The Lord of the Rings, and Its Similarities to Greek Mythology

The Lord of the Rings, and its similarities to Greek mythology.

The Lord of the Rings, both movies and novels, is in fact based on mythology. However, it is the last of J.R.R Tolkien’s work of art. In a particular article called “Myths that inspired The Lord of the Rings, individuals who read and watched the movies and novels can learn the various aspects that inspired Tolkien’s creations. The buildings and Characters portrayed in both film and novel came from that of Greek Mythology. On the other hand, The Lord of the Rings in a sense is both Apollonian and Dionysian, so unique that the whole series is based upon good fighting evil.

Furthermore, my response is that of Apollonian. The Lord of the Rings is more Apollonian, simply because good always prevails over evil. Apollonian is defined as literary and philosophical concept based on that of Greek mythology. In the films, various races came to earth or middle-earth to help those suffering from the wrath of Sauron, such as wizard, elves, eagles and the list goes on. Other aspects that prompted my thinking was the level and different life forms, similar to that of Greek Mythology, such as Gods (Eru), demi-gods (elves and wizards).

Additionally, the statues, buildings and architectures portrayed throughout he films, was inspired by Greek mythology, a perfect example of this would be statues river, Minas Tirith,

Rohan, Helms Deep, Erabor and the list goes on, each of those places listed has a statue of some past kin and has a present king, and yet again relating back to Greek mythology.

In addition, the reason I did not choose Dionysian, is because of the evil characteristics and the chaos caused, but it can be added to this piece, because evil was conquered, and good prevailed. In a sense evil, as led by Sauron had been in dominance for a very long time but was only dominant in certain areas, Frodo of the shire was shown a vision by the Lady