Laying Down the Sword

The nature of heroism, the ideal behind great stories and people doing great things, has embodied many different meanings over time. Looking at the medieval notions of heroism, one imagines the strong warrior, fighting for his people, imbued with honor. A righteous force of goodness striving against the evil forces of the world. But how does that notion change and morph into something new as the faces of said goodness and evil change into more complicated natures? World War 1 and World War 2, both important influences in the context of The Lord of the Rings, blurred the distinctions between black and white concepts. Never before had there been comparable death and destruction on such a large scale. Long gone are the days of a strong man, the kingly leader figure of the likes of Beowulf, a solitary man facing his duty and doom against the forces of evil and destruction for his people. So what has taken over instead? How does the modern hero look and act in today’s context of the unimaginable horrors of war operating at such an unprecedented destructive level? These are the questions Tolkien aims to answer in his drawing on the medieval ideas around heroism in the setting of The Lord of the Rings, while modernizing that same ideal through the depiction of Frodo’s journey and the consequences of a life at war, and the toll that the role of a hero takes on a person.

The Lord of the Rings, in its setting of Middle-earth, draws inspiration from multiple medieval works. In comparison to these older works, such as Beouwlf, specifically the differences in who their respective main heroes are, the audience forms a better notion of what today’s more realistic hero looks like. Taking a broad and simplified view, Beowulf’s and Frodo’s stories can be likened. A journey from home, where the main characters rise as heroes against a great evil, succeeding and winning fame, before returning home to be faced with more perils there. A simplistic overview, but an accurate portrayal of two hero’s similar structure in their stories. But it is on the returning home that the differences really emerge, where Tolkien distinguishes Frodo as a modern hero, one with a much heavier baggage returning from conflict than Beowulf. What we lack in Beowulf is introspection into his character; we aren’t shown evidence of a substantial transformation of the character upon his return home after slaying both Grendel and Grendel’s mother. In Beowulf’s youth, although he has a pack of warriors attending him, he turns the battles with the monsters into spectacles, just him against the monsters in an honorable bout. This is best exemplified in his dive to follow Grendel’s mother and the language concerning himself and his duty regarding the task, “With Hrunting I will find / a deserving fame or death will take me!” (Chickering 1490–1491). What follows is Beowulf’s plunge into the water to pursue Grendel’s mother by himself. His language focuses on himself and shows the medieval heroic qualities of his character. The medieval hero pursues his own fame, glory, and honor in battles that they want to take part in, not necessarily needs. Beowulf traveled to the Danes with the purpose of quest seeking, looking for this opportunity to prove himself. This moment of leaving his fellow swordsmen behind in a solitary dive after Grendel’s mother, waiving off help and claiming this mission for himself, accepting only two possibilities, his own personal success or his death. This is his mindset in his youth, but returning from his quest and accepting the role as leader of the Geats after Hygelac’s death, we don’t see a change in his attitudes. Although we’re told how Beowulf, “ruled it well for fifty winters / by then an old king, aged guardian / of the precious homeland” (Chickering 2208–2210). That is the only context of transformation we’re given, a new leadership role, for the hero Beowulf to accept. But when analyzing the textual evidence, or lack thereof, we find that Beowulf hasn’t changed in his heroism at all and approaches his problems in that same medieval version of heroism as he did in his youth. This same solitary duty arises again, as Beowulf assumes sole responsibility for the dragon in his speech, “Wait on the barrow safe in your mail, / men in your armor, to see which of us / shall better survive the wounds dealt out / in the rush of battle. It is not your business, / nor fitting for any, except me alone, / to test out his strength against this monster, / do a hero’s deed. I must succeed, / win gold by courage, or battle seize me, / final life-hurt take your lord away!” (Chickering 2529–2537). The emphasis on Beowulf’s own personal heroic deeds is still present in his later life. Once again, Beowulf assigns the threat to be his fate alone, waving off the help from his retainers that he brought, one last heroic deed for his life. This static nature, as we see the similarities of Beowulf’s attitudes to heroism in his youth and age, shows a lack of change in his journey. The journey of slaying Grendel and Grendel’s mother didn’t change Beowulf in his internal processes, exemplified by the similar approaches to the perils of his youth and age. He lives throughout the story as a medieval hero to his core, taking on responsibilities with a solemn sense of finality about who he is and what he must do by himself. He finds strength in himself, not expecting anyone else to help in his quests, and seeks to gain fame and honor in his quests. The effect of this medieval depiction shows a lack of impact of the deeds on Beowulf’s person. Going through the violent heroic deeds of his youth didn’t change who he was as a person, as he clings fast to his medieval heroic ideals in his second quest, much later in his life, but treats it again as an opportunity for a personal “hero’s deed”.

Frodo, however, the modern hero, has the opposite experience, undergoing a profound transformation on his return home. It is in that change that Tolkien takes the medieval ideas of heroism and modernises them, showing the more realistic effects of heroism in days of horror and destruction. Throughout Frodo’s journey, the return to his home, the Shire, is a motivating beacon of hope when the despair of the adventure looms heavy. A beautiful moment of joy for Sam and Frodo in Mordor as Sam imagines how the hobbits back home will tell of the story of their adventure, and in a moment of pure joy, Frodo, “laughed, a long clear laugh from his heart. Such a sound had not been heard in those places since Sauron came to Middle-earth” (Tolkien 932–933). In the blackest of nights in the land of evil, the memory and appreciation of the Shire is what brings laughter. But the reality of Frodo’s homecoming is a much more somber one. Until the end, Frodo and Sam dream back to the Shire, as Sam’s understanding of their future had been a shared one, “‘But’ said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, ‘I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years after all you have done.’” (Tolkien 1346). But this dream is too simple, and Frodo’s response perfectly explains the reality of war, “So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam.” (Tolkien 1346). This admission of change, agreeing with Sam that at one point, for most of the journey, Frodo did want to return to his home in peace, done with his quest. But it is a heartbreaking admission that he can’t reside there peacefully, that the burden of carrying the One Ring, falling to its corruption in the last moment before its destruction, and then losing it, was too much for him to simply forget. That is the realistic depiction of warfare and the modern heroes that Tolkien creates. These wars and conflicts on a modern scale aren’t just events that pass by. They cause deep wounds that linger. Frodo completed his quest and did so honorably, as the true medieval hero would. What sets him apart from Beowulf is the consequences that follow that adventure. Contrasting Beowulf’s static attitude to heroics, Frodo changes into a truly hurt person, still suffering from the effects of his journey away from home. Throughout his time in the Shire before leaving, Frodo suffers from the memories of his heroics as, “On the thirteenth of that month Farmer Cotton found Frodo lying on his bed; he was clutching a white gem that hung on a chain about his neck and he seemed half in a dream. ‘It is gone for ever,’ he said, ‘and now all is dark and empty.’” (Tolkien 1340). Much as a war-torn soldier returning home, shell-shocked or suffering from PTSD, reliving the horrors faced abroad for the service of one’s home, the world as a whole, in Frodo’s case, Frodo has returned a changed, broken man, suffering because of his heroic actions in his journey. These are the more realistic consequences of the great deeds of the hero, the violent quest filled with death, destruction, horror, burdens, and corruption, leaving a lasting impact on Frodo’s life, changing him as a person.

The two endings of Beowulf and Frodo are vastly different conclusions to their hero’s journey, with Tolkien presenting a more nuanced option aligned with a more modern perspective of war. The modern hero has more options than living and dying by their role. Beowulf resigns himself to a hero’s life. Never in his mind are we shown a questioning of his choices, a regret of staying true to his role as a hero and leader even in death, “‘I give thanks aloud to the Lord of all, / King of glories, eternal Ruler, / for the bright treasures I can see here, / that I might have gained such gifts as these for the sake of my people before I died.” (Chickering 2794–2798). Beowulf returned to his people and fought for them one last time in his death, a hero’s death after one last hero’s deed. Beowulf, in his last moments, isn’t despairing about his death; instead, he’s thankful that he was able to live as a hero and die as a hero. But Frodo, on his own return, shies away from that traditional medieval role of the leader and continued hero. He instead chooses to be something more, requiring its own kind of strength, a more detached role separate from the violence and fighting. He finds a new role in his pacifist leadership of the fight to free the Shire from Saruman’s forces. Differing from Beowulf, returning home and continuing the medieval hero role in the slaying of the threat, Frodo adopts a new role, one that shows just how much the journey has affected him. Throughout the battle, he advocates for the least possible carnage and works to prevent as many deaths as he can. Even as Saruman attempts a cowardly assassination on Frodo, he calls out, “‘No, Sam!’ said Frodo. ‘Do not kill him even now. For he has not hurt me. And in any case I do not wish him to be slain in this evil mood. He was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against. He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.’” (Tolkien 1334). Even in this extreme case, Frodo advocates total peace. This is because he has changed; Frodo is tired and has had enough of the violence. The journey he endured, with the struggles and the corruption of the ring, has fatigued him, and in this role, the departure from the traditional medieval heroic defense, emboldened by his adventure and defending his home, he does it in a new way, a more modern one. Tolkien’s choice in Frodo’s pacifism shows a more nuanced choice for the modern hero, not needing to live and die by that role, while still keeping the same earned honor of the heroic deeds.

Tolkien creates a more realistic depiction of the consequences of being the hero, as shown by Frodo’s immense change in his home journey compared to Beowulf’s stagnant self. While Beowulf personifies the role of the medieval hero, and on his return, stays true to it and continues his own personal quests for the greater good, Frodo comes back changed. Tolkien portrays the lasting scars and wounds that war imparts on those in it, war affects its victims differently, so although Sam, Merry, and Pippin can move on with their lives, there are others like Frodo, the modern hero, as he “may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?’” (Tolkien 1295). As Tolkien portrays, the modern hero can’t simply return unafflicted, carrying on to the next task at hand as Beowulf did in his medieval role. Instead, the modern hero returns changed, hurt, wounded, and unable to forget. But in Frodo’s departure, his honor isn’t diminished; he accomplished his quest and achieved glory in that. Tolkien shows that in the aftermath of such destruction and grief, consequences are expected; there is no honor lost in laying down the sword

Citations

Chickering, Howell D., Jr., translator. Beowulf: A Dual-Language Edition. Vintage Books, 2006.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Two Towers. HarperCollins, 2007.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Return of the King. HarperCollins, 2007.