An Unlikely Hero and Villain

            Folktales, fairytales, and legends have been around for 1,000’s of years; first in pictographs by the cave dwellers, then through oral presentations, and finally, these tales were transcribed into countless volumes. With each new century, the pieces evolved. They are still evolving. Often writers are inspired by these stories, thus they adapt aspects of the stories (be it plot, character, or setting) into their own works. One such writer inspired by folktales and legends was J.R.R. Tolkien. Not only did he put morals and lessons into his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien also adapted his antagonists and protagonists to have similar trials, tribulations, and personality traits as those in folktales, fairytales and legends. Such trials included getting lost and finding a way back home, solving puzzles, or going on a quest for something lost. Some tribulations affronted by were inner dissensions, such as illness, grief, and the internal struggle of acting selflessly versus doing a selfish, self-gratifying deed. Other tribulations faced were external contentions, such as war, slavery, and fires. The personality traits that often made up the characters of a protagonist that Tolkien snagged from other stories were loyalty, friendship, and wit. He chose greed, slyness, and animosity as dominant traits for many of his antagonists. For this paper I will focus on Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandybuck and Gollum/Sméagol to further explore Tolkien’s knowledge of folktales and legends and their impact on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

            Among all of the various forms of folklore, the plots might be different and the protagonist (the hero) may vary in appearance, age, gender, personality, and species. Some stories, such as Puss in Boots, have a main character that is an animal. Each character has his, her, or its own driving force. The driving force was often freedom, love, or an item. It would lead the hero on an incredible journey. There would be trials and tribulations for the protagonist to face. He or she might also doubt his abilities along the way. Often times, the hero is a nobody who becomes a somebody. Other times, the hero was royalty, who could have anything in the world, but wanted an item that is out of reach. Most, if not all the times, the protagonist learned something about himself or herself. Time and again, he or she came to realize the importance of helping others and being in a community – the proverbial man cannot stand alone.

            One of the protagonists in the much loved fantasy trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, was Meriadoc Brandybuck – Merry for short. He was a hobbit, a short statured being of the Shire. He ‘enjoy [sic] family life with all its simple pleasures’ (Porter, 23) – food, ale, tobacco, and friendships. He was of a higher class due to his heritage and part of his destiny was to become Master of Buckland – the leader of his people (Porter, 25).

            Merry was well read and well spoken. However, He wasn’t only book smart, but also knowledgeable about the woods and the river surrounding Buckland (Book, par. 10). This information helped the hobbits escape from the Shire as the Ringwraiths chased them. Tolkien seemed to have given Merry knowledge of the woodlands in homage of the dwarves of Snow White.  Not only was he bookish and a woods-person, he was organized. With this organization, he helped Frodo sell Bagend and leave the Shire (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 74). As a conspirator, Meriadoc used his wit to uncover what Frodo Baggins was up to just as in Robin Hood where Robin Hood tricked Prince John to win the hand of Maid Marian.

Although well to do and knowledgeable, his actions didn’t bespeak those of a future leader of Buckland. While in the Shire, he seemed drawn more towards drinking, singing, and merrymaking with his younger cousin, Perigrin ‘Pippin’ Took, than studying politics and economy. He was quick with riddles as Gandalf the Grey pointed out when no one, but he solved the riddle on the cave’s entrance, "I was wrong after all," said Gandalf, "and Gimli too. Merry, of all people, was on the right track. The opening word was inscribed on the archway all the time!” (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 346).

            Through the trilogy, Meriadoc grew in his maturity level, his personality deepened, and he gained great knowledge of Middle Earth, but he found he missed the Shire and wanted to go home. This growth was much like the girl in Mother Holle. Her mother died, thus her father remarried (Grimm and Grimm, Mother Holle, par 1). She makes the girl a maid of the home as she doted upon her biological daughter. This saddened the child and after she fell into a well, a widow, Mother Holle, adopted her as her own (Grimm and Grimm, Mother Holle, par 4-7). For a time, this girl was happy, however, she started to miss her home and working for her stepmother. She saw the world outside her home, but she still chose to return to live with her stepmother and stepsister.

The protagonist, Merry, also grew physically in height due to a tonic the ent, Treebeard, gave him and his cousin. The drink was more than a healing tonic. It aided in the hobbits vertical growth. Drinking the tincture was a turning point for Merry (Porter, 26). Not only does he and Pippin have time to heal emotionally from what they have seen and experienced, but he got to heal physically from his wounds.

With meeting the ents, Meriadoc got a new purpose in aiding to the success of the quest. His duties were more than just protecting his younger cousin, Pippin. It is revealed to him that Pippin can take care of himself and plan for the future. Perigrin, he sees, can figure out problems and does not always need him (Meriadoc) to solve his troubles.  

As with many fairytales, the protagonist Merry must reinvent himself with this revelation. I am reminded of Cinderella, because the heroine must change her appearance, create a new history, and woo the prince to escape her evil stepmother and stepsiblings. Here with Treebeard, Merry found that he is now not only the protector and friend of Pippin, but also his comrade. This hobbit learned a valuable lesson also; he was more than a mere hobbit. He can shape the future of the world. After the attack on the stronghold, Isenguard, he became a more competent in his fighting skills. In fact, by the end of the trilogy, he demanded that he be part of the main battle against the maker of the One Ring, Sauron. When Théoden, a King told him he wasn’t allowed to go and fight, does Meriadoc listen?

No, of course not! As any hero from a fable, he swore he wouldn’t be left behind (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 66).  Merry wanted to fight and uphold his promise to Theodon to protect him, the King, even after he was told, “I release you from my service, but not from my friendship. You shall abide here, and if you will, you shall serve the Lady Eowyn …” (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 67).  In a way he does follow his orders. Merry does serve Eoywn. He rides out with her and they fight and kill the Witch King of Angmar.

The death of the Witch King was momentous and marked Merry as a hero of legend, just as Beowulf’s slaying of the dragon was a marker of heroics in Beowulf. It also signaled the beginning of the end. It also showed the importance of the underdog for he (the Witch King) says, “No living man may hinder me!” (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 114). Those words were true because no man, no male, stopped him. Instead, it was a hobbit, not a man, and Eowyn,  a woman, who slayed this fiend  (Hammond and Scull, 562). When The Lord of the Rings trilogy was written in the late 1930’s and into the mid-1940’s, women did not have equal rights.  Yes,they could vote and many worked, but they were not paid as much as men were and there were a lot of jobs that women were not allowed to do. Therefore, by Tolkien having a woman and a hobbit defeat one of the major evils of Middle Earth, he empowers the underdog. Anyone is capable of doing great things.         

 Through his journey he grew, mentally and physically (Porter, 54). Meriadoc learned there is more to life than fun and games. He grew in height. However, at the end of this hero’s journey, there are parts of his personality that from the start of the journey are with him at the end of the trilogy. He still values his friends and family; Merry would do absolutely anything for them. At the end of The Lord of the Rings, Merry seemed to cherish his commrades even more so because he understood that they can be gone in an instant and as Gandalf once said, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us” (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings, 56). Merry decided to move forward with his life, to enjoy the company of friends and family as well as the simple pleasures of a hobbit life, and not dwell on the horrors of the war he lived through.

            There was something poetic about the fact that Meriadoc Brandybuck left the safety of the Shire, saw and experienced so many atrocitries, and yet returned home to pick up the pieces. He was more knowledgable and mature than when he left, a better planner and military strategist,a great fighter,  and understood that home and family were interconnected – home can be wherever one finds oneself  and family can be whoever you spend your time with (Porter, 27-28).

            This is all said and good, but what makes this hobbit a hero? While Meriadoc can, and did on numerous occasions, fight, he was not the warrior hero. He was the knowlegable hero (Porter, 52).  He was a quick thinker, a deft strategist, and has a great memory. As with any good hero, he was loyal and wound stand up for his beliefs in what was right and just (Porter, 53). Like Bewulf’s plan to slay the dragon or the quick plotting of third tailor to wed the princess, in The Cunning Little Tailor (Grimm and Grimm, The Cunning Little Tailor, par 2-3), Merry followed through with his often spur of the moment plans, which saved him and his friends.

 Another heroic trait of this hobbit was that he was willing to sacrifice himself to save his friends and to protect the good in the world. He does this throughout the journey. He fought the Nazgul to protect Frodo. Merry jumped in and fought orcs just so that Frodo could escape off to Mordor and destroy the One Ring. After joining the Rohirrium, he armored up and went to battle with Eoywn. There he and Eoyn attacked the Witch King and destroy this fiend, even though he might not survive (Porter, 53-54).

But, what exactly makes Meriadoc Brandybuck a character crafted from folktales, legends, or fairytales? For one, like most of the princes in fairytales, such as, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow White, he was on a quest to obtain something – freedom for Middle Earth. Also, he was aristocratic, although not nearly the princely figure of Legolas or Kingly personality like Aragorn.

This point also made Meriadoc a folktale and fairytale based character. Like Hansel, of Hansel and Gretal, he was a “little man both literally and figuratively, and we recognize ourselves in him” (Zimbardo and Isaacs, 124) or Paul Bunyan, a larger than life character with a heart of gold, Merry was more the commoner than the royal, even though he is destined to be Master of Buckland. He would much rather enjoy a good meal and smoke with a pint of ale and a story than go on an epic adventure. However, at the thought of loosing a loved one (be it a friend or a relative), he would go to the ends Middle Earth for them. This brings me to my last reason he was a character based on the ancient tales. Like King Arthur or Robin Hood or Beowulf, he was a fighter and was also gravely wounded in battle. He staunchly believes in righting the wrongs of the world. He is a great swords-hobbit and will face any danger, no matter how terrifying the task or villian is.

            But, on the other end of the spectrum is the antagonist – the villian. One such fiend in The Lord of the Rings was Gollum.  He owned the One Ring for centuries. It twisted and corrupted him from the very first moment he laid eyes upon it.  This powerful piece of jewelery drove him to murder his brother Deagol just so he could own the ring much like the evil stepmother sends Snow White to be killed so that she was the most beautiful woman in the land. Soon he changed into a horrific and cruel parody of a hobbit. We must remember that Gollum, at one point, was a hobbit (Zimbardo and Isaacs, 141). He shunned being out in the world and warmed by the sun for the damp, dark life of cave dwelling. Gollum hated cooked food and would much rather eat raw fish. After Bilbo wins the ring, it drove him to try and follow Bilbo back to the Shire. On this journey, he met Gandalf and lied about how he got the One Ring, calling it a birthday present from his grandmother (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 62). Then, after escaping from the elves of Mirkwood, he got caputred by the Nazgul. Gollum told them that a Baggins of the Shire stole the ring. Gollum wanted revenge for having his precious Ring taken from him. Knowing how dangerous the Nazgul were, sending them to the Shire was his only way to get his revenge. While traveling with Frodo Baggins and Samwise ‘Sam’ Gamgee, he hatched a plan to lure Frodo and Sam into the lare of a giant and poisonous spider, Shelob so he could steal the ring back (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, 364). The ring was the downfall of Gollum. At the crack of Mt. Doom, he jumped on top of an invisible Frodo Baggins, who nearly didn’t destroy the ring.   After biting Frodo’s ring finger off he fell into the river of lava below them, thus destroying the One Ring and its maker, Sauron.  

            However, somewhere deep within the twisted mind of Gollum there was a part of him that wasn’t corrupted. As Gandalf so astutely pointed out, “Even Gollum was not fully ruined. … There was still a little corner of his mind that was still his own.” (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 60) that could have been brought out by goodness. Throughout The Two Towers and The Return of the King, Frodo’s kindness towards him nearly broke the evil twisted side and allowed for the good side of this creature, Smeagol, to live. When Bilbo and Gollum riddle in The Hobbit, he remembered what it is to be a hobbit out in the air and feeling the sun and wind upon his pale skin . Gandalf pointed out, that the corrupted, evil side of him was angered by the memories and thus took control over the creature and there was little hope for the good side to survive unless he could be cured of the One Rings hold, which, obviously, never happened. Like an addict, the only time he was truly happy was with his ring. He didn’t even care that he was hurlting towards his demise after biting Frodo’s ring finger off,

Gollum, dancing [sic] like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as uf verily it was wrought of fire.

            ‘Precious, precious, precious!’ Gollum cried. “My Precious! O my Precious!’ And with that, even as his eyes were lifed up to gloat on 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 his laist wail Precious, and he was gone.

(Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Reurn of the King, 240)

            Now that we have explored the character Gollum, the next, logical question to ask would be, what makes him an antagonist? A villian, much like the hero, had a goal. Gollum wanted something – the One Ring of Power – and will do absolutely anything to gain what he lost. He felt guilty for murdering his brother, Deagol, to get the ring, however, he was willing to kill again to retrieve it after Bilbo won the ring. The death of Gollum’s brother is the only thing he feels any remorse he feels. Gollum  “believes he is doing the right… thing” (Tapply, par 35). Unlike the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood or Death in Grandfather Death he didn’t care about being the hero of the story, not does he think he is the hero. All he wants is the ring. Like many villians, Gollum is, “dedicated to the death, destruction or defeat of the hero” (Tapply, par 41) – all in the name of the One Ring, his precious.

He was also sneaky and put on a sharade that, at the least Frodo believed and Sam was merely dubious of, which makes him appear as ordinary as the next hobbit, elf, or dwarf that inhabits Middle Earth.  Even with all of the points of devilry Gandalf told us in The Fellowship of the Ring, he came across as “Alfred Hitchock  said, “[A]n ordinary…being with failings” (Tapply, par 31).

This creature’s failings time and time again was his desire for the One Ring just as King Midias’s desire for gold was his weakness. Gollum spent his years in sloth – he stayed in a cave, eating raw fish and goblins while caressing the evil piece of jewelry. He was greedy to want to keep it.  Out of glutton, he wanted to keep the ring for eternity – he believed that only he may own the One Ring. However, the Ring never truly belonged to him, or anyone except Sauron. Ever since Isildur took the ring from Sauron, it tried to get back to its owner Suaron and it chose to leave both Isildur and Gollum  (Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 60-61). Gollum lusted for the One Ring – above sleep or food. He spent the end years both angry and envious of the hobbits, espeicially Frodo and Bilbo because they owned the ring. As he died, he was proud that the One Ring was finially back in his posession – as he saw it. Gollum was the 7 deadly sins personified.

Interestingly, when disecting the villanous character, Gollum, one can go back and look at the criteria for a hero that was discussed earlier in this paper. Gollum steadfastly sticks to his belief that he was wronged when Bilbo got the ring and believes he should reclaim his precious (Porter, 53). This creature was sly and deft at planning to retake the ring. One example of his craftiness was while traveling up the stairs of Cirith Ungol to get to the cracks of Mt. Doom, he planned to trick Sam and Frodo into Shelob’s lair knowing that the spider was hungry and would surely attack the two hobbits. After they were both in Shelob’s clutches, Gollum planned to strike and take the One Ring. He nearly succeeded, except that a small group of orcs discovered Frodo’s webbed body and took him. Gollum was willing to sacrifice himself for his prescious – the cause for following and pretending to help Sam and Frodo in the first place. He fought Frodo at the top of Mt. Doom to win back his most prized posession. And, because the evil piece of jewelry was his family and he seemed at home when the One Ring “[h]e embodies the values of love of family and home” (Porter, 54) which mdes him protective. He even grew as a character, although most of his change happened off the page and is hinted to by Gandalf when he and Frodo discuss who Gollum, as Smeagol, was at one time – a hobbit, who fished with his brother and enjoyed exploring the countryside – as compared to present time in the trilogy – a grotesque, villianous creature who shunned light and ate raw meat.

Now that we know what makes Gollum a villian, how was it that this vile creature’s creation is influenced by folktales, legends, and fairytales? Most notably, Gollum was like the creature Grendel from the legend Beowulf  (Zimbardo and Isaacs, 140). Like Grendel, Gollum was a monster in a parodic likeness of a being (a hobbit instead of a human). He was driven to revenge against the taking of the ring, just as Grendel longed for avenging his peace and quiet some viking partiers disrupted. Gollim was much like the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood because he was sly and pretended to be someone he’s not just to gain what he wants. Of folktales, Gollum was like the Black Dog. Tolkien would’ve been familiar with this devilish beast because he populated many folktales of the British Isles.  Gollum was like the Black Dog because he did his traveling through the night and his eyes were large and glowing.  Lastly, like the Black Dog  (Jones, 146), in essence, Gollum was also a symbol of death and desruction incarnate.  He was hobbit, but due to the ring, he wasted away into practically nothingness. His essence is dead and has been replaced by the drive to find the ring. The reader knows that the One Ring must be destroyed and that Gollum would never give up his presious, therefore he was living on borrowed time and his fate was death.

Folktales, fairytales, and legends are stories were meant for retelling. They were told to teach the listener, the reader, and most recently, the viewer by means of film and television, something about the world or themselves. These tales were meant to be representations of how we, as humans, should and should not act as well as the importance of family and friendship, working together, and cherishing life. They show the reader the concequences of both good and evil actions.

Characters populate these story to act out the plot and demonstrate the morals and lessons the writers were trying to convey. In Tolkien’s trilogy, the protagoinist, Merry, was brought in to show the importance of taking care of family and friends. He was also a character meant to demonstrate the fact that even the smallest and most unimportant of beings can change the course of the future. He was an underdog and yet, he succeeded in winning a major battle of the War of the Ring. The antagonist, Gollum, on the otherhand, was a character meant to show the reader how corruption may ruin anyone (even a hobbit) and drive someone to do heinous deeds.

 Darkness and lightness. Polar oposites. The antagonist and the protagonist. Bookends of the story. All of these are phrases could describe the caracters Meriadoc ‘Merry’ Brandbuck and the creature Gollum. These were all phrases to describe the characters that inhabit the legends, folktales, and fairytales which J.R.R. Tolkein read and loved.  Influenced by these tales, drawing from his history with these stories, Tolkien developed those two remarkable characters of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  

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Jones, Alison. Dictionary of Wolrd Folklore. New York: Larousse, 1995.

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Tapply, G. William. The Worthy Villian. 2000. 29 Janurary 2011

<http://www.williamgtapply.com/article6.html>.

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Note: Written for a MFA class