[luthien-elvenprincess]

Quote:
Originally Posted by luthien-elvenprincess
I think that the most difficult thing to overcome, for the characters in Middle Earth, was their own personal preferences, or the love of self. Many of them gave up much of what might have been better for them personally or what they wanted to do in order to put the betterment of Middle Earth before themselves.

Quote:
Originally posted by LMP

This has a sense (to me) built in of being its own reward. Do you see it that way? You see, it suggests that they never lost hope, which means that it wasn't really that bad, because even if they couldn't have it for themselves, they received back to themselves a sense of having done well and becoming part of those who are giving a great gift to those who remain. This doesn't seem bad or sad, yet somehow, in Tolkien this has a sense of being bittersweet and filled with Loss (capital 'l'). Why is that?

I suppose overcoming self is rewarding in itself...but the fact of accomplishing it would be so much more than a mere feel-good-about-yourself award. There was no guarantee that their goal would be accomplished even after all their sacrificing, so that "reward" wasn't really theirs. To me, the greater reward received would be the knowledge that you are actively fulfilling the plan for your life. I don't mean the plan you, yourself, choose for your life...but the one for which you were born, the one that someone greater (God) planned for you. The satisification and sense of completion that comes from this connection is reward.

Farael says:

So in a way, I think that Frodo believes that someone (or something) larger than himself chose his destiny and that it included carrying the ring on the journey

Also, the opportunities to lose hope and give up along the way were numerous and almost overwhelming for LOTR characters...yet, over and over, they made the choice to deny self. It seems that everytime one of the characters wanted to give up, something happened to renew their hope and courage or someone else helped to refresh their resolve.

For example, in The Land of Shadow chapter:

Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his master's, ceased to trouble him.

To live this type of life...to continue making choices to do the right thing time after time, one needs hopeful reminders and assurances of something beyond self. So, it is true LMP, that hope need never be lost if you consistently make the choices that keep it alive.