Epic Qualities Of Epic Proportions

I’m Going to talk about the trilogy, Lord of the Rings, and what epic traits it contains and how they are presented. I plan on discussing how epic traits are presented from the characters, the characters actions, and the settings of the story. The epic qualities I’m going to explain are, the hero figure of the plot, the setting, actions of great honor and valor, and finally supernatural forces. I’m also going to explain how these qualities play a role in the story.

In The Lord of the Rings, the main character and here figure is Frodo Baggins, who is the ‘hero’ figure of the story. Frodo Is a hobbit, miniature humans, that lives in the shire, that is given a great burden and is sent on a quest to alleviate this burden. The Burden that is given to Frodo is the ‘Ring’, the one ring to rule all the others. One of the things that make Frodo a ‘hero’ is that he is willing to accept the burden and the quest that is given to him. Throughout the story Frodo has to overcome obstacles, large and small, and if forced to overcome them or he will usually die. A great example is taking the ring itself, because by taking it away from the shire he is luring all of those that seek it away from his home. This example is presented in many ways though; the bravest thing Frodo does is no matter what happens, he continues on with his deadly quest. Even when presented the chance to quit and give up Frodo wouldn’t because of his un-matched courage.

In the Lord of the Rings trilogy the setting plays a huge role in how the story plays out. In an epic story the setting is usually vast, and covers great geographical distances. Throughout the story of Lord of the Rings, the hero and other characters travel over great distances in order to resolve the climax of the story. In this story there are several settings such as, Helms Deep, Mordor, Rivendell, The Shire, and all of Middle Earth. Helms deep is a giant fortress backed up by a mountain range and stages a great battle that was won by the humans even though the odds were greatly stacked against them. Mordor the place were Mount Doom is located and the eye of Sauron. The shire is the home of the hobbits. Middle Earth is the name of the vast setting that contains all of the latter places.



The last quality of an epic tale I’m going to talk about is action of great honor, bravery and valor. In all of the three films the hero and those who help him, the fellowship, act in bravery. An example is how Frodo and the fellowship face the balrog, in the mines of Moria, along with hundreds of orcs. Another act of braver is when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimlee, battle at Helms Deep against unfathomable odds and still won. However, Frodo and Sam did the bravest act, when they traveled into the heart of Mordor and to Mountain Doom to destroy the ring.



In my opinion this is the most ‘epic’ film, because it has all of the qualities of an epic tale and has them in abundance. The Lord of the Rings trilogy contains all of the qualities of an epic tale, and uses each one to its fullest. This trilogy is by far the best epic adventure in my opinion. Another reason I like this film trilogy is because of all the film techniques use in the film to make it unique. The director, Peter Jackson, did a great
job in utilizing all of the filming techniques to there greatest potential, which in turn made the film itself amazing.

One of the filming techniques Peter did really well was the framing. A great example was in the first movie when the Ring Wraiths first tried to capture Frodo and take the ring, and Frodo and the others hid under the tree root that served as a frame. He did this is many separate occasions, that worked. Relatively another film technique that was used well was lighting. They made it so certain characters were lit in a way that other weren’t to show something, usually importance. All in all, Peter Jackson did a very good job at directing the film trilogy that were based off the famous books that were written by J.R.R Tolkien.