Unsung Heroes of The Lord of the Rings: From the Page to the Screen

by Lynnette Porter

Most criticism of "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy emphasizes the most likely heroes in the tales: Aragorn, Frodo, Gandalf, and even Sam. From popular to scholarly literature, the women and smaller characters often go overlooked. But our notions of what makes a hero have altered since September 11, and sometimes the most unlikely people can come to embody all that we look up to and admire in a person. Here, Lynnette Porter examines what we mean when we talk about heroes, and for the first time illustrates the heroic qualities that can be found in the women and other beloved, though less-celebrated, characters in the "The Lord of the RingS" books and movies. She takes a critical look at the importance of literary and cinematic heroes in general, emphasizing the roles of Merry, Pippin, Galadriel, Eowyn, Arwen, Legolas, and Gimli, who can all be considered heroes despite their relatively smaller roles. She shows, ultimately, that our attraction to and celebration of heroes does not have to be limited to the leading man, but rather that women and youth often display essential characteristics of true heroes.

Bringing together a discussion of both the books and the movies, Porter reveals for readers the heroic nature of several characters in "The Lord of the RingS" who have been ignored in terms of their status as heroes. Nevertheless, these female and youthful characters have received incredible popular acclaim and illustrate the shift in the way the Western movie-going public identifies and glorifies heroes. While other stars may have outshone the likes of Merry and Pippin, Arwen and Galadriel, Porter redirects the spotlight on these favorites of the books and movies to show us how the roles they play, the actions they take, and the behaviors they display are worthy of our praise and admiration. This unique and refreshing perspective adds dimension to our understanding of "The Lord of the RingS" phenomenon.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unsung Heroes of the Lord of the Rings seeks to examine seven characters from Lord of the Rings who have been underappreciated (if they are appreciated at all) as heroes and seeks they are in fact heroes – perhaps not the traditional hero, but a modern interpretation of the figure. Thus, instead of speaking of Aragorn, Frodo and Sam, Lynnette Porter instead focuses on the notion that in both the book and the films, Merry, Pippin, Éowyn, Arwen, Galadriel, Legolas and Gimli are heroes in different guises.

Unsung Heroes felt very structured and "by rote". Each chapter would, after a brief introduction, examine the character(s) as they appeared in Tolkien's writings and then in Peter Jackson's adaptation, then explore the type of hero (inspirational, action, intercultural etc.) before finally surmising how the character(s) fit the criteria for a hero. To me, I found that type predictability a bit boring, especially when it felt as though the examination of both the literary and cinematic character was really just a recital of their scenes in the books and films.

I also felt that there was room for the criticism of the films' handling of these characters to be more, well, critical. Porter notes Arwen's "disconcerting" shift from the strong, assure warrior to victim in the films, which is well and good, but Jackson's reduction of Gimli to comic relief is ignored. It's a very, very common critique of Jackson's handling of the characters, and that it wasn't mentioned at all was, well, disconcerting.

Finally, there were a few mistakes in the text. Names are missing their accents and Porter's assertions that the Elves were the Children of the Valar (instead of the Children of Ilúvatar, who the Valar serve) and that Farmer Maggot was a human (he was a hobbit) were particularly jarring. To my eyes, these are all very basic mistakes and makes me begin to question Porter's knowledge of Tolkien's legendarium and therefore how seriously I should take her analysis. These issues could have easily been fixed by a fact-checker or getting a Tolkien fan to give feedback prior to printing.

Despite all those issues I had with it, I enjoyed the read, particularly the analysis on Arwen and Éowyn's characters. Porter does raise some good points, but a less predictable and more critical approach would have been welcomed, as would some fact-checking.

[anolinde · Rating 2 out of 5]

Riddled with errors (missing the accents on names like Lúthien/Tinúviel, etc.; implying that Farmer Maggot is a Man by commending Merry on his interracial friendships; and speculation on whether monuments would be made for Legolas in Middle-earth when he died...), and not particularly interesting.

[Anna Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how this book goes into depth on Tolkien's lesser talked about characters (such as Merry and Pippin), but also brings in analysis of Peter Jackson's trilogy. This book is going to be the backbone of my capstone project on the hobbits.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather dry going, it reads like a thesis. I did enjoy some of the character analysis, added dimensions that I hadn't considered.