[Aiwendil]

The Saucepan Man wrote:

OK, to re-phrase the question, is Aragorn a believable character, lacking as he does any inner conflict? And, if he is not, is the ideal which he presents nevertheless appealing to us as readers? If so, why, if he is not a believable character?

I think that there are two questions to be distinguished here. First, is Aragorn realistic? I don't think so. The Lord of the Rings is not realistic; nor ought we to demand that it be.

The second, and more important, question, is whether Aragorn is a believable character within the context of The Lord of the Rings. As Tolkien said somewhere (perhaps it was in "On Fairy Stories"? I can't recall), "the green sun" is a perfectly believable phrase if given the right context. In other words, if you can create a world in which it makes sense to have a green sun, you are perfectly justified in using the phrase. Similarly, if one can create a world wherein it makes sense to have heroic characters without inner conflict, one is justified in using them. It is not realism that matters; it is believability (and realism is just believability within the context of the real world).

The Saucepan Man wrote:

I do not feel that I "know" these characters at all, other than as heroic characters.

Indulge me.

I do think that these characters have some depth; but that is just an opinion, and others may certainly disagree. I didn't mean to imply that I know the Silmarillion better than anyone else, or have access to some characterization to which others are blind.

But, since you asked, I'll talk about the ways in which I perceive Beren's character to be subtly drawn; then I'll comment more briefly on Hurin and Tuor.

Beren is the quintessential hero. At first this might sound like a detriment to his characterization, but remember that Tolkien believed strongly in the ideal of heroism and, if I may say so, in it's depth.

Right away we have some "associations" for Beren. He is of the House of Beor, of whose members it is said "if these [the folk of Hador] surpassed them in swiftness of mind and body, in daring and noble generosity, the Folk of Beor were more steadfast in endurance of hardship and sorrow, slow to tears or to laughter; their fortitude needed no hope to sustain it" ("Of Dwarves and Men" XII 308). The last bit is the most important; I'll return to it in a moment.

The House of Beor is also associated with Finrod Felagund and his house (as opposed to the House of Hador, associated with Fingolfin). And indeed, the friendship of Finrod plays a major role in the story. Finrod is always presented as the most reasonable and fair-minded of the kings of the Noldor.

Another association comes from the character of Gorlim. Observe the points of similarity between Beren and Gorlim: both desire escape from the war; both identify this escape with an object of love; both are bound by an oath (to Barahir for Gorlim and to Thingol for Beren) which is tested against this desire. Beren's oath passes the test; Gorlim's does not. But the character of Gorlim shows us that it is not inevitable that Beren prove loyal to his oath in the end; it gives us a glimpse at the other option which Beren must have considered and rejected. (One could do quite an essay on the theme of oaths and their fulfillment and betrayal in the tale of Beren and Luthien).

The most important aspect of Beren's characterization, though, is his shifting motivation. At the outset, he has no particular motivation beyond what is common to all of Barahir's band (though this in itself is somewhat strong - their homeland was overrun). But with the death of Barahir and his companions, things change. Beren vows to seek vengeance for his father's death. He remains in Dorthonion alone. But he is without hope:

"As fearless Beren was renowned,
when men most hardy upon ground
were reckoned folk would speak his name,
foretelling that his after-fame
would even golden Hador pass
or Barahir or Bregolas;
but sorrow now his heart had wrought
to fierce despair, no more he fought
in hope of life or joy or praise,
but seeking so to use his days
only that Morgoth deep should feel
the sting of his avenging steel,
ere death he found and end of pain:
his only fear was thraldom's chain."
(Lay of Leithian, III 343).

Now recall "Of Dwarves and Men": "their fortitude needed no hope to sustain it." Beren is like a Norse hero. He is certain that he will eventually be defeated, and yet he continues to fight. Interestingly, the above passage is one of the few instances of internal characterization in the Silmarillion material.

But when he is surrounded and on the point of being caught and killed, something changes. His despair wasn't absolute after all (though it must have been nearly so). For he flees Dorthonion and climbing into the mountains he sees Doriath and "There it was put into his heart that he would go down into the Hidden Kingdom, where no mortal foot had yet trodden" (Silm. 198). He was without hope, motivated only by the desire to do harm to Morgoth. Now he is motivated by a kind of unknown hope.

The unknown hope becomes known when he reaches Doriath: it is love for Luthien. It is as if the Norse ideal was answered, unlooked for, by something like the Christian ideal. When "the song of Luthien released the bonds of winter" (Silm. 199), it had a similar effect on Beren's despair.

But this love is turned back into Norse resolve without hope before the end. After his release from Tol-in-Gaurhoth, Beren sees little hope in his quest - but his fortitude needs no hope to sustain it. "Then being now alone and on the threshold of the final peril he made the Song of Parting, in praise of Luthien and the lights of heaven; for he believed that he must now say farewell to both love and light . . . And he sang aloud, caring not what ear should overhear him, for he was desperate and looked for no escape" (Silm. 216). This is a kind of ironic intensification of the Norse hero's situation. For now there is a goal for which to strive and a satisfactory conclusion can be envisioned; but Beren deems the achievement of that conclusion utterly hopeless. And again this hopelessness is answered by hope unsought when the quest is achieved.

Beren's psychological depth, then, consists in great part in his inner conflict between hopelessness and hope. Another way to think about the same thing is in terms of a desire to escape (a theme which is central to "Beren and Luthien" - observe the subtitle of the Geste: "Release from Bondage"). He desires escape from Dorthonion and later escape from his oath, but he denies these to himself. And he eventually achieves escape from both mortality (for he dies and returns to life) and immortality (for he nonetheless dies again in the end, and Luthien with him).

It would be fun to repeat this exercise in full for Hurin and Tuor (and others). But alas, I don't have the time (did I just hear cries of joy from some readers?) But I offer some notes.

Hurin: Hadorians are typically tall and fair-haired, Hurin is fair-haired but short (the opposite of his son, who is tall but dark-haired). This means that while we can expect many of the associations of the House of Hador to apply to him, others will not. Chief, perhaps, is his steadfastness, which is more typical of the House of Beor. There is a great deal of interesting contrast with Morwen (a striking character herself). When Lalaith died, Morwen "met her grief in silence and coldness of heart. But Hurin mourned openly" (Narn i Chin Hurin, UT 64). Hurin's steadfastness is a complicated thing: in a sense he defies Morgoth to the end, refusing to betray Turgon. But in another sense he fails, for he is made bitter and grim, and he brings ruin to Brethil and to Doriath. It is fascinating to compare the Hurin of the first part of the Narn with the Hurin of "The Wanderings of Hurin".

Tuor: He is closely associated with Ulmo. And Ulmo is associated with the fair and simple, the free and natural (as opposed to Aule the artificer) - and thus, for example, with the Teleri rather than the Noldor. So Tuor is fair and simple (simple, obviously, not meaning un-intelligent but rather un-contrived, un-ironic). He does not grow up in splendor, but in the rugged woodlands. He is the first human to reach the sea, and thus the first to know the sea-longing of the Elves. He is contrasted in an immediate sort of way with Maeglin, who has an unnatural infatuation with Idril and is a miner (Aule associations). He is contrasted in a larger sense with Turin (there are many parallels between these two). Turin is dark, Tuor is light. Turin fights against his unhappy doom, Tuor accepts his happy fate. Turin, with the best of intentions, unnaturally refuses to give in to his love for Finduilas, but accepts his unnatural love for Niniel; Tuor accepts his natural love for Idril.

In this way, I think that a careful reading of the Silmarillion material reveals a great deal of subtlety in characterization, though it is not characterization of the typical sort. A great deal relies on what I have called "associations". There is a natural urge to dismiss these, for they are not what we typically have in mind when we think about characterization. But within Tolkien's legendarium, these associations really do have force, and they really do contribute to the pictures drawn of it's great heroes.

littlemanpoet wrote:

Card goes on to describe how LotR is a milieu story, and shows how Tolkien's characterization is appropriate to a milieu story.

I have this book! And I have, to be honest, always felt a little ill at ease with Card's categorization of LotR as a milieu story. I would call it a plot-driven story, though certainly the milieu is a major factor. But in any event, I think you are right in contrasting it with the character-driven story.

Child of the 7th Age wrote:

Given the possibilities of a children's story, I don't see how anyone could argue that we don't get inside Bilbo's head. We certainly do!

Right you are. In The Hobbit we actually get quite a bit of internal characterization of Bilbo, and even, occasionally, internal characterization of other characters.

Estelyn Telcontar wrote:

I would like to break a lance for Aragorn's character. There is one part of the story that has endeared him to me greatly – his relationship to Éowyn.

I had always thought that it was Eowyn's character that gains most from this interaction; but I do see something of your point. There is definitely some implied depth of feeling here that is extremely well-hidden by Aragorn.

[ November 09, 2003: Message edited by: Aiwendil ]

[ November 09, 2003: Message edited by: Aiwendil ]