For my final essay in my Tolkien Class I am writing about the friendships in Lord of the Rings. My focus is going to be on the friendships amongst the fellowship i.e.: Legolas/Gimli/Aragorn, Merry/Pippin, Frodo/Sam, Gandalf/rest of Fellowship, Aragorn/Boromir... well you get the picture.

My Professor told me to focus on how important friendship was and how it has changed over the years, such as today if two guys are friends then they are probably labeled as homosexual, the same with two really good girl friends.

So with that, my essay will include how the friendships of the fellowship are misinterpreted when in actuality they are the purest forms of friendship and companionship.

What I need help with is finding quotes throughout the books that highlight these friendships.

---

What are some of your favorite moments of friendship?

Favorite quotes dealing with friendship amongst the fellowship?

If you could provide quotes/chapters/page numbers and the like that would be great and thanks for any help you can give me!

Panneth

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

Pan, I'm so so so so so Jealous that you get to take a Tolkien Class *pouts* I thought it was pretty cool being able to write about Tolkien in my AEA English exam... I have no life xD

But your essay seems so much fun (Yes essay and fun in the same sentence!!). it sounds like a really interesting theme, and I love the misinterpretation idea. Is the essay purely based on the Book Trilogy or is it any part of the Tolkien Franchise, including film and other various interpretations and the other Tolkien books?

The First scene that sprung to mind in terms of misinterpretation was the bit where Frodo sleeps with his head in Sam's lap ( I think its in TTT book 2, stairs of Cirith Ungol maybe) - A lot of people use this as proof of a Frodo/Sam slash relationship, when Tolkien probably intended it as a display of utmost loyalty.

Also I think for more on frodo/Sam Friendship, one of the EE documentarys on Tolkien (TT disk 3 maybe) talks about the relationship being like that of a WW1 officer and his 2nd, which is really poingnant, I think that WW1 had a really important role in shaping Tolkien's works.

lol I've given like one example, but I need my copy of LotR to pick out my other favourite bits (xD) but RotK Sparknotes and the Journal of Tolkien studies on Project Muse are really really really useful if you want other opinions

_________________

That's still really cool that you got to write something Tolkien related. I did a project ninth grade, a multi-genre project over Tolkien. It was so much fun, I even made lembas for the class


This may be the only time that I am going to truly enjoy writing a 15 page essay! I have a lot of quotes already just from half of the TTT. I am working on book 4 right now.

This misintepretation was a great idea that the professor gave me. I am really excited to play with it and look at the relationships of friendships between the characters, mostly Frodo/Sam and Legolas/Gimli (a relationship seen as interracial)

I am pretty sure it is mostly from the Tolkien books. I am focusing on the Trilogy and I'll probably take some scenes from the films that show the characters getting close with the seemingly undertone of homosexuality.

-Sam/Frodo Cirth Ungol... got it!
-TTT EE documentary...WW1... got it!
-RotK Sparknotes/JTS on PM... got it!

Lembas: I just wanted to say thank you so much. Even those two examples are really helpful... I didn't think anyone would even read this since the forum doesn't seem to be to heavily focused on LotR anymore and it was a bit saddening because I really would like to discuss this with everyone and get their take on friendships in LotR and their favorite moments.

Again thank you so much and if there was anything else you find please let me know! Any little thing helps and opens my eyes to new focuses on my essay

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

Hola Pandy,
Actually, I've been reading the thread but I haven't read the books in ages so I don't feel I can contribute. I just wanted to throw out the idea of a bit of advertising in your sig. True that the Tolkien-threads are passive but there are stil a lot of geeks around. Perhaps a link in your sig would help them find this topic.
Good luck with the essay.

_________________
>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara

Its no problem, I think its really interesting- and I hope other people get involved too, it'll be a such a shame if they don't .

I stilll need to get my copy of lotr to pick out some propper bits for you, but in the films its always struck me kinda odd (but its probably my fav friendship anyway becuase they are my fav characters) that they seemed to create such a strong friendship between Aragorn and Legolas (another interracial friendship for you ). It never really seemed in the book as though they really knew each other, and throughout the fellowship and the rest of their journey their friendship developed. But in the film it seems pretty obvious (to me) that they have a really strong established friendship right from the CoE where Legolas leaps to Aragorn's defence "No mere Ranger" until the really poingnant bit at the battle of the black gates where Araogrn is stuck under the Troll's foot and Legolas basically stops what he's doing, gives up fighting and just tries to push his way through to aragorn, A/L is displayed a number of other times throughout all three films almost as much as Frodo/Sam and Merry/Pippin, In a way it almost directs away from Legolas/Gimli friendship which gets pretty much 1 short scene at the end of RotK and is more important as it shows how they are putting aside their history and the predjudices of their races. I really want to know Why PJ chose to up L/A so much and L/G seems almost neglected in the film as it doesn't really develop until the black gates.

hope that makes some sense... *runs off to find LotR*... I have way to much time on my hands

_________________

Thanks Ea for your suggestion.. I've added a link and hope it helps bring people here. It may bring back the love of LotR... at least I hope =)

That is a really good angle Lembas. I've never really picked up on it, of course I noticed the L/A in the movies and now reading through LotR again I've seen just how little there was of L/A and how much there was of L/G...

I'll have to figure out why that was done, maybe the friendship between man and elf, too close kin was easier to portray through the screen then the brute dwarf and the elf. It was more fun to play them fighting against each other than the deep companionship that was given to L/A... I don't know. I'll look more into that...

I found the lap quote and a great quote also that works for the misinterpretation of F/S friendship, a part where Sam watches Frodo sleeps and says 'I love you...'

Again thanks Lembas

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

Hello, Pandy dear.

I actually planned on doing my final International Baccalaureate Extended Essay in LOTR, but I stupidly ended up doing it in French instead, and had to chose another topic.

That aside, this is really great. I agree that most people cannot understand the unconditional love which Tolkien portrays with such ease. If someone uses the word 'love' its automatically associated with a romantic relationship, and that really makes me mad. The Frodo/Sam relationship is a wonderful example of that friendship with end up transcending everything.

Legolas and Gimli also have it, but their progression it really different; in terms of the barriers that they have to overcome. And the two spins - because of racial, age, warriors vs hobbits, whatever - are really a cool contrast.

I think that the context in which Tolkien wrote the book is really important here. With the war; the impact of the war on the soldiers, the aftermath...

Just some thoughts

-S

_________________



And all will turn to silver glass...



By Goldstrike

I just want to thank you all for your input and discussion. Although it was brief it really helped me with my paper. I have almost finished the 15+ pages and I know I couldn't have done it without your help.

I'll let you know how well I did on it just for curiosities sake xD

Once again thank you so much

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

I wouldn't either. Although my focus is on male companionship over female friends.

I explain how the friendships of Frodo/Sam and Legolas/Gimli and the others can be misconstrued as homosexual in today's society because of our views on friendship over what it used to be back when Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings by using Cicero's On Old Age and Friendship.

It is all very interesting...

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

To those who were wondering, although this is really late, I got an A on the paper

I still have it should anyone like to read through it one day...

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G

Oh, wonderful! Glad you had such success!

_________________
Starting October 13th: globe trotting from my kitchen. Follow along on Cook In Fifty-Two

Thank you Iv, it was probably the paper I am most proud of. Most likely because of the topic, but how often do you get to write a long paper for a Tolkien class

_________________

The waves that C R A S H E D upon
The R O C K S that you were trying to step along

And in my head I heard them play a S O N G