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Lore & Background

About half of The Lord of the Rings consists of dialogue, poetry and song, or stories told by a character. Thomas Kullmann and Dirk Siepmann liken this to the epic poetry of Homer and Virgil, which has a similar ratio, and contrast it to the modern novel, where dialogue typically makes up around a quarter of the text. The other half of Tolkien's novel is narrative, which frequently takes the point of view of one of the characters, most often – 85% of the time – one of the four Hobbit protagonists, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Each of these has a specific, limited knowledge and perspective on the world, with his own combination of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. The Hobbit point of view is however balanced by other types of narrative, including sections with an omniscient narrator. Kullmann and Siepmann remark the 'emotional depth' that is apparent from the first time that Frodo's point of view is given, in the first chapter. They write that this 'will characterize the bulk of the novel'. They liken this to English novels from the late 18th century onwards, which focussed on the subjective experiences of characters, such as Jane Austen's 1813 Pride and Prejudice or Thomas Hardy's 1891 Tess of the D'Urbervilles. In addition, the Hobbits serve as mediators between the ordinary modern world and the heroic and archaic fantasy realm, making The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings readily accessible.

In Their Own Story

Descriptions such as of landscape are often told from such a Hobbit point of view. Landscape features may be personified, so as to indicate the state of the character's mind at that moment: 'the road ... climbed to the top of a steep bank in a weary zig-zagging sort of way, and then prepared to go down for the last time.' An account, too, can switch from omniscient to specific within a paragraph, as when Aragorn appears after a hard night: 'So much alike were they, the sons of Elrond, that few could tell them apart: dark-haired, grey-eyed, and their faces elven-fair... But Merry had eyes only for Aragorn, so startling was the change that he saw in him, as if in one night many years had fallen on his head. Grim was his face, grey-hued and weary.' Tolkien, however, is not constrained to using point-of-view to describe characters. He can use Frodo's limited viewpoint to debate a philosophical point, such as whether people have free will or are governed by forces beyond their control. Frodo looks out from the Seat of Seeing atop Amon Hen: 'everywhere he looked he saw the signs of war... Horsemen were galloping on the grass of Rohan; wolves poured from Isengard...' and then he realizes he has been noticed by 'two powers', good and evil: 'The two powers strove in him. For a moment, perfectly balanced between their piercing points, he writhed, tormented. Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger.'

Reader's Guide

Where the Hobbit viewpoints are narrated in the style of a 19th century novel, the relatively rare omniscient narrator sections use other styles. The prologue about Hobbits imitates ethnography, one of several antiquarian elements in The Lord of the Rings comparable to the writings of 18th century figures like William Stukeley or Thomas Percy. The geographic descriptions of places such as Bree have some resemblance to a travel guide: 'Bree was the chief village of the Bree-land, a small inhabited region, like an island in the empty lands round about. Besides Bree itself, there was Staddle on the other side of the hill, Combe in a deep valley a little further eastward...' Such descriptions were common in ancient Greek literature such as Heliodorus's romance Aethiopica. These sections of the novel do not further the action, but by using non-fiction techniques they make Middle-earth feel objectively real as well as subjectively experienced. Other omniscient narrator passages are in epic style, marking out characters such as Aragorn as old-style heroes: 'The Sword of Elendil was forged anew by Elvish smiths, and on its blade was traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes, for Aragorn son of Arathorn was going to war upon the marches of Mordor. Very bright was that sword when it was made whole again...' Kullmann and Siepmann comment that both the epic style and the sword-forging theme indicate a hero. Passages in this style occur at critical moments, they write, such as the Battle of Helm's Deep, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, and the destruction of the One Ring in the Cracks of Doom; Tolkien uses it, too, when describing the Riders of Rohan. The epic style is characterised by archaic diction, parataxis with clauses linked with 'and', plentiful imagery, and a richly poetical use of descriptive words.

Did You Know?

• About half of The Lord of the Rings consists of dialogue, poetry and song, or stories told by a character.
• 85% of the narrative takes the point of view of one of the four Hobbit protagonists: Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.
• The prologue about Hobbits imitates ethnography, comparable to the writings of 18th century figures like William Stukeley or Thomas Percy.
• Geographic descriptions of places such as Bree resemble a travel guide and were common in ancient Greek literature like Heliodorus's romance Aethiopica.
• The epic style used for characters like Aragorn is characterised by archaic diction, parataxis with clauses linked with 'and', plentiful imagery, and a richly poetical use of descriptive words.