So you might have noticed that I like Lord of the Rings-
a lot. It has come to having a standard introduction to how much I love it- Yes
I read the books every year, saw the movies ten years ago on TV, loved it ever
since, yada yada.
And then the tricky part begins, because Lord of the Rings is such a big piece of literature that people have a wide range of opinions on it. I've heard it being described as communist, fascist, “a stupid fairy tale”, and a whole bunch of other things. Sometimes other people’s opinions are very interesting and can be true eye-openers. Sometimes I feel like they are terribly wrong but I keep my mouth shut, because the only person who’s allowed to judge about who’s right and who’s wrong died in 1973.
But what has vexed me the most in the past few months is something really dear to me, and I feel like this needs an explanation.
The opinion some people have is this: “Sam is the true hero, not Frodo. Sam did all the fighting. Frodo wouldn't have gotten far without Sam.”
And these people say it with a tone that suggests that Sam could have done the whole thing on his own, and probably better, without Frodo. Because really, Sam suffered a lot more hardships than Frodo, right? Fighting Shelob. Getting Frodo back at Cirith Ungol. Taking care of Frodo so Gollum wouldn't kill him when no one’s looking- for months! He seems to have less trouble carrying the Ring too, when he had to in Mordor. Sam is the one person who never wavers, who is the most loyal, who, in fact, has all the qualities of a “farmer boy turned hero”. He even gets the girl at the end.
What people don’t realise is that Frodo is suffering a lot more than any member of the Fellowship, and not just because of the Ring.
I’ve explained before on my other blog what exactly the Ring is; it’s a duplicate of Sauron’s personality, and though it doesn’t make people evil, it does make them greedier in that unhealthy “means justifying the end” kind of way. Frodo has to fight this urge to use the Ring for about a year.
This is nothing like quitting chocolate, or meat, or cigarettes. But for your sake, let’s use a metaphor.
Imagine I’m giving you a big pizza with all your favourite toppings. Your mouth is watering to eat it. In fact, you haven’t eaten in a long while, and you’re feeling kinda shaky. You’d be refuelling your energy, and then you could go play sports with your friends again. In fact, it’s even better than that. If you eat this pizza, you’d win a prize and you could do that thing you’ve been saving up for- just like that!
But now your mom is telling you to throw this delicious pizza in the trash. You know she has her reasons for asking this of you, and they sounded really convincing when she told you-but what was it again?
And with every step you take to the bin, the temptation grows. The smell of this freshly baked pizza is overwhelming your senses. You can already feel the texture melting in your mouth. And you are so damn hungry, and there’s nothing else to eat in the house. There’s only this pizza, and you can’t even lick it. And in fact, this trash bin is all the way in Russia, and it will take you a couple of months to get there, holding the pizza all the way there, and it’s a special pizza that only gets more delicious the longer you wait.
(This is actually making me crave pizza. The things I do for you.)
So. I hope you realise it’s harder than it looks.
Actually, there’s a lot more happening on a psychological level. Whilst Frodo is doing his best not being greedy (which is like not being angry, or not being in love), there is also the knowledge that as long as he is carrying the Ring that there’s a giant Eye trying to find him and break him. That’s like being paranoid, 24/7, with good reason.
To top all of that off, Frodo has to suffer through several serious injuries. When he gets stabbed at Weathertop we know this is bad, but he heals and the quest goes on. Frodo has a splinter of a Morgul blade edging towards his heart, slowly turning him into a spirit, for fourteen days and all we get from this is “his arm felt cold?!”
Bitch please. At Minas Tirith people fainted with terror if a Ringwraith flew as much as a hundred meters above the city. When Aragorn heals those who have Black Breath after the battle, they are surprised that there’s still something worth living for. I might go in depth about this later, but it seems like a dose of Black Breath causes severe depression.
And let’s not forget he gets stabbed in the friggin’ neck by our darling Shelob. (That’ll teach you to have a mithril shirt with a v-neck…) It’s explained in the books that Shelob “vomits darkness”, and that she takes over the mind of those who can’t resist her.
Seems like a good hunting technique, if you ask me. Making your prey too depressed to live.
My point is- Frodo manages to get through all this physical and emotional truckload of baggage, and yes, he needed Sam on his side to deal with this. He needed Sam to not say “Have you tried being happy instead?”, or “It’s like you’re not even trying.” He needed Sam to get rid of the Ring. Frodo wouldn't have gotten far without Sam. But we shouldn't downplay what he had to deal with.
And then the tricky part begins, because Lord of the Rings is such a big piece of literature that people have a wide range of opinions on it. I've heard it being described as communist, fascist, “a stupid fairy tale”, and a whole bunch of other things. Sometimes other people’s opinions are very interesting and can be true eye-openers. Sometimes I feel like they are terribly wrong but I keep my mouth shut, because the only person who’s allowed to judge about who’s right and who’s wrong died in 1973.
But what has vexed me the most in the past few months is something really dear to me, and I feel like this needs an explanation.
The opinion some people have is this: “Sam is the true hero, not Frodo. Sam did all the fighting. Frodo wouldn't have gotten far without Sam.”
And these people say it with a tone that suggests that Sam could have done the whole thing on his own, and probably better, without Frodo. Because really, Sam suffered a lot more hardships than Frodo, right? Fighting Shelob. Getting Frodo back at Cirith Ungol. Taking care of Frodo so Gollum wouldn't kill him when no one’s looking- for months! He seems to have less trouble carrying the Ring too, when he had to in Mordor. Sam is the one person who never wavers, who is the most loyal, who, in fact, has all the qualities of a “farmer boy turned hero”. He even gets the girl at the end.
What people don’t realise is that Frodo is suffering a lot more than any member of the Fellowship, and not just because of the Ring.
I’ve explained before on my other blog what exactly the Ring is; it’s a duplicate of Sauron’s personality, and though it doesn’t make people evil, it does make them greedier in that unhealthy “means justifying the end” kind of way. Frodo has to fight this urge to use the Ring for about a year.
This is nothing like quitting chocolate, or meat, or cigarettes. But for your sake, let’s use a metaphor.
Imagine I’m giving you a big pizza with all your favourite toppings. Your mouth is watering to eat it. In fact, you haven’t eaten in a long while, and you’re feeling kinda shaky. You’d be refuelling your energy, and then you could go play sports with your friends again. In fact, it’s even better than that. If you eat this pizza, you’d win a prize and you could do that thing you’ve been saving up for- just like that!
But now your mom is telling you to throw this delicious pizza in the trash. You know she has her reasons for asking this of you, and they sounded really convincing when she told you-but what was it again?
And with every step you take to the bin, the temptation grows. The smell of this freshly baked pizza is overwhelming your senses. You can already feel the texture melting in your mouth. And you are so damn hungry, and there’s nothing else to eat in the house. There’s only this pizza, and you can’t even lick it. And in fact, this trash bin is all the way in Russia, and it will take you a couple of months to get there, holding the pizza all the way there, and it’s a special pizza that only gets more delicious the longer you wait.
(This is actually making me crave pizza. The things I do for you.)
So. I hope you realise it’s harder than it looks.
Actually, there’s a lot more happening on a psychological level. Whilst Frodo is doing his best not being greedy (which is like not being angry, or not being in love), there is also the knowledge that as long as he is carrying the Ring that there’s a giant Eye trying to find him and break him. That’s like being paranoid, 24/7, with good reason.
To top all of that off, Frodo has to suffer through several serious injuries. When he gets stabbed at Weathertop we know this is bad, but he heals and the quest goes on. Frodo has a splinter of a Morgul blade edging towards his heart, slowly turning him into a spirit, for fourteen days and all we get from this is “his arm felt cold?!”
Bitch please. At Minas Tirith people fainted with terror if a Ringwraith flew as much as a hundred meters above the city. When Aragorn heals those who have Black Breath after the battle, they are surprised that there’s still something worth living for. I might go in depth about this later, but it seems like a dose of Black Breath causes severe depression.
And let’s not forget he gets stabbed in the friggin’ neck by our darling Shelob. (That’ll teach you to have a mithril shirt with a v-neck…) It’s explained in the books that Shelob “vomits darkness”, and that she takes over the mind of those who can’t resist her.
Seems like a good hunting technique, if you ask me. Making your prey too depressed to live.
My point is- Frodo manages to get through all this physical and emotional truckload of baggage, and yes, he needed Sam on his side to deal with this. He needed Sam to not say “Have you tried being happy instead?”, or “It’s like you’re not even trying.” He needed Sam to get rid of the Ring. Frodo wouldn't have gotten far without Sam. But we shouldn't downplay what he had to deal with.
I’ll stop ranting now.
Until next time,
Bejoes
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