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Sarah Clinch
Dr. Bussell
ENG 460D
11 May 2010
Derivation and Deviation: Tolkien’s Use of Underworld in Lord of the Rings
The hero dominates literature, from antiquity to contemporary fiction; both the reluctant,
unlooked-for, everyman hero of fairy tales, children’s literature and contemporary adventure, as
well as the predestined, almost superhuman hero making up myth, legend, and epics. As W.H.
Auden posits in his essay “The Quest Hero,” “there are two types of Quest Hero. One resembles
the hero of Epic; his superior arete is manifest to all… the other type, so common in fairy tales,
is the hero whose arete is concealed” (46). One type, the former example, gives audiences a
relatable character with whom they can journey through an unfamiliar world, and find comfort in
a reality otherwise bereft of contemporary human connection. The latter, however, excels at
human action, and extends the perceived limits of humanity’s capacity for courage, physical
ability and strength of character; this type of hero, while not as relatable as the former example,
gives audiences a hero to look up to, admire and respect for their goodness and how they conquer
their opposition while still maintaining their virtue of character. The epic hero, in this way,
outlasts those heroes of fairy tales, etc, at least in name and action: Odysseus and Achilles
remain recognizable names even after thousands of years, and King Arthur holds title to more
stories than any other character of our medieval past (even up to the present). This tradition of
epic hero extends from antiquity to the present day, far surpassing the ‘age’ of those fairy tale
heroes. However, in our own contemporary times, fairy tale heroes seem to dominate, due to an
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interest in the self, and in the limits of human action and ability; whether epic heroes can
continue to grandly undertake their quests for triumph over evil and glory in victory in our
twenty-first century relies on modern authors and their fan bases to carry on the tradition.
One such author, J.R.R. Tolkien, provides his audience with both types of hero, in multifaceted ways, in his mid-twentieth century epic tale of The Lord of the Rings. Multiple characters
carry hero traits within the books; however three that seem to embody (at first glance, at least)
the qualities of the fairy tale hero and the epic hero are Gandalf, Frodo and Aragorn. Gandalf the
Grey, an ageless and mysterious wizard, follows the epic heroes of tradition, due to his far-seeing
foresight, his strength of character, and grander-than-humanity capacity for physical and
psychological action; however, he fails at embodying the true epic hero due to his excursion into
one of Tokien’s ‘underworlds’ in The Fellowship of the Ring: Moria. Frodo, as a
materialistically-focused and self-loving hobbit, takes on the role of fairy tale hero due to his
small stature, lack of ability in war or tact, and the sense of familiarity he creates with modern
audiences (due to our own love of comfort, and general lack of knowledge of war craft); though
inevitably he also fails at this role due to his undertakings within the ‘underworld’ he faces in
The Two Towers: Shelob’s Lair. It is Aragorn, however, who avails from his journey into his
own ‘underworld’ in Return of the King: The Paths of the Dead, which inevitably prove his epic
hero status, and lift him from mere Ranger with only a potential for greatness, into King of
Gondor, and leader of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth against the evil of Sauron. The journey
into the underworld, a common mechanism within epic hero tales (in various fashions), serves as
a ‘grounding’ of sorts for epic heroes, to help them obtain information (i.e. Odysseus, Aeneas) or
to overcome great evil and save innocents (i.e. Beowulf), and ultimately establish rightful claim
to the epic hero status they have enjoyed, but not defended (per se, as far as the audience is
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concerned) until this point: success within the underworld secures the heroes’ significance as an
epic hero, and also their repute for ages to come. Through an in-depth analysis of all three
episodes within Tolkien’s underworlds, Aragorn earns his rightful stance as the epic hero whom
deserves to rule (benevolently, of course) over Gondor, and who deserves the pure respect of
Tolkien’s readers.
Within Fellowship of the Ring, the company begins their journey from Rivendell with
little desire to cross over the mountains, and even less desire to pass under them via the Mines of
Moria: as Gandalf says, “it is not a pleasant way, and I have not spoken of it to the Company
before. Aragorn was against it, until the pass over the mountains had at least been tried” (Tolkien
287). Once the Company discovers that Saruman watches the Redhorn Gate (280), and the pass
of Caradhras turns them back in defeat, the Mines become their only option toward continuing
their Quest to destroy the One Ring. The Mines take on ‘underworld’ status due to its infamous
history: “on all the others [except Gimli, a dwarf who resides in dark places] a dread fell at the
mention of that name [of Moria]. Even to the hobbits it was a legend of vague fear” (287
brackets mine), and so the Mines of Moria present a daunting and formidable challenge to the
hero who faces it. Though the whole company treks through the darkness, ultimately, it is
Gandalf’s trial to bear, and a trial-by-fire, even: “the flames roared up to greet [the growing
shadow], and wreathed about it… and a black smoke swirled in the air… its streaming mane
kindled, and blazed behind it… in its right hand was a blade like a stabbing tongue of fire… in
its left it held a whip of many thongs” (321); it was a “dark figure streaming with fire” (321).
The Balrog of Moria holds its own as predicated on myth: “even as mithril was the foundation of
[the dwarves of Moria’s] wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too
deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin’s Bane [the Balrog]” (309). However,
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Gandalf’s failure within the Mines stems not from his death, but through his resurrection after
this death, and the change of character he undergoes. Before he faces his trial with the Balrog,
Gandalf the Grey leads the company valiantly, but still makes mistakes (choosing Caradhras) and
only seems to move the company forward through trial-and-error means. Gandalf fails even
before his fall in the Mines, at the gate itself, where attempting to open the doors, “spoke in tones
of command and rising wrath… and followed with [cries of Open!]… the same command in
every language that had ever been spoken in the West of Middle-earth… then he threw down his
staff on the ground, and sat down in silence” (299 brackets mine). His inability to open the doors
himself, as well as the handicap of fear and doubt he faces (and because of which leans heavily
on his staff, as a source of light and security), disproves the initial judgment of Gandalf as an
epic hero. Even though epic heroes may make mistakes (as Odysseus does in allowing his men to
kill Apollo’s cattle of the sun (Homer 282)), they ultimately figure out a solution themselves,
without the help of comrades (as Odysseus alone survives Apollo’s wrath, through his strength
of character in refusing to join his men in their feast on Apollo’s herd (Homer 283-84)); Gandalf
requires help to figure out even a simple riddle: “speak, friend, and enter” (Tolkien 297).
Gandalf’s fallibility as the Grey hints at his failure as an epic hero; however, if his fallibility is
the only feature which detracts epic hero status from him, then Gandalf the White must reclaim
the title. After Moria, the depleted Fellowship meets Gandalf again within the borders of
Fangorn forest, and learn that “darkness [took him], and [he] strayed out of thought and time,
and… wandered far on roads that [he would] not tell… naked [he] was sent back – for a brief
time, until [his] task was done” (491). About what any of this actually means, Tolkien remains
vague, and in fact here begins a character-arc for Gandalf which remains lofty and aloof
throughout the remainder of the books. Gandalf seems almost omniscient about happenings
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throughout Middle-earth (as evidenced by his knowledge of Rohan, Gondor, and even though
some of his information comes from third parties (Gwaihir the windlord, Galadriel of Lothlórien,
etc), he would have traveled far in the short time the Fellowship was chasing after the lost
hobbits at the start of The Two Towers (for it is not possible for Gandalf to have been in
Lothlórien until after the Fellowship left, creating a short-seeming timeline for him to travel so
quickly and obtain so much information). Gandalf’s mysteriousness as the White is of a different
sort than the mystery he wore as the Grey: as the Grey, his reticence stemmed from keptknowledge, under a need-to-know basis, but still of a knowable nature to the other characters; as
the White, his inscrutability seems to be inconceivable, and that he knows of lofty things which
no human can possess or realize. In a sense, Gandalf the White becomes dehumanized, and exists
almost as a Guardian Angel figure for the Free Peoples in their strife against the evil of Mordor.
In this way, Gandalf loses epic hero status, for while many epic heroes have immortal ancestry
(Aeneas being the son of Venus, for one), they still have human blood, and human weakness.
Gandalf’s weakness are not of a human variety, and so due to his death within the underworld of
Moria, causing his rebirth as an angelic figure of hope and guidance, Gandalf fails as an epic
hero.
Frodo’s passage through the Stairs of Cirith Ungol and into Shelob’s Lair also carries
weight as a place of infamous legend: Faramir, when learning of Gollum’s plan to take them
through, questions Frodo on his decision to follow the creature, and warns that Frodo goes
“bound unwitting to his own harm” for though men “of Gondor do not ever pass east of the
Road… not any… have set foot upon the Mountains of Shadow… of them we know only old
report and the rumour of bygone days… if Cirith Ungol is named, old men and masters of lore
will blanch and fall silent” (677). Gandalf himself proclaims when Faramir announces it to him
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that “just now, Pippin, my heart almost failed me, hearing that name” (Tolkien 797). Again, the
underworld’s renown as a place of terror vaults it into a role of significance and therefore makes
it viable as a trial for the hero. Frodo, as mentioned previously, is of the fairy tale variety of hero,
and his trial also includes a creature of myth: “there is some dark terror that dwells in the passes
above Minas Morgul” (677), ancient and malevolent, terrifying to behold and “horrible beyond
the horror of an evil dream” (709), with “great horns… and behind her short stalk-like neck was
her huge swollen body, a vast bloated bag, swaying and sagging between her legs; its great bulk
was black, blotched with livid marks, but the belly underneath was pale and luminous and gave
forth a stench… her legs were bent, with… hairs that stuck out like steel spines, and at each leg’s
end there was a claw” (709). However, as horrible as Shelob is described, she is mortal, made of
flesh and bone, and therefore befitting a fairy tale hero, reluctant and untrained to fight beasts
such as a Balrog. Frodo’s path through her lair, much like Gandalf, is handicapped by doubt, fear
and lack of guidance or direction, and therefore is aided by the Light of Eärendil. The use of light
in dark places gives the characters hope, but also proves their limits and failure as heroes capable
of their own action in the face of abject terror, ultimate choice and corrupt evil. After Frodo’s
psychological and physical ordeal within Shelob’s Lair, and after she plunges her stinger into
him, Frodo’s resulting physical weakness opens the door for the Ring to weaken him
psychologically and emotionally, leading to his ultimate failure in destroying it. Even though
Frodo is hailed by many critics as associated “with the mysterious or orphan child motif”
(Flieger 52), “the real hero” (Auden 55), and that “Frodo’s is a journey from light into darkness –
and out again” (Flieger 42 italics mine), most everyone concedes that “to Frodo come defeat and
disillusionment – the stark, bitter ending typical of the Iliad, Beowulf, [and] the Morte d’Arthur”
(42). This sense of disillusionment stems directly from his ordeal with Shelob, and the darkness
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he faces within her Lair; the Ring unto this point has been a burden, but only after the
underworld does Frodo begin to fade in spirit and strength. One could argue that the reason for
this waning transpires due to the hobbits’ trek into the borders of Mordor; however, because only
Frodo’s psyche seems utterly disheartened: Sam’s strength holds fast, as he even manages to
carry Frodo the rest of the way to Orodruin (919-20), one could posit that Frodo’s weakness is
made more dire due to the evil sting of Shelob. Frodo, as seen as a fairy tale hero, ultimately fails
in his role, and not simply because he refuses to destroy the Ring. Frodo fades, becomes
dematerialized and separated from his hobbit culture: when he returns to the Shire, a deep seated
sense of unrest festers within him as “Frodo dropped quietly out of all the doings of the Shire”
(1002). Frodo says himself that “I am wounded… it will never really heal” (1002). This wound,
while obviously due to his trial upon Weathertop, also forms the sense of loss Frodo experiences
within his own culture. His failure in his underworld causes him to lose focus, and to lose
interest in things once treasured: hearth and home and the comforts therein. In a sense, then,
Frodo loses his connection with Tolkien’s readers, which made him the fairy tale hero-type;
unable to connect to his life in the Shire anymore, Frodo instead loses all hero status within
Middle-earth, and instead must travel across the Sea, to hopefully find solace there. Frodo, like
Gandalf, loses his hero status due to his ordeal in his underworld: his dematerialization
disengages him from his readers, and from being relatable (a key characteristic of ‘fairy tale’
heroes).
Aragorn, however, transcends his ordeal in his own underworld in The Return of the
King, and uses it to his own advantage in firmly taking hold of his destiny as King of Gondor and
leader of the Free Peoples against Mordor. The Paths of the Dead also, like Moria and Cirith
Ungol, have a dark and iniquitous history: “it seemed to Merry that the faces of the Riders that
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sat within hearing [of Aragorn, having announced his decision to take the Paths] turned pale at
the words” (762). Indeed, the Rohirrim dread the Paths, and “the living have never used that road
since the coming of the Rohirrim” (764), but Aragorn has faith that he can succeed where other
men have failed, for it is prophesied that “The heir of him to whom the oath they swore/ From
the North shall he come, need shall drive him/ he shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead”
(764). The cursed undead army doomed to dwell under the mountain until called to arms by the
heir of Isildur are deemed “oathbreakers” for “when Sauron returned and grew in might again,
Isildur summoned the Men of the Mountains to fulfill their oath, and they would not: for they
had worshipped Sauron in the Dark Years” (765). Aragorn, as the true heir of the line of Elendil,
has the perfect underworld, tailored to him, which once overcome launches him into his destiny
to become King. After passing through the doors, and leading his men through the darkness
(without aid of light, I may add; while Gandalf stands as the superhuman, strong and virtuous, it
is Aragorn who travels through darkness utilizing only his own, internal light within his heart
and soul to get him through), the Company realize that “the Dead are following… shapes of Men
and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty
night… the Dead ride behind… they have been summoned” (771) by the rightful King, Aragorn.
As Robin Robertson explains in his article “The Seven Paths of the Ring: The Path of the King,”
“Aragorn is able to pass through the caves of the dead because he has faced the darkness within
his own soul” (333); without his self-conscious awareness of his own character, abilities and
limitations, he would never have been able to acknowledge his destiny and grasp it firmly. When
they reach the Stone of Erech, Aragorn challenges the Dead to fulfill their owed oath, stating that
“now I go to Pelargir upon Anduin, and ye shall come after me. And when all this land is clean
of the servants of Sauron, I will hold the oath fulfilled, and ye shall have peace and depart for
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ever. For I am Elessar, Isildur’s heir of Gondor” (772). Aragorn does not ask the Dead to aid
him, he uses his kingly title to order their allegiance, thereby accepting his rightful destiny, and
utilizing it, rather than allowing it to take over him. At Pelargir, Aragorn has the Dead Army
destroy the navy lying in wait, and takes the ships for his own. As Gimli tells the young hobbits
later, “mighty indeed was Aragorn that day… all the black fleet was in his hands… and he chose
the greatest ship to be his own” (858) and after such Kingly action, next freed the Dead Army
from their oath, proving that while he took the best ship, he is no tyrant, and shows reciprocity
and mercy as a benevolent King. After his actions over the Dead, Aragorn moves on to living
subjects, and commands the armies of the Free Peoples (including Gondorians, the Rohirrim, and
the people of Prince Imrahil) in a desperate attempt to buy Frodo and Same time to destroy the
Ring before Sauron realizes their plan. Meeting with the Mouth of Sauron, the evil Black
Númenorean chides Aragorn, saying that “it needs more to make a king than a piece of elvish
glass, or a rabble such as this. Why, any brigand of the hills can show as good a following!”
(870); however, Aragorn defeats him as “he took the other’s eye and held it, and for a moment
they strove thus; but soon, though Aragorn did not stir nor move hand to weapon, the other
quailed, and gave back as if menaced with a blow” (870). Aragorn, though mighty in battle,
earns his Kingship through even might of will and strength of mind (as we remember, he looked
into the Palantír, and strove with Sauron for a time, challenging him with his reforged sword:
“Aragorn is able to look at ultimate evil in the person of Sauron and survive… he has to do so
through the seeing stone [Palantir], and still he barely survives” (Robertson 332) yet manages to
intimidate Sauron, who sees “that the rightful king has returned (Robertson 331)). Aragorn
ultimately succeeds as a true epic hero, because his destiny, prophesied through songs and tales,
fulfills itself through his journey into his underworld; once he takes his kingdom and unleashes
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his forces, including his own psychological warfare with Sauron and through the command of his
armies, “Tolkien gives Aragorn the fairy-tale happy ending – the princess and the kingdom”
(Flieger 42). While an epic hero should deserve an epic ending, Tolkien instead turns the
stereotype on its head, and gives Frodo the mythical, Arthurian-esque departure from this world
across the water, and gives Aragorn the humanized reality of marriage and kingship. As Verlyn
Flieger suggests, “only after we believe [Aragorn] as a character are we allowed to make the
heroic associations that enrich him and rank him with his predecessors in myth, epic, and
romance” (44). Through creating an epic hero, with a fairy tale ending, Tolkien manages to save
Aragorn from becoming mere legend; he allows for audiences to relate to the fairy tale,
producing a sense of solidarity between Aragorn and his readers, thereby picking up where
Frodo failed. All around, Aragorn succeeds in the roles where Gandalf and Frodo failed, and
while the wizard and hobbit both fail due to the underworlds they face, Aragorn instead
supersedes his trial in his underworld, and succeeds due to the Paths of the Dead.
Though Quest tales often run the risk of creating characters which act as “archetypes
rather than idiosyncratic individuals” (Auden 49) due to the transient and episodic nature of the
plot, Lord of the Rings presents its characters, situations, locations and even languages in ways
which go against the stereotypical mechanisms. Each character, and their tribulations, derives
from myth and legend and tradition; however, each character also somehow deviates from the
same source material, and carries its own, unique Tolkienian twist. As heroes, Gandalf and Frodo
fit, at first glance, into particular molds: epic and fairy tale hero, respectively. However, as they
make their way through the underworlds they face during the course of their journeys, both
characters lose their archetypal status, and transcend the boundaries of characterization. Gandalf,
after Moria, becomes the White and thereby dehumanizes, and becomes almost too virtuous and
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lofty, and “his goodness somehow impairs his believability” (Flieger 42) and epic hero status.
Frodo, on the other hand, loses his grasp on reality, and dematerializes after Shelob’s attack; his
loss of the tangible comforts of life (which his hobbit culture prizes) causes him to lose his status
as a fairy tale hero, as he then loses his relatability to Tolkien’s audience. Only Aragorn, through
traveling the Paths of the Dead and coming out the other side with not only an undead army
following him, but having claimed his title as heir to the throne of Gondor, embraces his task and
his status as an epic hero, with the rewarded, fairy tale happy ending. Tolkien may have
deliberately thought of these things, and chosen this end, due to the specified nature of each
underworld to its hero; Gandalf’s monstrous opposition matched him in a lack of humanity, and
even the sense of tangible reality: the Balrog is made of fire and wrath, not flesh. Frodo’s doom,
Shelob, shares his mortality, in that she is wounded by Sam (though from thrusting herself onto
him); and while Moria’s depths were vast and endless (much like Gandalf’s ‘immortal’ life),
Shelob’s Lair is tight and close, befitting a smaller-than-Man sized hobbit. The Paths of the
Dead, however, are even more tailored to Aragorn than the others to Gandalf or Frodo, for it is
even prophesied that only Aragorn can make it through alive to the Stone of Erech and call the
Dead to his fight. Further, the Dead were once Men, and this similarity to Aragorn himself
allows him to see the depths of humanity, while still remaining, in a sense, tangible as Men.
While the wizard deals with a demon, and the hobbit with the dregs of the earth (both tailored to
the nature of each hero: wizards with spiritual trials, hobbits with earthly ones), Aragorn deals
with the evil inherent within humanity, therefore preparing him for the trials he will face as King
of Gondor.
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Works Cited
Auden, W. H. “The Quest Hero.” Tolkien and the Critics. Ed. Neil D. Isaacs and Rose A.
Zimbardo. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968. Print.
Flieger, Verlyn. “Frodo and Aragorn: The Concept of the Hero.” Tolkien: New Critical
Perspectives. Ed. Neil D. Isaacs and Rose A. Zimbardo. Lexington, KY: University Press
of Kentucky, 1981. Print.
Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. Print.
Robertson, Robin. “Seven Paths of the Hero in Lord of the Rings: The Path of the King.”
Psychological Perspectives. 51: 316-339 (2008). Web.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994. Print.