The clash between good and evil is impressively well-rounded in Peter Jackson’s ultimate triumph, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Based on the Lord of the Rings book trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien, the award-winning 2002 film represents the second installment in the world-renowned saga. Continuing from The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn, a great warrior, (Viggo Mortensen) along with his companions Legolas, an elf, (Orlando Bloom) Gimli, a dwarf, (John Rhys-Davies) and Gandalf, a wizard, (Ian McKellen) aides the neighboring King Theoden of Rohan (Bernard Hill) in resisting the evil forces of Saruman, another wizard. Meanwhile, the hobbits Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) team up with the creature Gollum (Andy Serkis) in …show more content…
The memorable aspects of this struggle are the impossible and unforeseen victory of the good and the incredible use of graphics. Beginning in Scene 39, “The Battle of the Hornburg,” and ending in Scene 50, “The Tales That Really Mattered…” the astonishing fight of good against evil is masterfully told. Specifically, the odds of the battle are about four hundred elves and men against ten thousand frightening creatures. The protagonists have a slight home field advantage, being in one of Rohan’s most formidable strongholds, but it is not enough to withstand such mighty forces. The dark atmosphere surrounding the mountain fortress reflects the sense of despondency amongst the few men and elves ready to fight the numberless legions of orcs coming against them. Although it is night, the stars do not shine and it is raining, all part of the sense of despair. The suspense builds as the infinite amount of orcs halt a few yards from the castle to viciously howl and snarl at their enemies. They pound their weapons onto the ground in an attempt to intimidate the small force standing against them. Then disaster strikes as one of the men of Rohan accidentally releases his arrow, sending it flying into one of the foremost orcs, killing it instantly. This only angers the antagonists and the battle begins. The orcs launch ladders onto the …show more content…
One might suppose that a single quest would be the focus of a tale, but somehow Peter Jackson manages to give each sideline almost the exact amount of screen time. Aragorn and Helm’s Deep are one of three explorations discussed in the film. Frodo and Sam and Merry and Pippin both have equally important aspects to view. In short, each person’s quest intertwines with and influences the others. The Two Towers is intricately designed to include the complicated trails of the multiple journeys conveyed. This is an important feature of the film because it is so wonderfully complex and fit so masterfully into one movie. On the subject of complexity, for example, while Aragorn is fighting at Helm’s Deep the scene transitions to Merry and Pippin in a forest and then to Frodo and Sam some hundreds of miles away (Scenes 39, “The Battle of the Hornburg,” 40, “Old Entish,” and 45, “Osgiliath,” The Two Towers). The perspectives constantly change from one quest to another. The viewer is forced to take in numerous storylines at the same time. Through this, Frodo and Sam are able to travel to Mordor, visit Gondor as prisoners, and then escape into the wild in a matter of minutes. Merry and Pippin manage to evade the orcs and Saruman, meet the ent Treebeard, and incite the ents to seek revenge on the evil wizard in a very short amount of
A plot is arguably the most important element of a story. Whether strong or weak, it is the glue that holds everything together. In 1978 Richard H. Tyre wrote the article, “You Can’t Teach Tolkien.” According to Tyre’s article there are six basic movements in the plot of a heroic story. He suggests that all hero stories follow this same six step plot pattern every single time. The pattern does not change nor does the order in which the plot happens change either. The six plot elements of a hero story, according to Tyre, are: “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the
Along their journey, they have memorable experiences and learn about the One Ring’s imperceptible powers. Furthermore, Frodo and his fellowship discover the powers of the One Ring growing along with the armies of Sauron with respect to time. Ultimately, Frodo and his eight companions must do what it takes to destroy the One Ring and
As Theoden’s soldiers embark on a journey towards defending Gondor, they had yet to seize the motivation and power needed to become victorious in the battle. They had gazed upon the enemy’s great army and brutalness that awaited them at a hilltop, and have increasingly lost all hope and energy. Theoden, understanding the importance of the battle and the physical and mental exhaustion of his soldiers, had stimulated encouragement during a short address promptly before the epic battle took place. Taking advantage of the situation of a sun peeking out through Sauron’s clouds, Theoden had vitalized his army by instilling appeals to emotion as well as a dynamic tone within his brief speech.
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
Even though, the values of Beowulf and Grendel are similar to the ones that I and my entire generation have grown up learning, both of the epic and movie have qualities that make me unable to come to a conclusion as to which of the works recounts the story of Beowulf and Grendel in a more exceptional way. Therefore, I give the forthcoming generations the responsibility of making that
To fully appreciate the significance of the plot one must fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the movie adheres meticulously to these steps. For example, the first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure dictates that the author should portray the protagonist in their ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and doing ordinary tasks so that the author might introduce the reasons that the hero needs the journey in order to develop his or her character or improve his or her life (Vogler 35). The point of this portrayal is to show the audience what the protagonist’s life is currently like and to show what areas of his or her life are conflicted or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is swept away into another world, one that is full of adventure, danger, and opportunities to learn what needs to be learned. T...
Humans exist between two distinct beliefs, one being that of individualism where the person is only focused on benefiting their self and their tribe, and the other being altruistic where the priority is put on the betterment of the group at the downfall of the individual. In nature, animals only exist in the belief of self betterment but humans have the moral dilemma between self preservation and group preservation. Through new perspectives, this inner conflict can be transformed to become more altruistic or group minded. Whether that be through the journey of saving Middle Earth or the simple journey through high school. This theme is explored in J.R.R Tolkien's novel, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. This novel takes the reader through
...to his own possessions and how his journey made him open his eyes up to a deeper meaning of life. The evil in the story were just test, trying to get Bilbo to give up and go back to his life of comfort, but he didn't he went on to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tolkien wanted to show the reader how we can overcome our flaws in life such as greed, and temptation by stepping out of our comfort zone.
This passage solidifies the theory of the Hero’s Journey that much further. Thomas Foster explains that every story is a quest, and every quest structurally consists of the same five things. There’s the quester, the destination, the reason to go, challenges on the trip there, and the real reason for the journey. He also explains there are other components to the quest that every story seems to have. There is the knight, the dangerous road, the “holy grail”, a dragon, an evil knight, and a princess. When one thinks about it, it’s a little hard to agree that every story is the same, but if each story is at it’s bare bones, they can be fairly similar. In Foster’s example story there is the knight, Kip, the dark knight, Tony, the princess, the
But the tone of the book rapidly becomes more serious as the Black Riders pursue the hobbits through the forest. The hobbits come to the village of Bree, and arrive at the home of Tom Bombadil. Frodo meets a man named Aragorn, or ‘Strider’, who convinces him to go to the city of Rivendell. "In Rivendell you will be safe from their magic," Aragorn tells him, "for Elrond is a sensible man, and does not believe in it." With that Aragorn leads them rapidly to Rivendell, with the Riders in hot pursuit. As they ford the last river between them and Rivendell there is a spell cast on the river-water, causing it to rise up and wash away the Black riders, and our heroes make it to the safety of Rivendell.
Knowing that there might be a higher power guiding this adventure, leads the reader to think that there is something more to this story. The outcome will have a lasting impact on events in the future. The whole adventure happened because of a “chance-meeting” (Tolkien, “The Quest for Erebor” 326). Through the presence of luck in The Hobbit, Tolkien leads the reader to believe that there is a higher power playing a role and that there is more to the story than the dwarfs getting back their
These timeless tales relate a message that readers throughout the ages can understand and relate to. While each of these tales is not exactly alike, they do share a common core of events. Some event and or character flaw necessitates a journey of some kind, whether it is an actual physical journey or a metaphorical one. The hardships and obstacles encountered on said journey lead to spiritual growth and build character. Rarely does a person find himself unchanged once the journey is over.
J.R.R. Tolkien's concept of too much power is summed up by Lord Acton when he once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." In Tolkien's first book of his fantasy based trilogy, Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Rings tells a story of a quest to destroy a powerful ring throughout Tolkien's created "Middle Earth". This quest was headed by a "Hobbit" named Frodo Baggins who, in the end, becomes corrupted by power himself. This corruption begins when Frodo uses his ring to become invisible over and over again to escape certain situations. The quest to destroy the powerful "Ruling Ring" forms the basis for this story.
Frodo’s adventure is not one of originality. It follows a cookie-cutter character through its journey to save that which is dear to him. In the case of Frodo he must protect the shire from devastation, and potentially all of Middle-Earth, by throwing the ring back into the fires of Mordor. This quest takes Frodo through a series of plot elements that famous Greek heroes have followed, his mission to rid Middle-Earth of ominous forces.
Throughout The Hobbit by J.R.R tolkien, themes are portrayed and are necessary for the story line. The three main themes in the novel are the prevalence of greed, how Bilbo changes throughout the story and transforms into a hero and the conflict between good and evil. Greed can change anybody, no matter how heroic or brave they are. In the beginning bilbo is portrayed as quiet hobbit that likes to stay home but that all changes with a knock on the door.