In media communications we have started watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy. We have finished the first one The Fellowship of the Ring, and have started The Two Towers, the second installment of the trilogy; all of the films in this series are epic stories. Peter Jackson directs the movies. Some of the main characters include Frodo, Sam, Aragorn, Merry, and Pippin, I will be discusses some of these characters and others in this paper. Some good epic characteristics are the main hero, vast geographical setting, and the quest or journey that they are trying to complete.
First, I will talk about the hero of these movies, Frodo. A hero is defined by having a power or ability that no one else possesses. For Frodo this is his purity, he is the only hobbit with a soul that is pure enough to carry the ring without getting greedy and power hungry. The way this is shown in the first movie is when he first gets the ring he offers it to Gandalf, but Gandalf goes crazy and tells Frodo he cannot carry it because if he does he will become power hungry. In the second movie Frodo starts to fall victim to the ring’s power. He becomes unable to sleep and is becoming attached to the ring and the power it gives him. He also starts listening to Gollum a former hobbit that has changed do to the ring, he calls it his “Precious”.
Another very important characteristic for an epic would be the vast setting. This story takes place in different settings that combined all make up middle earth. The first movie is mainly based in the shire then when Frodo starts on his journey he comes to Rivendell the home of the elves. The story really gets better in the second movie because there are more places. For example after the fellowship leaves Rivendell, they travel through the mines of Moria the land of the dwarves where they encounter the Balrog. After that they go through mountains and eventually reach Rohan this is where Gandalf basically performs an exorcicism on Theodred. Then they travel on to Helms Deep where they have a battle with the Uruk-hai, a breed of super orcs, that lasts four days and on the fifth day Gandalf brings an army that helps defeat the Urak-hai.
The thing I think is most important characteristic for an epic story to have is the quest or journey of the characters. The main character is the one who is tested the most on this journey. In these movies the quest is to throw the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom. Frodo and the other characters are tested many different times along their journey to Mt. Doom. The first test for Frodo is surviving when the Ring Wraith stabs him. This is hard because it’s supposed to kill him. Other tests include fighting the creature outside of the Moria mines, fighting the Balrog, fighting the Urak-hai, and Frodo fighting the temptations of the ring. Fighting temptation is Frodo’s hardest test.
