LOTR is deeper than people give it credit for IMO. Sam’s empathy for the Southron soldier really struck a chord with me. I’m not a vet but I imagine that echoes Tolkien’s experience in the Great War.
I know he rejected attempts to assign allegory to the story, but Gollum is the perfect portrayal of an addict. I want it, but I hate it. It harms me but I need it.
There’s a part in Lord of the Rings Online that sticks with me. When I finally got out of Moria and went to Lothlorien, Frodo is there. The game has a mechanic where when you’re in the presence of particularly strong evil you get a debuff called dread that lowers your morale (essentially your HP). When I approached him I noticed I had a dread debuff and was confused as to what was causing it until I remembered - of course, he has the ring! The game doesn’t make any mention of it, it’s just left for you to notice. It was a great way to subtly depict the burden he would have to carry for a long time.
Frodo at the end of LotR was pretty permanently screwed up from his suffering. Sometimes there’s a hint of realism from authors/media creators.
LOTR is deeper than people give it credit for IMO. Sam’s empathy for the Southron soldier really struck a chord with me. I’m not a vet but I imagine that echoes Tolkien’s experience in the Great War.
I know he rejected attempts to assign allegory to the story, but Gollum is the perfect portrayal of an addict. I want it, but I hate it. It harms me but I need it.
Yeah, The Lord of the Rings isn’t an allegory, but it does have themes, and Tolkien definitely drew on his experiences in WWI when writing it.
You don’t have to be trying to depict addiction to end up doing it anyway. The ring’s allure might be magical, but the pattern is broadly the same.
There’s a part in Lord of the Rings Online that sticks with me. When I finally got out of Moria and went to Lothlorien, Frodo is there. The game has a mechanic where when you’re in the presence of particularly strong evil you get a debuff called dread that lowers your morale (essentially your HP). When I approached him I noticed I had a dread debuff and was confused as to what was causing it until I remembered - of course, he has the ring! The game doesn’t make any mention of it, it’s just left for you to notice. It was a great way to subtly depict the burden he would have to carry for a long time.