Lord Of The Rings Landscapes

The landscapes in The Lord of the Rings are crucial to the storyline. Tolkien has created a quest narrative in which physical landmasses, nature, and geography play a huge role in every scene. He develops the world of Middle-earth in such a way that it perfectly resembles a real life realm. By using every major component of our Primary world, he is able to fabricate a new one with indescribable quality and realistic attributes. Additionally, Tolkien uses the landscapes to enhance every scene, to further illustrate the importance of the events, and what impact they have on the storyline. We see this specifically in the Dead Marshes, Minas Tirith, the Dark Tower, and Lothlórien. The physical characteristics of each of these locations complement the immeasurable meaning of each event, the tone of the scene, and the emotions of the characters as they endure every struggle. Finally, Tolkien develops the landscapes in The Lord of the Rings to create motifs that follow the characters throughout the entire story. We see this with the road’s importance to the journey, the landscape being a physical representation of the characters in that environment, the state of nature emulating the status of the world, and the image of the physical journey as a figurative depiction of human experience. Throughout all of this, we can plainly see that the landscape is a key component to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Throughout his works, Tolkien includes, in varying degrees, every major component of our Primary World: landforms, minerals, weather and climate, natural vegetation, agriculture, political units, population distribution, races, languages, transportation routes, and even house types. “He did more than merely describe these individual comp...

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...experiences. The Old Forest emphasises the hobbits’ incredulity; the fords of the Anduin River represent the tough decisions Frodo must make concerning the future of the Fellowship. Mordor’s desolate plains reflect the evil of Sauron, and the physical and mental hardship of the Ring-bearer. Mount Doom itself signifies the emotional ascent that Frodo and Sam must make to destroy the Ring.

As we can see, the landscapes in The Lord of the Rings are pertinent to the overall storyline. Tolkien develops the setting is such a way that it is believable to the reader, as well as realistic and relatable. In this way, he gives his story more depth and enhances every scene as it happens. Furthermore, Tolkien uses the landscapes to improve the key scenes by giving incredibly detailed descriptions of the places, and relating the setting to the struggles that the characters face.