Heroism In The Lord Of The Rings Essay

Heroism in the Lord of the Rings

Introduction
The acquaintance of The Lord of the Rings by most of Chinese people began with the epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films. Under the honor of a total of 17 Academy Awards wins and 30 nominations, this series, three films together, merely astonish the spectators with the great things created by the modern technique of high tech. This astonishment is only caused by the visual enjoyment conveyed by the screen compared with the neglected meanings hided deeply among the millions of words in Tolkien’s works. Actually, The Lord of the Rings was judged to be the favorite “book of the century” by a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers. The literary charm of these books has stood triumphant through the half-century examinations, which still bring readers the beautiful experience. In his masterwork The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien created what he called a "new mythos for England." The story, set in a world Tolkien called Middle-earth, puts forth a possible alternative past for our Earth, one that could have occurred before our written history began. Tolkien was fascinated with the pre-Christian mythology of northern Europe. To make his story, Tolkien pulled elements from these myths. He also imbued it with elements from his own Catholic faith. And in so doing, he created a story that followed the basic plot of almost every heroic quest myth told by humans that we know of. It is the story of Odysseus, of Beowulf, of Percival; of Dorothy and Luke Skywalker. Tolkien’s imaginary story, The Lord of the Rings closely related on the legend which is actually not a story merely created by the imaginations flooding from Tolkien’s brain. Especially, the main story line is consulted the traditional Germanic legend, which influent English culture much as Anglo-Saxon. Therefore, The Lord of the Rings also is regarded as the Anglo-Saxon literature. To find the relationships between the traditional Anglo-Saxon culture...