{"id":1551,"date":"2024-11-11T11:14:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=1551"},"modified":"2024-11-11T11:14:33","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T16:14:33","slug":"indigeneity-in-the-lord-of-the-rings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2024\/11\/11\/indigeneity-in-the-lord-of-the-rings\/","title":{"rendered":"Indigeneity in The Lord of the Rings"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I was reading through <\/span>The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/i> trilogy, the post-colonialist aspects of the books constantly popped out at me. One scene in particular interested me the most throughout the whole three novels. That scene is from the third book, <\/span>The Return of the King<\/span><\/i> and is in chapter five, \u201cThe Ride of the Rohirrim\u201d. In this chapter, the riders of the country of Rohan, the Rohirrim, are rushing to the country of Gondor as a troop of Orcs are about to attack Gondor\u2019s main city, Minas Tirith. As they are riding, Merry hears drums in the distance and asks if that is the enemy. Elfhelm responds in the negative and tells Merry, as well as the readers, of the Wild Men (Tolkien 102).<\/span><\/p>\n

Elfhelm describes the Wild Men and their history, stating \u201cThey still haunt Druadan Forest, it is said. Remnants of an older time they be, living few and secretly, wild and wary as the beasts.\u201d (102). The words Elfhelm uses to describe the Wild Men are strong and hold negative connotations. \u201cHaunt\u201d signifies a ghostly origin. A haunting is often unwanted, and something many try to get rid of. As well, if the Wild Men are supposedly \u201chaunting\u201d the forest, then that is not considered their home anymore. Think ghosts haunting the homes of where they once lived.<\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing on, he claims that the Wild Men are \u201cremnants of an older time\u2026\u201d, making it clear that they do not use modern technologies or languages and therefore do not fit into the modern world (102). They use drums to signify their presence, whereas most other people use a horn, a newer invention in the world of Middle-Earth. Lastly, and probably the most egregious thing that Elfhelm says is his comparison to beasts. He does not consider the Wild Men to be people, but rather another beastly race. It became clear to me through the way Elfhelm described the Wild Men and how the Wild Men spoke of their mistreatment by the Rohirrim (they ask to not be hunted \u201clike beasts any more”), that the Wild Men were supposed to be a metaphor for Indigenous People (104). The Wild Men are only in the book for about 5 pages, 4 in \u201cThe Ride of the Rohirrim\u201d, and on page 274.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though they are barely in the trilogy, they play a pivotal role in the Rohirrim\u2019s ride to Gondor, not only pointing them in the right and fastest direction, but also to a road that is not well known and therefore safe from the enemies. They are also mentioned in one of Aragorn\u2019s first decree as the new king of Gondor, with him stating that \u201cBehold, the King Elessar has come! The Forest of Dr\u00faadan he gives to Gh\u00e2n-buri-gh\u00e2n and to his folk, to be their own for ever; and hereafter let no man enter it without their leave!\u201d (274). This all begs the question of, did Tolkien add the Wild Men in solely as a commentary on England\u2019s colonization of indigenous land and subsequent murder of indigenous people?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I was reading through The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the post-colonialist aspects of the books constantly popped out at me. One scene in particular interested me the most throughout the whole three novels. That scene is from the third book, The Return of the King and is in chapter five, \u201cThe Ride of … Continue reading Indigeneity in The Lord of the Rings<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4823,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4823"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1551\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}