Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk
agh burzum-ishi krimpatul
Some notes for the open notes test are below. I assume that your summary notes of the story are fine and need no repeat here.
Characters:
- Bilbo Baggins
- protagonist of The Hobbit. He is 111 years old at the start of this book/movie. It is important to note that the ring, evil as it is, has not affected him too much. It only becomes apparent when Bilbo tries to part with the ring. This is because hobbits have little to no ambition.
- Frodo Baggins
- Bilbo's nephew and inheritor of all of Bilbo's possessions, including the ring. Since the ring belongs to him, he is "The Ring Bearer." He also goes by the name Mr. Underhill while trying to conceal his identity early in the story.
- Meriadoc Brandybuck
- "Merry" He and Pippin hang out together and join the fellowship out of loyalty to Frodo. Boromir is redeemed by protecting Merry and him.
- Peregrin Took
- "Pippin" Best friend of Merry and good friend of Frodo. Since his family long ago had mixed in with fairies, the Tooks have a habit of being curious, somewhat adventurous, and downright odd. Bilbo and Frodo almost half Took.
- Samwise Gamgee
- Frodo's best friend, most loyal friend, and gardener. He plays a key role in this adventure. Some say that this is really Sam's story, not Frodo's.
- Fredegar "Fatty" Bolger
- Left out of the movie, he was another hobbit friend of Frodo. He stayed behind in the book to make it look like Frodo was still at home.
- Gollum
- Smeagol, a hobbit from long ago who killed his friend Deagol when Deagol found the ring. For about 500 years, Gollum, who gets his name from a sound he makes in his throat, hid in a cave in the bottom of a mountain until Bilbo found his ring. Gollum now tracks the fellowship, waiting for a chance to steal the ring.
- Bill
- Sam's pony. They left him out of the movie for the most part since it was too hard to get the pony in some of the shots. They did let Sam say, "by" to him at Moria.
- Arwen
- Her role was greatly enhanced in the movie. She is an elf that is in love with Aragorn. She gives her pledge of love by wanting to stay behind with him while the elves leave. He will dies eventually and she will have to stay alone for hundreds of years. In the movie she rescues Frodo, but in the book, that was done by a male elf named Glorfindel. Arwen just sat in the background. She is Elrond's daughter and Galadriel's granddaughter.
- Legolas
- Sissy elf of Mirkwood. Yeah, his good with a bow and all the girls drool over him, but he is still a sissy.
- Elrond
- Head elf of Rivendell and Arwen's father. He heads up the council of the fellowship. He does not trust men, does not agree with Arwen's choice to love a man, and has plans to leave Middle-earth as soon as possible. He married Galadriel and Celeborn's daughter.
- Galadriel
- Elf queen/witch in Lorien. She has a magical "mirror" that allows you to see the past, the present, and what "may" happen in the future. She can resist the ring only so much and has hopes of getting the ring to do good with it.
- Celeborn
- Elf, husband of Galadriel. He does not like the fellowship coming into Lorien because of the evil it brings.
- Gimli
- Dwarf, son of Gloin (a dwarf in The Hobbit). His story revolves around his relationship with Legolas and how that relationship is the possible future dwarf/elf relationship.
- Aragorn/Strider
- The man who should be king. Long ago his mother hid him away in Rivendell with the elves. Now that he is grown, he hides from his duties out of fear that he will fail. He pretends to be a ranger named Strider and he is a friend of Gandalf.
- Boromir
- He is a man who comes to the council of Elrond to represent the humans. His father is the Stewart of Gondor (the ruler in the absence of the king). Boromir is a good man who wants to do good to please his father. He befriends Merry and Pippin. The ring pulls on him the hardest.
- Isildur
- In the great battle, close to 3,000 years ago, Isildur cut the fingers off of Sauron's hand. This removed the ring and seemingly destroyed Sauron. Isildur, under the influence of the ring, kept it and later lost it in his death. It was not found for 2,461 years.
- Ugluk
- The main Uruk-hai. He battles Boromir.
- Gandalf
- Istari (wizard), known as "Gandalf the Grey." He tricked Bilbo into going on the adventure. He is a Christ-figure in this story.
- Saruman
- Head istari (wizard), known as "Saruman the White" and as "Saruman the Wise." He lives in Isengard. His symbol is a white hand (which is why the Uruk-hai, his creations, have a painted white hand on their faces). He is more powerful than Gandalf the Grey.
- Sauron
- Bad guy. He is a godly creature. The exact history is long, but he served an evil being named Melkor. Sauron stayed on Middle-earth after Melkor's defeat and decided to ruin men and elves. He is known as the Great Deceiver since he tricked all the races (except hobbits) into taking rings. He had The One Ring kept secret, a ring to rule the rest of them. His physical self may be gone, but his spirit is rebuilding, much like Voldemort from the Harry Potter books. Need more, try ARDA
- Balrog
- Demon of Shadow and Flame - Here is how the book FotR describes
it:
“Something was coming up behind them. What it was could not be seen: it was like a great shadow, in the middle of which was a dark form, of man-shape maybe, yet greater; and a power and terror seemed to be in it and go before it...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....His enemy halted again, facing him, and the shadows about it reached out like two vast wings. It raised the whip, and the thongs whined and cracked. Fire came from its nostrils."
Need more? Try this very detailed site: ARDA or Wikipedia.
Places:
- Shire
- A place in Hobbiton where the hobbits in this story live.
- Inn of the Prancing Pony
- Located in Bree, it is the place where Gandalf hoped to meet Frodo.
- Lorien
- The forest where Galadriel lives.
- Rivendell
- Elrond's home
- Mordor
- Where Sauron lives
- Isengard
- Where Saruman lives
- Orthanc
- Saruman's tower at Isengard
Things:
Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thralldom of the ring that they bore and of the domination of the One which was Sauron's. And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgul were they, the Ring wraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death.
Old English
Many of the names have Old English origins:
Smeagol = sneaky
Deagol = secret
Saruman = treachery
Sauron = filth
Mordor = murder
Middle Earth = translation of middangeard,
the Old English word for Earth
The Gifts of Galadriel:
Each character gets Lembas,
elvish waybread that can fill you up with just a little bite. They also
get cloaks with leaf clasps. In the book, they also get rope put in the
boats (the rope has special magical, elvish qualities). Here is what else
they get:
Character - what they
got in the movie : what they got in the book
Legolas - a bow (supposed
to be a really good one) : the same
Gimli - hair from Galadriel
: same
Merry and Pippin - daggers
: same
Aragorn - nothing
: Arwen's stone and a sword of great history (Anduril)
that cannot break
Boromir - nothing
: a golden belt
Sam - rope :
dirt from her orchard
Frodo - a vial with
the light of a star (Earendil) : same
The Statues:
Warning - this is at the end, so you may want to wait to read this, or you can be prepared and say it in class and act like you knew it all a long:
When the fellowship enters the land of men (not the city of Gondor), they see statues of the men of old. This is Numenor. The age when these men lived was a golden age when honor and bravery ran among men. Statues are always symbolic of great people. In this case, they also are symbolic of the two men in this story. When they pass through the pillars, you see two great statues standing tall. This is symbolic of the goodness in both men (Boromir and Aragorn). When Boromir tries to take the ring, the statues are fallen, showing that he has failed his fight with the ring's power. When he fights the Uruk-hai to defend the hobbits, the statues are upright again, showing that he has been redeemed.
Class handouts and Readings:
"Riddles in the Dark" of The Hobbit - both the original and the revised.
Spark Notes Chapter 9 of Fellowship of the Ring
Spark Notes Chapter 10 of Fellowship of the Ring
Double click above to see larger image
Archetypes
Here is a list of some archetypes (symbols that mean the same in all time periods and cultures). See how many you can find in the movie:
II. Sun
When Peter Jackson began production on this movie, he realized the tremendous task set ahead of him. The biggest obstacle in his way was not special effects or scripting. It was the fact that there are die hard fans who live, breathe, and eat Tolkien. How do you satisfy these people? One way was to make the movie scenes as much like the art work people looked at as the read the book over the years. This way the movie "feels" right. Here are some paintings that you'll recognize in the movie
These paintings were taken from :fan.theonering.net/middleearthtours/nasmith1.html
John Howe and Alan Lee are two of the most famous artists associated with Tolkien's works. In the movie, they play one of the nine kings of men that succumb to the ring.
Bilbo shouts, "I'm not at home!" - "Not at
Home" is a chapter title in The Hobbit.
Gandalf says, "Riddles in the dark" as he is trying to
figure out Bilbo's ring origin and the Eye he sees when coming close to
touching; this is the chapter title where Bilbo finds the ring in The
Hobbit.
Gandalf exclaims, "A Long-Expected Party," near the beginning
of the movie, which is the first chapter of The Fellowship of the
Ring.
There are more. E-mail me if you can find them. marcus.alford@orange.k12.nc.us
Links:
The
Official Movie Site watch the
trailer, get good info, etc.
Interactive
Map of the whole
Fellowship of the Ring area
Sacred
Texts this link has links
that enable you to read
works that would have inspired
Tolkien as he wrote this
Beyond
the Movie goes in more
detail of how the story
came to be
The
One Ring all about the
movie and books. This is
for fans of anything
Middle-earth
Movie
Goofs Got time?
If so, sit down and find out
all of the mistakes that made
it into the film such as when
Frodo's sock sticking out
of his fake foot.
Trivia
based on the
movie adaptation
Lord
of the Peeps I am
not making this up,
FotR done in marsh mellow
Peeps! Mmmm...Peeps...
FotR
Personality Test find out
which character in the fellowship
you are most like (I came out
as Samwise Gamgee)
FotR
Villain Test Which villain
would you most likely be?
(I came out as Sauron - yes!)
FotR
Ultra Condensed read the
whole book in under a minute
FotR
Movie Script couldn't
make out what they said? Read it.
Wikipedia
the entry
on FotR
FotR
Wavs Sound clips
from the movie
How
to Speak Elvish in case
you wanted to learn
Lembas
a recipe so
that you too can eat it
Orlando
Bloom It is down-right
sickening, but some of you
females seem to think this
sissy means something...
Extra Credit:
At the top of this page is a phrase written in the black speech of Mordor. Translate it and E-mail me the answer.
Also, go back and find the name of the male elf that saved Frodo at the river. it is the extra credit on the test and is somewhere on this page.
Super extra credit if you can tell me what the Hobbits call the constellation, "The Big Dipper."
Want more specific test review?
Enter the Mines of Moria
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