
Buckland were not exactly having a good time either. Hobbit barely travel anywhere, this was not an easy journey at all for Frodo, Pippin and Sam. After going through the first night of camping outside, Frodo woke up complaining in his head, “Walking for pleasure! Why didn’t I drive! ... And all my beautiful feather beds are sold to 29
Sackville-Bagginses! These tree-roots would do them good.” (The Lord of the Rings:
71).
The journey was getting more difficult for the hobbits as a company of
Ringwraiths, who deceit themselves as Black Riders, pursued them all the way from home to the border of the Shire. The Nine Ringwraiths were the nine Servants of the
Lord of the Rings (Sauron). They were the possessor of the Nine Rings that Sauron had given to Men. Presented as Black Riders, they all wore black outfit and their horses were also black. The Black Riders were pursuing Frodo because they wanted to take the One Ring that Frodo carried. Once when one of the Black Rider was very closed to Frodo, who were hiding with Sam and Pippin, a weird feeling of sudden desire to put on the Ring came into Frodo as illustrated by the following quotation,
A sudden unreasoning fear of discovery laid hold of Frodo, and he thought of his Ring. He hardly dared to breathe, and yet the desire to get it out of his pocket became so strong that he began slowly to move his hand. He felt that he had only to slip it on, and then he would safe. The advice from Gandalf seemed absurd. (The Lord of the Rings: 73-74)
As the Frodo, Sam and Pippin arrived at the border of Shire, they passed through
Farmer Maggot farm. Farmer Maggot had a wide farm at the border of the Shire and three big dogs ready to attack anyone at his command. As they met, Farmer Maggot informed Frodo that Black Rider came to his farm to look for Frodo a few hours before, and he would provide gold in exchange for information about Frodo.
However, Farmer Maggot did not provide the information and willing to protect
Frodo instead by sheltering the hobbits for a few hours and taking them in his 30
carriage to the river to ensure their safety before they took the ferry to cross the river that bordered the Shire. He said,
‘...It’s near sundown already, and we are going to have our supper; for we mostly go to bed soon after the Sun. If you and Mr. Peregrin and all could stay and have a bite with us, we would be pleased!’ ‘... after a bit of supper; I’ll get out a small waggon, and I’ll drive you all to the Ferry. That will save you a good step, and it might also save you trouble of another sort.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 93)
Arrived in Frodo’s house in Buckland village, Sam, Merry and Pippin made a confession that they had been spying on Frodo and knew Frodo’s plan to journeyed
West although Frodo had been keeping it as secret. The loyal best friends also revealed their intention to go with Frodo. At first, Frodo rejected to the idea, but they managed to convince him that he would need some friends to go with him as Merry said in the following quotation
‘You must go – and therefore we must, too. Merry and I are coming with you. Sam is an excellent fellow, and would jump down a dragon’s throat to save you, if he did not trip over his own feet; but you will need more than one companion in your dangerous adventure.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 102)
Soon after that, the hobbits left Frodo’s house and went into Old forest, a forest as well-known for people that was going in it would never come back. Thus, soon after the hobbits left, a rumour spread throughout the Shire that the four hobbits were lost in Old Forest and died. A year later when Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin came back home a gate keeper was so surprised to see him and said “Bless me! It’s Master
Merry ... Why, they all said you was dead! Lost in the Old Forest by all accounts. I’m pleased to see you alive after all!” 31
What people said about Old Forest was not completely wrong, especially related to the weird experience that the hobbits went through. Although they finally escaped the Black Riders, they met another problem when they were resting around an old Willow tree. Turns out, the Willow tree is not just another tree. Instead, it the tree possessed a kind of magical power and seemed to be more life than regular tree because somehow the Willow tree could hypnotize Frodo and trapped Merry and
Pippin under the bough as explain in the following quotation,
Frodo was in the water close to the edge, and a great tree root seemed to be over him and holding him down, but he was not struggling. ... Pippin had vanished. The crack by which he had laid himself had closed together, so that not a chink could be seen. Merry was trapped: another crack had closed about his waist; his legs lay outside, but the rest of him was inside a dark opening, the edges of which gripped like a pair of pincers. (The Lord of the Rings: 115) Sam panicked and grabbed Frodo by his jacket, and dragged him out of the water.
Soon Frodo came to consciousness and both of them to the tree and beat upon the tree trunk that swallowed Pippin and Merry. Fortunately, there was a little man wearing bright colours outfit namely Tom Bombadil came by and helped them. “Tom put his mouth to the crack and began singing into it in a low voice” (The Lord of the Rings:
118). Soon after that, Merry was out of the tree and “There was a tearing creak and the other crack split open, and out of it Pippin sprang, as if he had been kicked.” (The
Lord of the Rings: 118).
Tom and his beautiful wife, Goldberry daughter of River, sheltered the hobbits in his house for a couple nights. In his house, they exchange stories and information.
The hobbits found out that Tom was a very powerful man. Goldberry said that Tom 32
“...is the Master of wood, water, and hill” (The Lord of the Rings: 122). Moreover, he was the only person who was not influence by the power of One Ring. The Ring did not make him disappear as illustrated by following quotation “Then Tom put the Ring round the end of his little finger and held it up to the candlelight. For a moment the hobbits noticed nothing strange about this. Then they gasped. There was no sign of
Tom disappearing!” (The Lord of the Rings: 130). Moreover, he could see people while they were wearing the Ring, although they supposed to disappear while wearing the Ring. The quotation below illustrates how Tom was able to see Frodo while Frodo was wearing the Ring,
...he slipped the Ring on...Merry was staring blankly at his chair, and obviously could not see him. He got up and crept quietly away from the fireside towards the outer door. ‘Hey there!’ cried Tom, glancing towards him with a most seeing look in his shining eyes. ‘Hey! Come Frodo, there! Where be you a-going? Old Tom Bombadil’s not as blind as that yet. Take off your golden ring! Your hand’s more fair without it. Come back! Leave your game and sit down beside me! (The Lord of the Rings: 131)
And unlike any other people, Tom did not have the lust to own the ring no matter how long he stared at it. He returned the Ring to Frodo willingly, after observing it for a while.
When the hobbits left Tom’s house, Tom taught the hobbits a tune to call him whenever they were in danger and needed protection. The tune went as follows,
Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo! By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow, By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us! Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us! (The Lord of the Rings: 131) 33
The tune was useful when the hobbits were captured by an evil spirit namely Barrow
Wights, who dwelled in a place named Barrow Downs. Again, Tom Bombadil came to rescue them and this time he decided to walk to the hobbits until the border of his kingdom.
Finally, the hobbits arrived in Bree and they directly headed to an inn called
Prancing Pony as appointed by Gandalf. Amusing people with his joke at the bar, somehow Pippin was carried away by the attention while they actually need to stay covered. Trying to make distraction, Frodo went singing in front of many people who offered him more drinks, and that was when One Ring slipped to Frodo’s hand as he fell down and made him disappear. Tolkien describes in the novel that the way the
Ring accidentally slipped into Frodo’s finger is very weird as describes by the following quotation, “How it came to be on his finger he could not tell. He could only suppose that he had been handling it in his pocket while he sang, and that somehow it had slipped on when he stuck out his hand with a jerk to save his fall.” (The Lord of the Rings: 157)
The evidence of a hobbit that suddenly popped-off in the bar had created great attention to all people present at the bar, including a traveller named Aragorn the
Strider. A few minutes later, he came to Frodo offering himself to accompany the hobbits. As the hobbits did not seem impressed with his creepy appearance, they rejected the offer until Frodo read a note from Gandalf passed by Mr. Butterbur, the innkeeper. Gandalf said in the note, “You may meet a friend of mine on the Road: a
Man, lean, dark, tall, by some called Strider. He knows our business and will help 34
you. Make for Rivendell. There I hope we may meet again.”(The Lord of the Rings:
166). Then Frodo decided to trust Aragorn to be his guidance to Rivendell.
The journey did not seem easier even that now they went with Aragorn. All they did every single day was walking and the Black Riders were still chasing them. One night when they camped in Amon Sûl (a watch tower on top of a hill named
Weathertop), five Black Riders came and attacked them as describes in the following quotation,
There were five tall figures: two standing on the lip of the dell, three advancing. In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their mantles were long grey robes; upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands were swords of steel. Their eyes fell on him and pierced him, as they rushed towards him. (The Lord of the Rings: 191) The Chief of the Black Riders stabbed Frodo with the morgul knife, a poisonous witch’s sword belong to the Witch King, a few second before Aragorn managed to drive them away. The rest of the journey to Rivendell was all about running in a hurry both because they needed to arrive in Rivendell in time to heal Frodo and because the Black Riders were still pursuing them.
As they arrived in Rivendell, Elrond the elves king healed Frodo’s wound by his power. When Frodo woke up he met not only his travelling friends, but also Gandalf, who was managed to escape from Saruman by the help from Gwaihir the eagle, and
Bilbo, who had been staying in Rivendell for years since he left the Shire in his 111th birthday. 35
A few days after they arrived there, a meeting called the Council of Elrond was held. The meeting invites representatives from all creatures such as hobbit, men, dwarf and elf, also all people who knew the history of One Ring since it was created until now. The meeting was led by Elrond who was also the host. At first, the meeting discussed the history of the One Ring since it was secretly created by Sauron to fulfil his desire to conquer Middle Earth. It was continued to discuss what to do with the
One Ring knowing that its existence might lead to a huge war because Sauron, and his followers would try to take over it before using its power to conquer Middle
Earth. Sauron himself was dead during the first War of the Ring, but his spirit still lived on Middle Earth. He was getting stronger and he could take shape as soon as he got One Ring.
After some debate, it was decided that the ring should be destroyed in Mount
Doom, the place where it was created. The biggest problem was to appoint the ring- bearer especially since the ring had an enormous power to manipulate people to reveal their dark side. However, suddenly Frodo came forward and said “I will take the Ring ... though I do not know the way.” (The Lord of the Rings: 264). Although many people were surprised to hear that, it was settled that it would be Frodo’s quest to bear the One Ring and destroyed by throwing it to the cauldron of Mount Doom.
The decision made during the Council of Elrond marked a significant development on the conflict of the story since particular action was decided to be done towards the conflict of the story, which in this case is the One Ring. 36
An offer was given for anyone who wanted to go with Frodo the Ring-bearer to
East. Elrond suggested, “The Company of the Ring shall be Nine; and the Nine
Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil.” (The Lord of the Rings:
268). Frodo’s hobbit best friends, Sam, Merry and Pippin, were the first among everyone to offer themselves to go with Frodo. The rest five people were representative from each race, Legolas the wood-elf would be representing Elves,
Aragorn and Boromir would be representing man, Gimli the dwarf would be representing Dwarves, and Gandalf the wizard would also join the journey.
Knowing that Frodo certainly was going to set out for a long journey just like
Bilbo did when he was at Frodo’s age, Bilbo tried to support Frodo by giving him advices and tools that might be useful throughout the journey. It seems like the father and son reunited and supporting each other again after being separated for so long.
Bilbo gave Frodo a mithril-coat, which is a coat made from mithril, the finest silver that worth more than gold in Middle Earth. He also gave Frodo an elven sword named Sting. The sword used to save Bilbo’s life during many adventures at his younger age. It could glow whenever Orc, evil creature allied to Sauron, was nearby.
Finally, the Company of the Ring departed from the house of Elrond to east. They should pass Misty Mountains. They can go through either the peak of the mountain known as Caradhras or a mining kingdom under the mountain known as Moria. The peak of the mountain was preferred at the beginning because it was considered that the kingdom under the mountain was an unknown area and some evil creatures might be dwelled in there. However, the Company of the Ring was beaten down by a 37
massive snowstorm during their journey to the peak of the mountain. After a debate during the night, they decided to retreat and go through Moria instead as written in the book, “Caradhras had defeated them” (The Lord of the Rings: 286).
Turnout, going through Moria was not a pleasant choice either. As they arrived at the gate of the kingdom, it was closed and locked by secret password. When they finally figured out what the password was, water monster suddenly sprung its tentacles from a lake in front of the gate as described in the book “Out from the water a long sinuous tentacle had crawled; it was pale-green and luminous and wet.” (The
Lord of the Rings: 300). Moreover, the tentacles destroyed the gate that made the
Company of the Ring trapped inside Moria as described in the following quotation,
Many coiling arms seized the doors on either side, and with horrible strength, swung them round. With a shattering echo they slammed, and all light was lost. A noise of rending and crashing came dully through the ponderous stone. (The Lord of the Rings: 301)
As they journeyed through the kingdom under the mountain, suddenly a group of orcs, uruks and trolls attacked that led to a battle. Uruk Hai or Uruk is an improved version of Orcs invented by Saruman. It has bigger body compared to Orcs, but unlike Orc, it could survive although exposed in sunlight. While Troll, is a kind of evil giant. After killing a few orcs and trolls, the Company of the Ring fled to escape more enemies to come. But suddenly, a great monster with the body of fire named
Balrog emerged. Gandalf tried to stop the monster by crashing the bridge of khazad- dûm causing the monster to fall to the deep pit. However, the monster swung its whip 38
that caught Gandalf’s knees causing him to fall to the pit as illustrated in the following quotation,
With a terrible cry the Balrog fell forward, and its shadow plunged down and vanished. But even as it fell it swung its whip, and the thong lashed and curled about the wizard’s knees, dragging him to the brink. He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. (The Lord of the Rings: 322)
The rest members of Company of the Ring were shock to see that, but the journey must go on and at that moment, they were dealing with a company of enemies to escape from, so they hurriedly went out from Moria.
The Company of the Rings continued the journey thus Aragorn led them to go through the direction that Gandalf used to advice, the wood of Lothlórien where the hidden Elven kingdom located. The elven kingdom was led by Lord Celeborn and
Queen Galadriel. Queen Galadriel was a mighty queen and the most powerful woman in Middle Earth. She protected her folk by using her strong mind power that worked all the way through the border of the country. Once she said to Frodo concerning the threat from Sauron, “I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I perceive the
Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and my thought. But still the door is closed!” (The Lord of the
Rings: 355). When she did not see Gandalf among the Company of the Ring she said,
“Gandalf the Grey set out with the Company, but he did not pass the borders of this land ... I cannot see him from afar, unless he comes within the fences of Lothlórien: a grey mist is about him, and the ways of his feet and of his mind are hidden from me.”
(The Lord of the Rings: 346). Moreover, she was able to read mind and talk to people 39
through their mind. All members of the Company of the Rings felt like the Queen tested their willingness to go with the Ring bearer as illustrated in the following quotation,
All of them, it seemed, had fared alike: each had felt that he was offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something that he greatly desired: clear before his mind it lay, and to get it he had only to turn aside from the road and leave the Quest and the war against Sauron to others. (The Lord of the Rings: 349)
Despite of that, the Company of the Ring decided to stay for a few days under the shelter of elf of Lothlórien.
Once, Frodo and Galadriel made a private conversation, in which the queen show him her magic ring called Nenya and show the mirror of Galadriel that enable Frodo to see the Shire and some future possibility. In that chance, Frodo gave a test to
Galadriel by offering her One Ring. Queen Galadriel refused to keep it, and that was how the queen passed the test. However, Galadriel admired Frodo’s wisdom to test her by saying, “Wise the Lady Galadriel may be ... yet here she has met her match in courtesy” (The Lord of the Rings: 356).
When the Company of the Ring departed to continue the journey to Mount Doom,
Galadriel gave them many gifts especially those that were going to be useful for the journey, such as new set of clothes and cloak, and many cakes for the journey named lembas. Lembas is cake that baked by the elf of Lothlórien specially made for supply in a long journey. This cake was light to carry, it would not get stale easily, and very efficient as one person could eat only one cake for a long labour day. For Frodo,
Galadriel gave him phial of Galadriel and said, “May it be a light to you in dark 40
places, when all other lights go out” (The Lord of the Rings: 367). The Company of the Ring set out through Great River by boat made and provided by the elf of
Lothlórien.
One day, the Company of the Ring rested ashore, and Frodo wandered around a wood to have a clear mind to think about what to do next with One Ring. Boromir approached him and persuaded him to use the power of the ring to support armies of
Minas Tirith. Moreover, Boromir became more forceful as Frodo refused the idea, in which he said,
‘Why are you so unfriendly?’... ‘I am a true man, neither thief nor tracker. I need your Ring: that you know now; but I give you my word that I do not desire to keep it. Will you not at least let me make trial of my plan? Lend me the Ring!’ ‘No! No!’ cried Frodo. ‘The Council laid it upon me to bear it.’ ‘It is by your own folly that the Enemy will defeat us,’... ‘How it angers me! Fool! Obstinate fool! Running wilfully to death and ruining our cause. If any mortals have claim to the Ring, it is the men of Nùmenor, and not Halflings. It is not yours save by unhappy chance. It might have been mine. It should be mine. Give it to me!’ (The Lord of the Rings: 390)
As Boromir “fair and pleasant face was hideously changed; a raging fire was in his eyes.” (The Lord of the Rings: 390), Frodo put on the Ring on his finger and vanished to avoid Boromir.
Feeling guilty, Boromir went back to the Company of the Ring to find Frodo again, but Frodo was not with them. Boromir confessed that he was angry to Frodo because he was unwilling to go to Minas Tirith. The Company of the Ring was getting concerned, that they decided to split the company into three groups to search 41
for Frodo. Aragorn went with Sam, Boromir with Merry and Pippin, while Gimli with
Legolas.
As they split to different direction, Sam thought that Frodo might go to the boat, so he left Aragorn and went to the boat the Company left. Sam’s guess was right as he found Frodo tried to escape using one of the boat through the Great River. Sam jumped into water trying to catch up with Frodo although he could not swim and almost drowned. Frodo caught him and dragged him to the boat. Although Frodo’s plan to leave the Company of the Rings and go to East by himself was failed, he felt happy nonetheless as illustrated by Frodo’s statement quoted below,
‘So all my plan is spoilt!’ said Frodo. ‘It is no good trying to escape you. But I’m glad, Sam. I cannot tell you how glad. Come along! It is plain that we were meant to go together. We will go, and may the others find a safe road! Strider will look after them. I don’t suppose we shall see them again.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 397)
The breaking of the company happened as Frodo and Sam left the Company of the
Rings. This scene also marked an end for the first series of The Lord of the Rings, The
Fellowship of the Ring.
The second series of The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers begin as a company of orcs and uruks attacked Boromir, who, at that time, was with Merry and Pippin.
Boromir blew his horn, but still Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli came too late after
Boromir was dying and Merry and Pippin was taken away by the orcs and uruks as illustrated by Boromir’s last word before he was dead as quoted below,
‘I tried to take the Ring from Frodo,’ he said. ‘I am sorry. I have paid.’... ‘They have gone: the Halflings: the Orcs have taken them. I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them.’... 42
‘Farewell, Aragorn! Go to Minas Tirith and save my people! I have failed.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 404)
Boromir was dead, Merry and Pippin were kidnapped by orcs and uruks, thus
Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli tried to pursue the orcs and uruks to save the two hobbits, while Sam and Frodo cruised down the Great River trying to find their way to Mount Doom. As the Company of the Ring broke off, the members were having their own adventure in separate places. The journey taken by Frodo and Sam to
Mount Doom indicates the main effort to resolve the main conflict that is to destroy the One Ring. Meanwhile, the journey taken by other characters, such as the rest members of the Company of the Ring, indicates the supporting effort to resolve the main conflict.
During a few first chapters of the second series, Tolkien continued the story by focusing on Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, who were pursuing the orcs and uruks to save Merry and Pippin. When they arrived at Rohan they met the Riders of Rohan, who were patrolling around the area led by Éomer, their leader. Riders of Rohan were the armies of Rohan, they rode horse, and in fact, Rohan was best known for the quality of the horses. The following quotation illustrates about the Riders of Rohan,
Their horses were of great stature, strong and clean-limbed; their grey coats glistened, their long tails flowed in the wind, their manes were braided on their proud necks. The Men that rode them matched them well: tall and long-limbed; their hair, flaxen-pale, flowed under their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them; their faces were stern and keen. In their hands were tall spears of ash, painted shields were slung at their backs, long swords were at their belts, their burnished shirts of mail hung down upon their knees. (The Lord of the Rings: 421) 43
As Aragorn asked Éomer whether he saw a company of Orcs carrying Hobbit as their hostage, Éomer told the Company of the Ring that last night they just slew a company of orcs and uruks, and they had cremated all the dead body. Moreover, Éomer was very convinced that “no Orc escaped after we sighted them.” (The Lord of the Rings:
427). Despite of what Éomer’s had said, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli still continued their pursued. Éomer lend them two horses, Arod and Hasufel.
While Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were pursuing the orcs and uruks, Merry and
Pippin’s life were at risk as the orcs and uruks started to debate whether they would kill and eat the hobbits or not as illustrated in the following quotation,
There was an angry debate concerning what they were to do now: which way they were to take and what should be done with the prisoners. ‘... But why not kill them quick, kill them now? They’re cursed nuisance, and we’re in a hurry. Evening’s coming on, and we ought to get a move on.’ ‘Orders,’ said a third voice in a deep growl. ‘Kill all but NOT the Halflings; they are to be brought back ALIVE as quickly as possible. That’s my orders.’ ‘What are they wanted for?’ asked several voices. ‘Why alive? Do they give good sport?’ (The Lord of the Rings: 435)
The debate ended as, Uglúk the Uruk commander, killed two of the Orcs by swinging his sword to their heads.
One night, an Orc named Grisnákh, who knew about the One Ring, came to
Merry and Pippin to look for a chance of claiming the Ring. Merry managed to use
Grisnákh’s desire to release them. Fortunately, suddenly the Riders of Rohan attack the orc and Uruk, which gave them the opportunity to escape as described below,
The Riders were drawing their ring close round the knoll, risking the orc-arrows, so as to prevent any sortie, while a company rode off to deal with newcomers. 44
Suddenly Merry and Pippin realized that without moving they were now outside the circle: there was nothing between them and escape. (The Lord of the Rings: 447)
Merry and Pippin ran to Fangorn Forest, where they met an ent named Treebeard, the guardian of the forest. Ent is a tree that could talk, walk, as well as moving any parts of its body.
Following information from Éomer, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli went to the pile of the cremated orcs and uruks dead body. Aragorn traced some marks on the grass and concluded that the two hobbits somehow escaped and ran in to Fangorn Forest.
To the surprise of three member of Company of the Ring, they met Gandalf instead in
Fangorn Forest. Gandalf, used to be known as Gandalf the grey wizard thus he wore grey garments, had changed his appearance especially remarkable by the white garment that he wore. Now, he became Gandalf the white. He explained that after beaten Balrog and fell to the deepest pit, he was sent back to replace the corrupted
Saruman, who fell to his desire to own One Ring and became supporter of the enemy.
He also explained that the two hobbits were now in the safe hand with Treebeard and the ents. He suggested the Company of the Ring to go the Golden Hall of King
Théoden, or the castle where the family of King of Rohan lived, to prepare for the war of the ring.
As Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Gandalf arrived in the Golden Hall, they found that King Théoden was not like himself. He was not nice to Gandalf and let some terrible things happened to his kingdom such as forbid Éomer to patrol and called him betrayer, he let his son died and his nephew, Éowyn, to be harassed by Grima worm- 45
tongue. Gandalf knew that it was caused by Saruman’s magic brought by Grima
Worm-tongue. The quotation below is what King Théoden said to welcome Gandalf while the King was still under the influence of Saruman’s magic,
‘I greet you,’ he said, ‘and maybe you look for welcome. But truth to tell your welcome is doubtful here, Master Gandalf. You have ever been a herald of woe. Troubles follow you like crows, and ever the oftener the worse. I will not deceive you ... when Éomer brought the tidings that you had gone at last to your long home, I did not mourn. But news from afar is seldom sooth. Here you come again! And with you come evils worse than before, as might be expected. Why should I welcome you, Gandalf Stormcrow? Tell me that.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 501)
As Théoden said that, Gandalf were involved in a debate against Théoden and Grima
Wormtongue, in which Gandalf convinced that Théoden were under influence of
Saruman’s magic. Thus Gandalf tried to heal Théoden by his magic as illustrated by the following quotation,
‘Now Théoden son of Thengel, will you hearken to me?’ said Gandalf. ‘Do you ask for help?’ He lifted his staff and pointed to a high window. There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky. ... Slowly Théoden left his chair. A faint light grew in the hall again ... and with faltering steps the old man came down from the dais and paced softly through the hall. ... From the king’s hand the black staff fell clattering on the stones. He drew himself up, slowly, as a man that is stiff from long bending over some dull toil. Now tall and straight he stood , and his eyes were blue as he looked into the opening sky. (The Lord of the Rings: 502)
As soon as the King regained his consciousness, he punished Grima by asking him to leave the country and prepared for the war of the Ring. 46
The war between the Men of Rohan against men of East, Orcs and Uruks was happened in a fortress in Rohan called Helm’s Deep. By the dawn, Gandalf came bringing a company of Striders. Striders are men who dedicated themselves to be a wanderer to secure many areas of Middle Earth against evil, which made them to be mighty warriors. The coming of Gandalf and the Striders to aid the war managed to conclude the winner of the war to Rohan as describes by the following quotation,
Down from the hills leaped Erkenbrand, lord of Westfold. Down leaped Shadowfax, like a deer that runs surefooted in the mountains. The White Rider was upon them, and the terror of his coming filled the enemy with madness. The wild men fell on their faces before him. The Orcs reeled and screamed and cast aside both sword and spear. Like a black smoke driven by a mounting wind they fled. (The Lord of the Rings: 529)
After the war was won, Gandalf brought the people of Rohan and the Company of the Ring to Isengard. To their surprise, they found the two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, sat around the ruins of a fortress with the Ents. Riders of Rohan were also surprised to see Ents, since they never knew that such creature were existed. It was revealed that during the Entmoot (a moot involving Ents all from each type of tree in Fangorn forest), after deciding that Merry and Pippin was a hobbit instead of orc, suddenly the
Ent decided to attack Isengard (Saruman’s castle). The attack was successful since most of the parts of the fortress were destroyed except the Orthanc (the tower where
Saruman’s lived), and Uruks and Orcs were nowhere to be seen. The following quotation illustrates the attack, which in the book described by Pippin,
They roared and boomed and trumpeted, until stones began to crack and fall at the mere noise of them. Merry and I lay on the ground and stuffed our cloaks into our ears. Round and round the rock of Orthanc the Ents went striding and storming 47
like a howling gale, breaking pillars, hurling avalanches of boulders down the shafts, tossing up huge slabs of stone into the air like leaves. The tower was in the middle of a spinning whirlwind. I saw iron posts and blocks of masonry go rocketing up hundreds of feet, and smash against the windows of Orthanc. ... Many of the Ents were hurling themselves against the Orthanc-rock; but that defeated them. It is very smooth and hard. Some wizardry is in it, perhaps, older and stronger than Saruman’s. Anyway they could not get a grip on it, or make a crack in it; and they were bruising and wounding themselves against it. (The Lord of the Rings: 554)
Gandalf led the Company of the Ring and men of Rohan to deal with Saruman in his tower, Orthanc. After debated with Saruman, Gandalf, who was now the leader of all wizards in Middle Earth, revoked Saruman’s power. Gandalf said to Saruman, “I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council. ... Saruman, your staff is broken. ...
Go!” (The Lord of the Rings: 569). Saruman was cast out from the White Council and his staff was broken to prevent him using his magic for evil purpose. Knowing that
Saruman no longer had any power, Gandalf released him. Surprisingly, on his way out of Orthanc, Grima threw Saruman with a crystal ball named Palantír, but missed.
Palantír was a crystal ball, which used by Sauron’s followers to communicate to each other. There were seven Palantír placed in different areas of Middle Earth. The magic within Palantír could charm people to keep looking at it and infuse their mind with evil thought.
Pippin took the crystal ball and caught a glimpse of it before Gandalf took it from his hand. However, the crystal ball already worked its magic over Pippin and turned the poor hobbit. The next night, Pippin, who never done any serious mischief, stole the crystal ball from Gandalf to look at it again. As a result, Pippin screamed when an 48
eye appear because he could not hold the awful vision from the crystal ball. The following quotation illustrated the way Palantír worked on its magic on Pippin,
Pippin sat with his knees drawn up and the ball between them. He bent low over it, looking like a greedy child stooping over a bowl of food, in a corner away from others. He drew his cloak aside and gazed it. The air seemed still and tense about him. At first the globe was dark, black as jet, with the moonlight gleaming on its surface. Then there came a faint glow and stir in the heart of it, and it held his eyes, so that now he could not look away. Soon all the inside seemed on fire; the ball was spinning, or the lights within were revolving. Suddenly the lights went out. He gave a gasp and struggled; but he remained bent, clasping the ball with both hands. Closer and closer he bent, and then became rigid; his lips moved soundlessly for a while. Then with a strangled cry he fell back and lay still. (The Lord of the Rings: 578)
Gandalf woke up and very concerned to know what happened, thus he decided to take
Pippin away from the crystal ball. Gandalf took Pippin to Minas Tirith by himself and entrusted the crystal ball to Aragorn with the expectation that Aragorn would make a wise use out of it.
During the next few chapters, Tolkien shifted the story back to Sam and Frodo.
As noted previously, Sam and Frodo were trying to go to Mount Doom by themselves. They were finally ashore and they continued walking to East following the dark sky where the evil came from. Using rope given by the Elves and Sam’s skill of knot, they went up and down the cliffs of Emyn Muil. Longing for the One Ring,
Gollum followed the two hobbits by sneaking behind their back. Gollum bore the
One Ring before Bilbo. In fact, Bilbo stole the Ring from Gollum, who was initially a hobbit named Sméagol. He killed his friend who found the Ring in the river bed and lived in the tunnel of Misty Mountain eating raw fish and orcs ever since. The lure of the Ring has caused him to have double personality, the personality of as a decent 49
hobbit and as a person who was tied to the Ring and did not mind about anything else in the world except the Ring. As someone who was mad about the Ring, Gollum called the Ring “my precious” and willing to do anything to get the Ring back (The
Lord of the Rings: 599).
One night, Sam caught him and tied him, so he would not cause trouble. In the morning, Sam dragged him by the rope and Gollum wept and begged them to untie him. Frodo pitied Gollum, thus Frodo offered to untie him if he promised to show them the way to the Black Gate of Mordor. Gollum agreed and although Sam had to obey his master with heavy heart. Since Frodo made Gollum promise, a change of personality happened to Gollum. It seems like the good hobbit personality now dominated like illustrated by the following quotation,
From that moment a change, which lasted for some time, came over him. He spoke with less hissing and whining, and he spoke to his companions direct, not to his precious self. ... he was friendly, and indeed pitifully anxious to please. He would cackle with laughter and caper, if any jest was made, or even if Frodo spoke kindly to him, and weep if Frodo rebuked him. (The Lord of the Rings: 604)
Gollum’s change of behaviour made it possible for Sam and Frodo to journey together with Gollum as partner.
Throughout the journey, Frodo, Sam and Gollum passed through the Dead
Marshes, which Gollum claimed as the safe path to Mordor since the enemy guarded other paths. Just like how it named, there were many dead body of men, elves and orcs floating beneath the water. Those dead people were victims of the first War of 50
the Ring. The following quotation describes about Dead Marshes according to
Gollum,
‘... There was a great battle long ago ... It was a great battle. Tall Men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves; always creeping, creeping.’’ ... ‘You cannot reach them. Only shapes to see, perhaps, not to touch. No precious! All dead.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 614)
The faces of the body in the marshes spread a faint light that could draw people to follow the light, which they did to Frodo as describes in the book, as “Sam looked back and found that Frodo had lagged again. He could not see him ... Suddenly he stumbled against Frodo, who was standing lost in thought, looking at the pale lights.
His hands hung stiff at his sides; water and slime were dripping from them.” (The
Lord of the Rings: 613). Fortunately, Sam saw what happened to Frodo, thus he quickly rose Frodo to consciousness.
Finally, they arrived at the Black Gate of Mordor. Frodo almost threw himself to the Black Gate, but Gollum stopped him because it was clearly too dangerous and the guard would definitely caught anyone who were trying to sneak in. Moreover,
Gollum suggested Frodo if he wanted to go to Mordor he should go through Ithilien.
Following Gollum’s suggestion, Frodo, Sam and Gollum went to Ithilien. When they took a rest a while in Ithilien, they met Rangers of Ithilien and Faramir,
Boromir’s brother. Rangers of Ithilien were the armies of Minas Tirith (a neighbouring city), who were sent by Minas Tirith to guard the area since Ithilien was 51
a deserted city, eastern border for Minas Tirith. Faramir and the hobbits became acquaintance and as they exchanged news, the hobbits asked him the way to Mount
Doom. Faramir suggested Frodo to stay in the secret refuge of Ithilien to ensure his safety. Frodo and Sam went with him with their eyes blindfolded, but Gollum seemed to escape as he was nowhere to be found.
One day, the armies of Ithilien found Gollum in the forbidden pool of Ithillien. In general case, any foreigner approached that pool must be killed, but knowing that
Gollum might be Frodo’s company, Faramir asked Frodo instead. Frodo persuaded
Faramir not to kill Gollum, although he had stepped into forbidden pool. Faramir agreed, but sent his armies to capture Gollum and blindfolded his eyes while took him into the secret refuge. The armies of Ithillien treated Gollum unkindly as the book describes “They tied him, none too gently.” (The Lord of the Rings: 673).
After staying for a few days in Ithilien, Frodo and Sam must continue their journey with Gollum to guide them. Finally, they arrived at Mountains of Shadow, which was the border of Mordor. The two hobbits did not know that since being captured in Ithilien, Gollum had a change of heart, in which the evil side of him dominated yet again. Sam and Frodo chose to believe in their previous experience to rely on Gollum. Instead, Gollum betrayed them by leaving Sam and Frodo in a tunnel. By using the phial from Galadriel, the two hobbits soon realized that the tunnel was full of cobweb as Sam said “Cobwebs! But what a spider!” (The Lord of the Rings: 706). Actually, the tunnel was the lair of a female giant spider named
Shelob. Gollum knew about Shelob when he tried to escape as he was captured by 52
Saruman in Mordor. It was too late when Sam and Frodo found out that they were trapped because they were already face to face with Shelob, and at the same time of
Shelob attack, Gollum also was also attacking. While Sam was struggle with Gollum,
Shelob bit Frodo paralyze. Sam was furious to see that and he quickly stood up ready to fight against Shelob as Tolkien describes in the book, “No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate.” (The Lord of the Rings: 711). Supported by the power of the phial of Galadriel, Sam managed to injured Shelob as describes in the following quotation,
As if his indomitable spirit had set its potency in motion, the glass blazed suddenly like a white torch in his hand. It flamed like a star that leaping from the firmament sears the dark air with intolerable light. No such terror out of heaven had ever burned Shelob’s face before. The beams of it entered into her wounded head and scored it with unbearable pain, and the dreadful infection of light spread from eye to eye. She fell back beating the air with her forelegs, her sighted blasted by inner lightnings, her mind in agony. Then turning her maimed head away, she rolled aside and began to crawl, claw by claw, towards the opening in the dark cliff behind. (The Lord of the Rings: 713)
Shelob ran away leaving Sam with Frodo’s body.
Thinking that Frodo were dead, the choices were now open to Sam, whether he would continue Frodo’s quest to Mount Doom or take Frodo’s body back to home and quit the mission. Sam took the first option, thus he took the One Ring out of
Frodo’s neck, Frodo’s sword and the phial of Galadriel. Just a few minutes later after
Sam took Frodo’s belonging and started to walk away, he heard two Orcs 53
approaching and spotted Frodo’s dead body. Sam hid himself and listened to the
Orcs’ chatting. From the conversation, Sam revealed that Shelob’s bite could make
Frodo paralyze, but not kill him as an Orc named Shagrat said to his fellow Orc,
“When she binds with cords, she’s after meat. She doesn’t eat dead meat, nor suck cold blood. This fellow isn’t dead!” (The Lord of the Rings: 723). When the two Orcs took Frodo’s body away, Sam decided to follow them until the two Orcs disappear behind a pair of great iron doors. This scene is the end of the second series of
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The next series, The Return of the King, begins with the adventure of Gandalf and
Pippin, who were trying to get away from the Palantir. Gandalf took Pippin to Minas
Tirith in Gondor, to alert the city that the enemy might attack them anytime soon. The visit from Gandalf and Pippin was not welcome very well by Denethor the Steward of
Gondor, who sat at the throne in Minas Tirith. Denethor response was caused by his grief because his golden son, Boromir, was dead during the journey with the
Fellowship of the Ring. Moreover he said to Pippin, “a Halfling ... and little love do I bear the name, since those accursed words came to trouble our counsels and drew away my son on the wild errand to his death.” (The Lord of the Rings: 738). Pippin felt guilty because Boromir was dead in attempt to protect him and Merry. Thus
Pippin offered his service to Denethor to pay his debt. Under the sword, he swore that he would give service to Denethor and Minas Tirith until he die. Denethor response though was disappointing as the first task given to Pippin was to detail the death of
Boromir, and he was listening while drinking wine and eating. It was also 54
disappointing that after heard the news from Gandalf, instead of preparing Minas
Tirith to war, Denethor chose to lament about his son’s death.
In another place, Merry camped among the armies of Rohan. He was willingly offered his service to go to war with other warriors, but Théoden released him from the service instead because he thought that Merry’s physically unfit for war. The
King said to Merry, “...Master Meriadoc, swordthain though you be, and greater of heart than of stature... None of my Riders can bear you as burden.” (The Lord of the
Rings: 786). As the niece of the King, Éowyn shared the same experience with Merry.
She grew among mighty warrior and she wanted to be one herself. However, the King forbade her to go to war, thus she disguised himself as a man named Dernhelm and rode with Merry to war.
Meanwhile, Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas chose to go to the Paths of the Dead.
Path of the dead was a pass in a mountain where the undead armies dwelled. The armies used to be Gil-galad’s armies long time ago, but they escaped from war, thus
Gil-galad cursed them to never rest in peace unless they fight for Men of the West.
Until Aragorn came, the armies were still there as ghosts and they could not die. As the heir of Gil-galad, Aragorn inherited the right over the armies and the one with the authority to release the armies. He carried along his sword Anduríl as a symbol of his power and his being the heir of Gil-galad since Anduríl was reforged from Narsil,
Gil-galad’s broken sword. Aragorn offered the undead army freedom, if they agreed to help him defeat the Corsairs of Umbar. Corsair of Umbar was navy from Umbar,
Eastern area of Middle Earth. They came through the sea to support the Sauron’s 55
army. The undead army agreed with the terms that Aragorn offered. As predicted, they provide enormous support while attacking Corsair of Umbar on their way to
Minas Tirith. The following quotation illustrates how the undead armies beat Corsair of Umbar,
‘To every ship they came that was drawn up, and then they passed over the water to those that were anchored; and all the mariners were filled with a madness of terror and leaped overboard, save the slaves chained to the oars. Reckless we rode among our fleeing foes, driving them like leaves, until we came to the shore. (The Lord of the Rings: 858)
As the undead armies fulfilled their debt, Aragorn set them free as illustrated by the following quotation,
‘”Hear now the words of the Heir of Isildur! Your oath is fulfilled. Go back and trouble not the valleys ever again! Depart and be at rest!” ‘And thereupon the King of the Dead stood out before the host and broke his spear and cast it down. The he bowed low and turned away; and swiftly the whole grey host drew on and vanished like a mist that is driven back by a sudden wind ... ‘ (The Lord of the Rings: 858-859)
In Minas Tirith, Denethor lost his mind when his son, Faramir, went back from
Ithillien wounded and unconscious along with a few rangers of Ithilien. While Minas
Tirith was attacked, Denethor chose to moan for his son instead of leading his people to defend the city. The following quotation is a statement from Denethor while moaning for his son,
‘I sent my son forth, unthanked, unblessed, out into needless peril, and here he lies with poison in his veins. Nay, nay, whatever may now betide in war, my line too is ending, even the House of Stewards has failed. Mean folk shall rule the last remnant of the Kings of Men, lurking in the hills until all are hounded out.’ (The Lord of the Rings: 806) 56
In this situation, Gandalf tried to take control and order of Minas Tirith, along with the aid of armies from Belfalas led by Prince Imrahil. Furthermore, the following quotation describes the conversation between a messenger, who brought the new of the attack upon Minas Tirith, and Denethor, who ignore his responsibility to lead
Minas Tirith,
‘The first circle of the City is burning, lord,’ they said. ‘What are your commands? You are still the Lord and Steward. Not all will follow Mithrandir, Men are flying from the walls and leaving them unmanned.’ ‘Why? Why do the fools fly?’ said Denethor. ‘Better to burn sooner than late, for burn we must. Go back to your bonfire! ... The West has failed. Go back and burn!’ (The Lord of the Rings: 807)
With the help of Ghân-buri-Ghân, chief of Wild Men of the Woods, armies of
Rohan came on time to support armies of Minas Tirith and armies from Belfalas.
Wild Men of the Woods was a group of men live in the wilderness of Druadan forest.
The wild men helped armies of Rohan since they were good at track-reading and they knew a safe short cut to Minas Tirith through Druadan Forest.
During the war Éowyn and Pippin performed a very amazing accomplishment as they managed to kill the Witch King of Angmar, who was the strongest Sauron’s army. The quotation below illustrates the event,
Out of the wreck rose the Black Rider, tall and threatening, towering above her. With a cry of hatred that stung the very ears like venom he let fall his mace. Her shield was shivered in many pieces, and her arm was broken; she stumbled to her knees. ... But suddenly he too stumbled forward with a cry of bitter pain, and his stroke went wide, driving into the ground. Merry’s sword had stabbed him from behind ... pierced the sinew behind his mighty knee. ‘Éowyn! Éowyn!’ cried Merry. Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders 57
bowed before her. The sword before sparkling into many shards. The crown rolled away with a clang. Éowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe. But lo! The mantle and hauberk were empty. Shapeless they lay now on the ground, torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into the shuddering air and faded to a shrill wailing, passing with the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that dies, and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world. (The Lord of the Rings: 824)
Unfortunately, King Théoden was dead in the battle. In the end, army of Minas Tirith led by Gandalf, army from Belfalas led by Prince Imrahil, army of Rohan led by King
Théoden, and striders led by Aragorn managed to beat Sauron’s armies and saved
Minas Tirith in the battle of Pelennor Fields.
While a great war happened outside down the yard of Minas Tirith, Pelennor
Field, Denethor made his own history inside the castle. During the war, the crazy
Denethor would like to bury Faramir by cremation like the manner of old kings, although he was not dead yet. Pippin ran to Gandalf to look for rescue, and the following quotation is what Pippin said to Gandalf while he was describing the situation,
‘The Lord is out of his mind, I think. I am afraid he will kill himself, and kill Faramir too. Can’t you do something? ... ‘But Faramir!’ cried Pippin. ‘He is not dead, and they will burn him alive, if someone does not stop them.’ ... ‘Denethor has gone to the Tombs,’ said Pippin, ‘and he has taken Faramir, and he says we are all to burn, and he will not wait, and they are to make a pyre and burn him on it, and Faramir as well. And he has sent men to fetch wood and oil. ... ‘ (The Lord of the Rings: 832)
Fortunately, Gandalf came on time to save Faramir, during which Denethor finally revealed himself that he had been seeing things from a Palantír. Desperate by the 58
things he saw in Palantír, Denethor decided to suicide by burning himself while holding the seeing stone.
Although Men of the West had won the battle of the Pelennor Fields, the One
Ring had not been destroyed and there were still thousands of troops available
Mordor. Men of the West, (consisted of armies from Minas Tirith, Belfalas, Rohan and Striders) conducted a meeting in Minas Tirith. They decided that although it might be impossible to win the war in the enemy’s land, attacking Mordor from the
Black Gate might be important since they still needed to distract the attention of the
Eye from the Ring-bearer, so that Frodo could sneak in and throw away the One Ring to Mount Doom. The Eye was a huge eye in the top of the Dark Tower, which always supervised the land of Mordor and Mount Doom to avoid infiltrator. Sauron could only afford that form since the day his spirit rose again in Middle Earth. The alliance of Gondor and Rohan then marched to the Black Gate, while the armies from Belfalas stayed to guard Minas Tirith. A war happened between the Men of the West against
Sauron’s armies in the field of Cormallen.
During the next chapter, Tolkien went back to the adventure of Sam and Frodo in the land of Mordor. Sam finally managed to rescue Frodo and get out of the Orcs’ dwelling. The pair then continued a very difficult journey through the desolate land of
Mordor because there was no water in that land and they was so close with enemy that they had to stay alert. This part is the end of complication part of the plot because as the protagonist arrived at Mount Doom and the author of the story is about to 59
conclude the winner of the war, the analysis of the plot should move on to the next level.
3. Climax
Climax is the point in which the story reaches the greatest emotional intensity. It is also the turning point of the story showing that the story is so close into a conclusion. In The Lord of the Rings, this part of the story is reflected as the Ring- bearer arrived at Mount Doom to resolve the conflict that is to accomplish his mission to destroy the One Ring. As Sam and Frodo arrived at the crack of Mount Doom,
Tolkien was about to conclude the story of whether or not the Ring was finally destroyed.
The climax begun as Sam and Frodo reached Mount Doom with Gollum tailing and sneaking behind their back. Getting closer to the place where it was forged, the power of the Ring was getting stronger. The temptation of the One Ring was too great for Frodo to handle that he claimed the One Ring for himself while he was at the edge of the Crack of Doom. Frodo put on the Ring to his finger and said “‘...The Ring is mine!’ And suddenly, as he set it on his finger, he vanished from Sam’s sight.” (The
Lord of the Rings: 924). Suddenly, Sauron was aware of the presence of the Ring- bearer at the crack of Mount Doom, thus he sent his Ringwraiths to fly at the top speed to Mount Doom. At the same time, Gollum who had been following Frodo and
Sam to steal the Ring managed to attack Frodo although he was unseen as illustrated in the book, “Gollum on the edge of the abyss was fighting like a mad thing with an unseen foe.” (The Lord of the Rings: 925). Gollum successfully took over the Ring 60
after he bite Frodo’s finger off. Mad with joy, he was jumping crazily celebrating the joy of winning back the One Ring when he lost his footing and fell into the fire along with the One Ring as described in the following quotation,
... Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as if verily it was wrought of living fire. ‘Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. ‘My precious! O my Precious!’ And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was gone. (The Lord of the Rings, 925)
As the One Ring destroyed, Sauron’s power was also vanish and so did all things that are built by using Sauron’s power causing Sauron’s armies to lose their guts,
Ringwraiths collapse and everything in Mordor was destroyed. With all the damage on Sauron’s armies and Mordor, the alliance of Gondor and Rohan won the war in the battle in the field of Cormallen. The quest was accomplished as Frodo said to Sam,
“... the quest is achieved, and now all is over. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.” (The Lord of the Rings: 926).
4. Failing Action
Immediately after the Ring destroyed, Mount Doom was erupted. Now Sam and
Frodo need to run away from the lava being produces from the eruption. As soon as
Sauron’s armies and Mordor were destroyed and the Men of the West won the war,
Gandalf along with Gwaihir the giant Eagle and a company of giant Eagle flew to
Mount Doom to rescue Frodo and Sam from the eruption of Mount Doom.
As the Ring destroyed, the tension subsides, and now the plot moves to its appointed conclusion. The part of plot where the character is working on how to 61
conclude the story is called failing action. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the conflict is solved as the Ring destroyed and the war ended. Thus, most of this phase is describing the situation after the war including repairing the damage affected by the war in every place in Middle Earth.
While Men of the West under the commander of Aragorn went back to Gondor from the battlefield, the wounded people and armies in Minas Tirith waited restlessly for any news from the battlefield. Faramir and Éowyn, who were among the patients in the house of healing of Minas Tirith, ended up in love to each other. They demonstrated their love to each other as “he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many.” (The Lord of the Rings: 944).
As soon as the news about the winning in the battle of field of Cormallen reached
Minas Tirith, people were preparing the coming of the armies and coronation of King
Aragorn. After the coronation, King Aragorn son of Arathorn was finally marrying his queen, Arwen Undómiel princess of Elves - daughter of Elrond the chief of Elves of Rivendell as illustrated in the following quotation,
... Elrond surrendered the sceptre, and laid the hand of his daughter in the hand of the King, and together they went up into the High City, and all the stars flowered in the sky. And Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undómiel in the City of the Kings upon the day of Midsummer, and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfilment. (The Lord of the Rings: 951)
After the ceremony, all the guests went back to their home. Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin went back to the Shire accompanied by Gandalf who went the same 62
direction to Old Forest to meet Tom Bombadil. However, as the hobbits were arrived at the Shire, they were surprised because it was not the same the Shire that they had left. There were a new set of rules and orders in their village restricting the hobbits from doing anything. A gang of ruffians was ruling their village ruthlessly lead by
Saruman, who had escaped from Orthanc. Having all the experience from the long adventure they already took, they were not afraid and refused to go on with the new order. They broke many rules in a few hours after they arrived in Hobbiton, which included “... Gate-breaking, and Tearing up of Rules, and Assaulting Gate-keepers, and Trespassing, and Sleeping in Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food” and Sam added by saying “Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools.” (The Lord of the Rings: 978).
Moreover, Merry, Pippin and Sam lead the hobbits of the Shire to fight against the ruffians to drive them out of their village. Going to war was actually against
Hobbit’s custom as described in the prologue of the story, “At no time had Hobbits of any kind been warlike, and they had never fought among themselves.” (The Lord of the Rings: 5). However, the four hobbits member of Company of the Ring managed to convince others that it was important to restore the peaceful village it used to be.
With a good leadership, the bunch of angry hobbits managed to win the war as the leader of the ruffians was killed, the rest of the ruffians decided to gave in.
It was revealed that the main leader of the ruffians in the Shire was Saruman, who was end up killed by his most faithful servant, Grima Wormtongue after the battle of 63
the Shire. Threatened by Grima’s gesture, the hobbits responded quickly by shooting their arrows to Grima, which caused his death. Actually Grima hated the way
Saruman treated him since long ago. The quotation below illustrates the death of
Saruman and Grima,
Saruman laughed. ‘You do what Sharkey says, always, don’t you, Worm? Well, how he says: follow!’ He kicked Wormtongue in the face as he grovelled, and turned and made off. But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman’s back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane. Before Frodo could recover or speak a word, three hobbit-bows twanged and Wormtongue fell dead. (The Lord of the Rings: 996)
After all of the ruffians were driven out of the village, the hobbits built back and restore the village from the damage caused by the ruffians.
5. Resolution
This is the final stage of the plot which records the outcome of the conflict and establishes a new stability. Peace was restored all across Middle Earth as Faramir led in Ithillien, King Aragorn and Queen Arwen sat on throne in Minas Tirith, Druadan forest was granted to Wildman of Woods, Éomer led Rohan to replace the late King
Théoden, and Mordor was totally destroyed. Meanwhile, in the Shire, Bag End was returned to Frodo because she had been through a shocking experience in that house while the ruffians were ruling the village. Sam married to Rosie Cotton and lived with Frodo in Bag End. The story was concluded as in the end, Frodo, who remained wounded in his body and spirit, decided to leave Middle Earth accompanied by Bilbo.
He said to Sam, “... I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it 64
has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that other may keep them.” (The Lord of the Rings: 1006). He handed the book that he and Bilbo had been writing to Sam to keep the memory in Middle Earth. The title of the book as written by Frodo was
“THE DOWNFALL OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS AND THE RETURN OF
THE KING” (The Lord of the Rings: 1004). Joining the last ship of the Elves, Frodo sailed west over to the Undying Lands, where he could find peace. Aragorn and
Arwen became the King and Queen of Middle Earth and remained in Middle Earth, while all other Elves along with the wizard, Frodo and Bilbo went to Undying Land.
The remaining hobbits, Sam, Pippin and Merry stayed to live in Hobbiton maintaining all the memories about the loving people who are left.
B. Monomyth in the Hero’s Journey
In this section, theory of archetypal pattern mentioned previously in Chapter 2 of this thesis will be used as the foundation to analyze the plot in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. According to the theory there are 3 main stages of the hero’s journey and
5-6 sub-stages in each stage. While the sub-stages illustrate each stage in more detail, the three main stages illustrate the main changes within the hero’s life before, during and after the adventure. The structure of this section will be divided accordingly.
1. Departure
As mentioned previously in Chapter II, this stage represents the phase of myth when the hero was about to depart to adventure. Departure is the first stage of the 65
hero’s journey. It illustrates the moment before the hero sets out to journey until he really departs. The stage of Departure consists of five sub-stages. The writer of this thesis will point out how each stage is reflected in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. a. The Call to Adventure
The call to adventure is the first step of a hero’s adventure. At this phase, the hero receive an offer or being in a situation that force him to take a journey, usually to a land far away beyond the border of the area that he is familiar with. One example of a quest in Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces is started with, “A blunder – apparently the merest chance – reveals an unsuspected world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood” (Campbell,
1949:51). Moreover, the call for the hero to undergo the adventure describes as follows,
...destiny has summoned the hero and transferred his spiritual center of gravity from within the pale of his society to a zone unknown. This fateful region of both treasure and danger may be variously represented; as a distant land, a forest, a kingdom underground, beneath the waves, or above the sky, a secret island, lofty mountaintop, or profound dream state; but it is always a place of strangely fluid and polymorphous beings, unimaginable torments, superhuman deeds, and impossible delight. (Campbell, 1949:58)
The quotation above explains that the adventure is something destined to the hero. In this adventure, the hero must go to a land far away from his home to achieve certain quest, and this quest is labelled as a superhuman task that is very difficult to be achieved. 66
To relate with Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the adventure of a Hobbit named
Frodo begun with the emergence of the One Ring, which used to be regarded as a lost object. As described in the previous section, within Exposition phase of plot analysis,
Frodo is destined to inherit the One Ring because the last bearer of the Ring was
Frodo’s uncle, Bilbo, who got the Ring from his accidental meeting with Gollum.
Later on, Gandalf the wizard revealed that the Ring is the most powerful ring in
Middle Earth and the next Ring-bearer (the one who bore the Ring) is expected to protect it from evil use and bear it to Mount Doom to be destroyed. According to
Gandalf, the first step to protect the Ring is to take it away from the Shire (the village where Frodo lived) to Rivendell, the village of the Elves. Rivendell is considered as a safer place that located far away and it took many days of walking to reach the place from the Shire. The journey to Rivendell is not easy at all, as Frodo might have to face many enemies on his way. This is the call to adventure for Frodo Baggins, the
Ring-bearer as well as the time when the relationship between Frodo and the Ring of power started to be established. The challenge to destroy the Ring becomes “the call to adventure”.
Moreover, Campbell explained that “The familiar life horizon has been outgrown; the old concepts, ideals, and emotional patterns no longer fit; the time for passing the threshold is at hand” (Campbell, 1949:51). This explanation illustrates Frodo’s situation at the time he inherited the One Ring. Taking an adventure is not something that a Hobbit usually does, as most of them preferred to have simple life with daily activity close to nature such as farming, breeding cattle, or gardening. As described in 67
the prologue of the story that “they love peace and quiet and food tilled earth: a well- ordered and well-farmed countryside was their favourite haunt.” (The Lord of the
Rings: 1). Even more than a decent farmer, Hobbits were never like taking journey and afraid of adventure, reflected in the novel within an advice from a father Hobbit to his son, “Elves and Dragons! ... Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you.
Don’t go mixed up in the business of your betters, or you’ll land in trouble too big for you,”(The Lord of the Rings: 24).
As a Hobbit, Frodo is also bound to the custom described in the previous paragraph. However, he should deal with the Ring, which is dangerous object and an action needs to be taken toward it, which became Frodo’s responsibility as the Ring- bearer. At this situation, the normal way of being a Hobbit to stay having a peaceful farming life in the village could not be applied any longer. Frodo should take an action beyond the traditional value of his society that is to take adventure. A pressing situation has come to Frodo and a choice was offered to him to take an adventure or not. b. Refusal to the Call
In some cases, the hero chooses to refuse the call. After sometimes, the hero might choose to answer the call and take the adventure, or continue to decline the call, though the adventure is continued anyway despite of the decline. In J. R. R.
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Frodo answered the call or agreed to take journey with the One Ring after a little debate with Gandalf. Initially, Frodo refuse to bear the
Ring. Instead, he offered it to Gandalf because Frodo did not feel like he had the 68
power that was required to bear the Ring. Frodo said to Gandalf, “You are wise and powerful. Will you not take the Ring?” (The Lord of the Rings: 60). Gandalf declined the offer because of the tendency that the Ring might stole and misused his power.
The explanation provided by Gandalf left Frodo with no choice but to take the Ring, which make him a Ring-bearer. The process of the hero declining the offer did not last for long in this novel, because soon after Gandalf refused the offer, Frodo was willing to take the burden of the Ring. c. Supernatural Aid
After the hero responded to the call to adventure, he is helped by “a protective figure (often a little old crone or old man) who provides the adventurer with amulets against the dragon forces he is about to pass” (Campbell, 1949:69). Moreover,
Campbell explained that the protective figure could be in many forms such as “some little fellow of the wood, some wizard, hermit, shepherd, or smith, who appears, to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require” (Campbell, 1949:72).
In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the protective figure is a wizard named
Gandalf. He provided much advice concerning the adventure taken by the hero, ever since before Frodo started the journey. Most of the advices from Gandalf was trusted and followed by Frodo such as the advice to go to Prancing Pony before going to
Rivendell, the advice to destroy the One Ring, and even the advice to trust Aragorn although Gandalf only mentioned the advice through letter. All of these advices from
Gandalf are proven to be significantly useful throughout the journey. Take an example of the advice to trust Aragorn. Later in the journey to Rivendell, Aragorn 69
gave very significant help for the Hobbits since Aragorn knew the safe path to
Rivendell and he was also powerful to protect the Hobbits from the Black Riders who pursued the Ring that was carried by Frodo. As described previously within the
Complication part of the plot analysis, Aragorn safe Frodo’s life when Frodo was stabbed by the morgul knife, by carrying him fast to Rivendell so Frodo could be healed on time.
The amulet provided by Gandalf for the hero was the One Ring itself. Gandalf ensured that Frodo would have the Ring instead of somebody else, not even himself.
As soon as Gandalf knew that Bilbo owned the One Ring, he ensured that Bilbo would inherit the Ring to Frodo. With its magic to make people disappear while wearing it, Frodo managed to escape from Boromir, while he was trying to take over the Ring from him. d. The Crossing of the First Threshold
The crossing of the first threshold is a moment when the hero arrives at the border between the world familiar to him and the world unknown. According to Joseph
Campbell, all adventure is a journey to pass the area known to the hero to the unknown area as described in the quotation below,
The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades. (Campbell, 1949:82) 70
Thus he described that the hero is always be the one who manage to pass the border of his familiar society or environment to the place that no one in his society ever reveal before.
This border is usually guarded by the threshold guardian, which is a figure guarding an entrance or border of an area. According to the examples given by Joseph
Campbell, there are two kinds of threshold guardian. The first one is a guardian that guarded a peaceful society, such as the Arcadian god Pan who dwelled “just beyond the protected zone of the village boundary” (Campbell, 1949:77). The second type is a guardian that guarded a sacred or dangerous place or land, such as the ogre that guard a forest or a dragon that watch for a mountain.
In analyzing J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the writer of this thesis found that this particular stage is presented when Frodo passed the border of the Shire guarded by Farmer Maggot.
The threshold that Frodo had to pass is the border of the Shire, where he met
Farmer Maggot. Farmer Maggot was the guardian, who watched the border of the
Shire as described by Pippin in the following quotation,
“He’s a good friend to all the Brandybucks. Of course he’s a terror to trespassers, and keeps ferocious dogs – but after all, folk down here are near the border and have to be more on their guard” (The Lord of the Rings: 89).
Frodo, Sam and Pippin passed this border smoothly even without involving any fighting with the threshold guardian, which in this case is Farmer Maggot. He welcomed them and even insisted to carry them in his wagon to the border, which in 71
this case is the ferry on the river, to protect them from the Black Rider, who had been pursuing them. e. The Belly of the Whale
Just like the image tells, in this phase of the myth, the hero is swallowed by a big creature, which also a metaphor meaning that the hero appeared to have died, but later on returned to his community. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, this phase is described at the near end of the story instead in the beginning. Indeed the event happened in the beginning, but Tolkien mentioned it at the end of the story after
Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry returned from the journey. As the four hobbits took a journey from Old Forest and did not return the year after, people of the Shire thought the four of them had died. This rumours had been supported by the image of the Old
Forest itself, which was known as a scary forest and anyone who got into it would never returned. The hobbits of the Shire were all surprised by the return of the four hobbits as stated by a hobbit to Merry in the following quotation,
‘Bless me! It’s Master Merry, to be sure, and all dressed up for fighting!’ said old Hob. ‘Why, they said you was dead! Lost in the Old Forest by all accounts. I’m pleased to see you alive after all!’ (The Lord of the Rings: 975)
2. Initiation
Initiation is the adventurous part of the myth, in which the hero undergoes a series of adventure to accomplish his quest. Most of this part is reflected within complication and climax of plot analysis. In this section, the writer of the thesis will 72
point out how the six stages of Initiation are reflected within the plot of Tolkien’s The
Lord of the Rings. a. The Road of Trials
This phase is the main point of the adventure, whereas the hero is challenged to survive against many trials. With the many trials to be faced, the hero would likely have various ways in dealing with those trials including using powerful amulet, useful knowledge or his own potential power hidden within himself as explained by the quotation below,
Once having traversed the threshold, the hero moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he must survive a succession of trials. This is a favourite phase of the myth adventure. ... The hero is covertly aided by the advice, amulets, and secret agents of the supernatural helper whom he met before his entrance into this region. Or it may be that he here discovers for the first time that there is a benign power everywhere supporting him in his superhuman passage. (Campbell, 1949:97)
This phase of the myth also emphasize the actual challenge to be conquer in order for the hero to have a successful adventure. The challenge itself can be in many forms such as hydra and dragons in Hercules or the many instructions that Psyche had to accomplish in order to meet her lover, Cupid, who had been hidden by his mother, or in modern literature it was when Harry Potter had to deal with detentions or potion test.
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Frodo also had to deal with so many obstacles in order to accomplish his task, to destroy the One Ring. Many of the trials described within complication part of the plot analysis were related to this phase of 73
myth. In his way to destroy the One Ring, Frodo received so many helps from his friends and people he met in his way. He was also assisted with good guides and advice from many wise people such as Gandalf the Wizard and Galadriel the Elf
Queen of Lórien. Moreover, Frodo also found some new potency within him that helped him throughout the journey.
At the beginning of his journey to Bree through Old Forest Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin was attacked by the old willow tree. The tree managed to trapped Sam and
Merry in its bough, and dragged Frodo to drown himself to a river nearby. They were saved by Tom Bombadil who passed them and sing his powerful song that made the tree to release the Hobbits. Moreover, after leaving Tom Bombadil’s house, the four
Hobbits were attacked and captured by Barrow Wights, the evil spirit dwell in
Barrow Downs. Frodo then sang the tune that Tom had taught him to call for a rescue. Once again, Tom Bombadil saved them with his powerful song that somehow can beat Barrow Wight.
Started from the Shire to Rivendell, Frodo and his friends had been pursued by the Black Riders who wanted to take over the One Ring. Black Riders were sent by
Sauron to chase the Ring bearer and took over the One Ring. With the help and assistant from Aragorn, they managed to arrive in the Elf kingdom of Rivendell.
Although Frodo was wounded by the knife of the Chief of the Black Rider or the
Morgul King, all of them were alive.
Throughout the journey from Rivendell to Mount Doom, Frodo and Sam had to encounter with Orc three times. The first attack was in Moria, when the Company of 74
the Ring was attacked by Orcs, Trolls and Balrog. The Company of the Ring survived except for Gandalf, who was fallen to a very deep abyss when he fought against
Balrog. The second attack happened at the Great River that caused the death of
Boromir and split the Nine Companies of the Ring to different direction. In this case,
Sam with Frodo headed to Mount Doom, Pippin and Merry were kidnapped by the
Orcs and Uruk Hai, while Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas tried to pursue the Orcs and
Uruk Hai to save the two Hobbits. The third encounter with Orcs was when Sam tried to save Frodo, who were kidnapped by Orcs, during which Sam bravely entered Orc’s cave to save his master. b. The Meeting With the Goddess
According to Campbell, this phase happen after the hero had overcame all of the barriers as he said that
The ultimate adventure, when all the barriers and ogres have been overcome, is commonly represented as a mystical marriage of the triumphant hero-soul with the Queen goddess of the World (Campbell, 1949:109).
Moreover, Campbell described in his book that the Goddess was as follows,
She is the paragon of all the paragons of beauty, the reply to all desire, the bliss- bestowing goal of every hero’s earthly and unearthly quest. She is mother, sister, mistress, bride. Whatever in the world has lured, whatever has seemed to promise joy, has been premonitory of her existence – in the deep of sleep, if not in the cities and forests of the world. For she is the incarnation of the promise of perfection; the soul’s assurance that, at the conclusion of its exile in a world of organized inadequacies, the bliss that once was known will be known again: the comforting, the nourishing, the “good” mother – young and beautiful – who was known to us, and even tasted, in the remotest past. Time sealed her away, yet she is dwelling still, like one who sleeps in timelessness, at the bottom of the timeless sea. (Campbell, 1949:110-111) 75
As mentioned in the quotation above, the Goddess is the most beautiful and perfect being, she lived for a very long time even maybe was unaffected by time, and she might lived in city or forest. This description of the Queen of God is perfectly fit with Queen Galadriel of Lórien forest in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
Galadriel is the Queen of all Elves, and she lived in the hidden city of Lórien forest.
She was very beautiful and had been living for thousands of years yet there was no sign of aging. However, instead of meeting her at the end of the story after all challenges had been encountered, Frodo met her in the middle of the story where a very long journey of adventure still laid upon him.
Campbell also explained that “The mythological figure of the Universal Mother imputes to the cosmos the feminine attributes of the first, nourishing and protecting presence” (Campbell, 1949:113), which was to say that the Goddess was the one that provides nourishment and protection. This explanation is coherent with Galadriel the
Queen of Elves of Lórien whose mind and magical power protected her people with the capability to control things under the border of her land, to grow mallorn trees and make the soil fertile to nourish her people (The Lord of the Rings: 346).
In relation with the hero, Campbell explains that the Goddess is the figure that feed the hero with much knowledge more than the hero could comprehend and when the Goddess and the hero could come to a deep understanding, the hero would received the greatest knowledge, as explains in the quotation below.
Woman, in the picture language of mythology, represents the totality of what can be known. The hero is the one who comes to know. As he progresses in the slow initiation which is life, the form of the goddess undergoes for him a series of 76
transfigurations: she can never be greater than himself, though she can always promise more than he is yet capable of comprehending. She lures, she guides, she bids him burst his fetters. And if he can match her import, the two, the knower and the known, will be released from any limitation. (Campbell, 1949:116)
The relationship between Frodo and Galadriel was built while Frodo came to her kingdom, Lothlórien wood, where she taught him wisdom. Frodo built his trust upon her after he tested her by offering to her the One Ring. She response to that by saying,
Wise the Lady Galadriel maybe, … yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are your revenge for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. You begin to see with a keen eye” (The Lord of the Rings: 356)
The quotation that stated by Lady Galadriel above showed compliment to Frodo’s wisdom. She passed the test since she refused to have it and showed to Frodo her terrible figure as an Evil Queen if she accepted the One Ring, as a reminder about the great evil power of the One Ring. Moreover, Galadriel gave Frodo the phial of
Galadriel that could release the desire to put on the Ring (The Lord of the Rings:
691). The phial saved Frodo’s and Sam’s life when it used as a light in the dark tunnel of Shelob’s Lair and to protect them from Shelob and the two monster that guarded Orc’s caves (The Lord of the Rings: 705). c. Woman as the Temptress
The present of a woman as the temptress seems like a trial for the hero. Often, the woman is related to the idea of sensuality to seduce the hero like in Beowulf or beauty and power to be conquered like in Oedipus and Hamlet. One of the examples given by Campbell to clarify the idea of a woman as the temptress is as follows, 77
As a child Saint Bernard of Clairvaux suffered from headaches. A young woman came to visit him one day, to soothe his sufferings with her songs. But the indignant child drove her from the room. And God rewarded him for his zeal; for he got up from his bed immediately, and was cured. (Campbell, 1949:124)
The example above shows that if the hero managed to survive the temptation to touch the woman, he or she shall be given good reward. It can be concluded that the theory meant to say that if the hero surrenders to the temptress, then he should be punished just like Beowulf. In the other hand, if the hero survives the temptress, then he should be rewarded just like Saint Bernard.
In The Lord of the Ring, the temptress was not exactly present by a woman. In fact, a presence of a women figure to seduce is not found in the novel. However, all across the story, the Ring itself produced strong seduction that creates obstacles for the hero to achieve his quest. There were two incidents where the seduction caused a great threat to the quest. The first one was when Frodo gave up to the lure of the Ring and put on the Ring to his finger at Amon Sûl. As a result of what he’s done, he was stabbed by the Morgul King. The second one happened at the climax, when Frodo was so close to accomplish his mission to destroy the Ring at the edge of the crack of
Mount Doom. Instead throwing the Ring to the fire, he put on the Ring and ran until
Gollum bit his finger off. d. Atonement With the Father
According to Campbell, atonement with the father is the phase where the hero reconciles with his father or a figure that he regarded as his father after some kind of 78
dispute or separation happen between them. The reconciliation is usually followed by the realization of similar character or nature between the father and the son.
When the child outgrows the popular idyl of the mother breast and turns to face the world of specialized adult action, it passes, spiritually, into the sphere of the father – who becomes, for his son, the sign of the future task, and for his daughter, of future husband. ... there is a new element of rivalry in the picture: the son against the father for the mastery of the universe, and the daughter against the mother to be the mastered world. (Campbell, 1949:124)
The example of the myth Campbell provides in his book is about Phaëton, the forgotten son of Phoebus, the bearer of the Sun. Phaëton went to the house of the
Sun, where his father lived. After journeyed passing many difficult trials, he requested to his father to let him drove the chariot that carry the Sun around the Earth.
The example shows the son who had been separated from his father, yet when they were met, the son wanted to be like his father.
As for Frodo Baggins, in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the father-like figure is Bilbo Baggins. Unlike Hobbits in general, Bilbo Baggins in the past had ever left the Shire to take adventure during his youth. Moreover, Bilbo left Frodo to journey to west when the two hobbits were celebrating their birthday together as they were born at the same date. Frodo waited until his age was equal to Bilbo’s age when he did his first adventure to depart to Rivendell, following Gandalf suggestion. When they both met in Rivendell as adventurers, Bilbo gave all his most valuable adventuring equipments, a sword named Sting and a mithril coat to Frodo. This meeting settled Frodo and Bilbo’s position as adventurer father and son. Thus this 79
part of the story also reflected the phase of Monomyth, atonement with the father, in which a unity between son and father occurred. e. Apotheosis
Campbell described this phase as the moment where the hero realized and accepted his destiny and commit to accomplish his quest. The example given was the
Lotus bearer in Hindu mythicism, who “made a vow that before entering the void he would bring all creatures without exception to enlightment” (Campbell, 1949: 150).
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Ring, this phase was represented as Frodo voluntarily offer himself, in Council of Elrond, to bear the One Ring and destroy it in
Mount Doom. At that moment he started to realize two main things, those are he accepted the fact that he was the true Ring bearer as he inherited the Ring from Bilbo and he definitely knew that the Ring must be destroy. Thus, Frodo realized and accepted the fact that the task of destroying the One Ring was destined to be his task. f. The Ultimate Boon
The ultimate boon is the chapter or scene in the myth whereas the hero has accomplished the task burdened to him. In Hindu story about the war between the joined gods and the titans over the moon-cup of Amrita (the nectar that could give immortal life), the ultimate boon is the moment when Vishnu, who disguised himself as a beautiful dancer, charmed the titans, took the cup and passed it to the gods.
Often, the motive of the hero’s quest in many myths is the nectar or food that can give immortal life such as ambrosia in Greek mythology and peach that is stolen by 80
Monkey King in Chinese mythology. Thus, the ultimate boon is the moment when the hero managed to get the food of immortality after he went through many trials.
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the quest was not seeking for immortality, instead it was to destroy the Ring that can give immortal life. It is expected that if the Ring destroyed, which automatically would stop evil people, who wanted to use its power to dominate Middle Earth, from mobilizing evil ways to take over the Ring.
The ultimate boon in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is described in book six – chapter three. According to plot analysis, the ultimate boon is within the climax.
It is described in this chapter that the hero, Frodo Baggins and his sidekick, Sam
Gamgee, had arrived at the side of the cauldron of Mount Doom. The cauldron of
Mount Doom is the only place that stores the lava that is hot enough to melt the One
Ring and it also the place where the One Ring used to be forged. When Frodo is about to throw the Ring to the cauldron, suddenly the Ring took over his mind and he fell to the desire to own the Ring, thus Frodo put it on his finger and started to run.
However, Gollum, the third Ring bearer, who had been longing for the Ring, bitten off Frodo’s finger and took over the Ring. As Gollum held the Ring on his palm, he jumped and laughed in happiness, that it was too late to realize that he was fallen to the cauldron, thus the heat of the lava killed him and destroyed the Ring.
3. Return
Return is the stage where the quest has been accomplished. It focus on describing the hero’s journey home and the settlement of the kingdom, which mostly also 81
reflected within failing action and resolution part of the plot. In this section, the writer of the thesis will point out how the six stages of Return is reflected within the plot of
Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. a. The Refusal of the Return
Refusal of the return happen after the hero managed to accomplish the task, but the hero refused to go back to his community, instead he wanted to continue live in other realm such as the realm among gods and goddess as the book states “Numerous indeed are the heroes fabled to have taken up residence forever in the blessed isle of the unaging Goddess of Immortal Being” (Campbell, 1949:193). The example
Campbell provides in his book was the myth of King Muchukunda, an ancient Hindu warrior king. King Muchukunda managed to accomplish his quest in a mighty victory of a war between the kings against the demons. He was granted a wish for that, and he asked for an eternity sleep in a place unknown to man. Thus after the King accomplished his quest he did not want to come back to his community where he used to belong.
To take conclusion from all of the examples Campbell provides in his book, this denial happens in the middle of the story after the main conflict resolved, and after that the hero might finally decided to come back anyway. Contrary to that, Tolkien used this phase to end the story in The Lord of the Ring. In fact, the story ended by
Frodo’s departure to undying land, the land where the immortal Elves lived. He departed after living for a few years in his home town after he accomplished his quest. During that moment, Frodo somehow felt that he did not belong to the Hobbit 82
community of the Shire although he had been spending his entire life in there. He said to Sam, “...I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.” (The Lord of the
Rings: 1006). Therefore, Frodo decided to spend the rest of his life in a place far away across the sea, where Elves lived there eternally and other hobbits and human would never be found there. b. The Magic Flight
The magic flight happens when the hero still need to run away from a particular danger or harm after the ultimate boon or after the quest is achieved. An example by
Campbell is the tale of Jason from Greek, who had to run away from King Aeëtes after took away the Golden Fleece and ran away with the King’s daughter.
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the writer of this thesis found that this phase described in the story as the land of Mordor destroyed as the result of the doom of the One Ring. At that moment, Frodo and Sam had to run away from the blowing mountain, cracking soil and lava flows as more or less describes in the following,
Frodo and Sam could go no further. Their last strength of mind and body was swiftly ebbing. They had reached a low ashen hill piled at the Mountain’s foot; but from it there was no more escape. It was an island now, not long to endure, amid the torment of Orodruin. All about it the earth gaped, and from deep rifts and pits smoke and fumes leaped up. Behind them the Mountain was convulsed. Great rents opened in its side. Slow rivers of fire came down the long slopes towards them. Soon they would be engulfed. A rain of hot ash was falling. (The Lord of the Rings: 929) The magic flight being described in the story was when a company of Giant Eagle suddenly came to save Frodo and Sam from the scene described by the quotation 83
above. By the suggestion of Gandalf, the Giant Eagles came, took Sam and Frodo by using their claws, and took off with the hobbits in their claws. c. Rescue from Without
According to Campbell, “The hero may have to be brought back from his supernatural adventure by assistance from without” (Campbell, 1949: 207). The word
“without” in the previous quotation could mean supernatural power or divinity.
Moreover, Campbell explained “They show in the final stages of the adventure the continued operation of the supernatural assisting force that has been attending the elect through the whole course of his ordeal” (Campbell, 1949: 216). Thus it means that there would be a supernatural power to guide the hero back home.
The writer of this thesis found that in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,
Frodo Baggins and his fellow hobbits were accompanied by mighty people from
Mount Doom to his home in the Shire. As Frodo ran away from the lava of Mount
Doom and the devastation of Mordor, a group of mighty giant eagle came to rescue him from the disaster by carrying him up in the air and brought him to a safe place in
Ithillien. Moreover, Frodo’s journey from Ithillien to Bree was accompanied and guarded by Gandalf the Wizard to ensure his safety during the trip to home. d. Crossing of the Return Threshold
The return of the threshold is the phase in myth whereas the hero comes back or returns from his adventure to his land or village as describes in the quotation below,
The hero adventures out of the land we know into darkness; there he accomplishes his adventure, or again is simply lost to us, imprisoned, or in danger; and his return is described as a coming back out of that yonder zone. (Campbell, 1949:193) 84
In Cinderella story, this phase is represented as the time when she came back to live in the palace after she marriage with the Prince Charming and they live happily ever after. However, in The Lord of the Rings, the return of Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin to their village was not the end of their struggle against evil since they found out that the Shire was still under domination of Saruman and his ruffians. As the four Hobbits arrived in their village, they found locked gate, gatekeeper and a set of new rules beyond the custom previously applied by the Hobbit of the Shire. Thus after they arrived at the village, they went struggle to recover their village by leading a battle to take over their land. e. Master of the Two Worlds
Resulting from the adventure, some hero become the master of the two worlds, those are the world where he experienced the adventure and the world where he came from. It means that he master capacity more than capacity of most people in his surroundings. One of the examples given is Vishnu from Hindu mysticism, whereas he was the master of the world of Gods and Goddesses and the master in human world in his incarnation form, Krishna. Another example from modern story is Neo from the Matrix whereas he was able to empower his mind power in Matrix (the digital world) and in real world. It can be concluded that after going through a series of adventure, the hero came back with more power or knowledge beyond the nature of people in general.
In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the event provided was not as obvious as Neo in Matrix, who had the capacity to battle in Matrix world. In The Lord of the Rings, 85
the improvement experienced by the hero was not in terms of power, instead it was his wisdom. As he came back from the adventure, it was revealed that the adventure had built Frodo’s wisdom. He became wiser than any other hobbits and even from higher creature such as Elves.
Through several events, it can be conclude that he was able to see things in a point of view that few people would understand. This way of seeing things can be considered as a wiser point of view than people in general. The first event in the novel that shows that Frodo’s wisdom had growth was when Frodo pitied Gollum, released him and trusted him as the guide to Mount Doom. Sam failed to understand why Frodo did that, but having Gollum as their guide, somehow had contributed to significant improvement of their journey to Mount Doom. The second evidence of his wisdom was when Frodo tested everyone the capacity of everyone around him upon the luring power of the Ring by offering the Ring to most of his friends including
Aragorn, Gandalf and Galadriel. To this wisdom, Lady Galadriel complimented
Frodo by saying to him, “Wise the Lady Galadriel may be ... yet here she has met her match in courtesy.” (The Lord of the Rings: 356). Finally, during the battle in the
Shire to chase away ruffians, instead of joining the battle, he cooled down other hobbits so they would not go too far as described in the book, “Frodo had been in the battle, but he had not drawn sword, and his chief part had been to prevent the hobbits in their wrath at their losses, from slaying those of their enemies who threw down their weapons.” (The Lord of the Rings: 993). Thus, Frodo’s wisdom is not only 86
unique compares to other hobbits, but it was also beyond the wisdom capacity of other hobbits and people. f. Freedom to Live
Freedom to live is the phase where the hero back to his peaceful daily routine as it was before he had the adventure. The writer of this thesis found that this phase of the myth is found at the last chapter of The Lord of the Rings. It was describes that Frodo was back to live again in Bag Ends, all the Hobbit rebuild their village and replanted the trees and plant. Basically everybody and everything went back to a normal and peaceful life like it was before Frodo’s journey to destroy the One Ring.
Based on all of the explanation within the Monomyth section, it can be seen that each phase of Monomyth can be reflected within Frodo’s journey. The theory itself was based on the corpus on hundreds of myths all across the world as stated by
Joseph Campbell. Thus, the writer of this thesis also believe that in creating The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien used myth structure to support the genre that he coined down, mythopoeia. Therefore, if Monomyth pattern was reflected within a character’s journey in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, thus the character should be the hero of the story since his adventure is using the same pattern as the hero’s adventure pattern within Monomyth theory. Within the previous section, the writer of this thesis has proven that Frodo’s adventure was using the same pattern as Monomyth, which makes Frodo, the hero of the story. As a conclusion, the writer of this thesis believes that the Monomyth pattern reflected in Frodo’s journey within Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings signifies Frodo Baggins as the hero of the story. 87
CHAPTERV
CONCLUSION
In his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two
Towers, and The Return of the King, J. R. R. Tolkien presents a series of adventures experienced by a Hobbit named Frodo to destroy a powerful ring, the One Ring. In this thesis, the writer would like to analyze the archetypal pattern within the plot of the story. Thus, the writer of this thesis opens the way to analyze the archetypal pattern by analyzing the plot first.
At the first layer of analysis, the writer of this thesis uses theory of plot, which described that there are five elements of plot, which are exposition, complication, crisis, failing action and resolution. Within the first element, Tolkien introduces all main characters and the potential conflict. The story began in a village named the
Shire. A number of characters being introduced were Gandalf the wizard, Bilbo the hobbit who inherited the Ring to his nephew, Frodo who inherit the Ring and became the Ring bearer, and Frodo’s best friends such as Sam, Merry and Pippin. The conflict itself is the Ring because the Ring carried so much power that might be misuse by evil people, which in this case is Sauron, who want to rule Middle Earth in a wicked way.
During complication, many decisions to deal with the conflict were made and implemented. This element is also the element that covers most of the story since it
87 88
covers at least 52 chapters within the book or about 1000 pages. At this stage, Frodo as the hero had to deal with many trials ever since he decided to bear the Ring and journey east. Each journey was not easy at all since Frodo and his best friends had to deal with many life-threatening challenges in form of attacks from many evil creatures including the Old Willow tree, Barrow-Wights, Orcs and Uruks, the Nine
Ringwraiths, etc. Despite of all the trials, Frodo finally managed to get to the crack of
Mount Doom along with his loyal best friend, Sam Gamgee.
The new stage of plot, crisis begin as Frodo and Sam arrived at the crack of
Mount Doom, when Gollum bit off Frodo’s finger to get the Ring. Mad in happiness as he managed to claim the Ring, Gollum jumping and laughing crazily until he realized that he was jumping way too far that he fell to the cauldron of fire in the crack of Mount Doom. The destruction of the Ring marked the end of crisis.
After the conflict has passed, the new stage of plot, falling action, begins. Falling action element covers the process of restoration of the kingdom after being destructed by the war of the Ring. As for the hero, Frodo Baggins, he went back to his village the Shire and rearranges his life back to how it used to.
The last element of plot, resolution, describes how the story ends. As the hero,
Frodo Baggins, did not feel that his home in his village is the place that he belongs, he decided to leave the Shire and stay in the Undying Land, the place where all Elves lived. He departed along with his uncle, Bilbo, Gandalf the wizard, and all Elves of
Middle Earth. Frodo’s departure to Undying Land marks the end of the story. 89
Now on the second layer of analysis, after analysing the plot, the writer of this thesis moves on to analyze the archetypal pattern within the plot. The writer of this thesis uses theory from Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand
Faces. Based on his research on hundreds of mythology all across the world,
Campbell describes in his book the pattern within the adventure of any hero, which can be found in the plot of the story. The pattern consists of three basic stages, departure, initiation and return. Within each stage, there are 5-6 sub-stages.
Departure is the element describing the introduction phase of a story until the hero decided to depart to adventure. The first stage of departure is the call to adventure, which in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings comprises a phase where the Ring was found and the hero and many important figure to the quest were introduced such as
Frodo the hero, the hero’s best friend (Sam, Merry and Pippin), and Gandalf the wizard as the hero’s helper. During the second stage of departure, Frodo refused the offered to bear the Ring. However, Frodo at the end agreed to take the Ring following
Gandalf persuasion. The supernatural aid, as the third stage, is represented by Gandalf the wizard, who provided amulet (the Ring itself) and many valuable advises for the hero. At the fourth stage, crossing of the first threshold, the hero and his friends crossed a border to another land, which in this case was the border of the Shire, which guarded by Farmer Maggot. The last stage of departure is the belly of the whale, in which the hero is thought to be dead, which in fact is what hobbit of the Shire thought ever since Frodo left the village. 90
Initiation is the stage describing the journey of the hero to achieve his quest. Most of this stage can also be found within complication and crisis elements of plot.
Initiation consists of 6 sub-stages. The first stage, road to trials, covers the trials that the hero had to deal with during his journey. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, it covers all of the challenging adventure the hero had to take that is to survive from enemies’ attacks during the journey including Old Willow tree, Barrow-Wights,
Uruks, Orcs, Balrog, Shelob, etc. The second stage, meeting with the Goddess, was when the hero met a Goddess figure that the unity between them can nourish the soul of both of them. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, it is presented in Frodo’s meeting with Queen Galadriel as the goddess. The next stage called woman as the temptress, in which a figure of a woman will be presented to the hero to tempt the hero to give up his quest. In Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, the temptress is not presented by a woman. Instead, the Ring itself consistently produced the appeals for
Frodo to give up his quest. During the next stage, atonement with the father, Frodo met Bilbo and unity happened between both after separated for a long time.
Apotheosis, as another stage of initiation, is the stage when the hero accepts his destiny. This stage is presented as Frodo offered himself to be the Ring-bearer during
Council of Elrond. The last stage, the ultimate boon, is realized in the novel when
Frodo arrived at the crack of Mount Doom to destroy the Ring.
The last stage, return, describes about the hero’s journey home and the end of the story. This stage also consisted of six sub-stages. The first stage, refusal of the return became the closing part in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, in which, Frodo decided 91
to leave Middle Earth to stay in the Elven kingdom, Undying Land. The second stage, the magic flight, presented in the novel at the part when Frodo was trying to escape the fire of Mount Doom that exploded after the Ring was destroyed. The third stage, rescue from without, presented in the novel when a company of giant eagle led by
Gwaihir saved Frodo and Sam from the destruction that happens in Mordor. The next stage, the crossing of the return threshold, presented in the novel while Frodo, Sam,
Merry and Pippin found a gate, fences and guards surrounds their village and the hobbits led a battle to get their village back. Master of the two worlds, the next stage of return, represented as Frodo became wiser more than the nature of his kin. While the last stage, freedom to live was presented after the hobbits managed to take over their village and rebuilt a same old brand new peaceful life in their village.
Based on the explanation above, the writer of this thesis concludes that all stages of hero’s journey based on Campbell’s theory exist within Frodo’s adventure.
Moreover, since Campbell’s Monomyth theory illustrated the archetypal pattern within the hero’s adventure, the writer of this thesis believe that Frodo is the hero of the story. Therefore, the existence of archetypal pattern within the adventure of Frodo
Baggins signifies that the hero of the story is Frodo Baggins. 92
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