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Home , Black Speech, Cirth, David Bratman, Pippin Took, Samwise Gamgee

Realistic Fantasy: The example of J. R.R. Tolkien's

he Lord of the Rings, John trees. The purpose of this kind of Ronald Reuel Tolkien's best Nikolaos Koravos representation is to make the landscape known work, was published of the imaginary world as alive and real in three volumes between Rings was a revolutionary fantasy text as possible. Furthermore, as Lee D. 1954 and 1955. The effect was in that it included no excuse of Rossi" observes, there is on the maps suprising. It became the first fantasy dreaming or travelling in order to “an abundance of strange place book to record such popularity. As account for the occurrence of the names”, which breathe life into the reports', it events related in the story. The narrator geographical regions by giving them became part of the sixties movement, treats the reader as an inhabitant of historical, political and natural with badges bearing slogans such as Middle-earth, not of the real, primary significance. As the members of the 'Come to Middle-earth' appearing on world. As explained in the Prologue of fellowship of the Ring travel lapels. The appeal the book had and the book, the narrative is based on throughout Middle-earth, the reader is still has to the public is a phenomenon archives that survived in the libraries of better acquainted with these places as which raises several questions. What is and other realms of Middle- he is provided with further, elaborate the quality that keeps the readers' earth. and the main source is the Red information. interest stimulated through eleven Book which was written by Bilbo and Place descriptions occupy a large part hundred pages? And, mainly, how can Frodo himself 7. Thus, the fantasy of The Lord of the Rings. Their role in Tolkien's fantasy world harmonise with world is treated as having an entirely the story is to convey to the reader the the minds of so many readers around autonomous existence, unlike previous sense that these places are real. the world? The answer is partially travel, dream or timeslip tales. As Tolkien's descriptions are detailed and given by the author himself in his essay David Bratman puts it, “The Lord of given with an emotion that creates the On Fairy-Stories which was first the Rings marked the end of apology”8. impression he has actually been there. published in 1947. In this essay Even though in the past there had been One of the best examples is the Tolkien explains his innovative theory writers like Lord Dunsany that created description of the approaches to the about fantasy stories. He proposes that partially autonomous fantasy worlds, it Morannon, the desolation that lay the writer should create a “secondary was Tolkien who first developed a before :'4 world which your mind can enter. coherent theory on that matter and also Inside it, what he relates is ‘true’. It applied it in his own stories. Middle- Here nothing lived, not even the accords with the laws of that world"’2. earth is, in many respects, unique in leprous growths that feed on The world of The Lord of the Rings is fantasy literature. Its sense of reality is rottenness. The gasping pools were based on this very principle. not the result of simply refusing to use choked with ash and crawling Tolkien included some other relevant dreaming or similar devices. Its most muds, sickly white and grey, as if ideas in his essay. According to him, a important element is that it is an almost the mountains had vomited the filth fantasy story can be successful only if “fully imagined secondary world”4 of their entrails upon the lands it convinces the reader about its described in amazingly great detail. about. High mounds of crushed and truthfulness, creating thus in him a kind The geography of Middle-earth, for powdered rock, great cones of earth of “secondary belief’3. As a result, he example, contributes significantly to fire-blasted and poison-stained, concludes, “The keener and the clearer the realism of the fantasy world. The stood like an obscene graveyard in is reason, the better fantasy it will maps which accompany The Lord of endless rows, slowly revealed in make”4. For Tolkien fantasy worlds the Rings are very elaborate. Without the reluctant light. must have an “inner consistency of them it is very difficult to follow the reality”5, without which Art cannot be events. Apart from the general map of It is important that the landscapes of produced. For fantasy is a form of Middle-earth10, there is a detailed map Middle-earth, even though they belong “sub-creative art”6, which means the of The Shire", and also one of , to an imaginary world, do not appear creation of mythical images which and Mordor, the region where alien to the reader. The desolation accord to internal laws and thus seem most of the action takes place12. These before Mordor resembles places on credible. Tolkien has used in The Lord maps do not simply show the divisions Earth which have been devastated by o f the Rings various techniques which between political or physical unities, industrialism or warfare. Tolkien make his own fantasy world, Middle- but also give information on such himself wrote that the description of earth, exceptionally convincing and details as paths, mountain passes, river the approaches to the Morannon may realistic. It is precisely this aspect of crossings, bridges and hills. The maps “owe something to Northern France the book that many readers find so resemble landscapes. Forests, for after the battle of the Somme”15 where appealing. First of all, The Lord of the instance, are represented by miniature he had fought in 1916. Beautiful

31 Mallorn XXXVIII landscapes do not appear alien either, factors that influence it, such as the krimpatuF*29. The Elvish speech, on In the earthly paradise of Lothlorien need for survival or the desire for the other hand, is highly musical: "Elen “the shapes seemed at once clear cut, power. Above all, the history of sila lumenn’ omentielvo”** "°. The as they had been first conceived” but Middle-earth has been marked by the languages of Middle-earth seem to fit still Frodo realises that he “saw no struggle between two conflicting perfectly its races, good and evil. Thus, colour but those he knew, gold and forces, Good and Evil. One of the most they become as convincing as possible, white and blue and green”16. The plants important qualities of The Lord of the Tolkien invented also two , and animals of Middle-earth are the Rings is that it has the sense of being a the Tengwcir and the , which same that exist in the real world, only part of this ancient struggle. The appear in the story51, and are explained they are enriched and sometimes present story is simply a continuation in the appendices'". The different races elevated. Tolkien had supported in his of a larger story that is often referred to of Middle-earth communicate with the essay On Fairy-Stories the idea that in the text but is never fully related. As Westron, the Common Speech. Tolkien fantasy holds more realism than the T.A Shippey puts it, the book has a explains that the text is actually an m o d e rn w o rld , a n d w ro te “Beowulfian impression of depth, English translation of the Common characteristically: “The notion that created as in the old epic by songs and Speech, and gives an account of how motor-cars ... are more real than, say, digressions like Aragom’s Lay of he translated names and which horses, is pathetically absurd” 17. Tinuviel22, Sam Gamgee's allusions to linguistic patterns he used for this Tolkien’s fantasy stories are concerned the Silmaril and the Iron Crown23... and purpose"'. In general, the languages of with horses, trees and high mountains dozens more”.24 The story of the Ring Middle-earth are described in detail to a far greater extent than the modem is presented as another part of the and make the secondary world even world is. Thus, it is not suprising that everlasting struggle of the ‘good’ races more credible. The races of Tolkien's Bratman18 finds Middle-earth “more of Middle-earth against Evil, a stmggle world, apart from having their real than our own reality, and brighter”, which is as ancient as the beginning of respective languages, have also their The realism of Tolkien’s world is time, when in the First Age, , respective social structures. The Shire strengthened by the historical the first Dark Lord, “of whom society is pastoral and conservative. Its information contained both in the of Mordor was but a servant, dwelt in inhabitants are simple, rural folk, with narrative itself and in the appendices. Angband in the North”25. By making strong family ties. There is no There are several parts of the story allusions to a rem ote, almost government, but the are where the reader is provided with mythological past, Tolkien creates the peaceful and lawful by nature"4. The details concerning the history of impression that his “story is not in the Elven societies are also simple, but Middle-earth. , in his talk with air”26. Thus, the secondary world they do have some kind of authority, Frodo and Sam, gives an account of the becomes even more convincing, though not absolute. In Lothlorien, for origins of the states of Rohan and creating a vast scale of time. example, there is Lord Celebom and Gondor16. There is also a great amount A fully imagined fantasy world must Lady . Elves worship Nature of historical information given in the have its own imaginary languages. In and their role in the world is the council of , concerning the first The Lord o f the Rings, the peoples of preservation of natural life. Human war with Sauron and other more recent Middle-earth use various languages, societies resemble medieval Europe. events20. In the appendices, there is from the of Mordor to They have many feudal domains which further information on such matters as the Elvish . These languages are ruled by a monarch who is the Kings of Gondor and Rohan or the are not simply random strings of supposed to be the representative of the wars between Ores and Dwarves, and sounds, but are based on specific people, responsible for their welfare, there is also a chart which puts the phonological patterns. Tolkien used his Most of the societies of Middle-earth various events of the Second and the own linguistic knowledge in order to are patriarchal, especially the dwarven, Third Ages of Middle-earth into design his invented languages. Two of where males constitute the two thirds chronological order21.An examination them, the and the Quenya, had of the population. The Ores are of the history of the secondary world “reached a fairly high degree of described as brutal, evil creatures, shows that its sense of reality is not organisation”27. What makes Tolkien's “hating even their own kind”' 5, the only a matter of its being detailed. The invented languages even more natural servants of Sauron. Tolkien historical events are described in an convincing is that each has its own gives many details concerning the almost scientific manner. The races of distinctive sounds. Rossi points out that habits of his races, such as the Middle-earth have endured wars, the Black Speech of Mordor, “with its custom of giving presents on their famine and disease, and have often concatenation of low and back vowels birthday, the dwarve’s love for stone been forced to migrate in order to and and sibilant consonants” and their subtle craftsmanship, and the escape these and other calamities, seems to be “the very language of Elven practice of baking the waybread Barbarian tribes have invaded their hell”28 Truly, the inscription of the lembas. Thus, the peoples of Middle- lands, alliances have been forged and Ring, which is in Mordorian, sounds earth are not mere bodies but social traitors have appeared. In general, the very unpleasant: “Ash nazg durbatuluk, beings, with their own culture. Their history of the secondary world is based ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg description is detailed, based on reason, on reason, taking into account all the thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi and therefore realistic and credible. * “ to rule them all, One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them". ** “A star shines on the hour of our meeting”.

32 Realistic fantasy... Failure to understand that Tolkien's that his world is patriarchal, but races are ‘real’, social beings, not world has its own social structures may Galadriel’s superiority is also shown politically correct ones. be the reason that led certain critics to when she corrects her husband’s The races of Middle-earth are not make some rather unfair judgements. J. description of Gandalfs choices as only social, but also ‘natural’ beings. W Lambert commented that The Lord “folly”: “He would be rash indeed who They seem to be united with the places o f the Rings has “to all intentions and would say that thing”38. The case of of Middle-earth they inhabit, and purposes no women”36, and Catharine Galadriel, by far the most elevated Middle-earth appears to “breathe with Stimpson found Tolkien “blandly, character in the story, shows clearly the lives of its inhabitants”39. Tolkien’s traditionally masculine”, and his that the existence of few female secondary world is, in many ways, women “the most hackneyed of characters in The Lord o f the Rings is ‘liveable’. Elves, for example, live in stereotypes”. Even though both simply due to the social structures of complete harmony with Nature, and so comments are not entirely fair, it is true Middle-earth and the theme of the do Hobbits. Most races do not appear that there are few female characters in novel, and the reason is definitely not alien, as they are humanoid. Yet, the the story, and only one, Eowyn, is sexism. Above all, Tolkien’s invented liveability of Middle-earth and its active. The story was written by a and, naturally, it is seen from a male point of view. Still, what for Stimpson is ‘traditionally masculine’, for Tolkien is mere necessity. His world is patriarchal, as the real world has been in the past. In such a world it would not be credible if in the journey to Mordor Frodo was accompanied by women, or if women participated in the battles he describes. Eowyn, the niece of King Th^oden, is the only active female character, as she rides in disguise with the army of Rohan and slays the Nazgul Lord in the battle of Pelennor. In order to achieve this she had to conceal her female identity, because women were simply not expected to participate in fighting. Her own words to Aragom reveal the social status of women in Rohan: “All your words are but to say: you are a woman, and your part is in the house”37. Even Lady Galadriel of Lothi6rien, though infinitely wiser than Lord Celebom, says that “the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the vvisest of the Elves of Middle- earth”38, acknowledging in this way his authority. Thus, Tolkien stresses B a ra d -d u r Octo Kwan

33 Mallorn XXXVIII inhabitants is apparent even in the case of Gondor, on the other hand, notion of the Ores, an entire race that of the tree-like race of the . The uses an archaic language. “Didst thou was irredeemably wicked, was not Ents are the shepherds of the trees, the think that the eyes of the White Tower heretical”45. The answer is that the guardians of the forests. They have the were blind? Nay, 1 have seen more Ores were not originally evil, but were shapes of trees themselves, and at times than thou knowest, Grey Fool”43. corrupted by the Dark Lord in the they are “growing sleepy, going tree- Language style also depends on the remote past. “The Shadow that bred ish”40. After some time they may situational context. Bilbo’s birthday them can only mock ... it only ruined awake, becoming Ents once again. Ents party is narrated in a comic manner, them and twisted them”46. The do not simply live in the forest, they whereas in the siege of Gondor the existence of the Ultimate Evil are part of its life. They represent the language is elevated and the style epic. personified in Sauron and the inability power of Nature. In the war against Tolkien seems to cover in the text a to use the Ring other than for evil and his Ores, they attack great variety of different aspects of life purposes is another matter. The and destroy it, taking their experience. In this respect, his problem can be solved if one considers revenge for the cutting of the trees of characters and situations do appear Sauron and his Ring not unrealistic but Fangorn forest. At the Hornburg, credible. The credibility of the ‘unnatural’. Tolkien connected the Fangorn forest marches to battle, characters of The Lord o f the Rings Ring and its Magic to the Machine. surrounding Saruman’s Orcish troops. has, however, been questioned. Edwin “The Machine is our more obvious From the shadow of the trees “none Muir commented in The Observer that modem form ... related to Magic”47. ever came again”. If one considers the the story’s “good people are Sauron and his Ring convey to the results of the destruction of woodlands consistently good” and its “evil figures reader a “sense of wrongness”48. They in the real world, it is easier to immutably evil”. Of course, this are the unnatural, brutal force which understand the symbolism of the Ents comment is not entirely true. is threatens to destroy the natural world, and of Fangom, and thus the forest’s a villain who nearly repented, and in the same way that in the modem revenge seems an entirely natural Saruman, who was originally good, world the Machine, in all its degenerate event. Life in The Lord o f the Rings is betrayed the White Council and sided forms, threatens the life of the planet. connected with Nature, and in this way with Evil. Yet, it is true that most This may be one of the reasons why the story becomes credible and the characters are consistently either good Sauron and the Ring seem so secondary world liveable. With the use or evil throughout the novel. This may frightening. In the light of this view, of the Ents and other inventions, such not appear credible compared to Tolkien’s notion of Evil appears if not as the connection of Evil to the modem reality, but Tolkien's story does natural, at least credible within the destruction of landscapes, Tolkien not take place in the modem world. If it fantasy world. manages to give an ecological tone to was, as Tolkien wrote in the foreward The realism of The Lord of the Rings his novel, strengthening its realism in to The Lord o f the Rings, “then is connected in many ways to its the process. certainly the Ring would have been thematic concerns. The problems of the By the use of all these means, seized and used against Sauron”44, not secondary world are caused by the Tolkien makes his fantasy world entrusted to Frodo. The story’s good same human weaknesses that create convincing and gives the reader no characters, in particular, conform not ‘real world’ problems. Rossi49 saw the excuse to discredit it. Still, it is also with modern reality but with a kind of Ring as “the ultimate extension of the important to convince the reader about Christian or humanitarian morality human will”, the symbol of “the the truthfulness of the story’s which does exist in the real world as a dangers and ambiguities which Tolkien characters, situations and themes. As belief. Yet, Frodo’s failure to throw the sees in the wielding of temporal far as characters are concerned, The Ring into the Fire shows that even the power”. The destruction of Middle- Lord o f the Rings appears in many simple Hobbits cannot remain totally earth, the wars and the betrayals, as respects credible. In Tolkien’s work unaffected by the power of Evil. It is well as the subsequent resistance of the “the ordinary and the marvellous ... really a matter of one’s own moral ‘good’ races to Evil, are the result of inhabit the same overarching reality”41. expectations whether he will believe the desire for power which transfomis This is very important for the Tolkien's characters or not. One could the weak into and the great credibility of the story’s characters. also argue that situations in The Lord of into Saurons and Sarumans. Yet, power Among them one can find a comic the Rings are not always realistic. is not the only theme of the story. , a tragic Gollum, a divine Given the circumstances, the defeat of Malcolm Page56 describes the book as Galadriel, a naive Sam Gamgee, a mad Sauron seems impossible, yet it “many-faceted: fairy story and history, Lord Denethor, brutal Ores, a happens. Though this may not seem magical and realistic, pessimistic about treacherous Saruman, and many others. realistic, the reader finds it credible for society yet hopeful about individuals, It is a story that has every kind of two reasons. First, the possibility of a escapist fantasy-romance and aware of colour and movement, covering a large victory over Sauron, however small, human truths”. The Lord o f the Rings, variety of characters and situations. did exist. Second, its being so small with its ecological aspect and the fear Language reflects the different made it even more desirable so that the of violent change it implies has personalities of the heroes and the reader is ready to accept it. managed to become “one of the best seriousness of the situations. Hobbits, The existence of the Ultimate Evil expressions of a whole generation’s especially Merry and Pippin, talk creates further complexities. W.H dismay at the modem world” (Rossi51). “lightly in hobbit-fashion”42. Lord Auden had once “asked Tolkien if the Readers find the story convincing

34 Realistic fantasy... because it manages to express their themes which link the story to reality, credible and difficult to distinguish own fears and desires for their world. the distinction between the fantasy from history or reality. Tolkien filters The story is also connected to reality world and the primary world is also the narration through the eyes of the in another way, which was first made clear. The story is by no means a Hobbits, who act as mediators between mentioned by W.H. Auden. Auden, direct allegory. To interpret “Sauron as the contemporary reader and the who reviewed The Lord of the Rings, Hitler, or the Ring as nuclear wonders of Middle-earth. As Rossi55 responded52 to the Quest theme: weapons”53, is a trivial and false observes. Hobbits “might have been “Life ... is primarily a continuous reading of the text. The seat of the Evil [Tolkien's] own acquaintances". There succession of choices between in the East is a mere geographical is something very familiar in their alternatives ... Mr Tolkien has convention and is not meant to refer to characters, especially those of Sam, succeeded more than any previous Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. With Merry and Pippin. In the beginning of writer in this genre in using the regard to nuclear weapons, when the story, they are as ignorant of tire traditional properties of the Quest”. Tolkien began the novel in 1936, they wonders of the fantasy world as the Auden's praise may have been had not yet been discovered. Likewise, reader. Ted Sandyman. when talking to influenced by his personal enthusiasm Saruman’s attempts to create a new Sam Gamgee in the Green Dragon Inn, for the book, but it is true that in the breed of Ores may resemble Nazi questions the existence of , Quest of the Ring the characters must genetical experiments in concentration Elves and giants: “fireside-tales and take difficult decisions, political or camps, but Tolkien wrote this part of children's stories”. As the narrative personal. and the -Lords the story before any news of Nazi unfolds, the reader travels with the decide not to use the Ring. Frodo, the atrocities had reached Britain. The best simple Shire-folk, meeting new places Ring-bearer, takes the decision not to comment on the question of allegory in and people. Tolkien, with the use of go to Minas Tirith but to travel to The Lord o f the Rings is probably that Hobbits, manages to retain the Mordor alone, in order for the Ring to made by C.S Lewis:54 “These things mythical aspect of his story without work no more evil. Then he trusts were not devised to reflect any spoiling the sense of reality which he Gollum as a guide to the Land of the particular situation in the real world. It spent so much effort to build. The Enemy. decides to was the other way round; real events ordinary and the marvellous co-exist in save Frodo's body from the Ores even began, horribly, to conform to the The Lord o f the Rings, which is both a though he thought he was dead, instead pattern he had freely invented”. mythological and a realistic story. of finishing the Quest alone. In general, Tolkien wrote in the foreward to The The Lord of the Rings is a unique the characters of the story choose the Lord o f the Rings that he disliked fantasy text. Its sense of reality is very most difficult roads and are finally allegory and preferred “history, true or strong. Its success in convincing the rewarded with the fall of Sauron and feigned, with its varied applicability to reader is not simply a matter of the destruction of the Ring. Once the thought and experience of readers”. applying specific techniques. The book again, Tolkien's characters appear to Thus, his imaginary world is conveys the feeling not of invention, conform with human morality rather completely autonomous and the events but of discovery. The best explanation than human reality. Still, it is unfair to he relates are treated as history. The that can be found for its credibility is reject their realism. They have fears story is simply aware of human truths, given by Tolkien.56 who wrote in one and weaknesses, they struggle with not dependent on real world situations. of his letters: “[The stories] arose in my themselves, and within a fantasy The resemblance with historical events, mind as ‘given' things, and as they environment their taking the morally if any, shows only how realistic came, separately, so too the links right decisions is easier to believe. Tolkien's story is. The Lord o f the grew ... 1 had the sense of recording What adds considerably to the Rings is not of course real history, but what was already there, somewhere: realism of The Lord o f the Rings is that an invented myth. Yet, with the use of not of inventing”. even though it concerns itself with narrative techniques, the myth becomes

References 1, 36, 54. Carpenter, Humphrey. J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography, 1977. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995. pp232-3, p223. pl93. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 17. “On Fairy-Stories”. . London: George Alien and Unwin, 1964. p36, p46, p51, p46, p50, p57. 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40, 42, 43, 44, 46. The Lord o f the Rings. 1954-5. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995. pl3, pi 141, pl8, pll46, p617, p662, p233, pl009, pl87, p696, pl89, p247, p79, p298 and 311, pl087, pll07, p9. pi 105, p767, p347, p457, p448, p835, pxvi, p893. 8, 9, 18, 39, 41,48. Bratman, David. ‘Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel”. The Encyclopedia o f Fantasy. Ed. John Clute and John Grant. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. p951, p951, p951, p951, p953, p954. 13, 26, 28, 49, 51, 55. Rossi, Lee D. The Politics o f Fantasy, C.S Lewis and J.RR. Tolkien. Ann Arbor. Michigan: UMI Research Press. 1984. pl28, pi 29, pi 29, pi 22, pl33, pl33. 15, 16, 27, 45, 47, 52, 56. Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Letters o f J.R.R. Tolkien, 1981. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter and . London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995. p303, p341, p380, p3S5, pl46, p238, pl45. 24. Tolkien, Christopher. Foreward. The Book o f Lost Tales Part 1, 1983. By John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. London: Harper Collins Publishers, 1994. p2. 50, 53. Page, Malcolm. “Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel”. Contemporary Novelists. Ed. James Vinson. London: St. James University Press, 1976. p i609, p i609.

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