Caleb Stucky Mrs. Lyons English 9 21 February 2015 Loyalty in The Fellowship of the Ring: The Importance of Character to Life’s Quest In the midst of the XXIst century, loyalty seems to have practically disappeared. Dave DePue quoted John McArthur in his article Leadership Series: Loyalty (2 Corinthians) as saying that our society cannot imagine leaders that are truthful to the point where loyalty is seen as a weakness instead of a virtue (qtd. in DePue). He goes on to say that, “Rebellion and defiance have been canonized as virtues instead” (qtd. in DePue). This means that our society has grown so accustomed to not having leaders that deserve loyalty, that this character trait is perceived as lowly being replaced by its opposites. Besides …show more content…
Sam can’t seem to leave Frodo: he listens in on a secret conversation between Frodo and Gandalf (Tolkien 63), refuses to leave Frodo when the latter tries to go to Mordor alone (Tolkien 406), and as Elrond tells Sam, “[…] It is hardly possible to separate you from him [Frodo], even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not” (Tolkien 271). Sam’s loyalty is so intense that he is the only one to go all the way to Mordor with Frodo (though he does not do this in The Fellowship of the Ring). This devotion had many benefits one of which was a deep friendship developed between them in the next books. Loyalty also displays itself before the fellowship is formed. Aragorn has a leader’s character and is loyal to his following companions. When Frodo is hurt on Weathertop, Aragorn (Strider) soon finds the leaf of a healing plant to soothe Frodo as much as is possible at this point (Tolkien 198). He also plays a key part in the fellowship once it is formed serving as leader after Gandalf’s fall. In the end, it is no wonder that he is crowned king of Gondor and becomes a great leader (though this is in The Return of the
In The Fellowship of the Ring and in the Star Wars trilogy, Frodo Baggins and Luke Skywalker, the archetypal heroes, demonstrate the heroic quality of selflessness for Frodo when he leaves the Shire then when he takes up the ring at Rivendell and finally when he attempts to leave Mordor by himself, and Luke shows selflessness when he goes to save Leia and then when he joins the Rebel Alliance and finally when he goes to redeem his father. Both Frodo and Luke demonstrate selflessness in their respective worlds with Frodo when he leaves the Shire and when Luke goes to save Leia. Leaving the Shire and accepting the mission that Gandalf gives him to bring the ring to Rivendell, Frodo shows his selflessness. He admits what he is stating “‘I am
personality trait is often shared with many other leaders who decided to take their own path and
Learning Module Seven - “Human Action” Myth in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
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
It seems like no matter what we try to do we are always exploited to bad leadership and bad outcomes of bad leadership. It could be just as bad as jack with his tribe, Or even worse with bloodthirsty people such as Robert. But we can never escape it. Percival was not adapting to the world, so he just broke down. We as a society need to find a middle ground in which we can have a good leader while adapting to the bad things that society shows us. If we go too far in power, we become different people. We become… less then what we were previously, If we try to contain leadership to absolutely 0. We become too innocent and become fearful of all that society truly is. We can’t really change society to shape it on our own, so we do it by adapting and trying to pave the way for future generations to come to an understanding of the world we live in now.
... point, ambitious politicians begin to brainwash their constituents until they [the officials] get what they want and the people no longer trust the politicians and become apathetic toward the entire system.
The twentieth century is the century with the greatest loss of human life in the history of civilization. It was a time of mistrust and espionage. To be loyal is defined as “faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations” (OED). Some loyalties are bought, while others are earned. Earned loyalty tends to last while loyalty that is bought tends to fade. Two books, The Human Factor by Graham Greene and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro show this difference. While both characters demonstrate external loyalty, Stevens’ loyalty was purchased, and Castle’s was earned. Castle’s genuine loyalty allows him to risk his life, while Stevens’ loyalty is only compliance.
In the era of my rule, a king was not someone who simply delivered orders to his “men” while he sat on his throne awaiting confirmation of a victory. Men admired their leader for: outstanding courage, selflessness to his tribe, personal valor, and ability to survive despite the toughest opposition. Heroism and leadership are characteristics that brought my fellow men to abide by my side despite the situation, which in response led me to become such an aspiring leader, and in the end a hero – the demonstration to attain glory through brawls. Traditions, natural laws, and religion are descriptions of my heroism and leadership.
Leaders have responsibilities to their people; a responsibility to protect and to nurture them. Leaders can reject their citizens needs because they believe that their wants are more important end up destroying the very society they rule. As shown in the novel Lord of the Flies when Jack rejects his responsibility of nurturing and giving the boys a home because he believes his lust for power, which provides him with a sense of security, is more important than the needs of the boys for affection and protection, allowing him to use the boys as objects to accomplish his own desires. This eventually leads to the destruction of society.
In a room full of people, there will always be one person that everyone looks to for the answer, or to lead in a sports team. These people could be David with his football team or Laurie with her academics. People rely on others to make their decisions for them or to answer a teacher when asked a question in class. This can be called ‘following the leader’. People are less likely to join in or
Being betrayed my the ones who are supposed to be guiding the country and society to success can be the most devestating and destructive betrayals of all. However, The initial betrayal is not necesarrily the destructive part, it’s the retaliation. People arent going to just sit back and watch someone destroy their country, their home. They’re going to fight back. That one betrayal, that one broken promise turns into a huge mess. It’s the snowball effect, and that is the outcome of most betrayals. People are going to protect themselves and their country, not just watch someone destroy it. The line between actually being betrayed by the rulers and just disliking the way they run things is quite thin. Betrayal is when they take all the things they promised to do for the country and do the exact opposite, when as opposed to having the best interests of the people in mind, they care only about the interests an...
Honesty is also loyalty. Loyalty is a strong feeling of support or allegiance. For an example, a girl got a cat and the cat comes to her when the cat wants to. A quote about loyalty is “Loyalty is hard to find. Trust is easy to lose.
According to Joe Tye, “Tolkien had an intuitive understanding of the theories and practices of leadership that was well ahead of its time” (Leadership Lessons). This is a concept that even the most common reader of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings can grasp. Without this sense of leadership, particularly different styles of leadership, there would be no one against the other; making for a rather dull plotline and timid movie. The story would lack in substance as it would be difficult to define the good against evil, the right against wrong, and it would essentially consist of many enraged characters running around with no sense of what to do. While every character in The Lord of the Rings generally has a sense of leadership in their own way and are all completely different leaders, the two that are so different yet so essential to the movies are Sauron, the creator of the Ring, and Aragorn, the exiled king.
long as I am King, no traitor is going to be honored with the loyal
The Greek statesman Solon stated, “He who has learned how to obey will know how to command.” Approximately 250 years later, the Greek philosopher Aristotle asserted the converse of that statement when he said, “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” The concept of following seems to have been an important idea in ancient Greek times, but why is this idea of being a good follower important to today’s military leader? In order to be a truly effective leader, one must first learn to be a truly effective follower. Learning to be an effective follower is a required facet of effective leadership because we follow others at times, we learn by following, and we develop future leaders by following.