Assignment 6, The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

Kian Nielsen
Analytical essay - The Lord of the Rings, The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

20f
Assignment 6
Conflicts are a big part of life nowadays. Everyone deals with them every single day. Conflicts often
require some sort of a decision. It can be as small a thing as what to eat for dinner or it could be
who you should stand by and fight for in wars. The decision to choose side in a war is obvious. You
choose the side you believe is good, where you think the good intensions are and who you believe
fights for the better cause. Additionally, it’s where your trust lies, and where your loyal allies are
situated.
This exact conflict is dealt with in the high fantasy novel, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of
the Ring”, written by the English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. The novel follows the
protagonist Frodo Baggins, who has inherited a supernatural ring with great power. The ring is
however extremely dangerous and must not get in the hands of Sauron, the Dark Lord, who with
the ring in his hands wants to enslave the entire world. To prevent this, Frodo is burdened with
the immense task of taking the ring on a precarious journey to destroy it where it was created, in
Mount Doom. To help Frodo execute the task, the Fellowship is established, consisting of himself,
Sam, Merry and Pippin, Gandalf the Grey, Aragorn, and Boromir, Legolas and Gimli. On this
perilous journey, especially Frodo has chosen to fight with his life, for the good against the evil. He
learns what love, friendship and danger really is and must choose carefully whom to trust. And
furthermore, he carries the weight of the entire world of good’s freedom on his shoulders, while
also having the trust and belief from all of them.
On the Fellowships quest, they run into a huge obstacle. They’re unfortunately forced to go
through the mountain of Moria instead of crossing it. On their way through the mountain they
stumble upon the tomb of Balin, the former lord of Moria. The fellowship proceeds to read the
scripts in the burial chamber. They then find out about the orcs who killed Balin, and that the
dwarves of Moria are gone. Gandalf reads further and comes across the cruel reading of the last
words from Ori’s last minutes alive: “We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the
Bridge and second hall. Frár and Lóni and Náli fell there” (S.39, L.8). Gandalf then realizes that the
orcs might still be guarding the mountain. Furthermore, he wants to get out of there as quickly as
possible. We get the impression that Gandalf is the most respected character in the fellowship,
because of his old age and abilities. He gives the Fellowship orders, which they follow. The
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Kian Nielsen
Analytical essay - The Lord of the Rings, The Bridge of Khazad-Dum
20f
Fellowship trusts him, even though he doesn’t share all his knowledge and his thoughts with them.
It can be seen when they hear the enemies in the hall and Gandalf proceeds to say this:
“'Trapped!' cried Gandalf. 'Why did I delay? Here we are, caught, just as they were before. But I
was not here then. We will see what -'” (S. 41, L. 6-7). Gandalf knew thus that something was
wrong, but he didn’t tell the Fellowship directly to avoid panic.
A moment of fear and danger, like the one the Fellowship is facing in the mountain, really makes
the characteristic of each character shine. Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas as well as Gandalf are
relaxed in the situation where they must run away from the enemies, opposed to the hobbits who
are scared for their lives and panicking. Furthermore, they are the ones who’ve got experience in
battling and they’ve probably fought for their lives beforehand. That results in the hobbits putting
their lives in their hands, because they trust them that much. However, the trust is mutual
because of the belief the battle experienced characters have in the hobbits, to complete the quest.
The Fellowship consists of real friendship, love, and trust.
The novel has a narrative composition, with a third person point of view: “At length they stirred
and looked up, and began to search for anything that would give them tidings of Balin's fate”(S. 38,
L. 13-16), there is used the word “they”. The novel does in addition express symbolism. It has clear
Christian symbolism. It can be Frodo who symbolizes Christ himself, because of his sacrifice for the
whole mankind. However, the Christian symbolism also implies Gandalf, because of his death and
resurrection.
The Novel can be classified as magnificent. It’s in the top class of all fantasy books ever created.
The novel is a pure joy to read and influences its reader with its excitement and great themes. The
Lord of the Rings is a product of a truly top-shelf mind, because of Tolkien’s distinguished linguistic
abilities and fantastic imagination.
In conclusion, the novel eloquently paints a realistic picture of the fact that love, friendship and
trust can conquer everything. That you can do everything, as long as you’ve got people who love
you and you them.
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Analytical essay - The Lord of the Rings, The Bridge of Khazad-Dum

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