Hero's Journey: Lord of the Rings

     The Heroic Journey I’ve come to see as “a” story element. Not “the.” I don’t completely agree with it. I don’t see why there needs to be a refusal to the call of action, whether just reluctance or just angst, I think there are many elements of the hero cycle that can be broken and changed. Though that’s true with most formulaic stories. 

     I read the first half of book one of Lord of the Rings. If I had given myself more time to read for this week I couldn’t at least finished the first book because it’s such a page turning. Tolkien really throws you into the world, listing off all these species names, most which are probably never mentioned ever again, and I like that. It makes a fantasy world feel real and cohesive. Elements and things just exist and not everything is plot driven or needed to tell the story, it’s just there. 
           
     But speaking of plot, I loved how he handled the introduction to the ring. He wrote it like it was some party trick but then the mood of the story changed quickly and Gandalf and Bilbo got really serious. The tone change emphasizes just how dangerous the ring can be, because it shows that it’s so powerful, it’s forgettable. Bilbo loses himself to the ring for a moment because he wasn’t cautious of its draw. I forgot its power.  


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