The Fellowship of the Ring is an epic set in the fictional Middle-earth. The story begins with the preparations for Bilbo's 111th birthday party. The ring in the story has surpassed everyone's expectations and confidence. The ring was created by the Dark Lord Sauron and was stolen from him and transferred from one person to another in Tolkien's Middle World. There were many characters in the story, including spirits, men magicians, gnomes, goblins, and unusual people known as hobbits. Not all of these characters were strong enough to withstand the ring's powers. However, in the story, a wiser character chose not to have the ring prospered, and the weak characters were subjected to the ring controls.
The Hobbit written by J.R.R. Tolkien is a story full of magic and things that are mainly associated with magic. The story depicts many supernatural features that include dwarves, trolls, goblins, wizards, elves, and the main character is in the story is a hobbit. Magic and supernatural power plays a significant role in the story and brings out how power is presented in the story. Gandalf is one of the strongest magicians in the story, and he shows his magic only in a few instances. For example, during the little party performed at Misty Mountains goblins entered and imprisoned all the dwarves together with their horses, but when they reached Gandalf, he managed to kill some of them using magical lightning. He then used his powers to sneak into the into the sprites caves and saved the dwarves and Bilbo. He also showed his skills when the wages surrounded them. He caused a lot of confusion by lighting pine with a mystical fire and discarded them at the irrational wolves, which in turn saved Bilbo and the dwarves. The two works of art present the use of power developed by JRR Tolkien. Therefore, it is important to discuss the use of authority in the two works of art.
During the party ceremony, he gives his ring to his cousin Frodo Baggins who was his heir. However, when the time comes to part with the ring, Bilbo reluctantly delays to give it away. He only gives it out when Gandalf the Grey who was a great Wizard approaches him. After confirming the ring was a ring of legends he requests that the ring is taken away from the Shire because Sauron’s power keeps growing. The introduction of this story was developed to give a historical overview of the fantastic aspect of realism (Clark 44).
In the story, Sauron placed a lot of his power in the Ring when he decided to forge it several years ago and whoever had the ring had access to power. The nature of the Ring’s power is not explicitly presented in the story, but as the story unfolds, we get the sense of authority associated with the ring, which is portrayed as corrupting. It is very challenging to the characters in the story to stay away from the temptation related to the ring. The Ring’s power always turned the wearer into evil actions despite the person wearing the ring, and this made the process of keeping the ring dangerous (Clark 56).
The Fellowship of the Ring is full of characters that have been affected by the ring. For example, Smeagol killed his friend Déagol for the ring and turned out to be a wretched creature who only thinks of how he was going to get the ring. Boromir becomes corrupted by the nearness of the Ring and wanted to use the acquired power to destroy Sauron instead of destroying the Ring as Elrond and Gandalf advised. Boromir has the desire to have the ring for himself, and all the powers offered by the ring took over all rational thought of an individual. Finally, the power of the Ring is shown as the only temptation in the middle earth. For example, the Dwarves of Moria transformed mithril, and they dug until they woke the Balrog, but the ring stayed as the greatest temptation and the biggest threat in the region.
Some of the characters presented in the story have the power to foreseen the adverse effects associated with the ring. For example, Frodo suggests giving the Ring to Gandalf, but he logically refuses and tells him he never wished to have the evils of the Dark Lord himself. He believed that the Dark Lord, Sauron, forged the ring making it evil. No matter who picks the ring they will all fall into some misfortunes. If Gandalf had accepted the ring, his mind would be corrupted just like the other characters’ in the story (Clark 57).
Not all the characters are intelligent like Gandalf. Hobbit was motivated at the sight of the ring. When he wore the ring he became invisible to all other people, and the new trick enabled him to perform many tricks, which were all evil activities, and consequently, everyone hated him and even called him 'Gollum' in rebel, and this made him move far away from people. He possessed the ring for so long until it started destroying his mind. His mind became angry, and the ring began to torment him. We are told in the story that he hated the dark but detected light more. In fact, we are told that he hated everything in his life, but he immensely hated the ring (Clark 58). In the story, readers are told that the ring started looking after itself instead of Gollum caring for the Ring. Furthermore, he could not get rid of the ring because the ring was too powerful to let go. He started to wither away, and if he had to keep the ring for long, then he would have faded and turned out to be invisible. He committed himself to be a servant of the Dark Lord with the hope of getting the ring.
One of the members of the Frodo’s solidarity opted to keep the ring instead of destroying it. He thought the council would use the ring as a weapon against the Dark forces. They believed that because the ring had the power, it was going to protect them from all evils sent to attack them, and bring them victory (Solopova 26). Furthermore, Boromir noted that he did not want the ring for power bit for protection purposes (Solopova 27). He is told that the desire he has for the ring already corrupted his mind, and as long as the ring is in the world, it was going to destroy people.
Bilbo was the sorrowful owner of the ring after Gollum and Frodo were to inherit the ring. Bilbo controlled the ring for a long time, and he noted that the ring was growing in his mind and that it made him keep worrying and getting concerned of the ring. The ring influenced Bilbo’s perpetual youth, and with the ring, he continued to exist weathering away inside. However, the power of the ring had many negative consequences. For example, he always became uneasy and uncomfortable when he was close to the ring. He never suspected the ring, this was a sign of power, and the power of the ring was controlling him (Solopova 46).
The ring that Bilbo gets in Gollum’s grotto is another form of supernatural power in the story. Gollum is taken away with the powerful piece of jewelry and is furious when he loses the jewelry. Fortunately, Bilbo stumbles upon the ring and takes it to him. Apart from this, material things motivate the characters in the story. Smaug who was the main character in the story is greedy and notices when Bilbo takes away a cup from his extensive collection of treasure. For example, Dwarves in the Hobbit are not motivated by a desire for freedom from tyranny or a desire to create a utilitarian utopia, but they are driven by the desire to recuperate the hoard of treasure protected by the enormous dragon Smaug along the depth of the lonely mountains. The dragon also made many enemies because of his greed, which eventually led to destruction at the Bard the Bowman (Bolman, Lee, Deal and Terrence 89). Thorin Oakenshield never learned from the devastation of the dragon. He was mainly motivated by a desire for affluence, forbidding anything to block his method.
The main character’s quest makes him travel in circular route until he comes back with the object of his search. The trips cause the Bilbo encounter several characters and circumstances that were threatening and unfamiliar to him. Thus, the author constructs novelty and suspense through the journeys. For example, in the story, Bilbo meets Goblins, Wargs, Elves, Gollum, and Smaug to help the dwarves recover their treasure. As he traveled through the Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains, he escaped death experiences the deprivations of starvation and terrible experience, as well as weather. He, eventually, sees the war in the Contest of Five Armies, which he could not have experienced when he started home (Bolman, Lee, Deal and Terrence 89).
Character development in the story also indicates power in the story, which is shown through the journey motifs. The structure of the plot is episodic in nature providing a description of the character development. The trips also serve as a metaphor for the own evolution of the character seeking quest. As the central character moves physically beyond his household, he matures emotionally and mentally past how the character was when he started the trip. Therefore, Bilbo’s development into a hero is the major theme in the story which is depicted as the growth or transformation of an ordinary person. This development is also a form of personal power because he gains respect after becoming a hero in the community. Bilbo is presented as one who is contented and self-satisfied in his protected little cavity at Bag End. However, when he is taken into a boarding on the search along with Thorin’s dwarves, he is frightened, but towards the end of the novel, he becomes confident to face danger in the story (Bolman, Lee, Deal and Terrence 89).
Bilbo also possesses an inner strength that he could not perceive when he first started the search. Challenging the elves, running away with Gollum’s ring, rescuing the dwarves in Mirkwood, slaying the spider, and speaking directly with the giant dragon Smaug provides him with chances to try out his solve, and as he builds confidences and resourcefulness. After which he turns into to be a hero who is a sign of power in the story. All these challenges were depicted to represent the heroism of England in World War I or that form of courage that is said to be common to everyone (Rearick 861).
The Hobbit presents a theme of community whereby, the author depicts the value of the community. The value of the community is shown about the property throughout the story. The search for the heroism is power because the protagonist wishes to save the community. In the story, there is a corresponding in the disowned state of Thorin who was a leader of the dwarves and is no longer the king like the way his grandfather was the king of the mountains who had lost his powers to Smaug, the dragon. Dale town was a thriving dwarf town, but it turned out to be in the worse situation and other places like the Lonely Mountain where things cannot grow. Thorin not only wants to reclaim the treasure for himself but also recover it for the entire community so that the land returns to the way it used to be before the inversion of Smaug (Gilliver 54).
The two characters, Smaug and Gollum, signify the fraudulent use of possessions, and the two characters are depicted as monsters in the story because of isolation and the selfishness they have in their hearts. These two characters do not recognize the community and Smaug is very greedy, he made the Lonely Mountain his home while Gollum is extremely self-centered and makes lack senses of love for anybody else in the community. These two characters do not like sharing, and they would rather kill the community members and not share their possessions. Smaug does not make use of the treasure trove but only sits on it. Moreover, he killed himself as he was trying to protect his wealth. Similarly, Gollum also dies in the Lord of the Rings as he was trying to reclaim his prized ownership, which was the ring of invisibility (Gilliver 55).
Finally, the theme of power is important in the Hobbit because it depicts how and when the power is needed and how the power is used as well as its effects in different settings. Gandalf had magical powers that made him stronger than other characters in the story. Bilbo develops into a hero gain personal power in the community. In the Ring's Power, all the characters in the story, addiction of the ring and this illustrates that no one was safe even those original characters that rejected the ring because they also head a feeling of possessing the ring at one point in their life. The fascination the characters have with the ring is similar to dangerous possessions like money that might destroy the life of an individual. The actual test one must possess to help them fight temptations in life. People who deny different temptations in life are always satisfied, but those who cannot overcome it are always doomed to life.
Works Cited
Bolman, Lee G. & Terrence E. Deal. The Wizard and the Warrior: Leading with Passion and Power. John Wiley & Sons. 2006.
Solopova, Elizabeth. Languages, Myths and History: An Introduction to the Linguistic and Literary Background of J.R.R. Tolkien's Fiction, New York City: North Landing Books. 2009.
Clark, George; Timmons, Daniel. J. R. R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-earth. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2000.
Gilliver, Peter. The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford
University Press. 2006.
Rearick, Anderson. Why is the Only Good Orc a Dead Orc? The Dark Face of Racism in
Tolkien's World. Modern Fiction Studies. p. 861. 2004.
