The Lord of the Rings/Tropes A-L: Difference between revisions

::'''Tropes from [[The Lord of the Rings]] (the book)'''

 

 

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* [[Artifact of Doom]]: Again, the Ring.

* [[Asleep for Days]]: Frodo does this in Rivendell after being near-fatally wounded by the Nazgûl. It happens again to both him and Sam after getting rescued from Mount Doom, due to their near starving, wounded state.

* [[Attack of the Monster Appendage]]: The Watcher in the Water.

* [[Author Avatar]]: Faramir, whom Tolkien considered himself to be most like out of all the characters. An early version of him explained in depth about the Elves.

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Théoden is King of Rohan and pretty handy with a sword as well, Aragorn is Chieftain of the Dunedain and {{spoiler|King of Gondor}} and hacks his way through a whole mess of orcs and Uruk-hai.

** [[Like Father, Like Son|Elendil and Isildur]].

* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: Aragorn at the end.

* [[Babies Ever After]]: Sam marries his longtime sweetheart the year after the end of War, and the next year sees the birth of little Elanor. He goes on to have twelve more, although, as the epilogue was cut, this is revealed in the Appendices instead of in the narrative.

* [[Back From the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Gandalf}}

* [[Badass Adorable]]: The Hobbits probably count.

* [[Badass Boast]]: Éowyn's is probably the most famous, but Frodo's to the Nazgûl at the ford also counts.

** The Rohirrim might count, too - their enemies, the men of Dunland, certainly do.

* [[Batman Gambit]]: Gandalf used one of these to [[We Need a Distraction|distract]] Sauron from the true location of the One Ring, convincing him that the Free People were planning to use it against him. Of course, the whole thing was [[We Need a Diversion|a diversion]] to allow the Hobbits to [[Walk Into Mordor|enter Mordor]] [[Right Under Their Noses|unnoticed]].

* [[Bearer of Bad News]]: Gandalf has quite a reputation for this in many places. The Rohirrim don't like him much because of it -- they call him Stormcrow.

** They probably like Shadowfax a whole lot more, just for [[Cool Horse|being Shadowfax]].

* [[Binding Ancient Treaty]]: Gondor has one of these with Rohan, leading to a great [[Gondor Calls for Aid|call for aid]].

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: Most of the [[Meaningful Name|Meaningful Names]]. Generally speaking, the rest have translations given.

** Tolkien loved to do this, especially with the Rohirrim. For instance, Theoden's name is an Old English word for "king". Meduseld, the name of Edoras' central mead-hall, means.... [[Shaped Like Itself|"mead-hall."]]

*** In fact, if you look at the lineage of Rohan in the appendices, ''all'' the rulers, from Eorl to Eomer, have names that are Old English words or epithets for "king" or "nobleman".

* [[BLAM Episode]]: Tom Bombadil.

* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: The infamous Swedish [http://sswftapa.blogspot.com/2007/01/lord-of-errors-or-who-really-killed.html translation].

* [[Blunt Yes]]

{{quote| '''Faramir:''' You wish now that our places had been exchanged, that I had died and Boromir had lived.<br />

** On the other hand, Frodo finds that his sight (in the dark) and hearing are improved after he has been stabbed with the Morgul blade, an evil weapon.

* [[Boring Return Journey]]: Traveling is a lot easier when you aren't being pursued by Sauron's servants.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Frodo mainly, but Sam to a lesser extent.

* [[Break the Haughty]]: Saruman.

* [[Bulletproof Vest]]: Frodo's mithril chainmail shirt.

* [[But Now I Must Go]]: The passing of the Three rings and their bearers. This is played most straightly with Gandalf, who was meant to serve as [[The Paragon|a paragon]] in Middle-Earth.

** Also, the Oliphaunts are said to be precursors to modern elephants, so it makes sense to call them something else.

* [[Call Back]]: The Battle of the Black Gates has one to "The Hobbit", with Pippin hearing the shout of "The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!" In a parallel with the Battle of the Five Armies as well, {{spoiler|Pippin is knocked unconscious immediately after hearing it, as Bilbo was just after saying it. He doesn't even believe that he actually heard the cry, since he thinks 'That came in his [Bilbo's] tale, long long ago.'}}

* [[Capital City]]: Minas Tirith

** Subverted in that Osgiliath was the actual capital of Gondor and Minas Tirith was originally the westernmost military fort. Denethor wastes a lot of resources trying to keep Osgiliath, although not because it was the former capital, but as a front line against Mordor at the easiest place to cross the Anduin.

** There is a moment where Frodo and Sam pass by Shelob's actual lair and can feel or see nothing but the stench of her lair, which is suggested to be even blacker than the pitch black around it, as if inhabited by the actual absence of light. A very effective case of [[Nothing Is Scarier]], since you don't know if she's home or not.

* [[The Cavalry]]: The Riders of Rohan {{spoiler|and Aragorn, Rangers of Eriador and troops from southern Gondor}}. They are also, literally, the cavalry. On the evil side, the Haradrim.

* [[Cavalry Betrayal]]: Inverted. The fleet of ships of the Corsairs of Umbar, allies of Sauron, arrive at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to the rejoicing of his armies... only Aragorn had intercepted and captured it, and the ships are flying the royal colours and filled with soldiers from southern Gondor.

* [[Cave Behind the Falls]]: Henneth Annûn.

* [[Character Title]]: "[[The Lord of the Rings]]" is none other than Sauron, the main antagonist. "The Fellowship of the Ring" refers to the nine protagonists in the Fellowship, and "The Return of the King" to Aragorn.

* [[Charm Person]]: Saruman, until the heroes break free of it.

* [[Chess Motifs]]: See previous entry.

** Pippin refers to himself as a pawn, but "on the wrong chessboard."

* [[The Chosen One]]: Frodo (and Bilbo) were ''meant'' to have the Ring. Also, Aragorn is Isildur's heir.

* [[Chronoscope]]: The Mirror of Galadriel can show visions of the past and the future. Sam sees events that will occur in The Two Towers during his and Frodo's entry into Mordor, as well as events in the Shire after Saruman takes over. Frodo sees the fall of Numenor and the founding of Gondor, which occurred in the distant past.

* [[Color-Coded Wizardry]]: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown. There's also the Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, but they [[All There in the Manual|do not appear in any stories]]; we're told that they went far into the east and were never seen in the West of Middle-earth again, and no-one there knows precisely what they got up to.

** When Saruman reveals his plans to Gandalf he declares that he is no longer the White but now [[All Your Colors Combined|Saruman of Many Colors]]. [http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/338/1/6/gandalf_is_not_amused_by_psailabelkin-d4i5zff.jpg Gandalf is not impressed.]

* [[Come to Gawk]]: Saruman's accusation, when found on the road.

* [[Common Tongue]]: The [[Trope Namer]], although only half an example; Common is the language of any culture descended from Gondor, but all species have multiple languages.

** Without Isildur's fall to the corruption of the Ring, it would not have survived Sauron's fall. The race of Men in general are often seen as easily corrupted.

** And then there's Gollum...

{{quote| '''Gandalf:''' Far, far down below the deepest delvings of the dwarves, the earth is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he.}}

** The Balrog tries to run off and leave him there, and chasing after him becomes Gandalf's hope of finding a way out.

* [[Cosmopolitan Council]]: The Council of Elrond. Possibly also The White Council -- which we know included Gandalf, Saruman, Galadriel and Celeborn, and Elrond.

* [[Courtly Love]]: Gimli and Galadriel.

* [[Creator Backlash]]: Hippies buying the [http://lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net/gallery/bookcovers/pages/04.htm Ballantine edition] is what popularized the book in [[The Sixties]] <ref>Frodo Lives! Gandalf for President!</ref> (see [[Memetic Mutation]]), and the back cover contains its own bit of [[Creator Backlash]] in the form of a written [[Take That]], directed against the numerous unauthorized pulp versions that were spreading like wildfire on college campuses: "This edition, and no other, was authorized by me... those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it, and no other." as Tolkien was, in fact, quite unsettled to learn that American counter-culture was embracing his work.

** To their credit, the college students mounted a campaign of protest against the unauthorized editions after Tolkien made a point of mentioning, in his responses to fan mail, that he was being royally ripped off by the pulp publishers and did not receive a single cent in royalties from any American LOTR paperbacks other than the Ballantine edition. (Ace Books, the main offender among the pulp bootleggers, were harassed sufficiently by angry fans that they made a point of paying a massive royalty check to Tolkien and withdrawing their edition of ''LOTR'' from print.)