'Legendocratorium' that #Configures My Character: #TheLordOfTheRings (#TheFellowshipOfTheRing #TheTwoTowers #TheReturnOfTheKing ... #TheHobbit #TheSimarillion) @TolkienGateway @TheLOTRwiki #Configuration #Configuring

on
Subscribe FREE to be notified when I add strength to the foundations here.
The characters and events and situations of the stories we watch, hear and read—they shape our minds subconsciously.

We mold our realities to the configuration we see in the fiction. I'll explain how in a moment, but first ...

'That word' (below-hyperlinked to Amazon's offer of the Lord of the Rings-stories) is built on an even-deeper source ... something crucial that firms the foundation upon which our lexicon stands ...
The word “Configure” is built on words that mean “With, Together (Con-) + to Shape, Figure (Form, Build).”
The legendary icons that J.R.R. Tolkien gives us with the series (sources including Tolkien Gateway & One Wiki to Rule Them All):
  • Species
  • Characters—I read/hear-tell that Tolkien's character's names each had a deep background, so my posts about a lot of those names' foundations (mostly the ones below, and some of the words above) are drawn mainly from 'writing about his sources'; but I'll also 'dig a little deeper' if there's foundation beneath that "bedrock" ...
    • The two I feel the most connection' with (i.e. who I think show the audience 'how we would connect to the story if it happened in real life,' and who (incidentally) end up settling-down together)
      • Éowyn - devoted daughter of human king Theodén and a fierce warrior (the only one who was able to defeat The Witch-King of Angmar)
      • Faramir - devoted son of humam steward Denethor and brother of Boromir
    • The Fellowship of the Ring (a group of men, -hobbits, -an elf & -a dwarf, who set out from Rivendell to destroy The One Ring in the lava-pit of Mordor's Mount Doom)
      • Aragorn, the human (son of Arathorn, son of Isildur (King of Gondor)) who went into exile as a Ranger (known as Strider) in the North
      • Gandalf the Grey & -the White (The White Wizard ... once known as Olórin, which explains his brief confusion at being called 'Gandalf' after he vanquished the Balrog ... also once known as Mithrandir), the Maia who discovered that 'the magic ring Bilbo Baggins found' was actually The One Ring
      • Frodo Baggins (briefly 'Mr. Underhill'), the hobbit (nephew/cousin of Bilbo) who 'inherited' The One Ring from his uncle/cousin & -who took on the burden of bearing The One Ring to the fires of Mount Doom (since it would've corrupted anyone else who carried it for any length of time ... as it very nearly 'corrupted' him near the end)
      • Samwise Gamgee, a hobbit (Bilbo's & Frodo's gardener) whom Gandalf assigned to be Ring-Bearer Frodo's guardian ("Don't you lose him, Samwise Gamgee!")
        • Rosie Cotton—not actually in The Fellowship, she's the hobbitess mentioned by Samwise when—after he and Frodo destroyed The One Ring and thought they'd be stranded on Mount Doom forever—Sam said that his one regret was that he hadn't settled down & married her when he had the chance (as I'm sure he felt he could've at any time while he was living-in-peace in The Shire).
      • the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck & Peregrin Took
      • the man Boromir—son of steward-of-Gondor Denethor
      • the elf Legolas & the dwarf Gimli, who become 'brothers in arms' (though they say "Friends"—maybe because they each 'look down upon' the other's species)
    • The rest in order of 'importance' (according to Bing):
      • The dark Lord Sauron - the being (man? elf? orc? dwarf? hobbit? in order of likelihood) who forged The Rings of Power & The One Ring, who was banished into the Spirit-Realm when 'Aragorn's ancestor' cut The One Ring off Sauron's hand, and who manifested as The Big Orange Eye at the top of the tower in Mordor

        (Saruman claimed that "The Great Eye sees all," but Aragorn was able to 'blind' The Eye (to Frodo-&-Sam's intrusion on Mount Doom) simply by 'attacking the tower on the opposite side')
      • Gollum - the hobbit named Smeagol who killed the hobbit Deagol and stole The One Ring (Deagol had just found)—hiding from the law (and all other hobbits) and becoming a gangrel creature
      • Arwen - the elfess who gave up her immortality to become Aragorn's queen
      • Saruman the White—the Maia (once known as Curumo or Curunir, who called himself Saruman of Many Colors) who was corrupted by Sauron's power and served as 'a general in Sauron's army'
      • Galadriel - the elfess who inherited one of The Rings of Power, who gave Frodo light & encouragement to use when all hope was gone
      • Bilbo Baggins - 'the hobbit' (title-character of 'the prequel to The Lord of the Rings') who incidentally found & stole The One Ring on his way to fulfill 'some other quest' (I think it had something to do with some treasure guarded by some dragon somewhere)
      • Elrond—elf-king who inherited on of The Rings of Power & father of Arwen
      • Durin's Bain—a balrog which haunted the Mines of Moria
      • The Witch-King of Angmar - the chief of the Ring-Wraiths
      • Shelob
      • Gríma Wormtongue - pathetic assistant to Saruman who went undercover as King Théoden's assistant, duping Théoden into a stupor to be possessed by Saruman to let Sauron overtake his kingdom (temporarily).
      • Théoden - human King of Rohan
      • Fredegar Bolger
      • Denethor - human Steward of Gondor (claiming to ruling position 'until its royal blood returned to power,' but truly intending to hold it forever (the way America thinks its citizens will hold power in Democracy))
      • Celeborn
      • Éomer
      • Radagast the Brown—a Maia also known as Alwendil
      • Eldarion
      • Elendil
      • Glorfindel
      • Treebeard - an ent
      • Old Man Willow
      • Harad
      • Corsairs of Umbar
      • Gamling
      • Anáion
      • Beregond
      • Forlong the Fat
      • Gatekeeper
  • Treasures/Tools/Objects
    • The Rings of Power (each holding "the strength and will to govern each race")—three given to the elves, seven to the dwarves, nine to men ... but all of them ruled by The One Ring
    • The One Ring ... I'm not sure exactly what it was (besides 'the giant McGuffin')—the story gives us the idea that 1) it was some sort of life-support for Sauron, who 'was banished to the Spirit-Realm' when Aragorn's ancestor cut the finger off, 2) when 'the ancestor' lost it, it fell into the sediment at the bottom of a river where Deagol found it and was killed for it by Smeagol,

      3) it gave Smeagol unnatural long life, transforming him from a hobbit into "a gangrel creature" who forgot all things (even his own name ... replacing that with 'the sound he made when coughing to clear his throat'—"Gollum") except The One Ring, which he called "My Precious,"

      4) Bilbo found it & took it (in the story before The Lord of the Rings), when it was thought to be 'nothing but another magic ring (that made you invisible when you wore it), but 5) it had negative effects on its owner (like the way Smeagol devolved into the gangrel Gollum), making them uncaring and over-suspicious.

      The idea was that 'The Ring' knew it needed to get back to Sauron so he could manifest his spirit back into its mortal form (where it would conquer Middle-Earth again and his evil would rule), so The Fellowship had to take it to Mount Doom (Sauron's headquarters) in Mordor—the place where it had been forged, and the only place it could be un-forged.
    • Evenstar—the pendant of the necklace Arwen gave Aragorn (back when she knew him as Strider)
    • Sting—the sword Bilbo gave Frodo, which (along with being a good, hobbit-sized sword) glowed to give warning of orcs- (and possibly wraiths- and other supernaturally evil creatures) nearby.
    • Mithril—an elven chain-mail shirt Bilbo gives Frodo (which saves him when The Witch-King of Angmar stabs him)
    • The Light of Earendil (the elves' most beloved star)—a small glowing light-bulb Galadriel gives Frodo 'to light the way when all is dark'
    • The Leaves of Lorien—elf-made clasps for cloaks, so secure that Aragorn knew that the hobbits (whom the Uruk-hai had captured to take to Sauron in Isengard) knew they were still alive (because he found one of those leaves and deduced that they were still alive because those clasps only come undone if you consciously unclasp them)
    • The Sword of Elendil (made with the Blade of Narsil)—the sword that 'Aragorn's ancestor' used to slice off Sauron's hand and whose broken blade Elrond reforged and gave to Aragorn that he might enlist help from The Dead
    • The Journal–There & Back Again (by Bilbo Baggins), The Lord of the Rings (by Frodo Baggins) & ??? (if Samwise Gamgee finished it before he joined Frodo & Bilbo in Valinor) the book in which all the memories of the hobbits' journeys (first Bilbo's, then Frodo's and most of Sam's) were recorded & found by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • Places ... in the world of Middle-Earth:
    • Mordor—the area 'ruled over' by Sauron's Great Eye and populated by Orcs and other foul creatures.
    • Rohan & Gondor—kingdoms of men
      • with Helm's Deep—the fortress where the 'Rohanians' "make their last stand" (before their warriors join the Gondorians and take the fight to Mordor)
    • Hobbiton, in The Shire (where the hobbits live) ... so small I had to look at the full-sized map and/or zoom-up and search in the upper-left corner to see it, in The Lost Realm of Arnor and/or Eriador
    • and Rivendell (a city in an elf-region, I think) is east of Hobbiton (not on the coast, as I thought it might be (since the elves all migrate to a distant land across the sea at the end); so I had a little trouble finding it ... but they ARE on a river that goes to the sea, so that clears that up ...)
    • The Mines of Moria are in The Misty Mountains, where the dwarves were said to reign (though it seems that now the dwarves are extinct—all dead except for Gimli)
    • across the Misty Mountains and south of Rivendell is the forest of Lorien, another elf-area
    • south of that is The Forest of Fangorn, just east of Isengard (and the Tower of Orthanc, Saruman's home to the west of The Misty Mountains)
    • Valinor, the Undying Lands (not on the map, but across the western sea)—whither Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf & all the elves migrate four years after The Fellowship
                  • I'm adding more soon & connecting them to longer discussion about them, so Do come back & see how it develops ... and add your favorites and your differing opinions in the comments!
  • I haven't read The Simarrilion (not even sure if I spelled it right) nor many of Tolkien's other MiddleEarth-works, and it's been a long while since I read- or saw The Hobbit; so I'm sure there are a few places (though they probably are on the map) and characters of 'MiddleEarth & Beyond' that I didn't mention—notably ...

Comments

Post a Comment

I appreciate your comment, and I'll probably approve it & publish it soon (give me about a week before you try to post it again when it doesn't publish immediately ... thanks)