Smaug

J.R.R. Tolkien himself said, in his essay On Fairy-Stories, that “the Consolation of the Happy Ending” is needed at the end of any complete fairy-story (2001, 68). Fantasy, the genre under which the fairy-story falls, is notable for the way in which the adventure or quest is brought to a close by the distribution of rewards (Marquis, 2017), and it is from this reward distribution that the happy ending commonly comes. However, Tolkien’s own story, The Hobbit, has a distinct and unusual way of…

1954-1955, The Hobbit was written in 1937. The Hobbit was split into three separate movies and they were released in 2012-2014 in December each of the three years. The titles of the movies are The Hobbit And Unexpected Journey, The Desolation Of Smaug and The Battle Of Five Armies. Tolkien created and shaped Bilbo into an amazing dynamic character. In the story The Hobbit a small creature known as a hobbit, a small human like person, named Bilbo who goes out on an adventure. Bilbo starts…

best friend. That leads me into another unstated rule of the Ringer fandom, you cannot watch just one movie of the trilogy. You have to watch the whole trilogy or not watch them at all. I remember watching An Unexpected Journey and The Desolation of Smaug and then my family had to leave and go to a family function. It felt so wrong! I had to finish the trilogy when I returned home so that I would stop feeling so…

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as J.R.R. Tolkien once said “Not all those that wander are lost.” (The Riddle of Strider). Some people may understand wandering as a loss of direction, or meaning; whereas others see that those who wander may have a purpose. While in the act of wandering, people can learn many lessons including how to forgive the ones they have wronged, how important family and friends are, that riches and wealth aren’t the most important aspects of life, and to never…

Obsession Leads to Destruction The myth of Pandora’s Box and Tolkien’s Gollum showcase how temptation over an object can lead to something tragic. Obsession leads to tragedy whether it is an individual or societal matter; the mythological Pandora obsesses over her box, while Tolkien’s Gollum obsesses over his “precious”, yet both attachments bring irreversible misfortune. The mythological Pandora and Tolkien’s Gollum obsessions led to catastrophe. Their temptation for their…

In Plane Sight: An Observational Analysis of Behaviour at the Airport I undertook two non-participant observations at Wellington airport over a period of two weeks. The intention was to observe the behaviour and customs people exhibited when they were not in an environment that was customary and potentially unsettling. I had also expected to take notice of things I hadn’t perceived before as when you are part of the crowd, it’s often harder to take notice of the behaviours and interactions of…

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis and the first two Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling have a multitude of complex characters for and against the quest’s in their texts. Northrop Frye’s “The Mythos of Summer: Romance.” outlines how he believes what a character’s traits are based on their position on the quest. Frye claims that, “Characters tend to be either for or against the quest. If they assist it they are idealized…

reclaim that mountain, stupid dwarf!" The elf fumed, his eyes glistening with malice as he clutched the armrests of his throne in anger. "What are you even thinking? Marching into Erebor with a handful of over-the-hill dwarfs and mere tod-dlers to face Smaug? I will not allow for your stubbornness to re-awake that dragon to bring death and destruction over all Arda! If you don't give in, you and your people shall rot in my dungeon. Your case is lost, dwarf!" "And so will be your precious gems,…