Fellowship Of The Ring Archetypes

The Fellowship of the Ring is a novel with many unique cultures, languages, and mythical beings that were either created by author J.R.R. Tolkien or influenced from classical mythology. Tolkien was inspired to write the novel due to his desire for it to serve as a poetic legend that he felt England lacked. Tolkien expresses despair over the loss of culture and language throughout the novel by allowing the elves to represent culture, disappearing from the Middle Earth, like it was from his world. Additionally, Tolkien ponders the struggle between good and evil due to his religious beliefs in Catholicism, he uses archetypes to represent each side such as the light, representing good, and the dark representing the evil. Influences from Tolkien’s

life, such as his religious upbringing and his experiences in war are reflected throughout the novel as he attempts to convey people’s feelings during World War I as they were engulfed in fear. Tolkien’s motivation and inspiration for writing The Fellowship of the Ring derives from his personal life and how he felt about the occurrence of World War I as he explores the struggle between good and evil throughout his novel, inspired by his religious beliefs and upbringing.
Tolkien’s motivation and inspiration for writing The Fellowship of the Ring lies in his experiences during World War I and religious beliefs.

In order to destroy the ring it is stated that,“there is only one way: to find the Cracks of Doom in the depths of Orodruin, the Fire-mountain, and cast the Ring in there. If you really wish to destroy it, to put it beyond it” (Tolkien 59). Tolkien’s religious influence is reflected throughout The Fellowship of the Ring as he delves into the repulsion between good and evil as archetypes such as fire represent malicious characters and locations in the book as the ring can only be destroyed when thrown into the fiery pits of Mount Doom. Sauron is one of the main antagonists which represents the evil during World War I. The power of the ring serves to convey the negative effects of abusing power as well as not sharing such a gift with the world as it drains others of their good when they commit follies in order to obtain the ring. Not only does Tolkien want to create an emotional parallel to his life, but he was extremely motivated to write the novel in order to create a history for London which is displayed through the complex mythical languages and cultures. Tolkien’s desire to explore the opposition of good and evil reflects his Catholic beliefs as he writes to convey the importance of morals to the readers. Another of Tolkien’s motivations to create The Fellowship of the Ring includes giving the reader insight to the lives and conflicting situations that people experienced during World War

I.
Tolkien represents his feelings regarding World War I through the songs that Bilbo Baggins taught Frodo which states that,“home is behind, the world ahead, and there are many paths to tread through shadows to the edge of night, until the stars are all alight. Then world behind and home ahead, we'll wander back and home to bed...” (Tolkien 76). Tolkien was trying to give the reader insight to many people’s lives during World War I as people felt vulnerable and endangered as they left the safety of their homes to fight in the war. Tolkien was motivated to express the loss of safety due to his experiences throughout the war as people were consumed by fear as they became vulnerable by leaving their homes to fight in the war and immerse themselves in the unknown, unaware if they would be returning to their family or loved ones.
Tolkien felt that it was important to create a story that evokes similar feelings of vulnerability that people experienced during the war and the way in which they overcame fear of the war as Gandalf stated, “the road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong...” (Tolkien 72). Tolkien is indirectly expressing the overwhelming feelings of fear that overtook the population during World War I as it was a different war than they had ever fought. This quote is important to the novel because it is when the mentor of the story, Gandalf, attempts to raise Frodo’s confidence and encourage him to delve into the journey and represent the theme as Tolkien attempted to convey the eternal struggle between good and evil and the importance of overcoming a fear. The emotional parallel that Tolkien imposed through Gandalf’s speech, is that with faith and confidence any challenge or obstacle can be overcome.
Tolkien was motivated to create The Fellowship of the Ring in order to convey his feelings regarding World War I and express his cultural beliefs which are rooted to Catholicism and the eternal struggle between good and evil. Not only was Tolkien driven by his religious beliefs to create the novel, but more importantly, by the desire to create an emotional parallel to his experiences in World War I. In order to represent the feelings that people during World War I struggled with, he created another world in The Fellowship of the Ring which would symbolize the lack of culture he felt London had as well as the loss of culture and language in the novel.