The Fellowship Of The Ring Analysis

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien is an epic that was written recently when it is compared to the epics of the ancient Greeks. The was written in 1954 and began the trilogy known as The Lord of the Rings, “The Fellowship of the Ring, first book (1954) in the trilogy,” (Hall). Some of the characteristics of an epic are: the hero is noble-born, goes on a long journey, his decisions affect the fate of the nation, the hero’s characteristics reflects the ideas of his society, and a large setting (Applebee 29). The Fellowship of the Ring meets almost all of the above criteria. The first condition of an epic is that the hero is a noble-born male who is generally a well-respected member of the society (Applebee 29). Frodo Baggins, the hobbit that the story centers around, is the nephew of the rich hobbit Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a relatively well-respected hobbit in the society, but he is certainly not of noble birth, and neither is Frodo. Frodo’s lack of nobility means that The Fellowship of the Ring does not meet the first prerequisite

Hobbits, “are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; for they love peace and quiet and good tilled earth,” (Tolkien). Hobbits do not typically seek adventure, nor to they create trouble. Frodo never goes seeking for trouble, however trouble finds him nonetheless. He does not ask to take the One Ring to Mordor, instead he takes it because it is necessary for Middle Earth. Taking the Ring is a very brave act because every evil thing that exists in Middle Earth is trying to reclaim the Ring and kill the one who carries it, so Frodo knows that it is very likely that he will die on this journey (Tolkien). The third condition of an epic is that the hero performs courageous feats (Applebee 29); this condition is satisfied by Frodo volunteering to take the