The Lord of the Rings/Tropes A-L

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Tropes from The Lord of the Rings (the book)
See also: Tropes M-Z

Tropes A-L

  • Abandoned Mine: The dwarven mines of Moria.
  • Achey Scars: Frodo Baggins' wounds received from the Morgul blade and Shelob often pain him afterwards and make him ill, especially on their anniversaries. He actually sails to the True West with the elves because of this, in the hope of finding a way of reducing this physical pain and the emotional scars from bearing the Ring.
  • Action Girl: Éowyn
  • Actual Pacifist: Frodo towards the end of the story.
  • Adventure
  • Advice Backfire: Discussed.

Gildor: Elves seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.
Frodo: Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

  • The Ageless: The elven race.
  • The Alliance: The Free Peoples
  • All There In The Appendices, including the love story. Tolkien's way of implying that the story of LotR, despite being one of the most important things to happen in Middle-earth, was not the only thing happening.
    • Arguably, from Aragorn's point of view, the whole War of the Ring is merely an Engagement Challenge.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In the book when Saruman has turned the Shire upside-down by the time the heroes get back from defeating the Big Bad
  • All That Glitters: The phrasing is reversed -"all that is gold does not glitter"- but it fits the trope description. However it is a complete reversal of the well known phrase "not everything that glitters is gold".
  • All Trolls Are Different - They're 12 feet tall, turn to stone permanently when exposed to daylight, and are implied to be the result of Morgoth corrupting Ents.
  • All Up to You: Quite a few times, but most notably with Sam when Frodo is captured.
  • All Webbed Up: Happens to Frodo after he escapes from Shelob's lair.
  • All Your Colors Combined: Saruman of Many Colors.
  • Alliterative Family: Happens a lot in hobbit families. The most notable example would probably be Peregrin (Pippin), son of Paladin, brother of Pearl, Pimpernel, and Pervinca.
  • Alternative Calendar: The different peoples have their own calendars, with varying degrees of difference between them. The books generally use the Shire (Hobbit) calendar.
  • Alternative Number System: According to the appendices, elves habitually count in base 12.
  • Exclusively Evil: In one possible Backstory, orcs were magically corrupted from elf stock to be Morgoth's minions. Tolkien's own thoughts on this suggest that this may not entirely be the case, though.
  • Ambadassador: Gandalf, ambassador from the Valar; most of the Fellowship were originally ambassadors to Rivendell. Their collected appearance prompted the Council of Elrond.
  • Ambition Is Evil: The One Ring corrupts by tempting the user with the power to fulfill their ambitions, even if those ambitions are noble. Sam's only ambition is to raise a family and live quietly, so he is little affected by it, while Tom Bombadil, who is completely devoid of ambition, is completely immune to its power. Conversely Boromir, who had the noble ambition of saving Gondor from Mordor, was easily manipulated. Faramir wanted only to please and be loved by his father, so while it affected him, it wasn't as severe as it was for Boromir. Gandalf explains it well in the text, how the Ring constantly makes you rationalize everything until nothing is beyond the limit.
  • Amplifier Artifact: All of the rings, especially the One.
  • Ancient Tomb: The Barrow-downs of the Northern Kingdom. The barrows of the Kings of Rohan and the tombs in Minas Tirith are also Ancient Tombs, but not haunted by anything. Also the haunted mountain (the Dwimorberg).
  • Ancestral Weapon: The shards of Narsil.
  • And I Must Scream: What becomes of Sauron after the Ring is destroyed. According to Gandalf, he lives on as a "mere spirit of malice that gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow or take shape." Makes you almost feel sorry for him...
  • Annoying Arrows: Subverted; Boromir does get shot by several arrows, and does pull at least one out, but is still weakened and wounded to death and definitely cannot continue fighting.
  • Another Man's Terror : "We cannot get out. The end comes, and then drums, drums in the deep. I wonder what that means"
  • Antagonist Title - The Lord of the Rings is Sauron.
  • Anthropic Principle: It is ornithologically ontologically impossible for the heroes to fly into Mordor, because there would be No Story otherwise. A lot of people seem to skip over this point (for a lengthy discussion on the eagles see It Just Bugs Me).
  • Anti-Villain: Gollum (to the extent that he isn't "the real hero"; also doubles as The Woobie)
  • Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Hobbits. Used in a heroic example during the Scouring of the Shire.
  • Apocalyptic Log: The Book of Mazarbul, chronicling Balin's failed attempt to retake Moria up until their last stand. It trails off at the end:

"[...] we rescued Balin's body [...] we have barred the gates but doubt if [...] can hold them long. If there is [...] no escape it will be a horrible fate to suffer [...] We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the bridge and Second Hall... fell there bravely while the rest retr [...] Mazarbul. We still ho[...]g ... but hope u[...]n[...]Óin's party went five days ago but today only four returned. The pool is up to the wall at West-gate... we cannot get out. The end comes soon. We hear drums, drums in the deep." The last line is a trailing scrawl of elf-letters: "They are coming."

  • Arcadia: The Shire.
  • Arcadian Interlude: The time spent with Tom Bombadil. The episode serves as character development for all the hobbits (especially Frodo), and to provide the hobbits with their swords, one of which becomes vitally important in the battle of the Pelennor Fields. Tom Bombadil was content with himself and thus couldn't be tempted by the Ring. Tolkien himself stated that he considered the Tom Bombadil sequence one of the most important sequences in the entire story. From a narrative perspective, he represents the mystery that remains even after a reader thinks he knows all there is to know about Middle Earth and represents what could be lost. From a writing perspective, he gives Tolkien a chance to present backstory exposition in a way that interests the reader. Still, considered a Non Sequitur Scene by some readers, which might be why it is not found in the Movie.
  • Arc Number: 9 - Nazgûl, Fellowship (chosen to match the Nazgûl), Rings for Mortal Men, Frodo's fingers at the end, number of people who touched the One Ring (Sauron, Isildur, Deagol, Smeagol, Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, Sam).
    • In Real Life, an Arc Number both in Norse Mythology and popular Medieval Christianized astrology (where it represented perfection, a "trinity of trinities") - both of which influenced Tolkien immensely.
  • Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: Beregond deserts his post, kills a porter, breaks into Rath Dinien, and kills two fellow members of the Guard...all to save the life of Faramir. To be fair, the others wouldn't listen to him, and drew sword on him first.
  • Artifact of Attraction: The One Ring.
  • 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 50-Foot Whatever: The Mumakil, enormous elephant-like beasts.
  • 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 King of Gondor and hacks his way through a whole mess of orcs and Uruk-hai.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: Aragorn at the end.
  • An Axe to Grind: Gimli carries an axe.
  • 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: Gandalf
  • Backstory: Plenty of it, as found in The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Talesof Numenor and Middleearth and The Children of Hurin.
  • 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.
  • Badass Bookworm: Faramir is considered the 'nerdy' one of the brothers, but is quite capable of fighting.
  • Badass Family: Théoden and his niece and nephew; Boromir, his brother Faramir and Faramir's two sons; and Aragorn's lineage. Tolkien seemed to be inordinately fond of this trope.
  • Badass Grandpa: Gandalf, Theoden, Saruman, Elrond...
  • Badass Normal: Boromir, Éowyn, and all the Hobbits, but especially Sam.
  • Barbarian Tribe: The Orcs as well as most varieties of Eastern Humans.
    • The Rohirrim might count, too - their enemies, the men of Dunland, certainly do.
  • Batman Gambit: Gandalf used one of these to 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 a diversion to allow the Hobbits to enter Mordor unnoticed.
  • Battle Butler: Sam is described as the "batman" (no, not that Batman) to Frodo's inexperienced high-born WWI officer.
  • 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 being Shadowfax.
      • But that just means they hate Gandalf more for taking him, so, swings and roundabouts...
    • Of course, as Gandalf himself points out, he has this reputation because he tends to seek out the places where his help is most needed.
  • Because Destiny Says So: "There are other forces at work besides the will of evil... Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker."
    • Although considering this is Tolkien we're talking about, he probably intended it to be more "because Eru says so."
  • Being Watched: Being eavesdropped on by Sam (for the most heart-warming conspiracy ever) and several times with Gollum. Also, there are several moments when the good guys either perceive directly the gaze of the Eye of Sauron, or feel themselves watched from above by the winged Nazgûl.
  • Beneath the Earth: The dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm
  • Benevolent Boss: Bilbo Baggins to Hamfast Gamgee, his gardener, and in turn, Frodo to Sam.
  • Best Friends-in-Law: Sam and Pippin, thanks to the marriage of Elanor Gamgee to Faramir Took.
  • Better Than a Bare Bulb: Many examples, done very well, of characters noting they are like, or are, characters in a saga and that some trope applies to them. "Give us a story, I want to hear about 'Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom'", et cetera.
  • Better to Die Than Be Killed: Denethor. Of note is that this is presented as an utterly reprehensible decision—it comes closer than anything in the book to actually being called a sin. Tolkien deliberately has Gandalf use the anachronistic term "heathen" in his final dressing-down of Denethor. Of course, this may have less to do with him trying to kill himself and more to do with him trying to take Faramir with him.
  • The Berserker: Éomer.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: The hobbits, but also the Ents, and Faramir.
  • Big Bad: Sauron.
  • Big Badass Wolf: Wargs.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Several times—Gandalf at Helm's deep, the Rohan army at Pelennor and later Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, the Grey Company and a host of men from south Gondor in the same battle.
  • Big Eater: Pretty much the entire Hobbit race. Six meals a day is considered normal for them, and many young Hobbits learn to cook before they learn to read (if ever). This trope is taken Up to Eleventy-one when it comes to special occasions like Bilbo's 111th birthday party...
  • Big Good: Gandalf. Galadriel and Elrond to some extent as well.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows: Gandalf.
  • Binding Ancient Treaty: Gondor has one of these with Rohan, leading to a great call for aid.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Most of the Meaningful Names. Generally speaking, the rest have translations given.
    • For instance, "Gamling" is Swedish for "old man". A fitting name, considering the character is, well, an old man.
    • 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.... "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".
  • Bittersweet Ending: Although Sam, Merry and Pippin have long, happy lives, Frodo can't go back to enjoying life and leaves for the Undying Lands.
  • Black Blood: Orcs have it.
  • Black Cloak: The unusually powerful Nazgûl.
  • Non Sequitur Scene Episode]]: Tom Bombadil.
  • Blind Idiot Translation: The infamous Swedish translation.
  • Blunt Yes

Faramir: You wish now that our places had been exchanged, that I had died and Boromir had lived.
Denethor: Yes. I wish that.

  • Body Count Competition: Legolas gets an early lead on Gimli at the Battle of the Hornburg, but Gimli ends up winning, forty-two to forty-one.
  • Body Motifs: A subtle theme throughout the book is that good guys tend to be gifted with better sight and/or hearing; clean, human senses. Bad guys, meanwhile, have much better smell, which lends them an animalistic or Uncanny Valley feel. Sauron is an exception, although the eye that he uses as his symbol still is uncanny, being 'a great eye, lidless, and wreathed in flame'.
    • 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.
  • Born in the Saddle: An unusually civilised version in Rohan.
  • Break the Cutie: Frodo mainly, but Sam to a lesser extent.
  • Break the Haughty: Saruman.
  • Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Eowyn and Merry nearly died after killing the Witch King. Eowyn's arm was literally broken, but this was the least of her hurt.
  • 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 a paragon in Middle-Earth.
  • Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: Pipe-weed, Oliphaunts/Mûmakil (Oliphaunt is an archaic English usage - so not really a Smeerp)
    • 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, 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.'
  • The Call Knows Where You Live: Frodo never actively resists the Call, but (as he doesn't just jump and run unprepared, but instead makes and executes a careful plan for his disappearance and subsequent journey) he just avoids meeting a Nazgûl literally on his front doorstep; it's his neighbor, Ham Gamgee (Sam's father), who tells the Black Rider that Frodo has gone away—and doesn't bother to tell him where Frodo has gone.
  • Came Back Strong: Gandalf the Grey dies and comes back as Gandalf the White.
  • Camp Cook: Sam is always the cook, but he is neither bad at it nor comic relief.
  • Camp Straight: Tom Bombadil. He embodies the reason why "gay" changed meaning from "enormously happy" to "campy homosexual" (though he has a wife, and wouldn't really care about such things considering he's a god, even possibly directly descended from the Ainur). Others say he's just... high on life. Tolkien himself describes him as a "merry fellow".
  • 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.
  • Casting a Shadow: The Nazgûl, and Shelob. Unlike her mother Ungoliant, Shelob's Weakened by the Light but does not actively consume light to weave her webs of shadow.
    • 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 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.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: discussed by the author Tolkien himself in his Letters. The book started out as a shorter sequel to The Hobbit and the earlier chapters display much of the whimsy of the latter. Gandalf's personality also gets Darker and Edgier as time goes on. Less surprising when recalling that the Hobbit's story was moved to Middle-earth, and its previously existing tales had already been even darker.
  • 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.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Galadriel's gifts to the Fellowship and the elven rope from Lorien play useful parts later. The Numenorean barrow-blade given to Merry proves vital in defeating the Witch-King, plus the One Ring itself is a retroactive Chekhov's Gun from The Hobbit.
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: Frodo's mithril shirt, given to him by Bilbo. It saves his life in Moria. Later it comes in handy when it incites the Orcs to fight over it. It proves helpful yet again when it foils Saruman's attempt to stab Frodo.
  • Chessmaster: Several, but Denethor's "he uses others as his weapons" is probably the main doctrine of Chessmastery. Sauron, Gandalf, and even Aragorn are cited for this explicitly.
  • Chess Motifs: See previous entry.
    • Pippin refers to himself as a pawn, but "on the wrong chessboard."
  • Children Are Innocent: Theoden manages to break free of Saruman's charming voice because of the dead children (and the mutilation of a corpse).
  • 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.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The wizard Radagast the Brown disappears and is simply never mentioned again after the Council of Elrond.
  • City of Spies: Bree, Minas Morgul
  • Clingy MacGuffin: The One Ring. Justified: the Ring wants to be found.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Orcs do it to anyone they can get away with doing it to, including each other.
  • Collectible Card Game: two, Middle Earth in the 1990s and [one of] The Game[s] Of The Movie.
  • Collapsing Lair: Barad-dûr
    • Though no heroes are escaping it at the time.
  • Color-Coded Wizardry: Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, Radagast the Brown. There's also the Blue Wizards, Alatar and Pallando, but they 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.
  • Come with Me If You Want to Live: Aragorn gets introduced this way in Bree, albeit in a particularly slow-moving fashion. While it's implied the hobbits would have been quickly ambushed in their beds without him, they do spend some time gathering supplies prior to departure. This is more pronounced in the film, however.
  • 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.
  • Compelling Voice: Saruman, although his is more of the charm and persuade variety.
  • Compressed Hair: Played straight when Éowyn reveals her presence on the battlefield by removing her helmet and unloosing her hair. In an early draft, though, Tolkien averted the trope by noting that Eowyn had cut her long hair short before donning armor.
  • Con Lang: Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin, some of the most developed in literature. And other less detailed ones, like Khuzdul (Dwarvish), the Black Speech (Sauron and the orcs), etc. Tolkien was a philologist, after all.
  • Constantly Curious: Pippin during the ride with Gandalf to Minas Tirith. Gandalf tries answering questions, but finds each answer just leads to more questions; they wind up joking together about Pippin's curiosity. Exposition nicely done.
  • Constructed World: Set in the world of Tolkien's legendarium, on the continent Middle-earth.
  • Contemptible Cover / Art Shift: In the first authorised American paperback, Tolkien complained about the creative artwork for the covers. "Horrible colours and foul lettering." The Hobbit featured the part of this work showing a "tree with bulbous fruit" and "lions and emus" on the covers. The editors' representative called Tolkien up to explain that Remington hadn't had time to read the book and that the ornaments on the tree were "meant to suggest a Christmas tree". Tolkien said (in somewhat more colourful language) that he felt like the Only Sane Man. The Ballantine edition, with its expressionistic covers, is nicknamed the "Hippie Edition". (Interview with Remington here.)
  • Cool Chair: The throne of the King of Gondor, and the Steward's chair.
    • The seat on Amon Hen.
  • Cool Horse: Shadowfax.
  • Cool Old Guy: Gandalf. Theoden as well.
  • Cool Sword: Gandalf has Glamdring, Frodo has Sting, and Aragorn has Andúril. The Witch King of Angmar wields a flaming sword at the Siege of Gondor, and the Balrog of Moria uses a burning sword as well.
  • Corpse Land: The Dead Marshes, a foul bog stretching for miles filled with corpses from the first war with Sauron. Spirits of the men, elves, and orcs that were buried there try to lure travelers into the marshes to add to the body count.
  • The Corruptible: Boromir was the one in the Fellowship most open to the seduction of the Ring.
    • 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...
  • Cosmic Horror Story: In the backstory, the Dwarves Dug Too Deep and connected with the tunnels of "nameless things" which are older than Sauron, where the Balrog was hiding; later Gandalf falls into their territory via the abyss below Durin's Bridge, and says that he will not speak of what he saw there. Tolkien may have had a passing familiarity with H.P. Lovecraft...

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.
  • Media Research Failure: Inflicted on the series by the Writer's Almanac.
  • Creator Backlash: Hippies buying the Ballantine edition is what popularized the book in The Sixties [1] (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.)
    • Ironically, the covers for the Ace edition showed that the artist had read the books and knew what he was doing.
    • Parodied in the Bored of the Rings inscription, based on the one up top: "This Ring, and no other / was made by the Elves -- / Who'd pawn their own mother / to get it themselves." In fact, the first edition included a direct parody of the author's warning stating that the intention of Bored was to make money off the pop-culture colossus that LOTR was becoming.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Tom Bombadil.
    • Gandalf sometimes cultivates this image, such as when he pretends to be a harmless old man at Meduseld. Hama the doorwarden isn't fooled -- "A staff in the hands of a wizard may be more than a prop for age"—but he still trusts in Gandalf's essential goodness.
  • Cruel Mercy: This is how Saruman views Frodo's decision in the Scouring of the Shire.
  • Crystal Ball: The Palantí­ri, "those that see from afar."
  • Dad the Veteran: Gimli's father Gloin would qualify, being a veteran of the Battle of Five Armies.
  • Darkest Hour: Happens at least once in each book; the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, the Breaking of the Fellowship, the Battle at Helm's Deep, the Siege of Gondor, the Battle at the Black Gates; all pretty dark
  • Dark Is Evil, Dark Is Not Evil: Different nations and peoples on both ends of the good-evil-spectrum have used black as their colour, or have black hair. It seems that Sauron likes this trope, as Éomer mentions in The Two Towers that agents of Sauron routinely steal black horses, to the point where there are practically none left in Rohan.
  • Darker and Edgier: When seen as a sequel to The Hobbit.
  • Dawn Attack: The Rohirrim like to do this when they're playing The Cavalry. Both Erkenbrand's charge to break the siege on Helm's Deep and Theoden's attack at the Battle of Pelennor Fields happen at dawn.
  • Dead Guy, Junior: Or at least Departed Guy Junior. Sam names his eldest son Frodo, and a later son Bilbo. It's not known whether either of those characters is still alive at the time. Incidentally, he also names two sons after Merry and Pippin.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Both Aragorn and Gandalf at times.
  • Death Glare: Aragorn to the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate.
  • Death of the Author
  • Death Seeker: Éowyn.

"He caught the glint of clear grey eyes; and then he shivered, for it came suddenly to him that it was the face of one without hope who goes in search of death."

  • Deconstruction: Of the more conventional heroic fantasy in which The Hero gains power to overthrow evil and achieve happiness. In Tolkien's story, anyone strong enough to use the One Ring to defeat Sauron would themselves become, in the process, as evil as Sauron (or worse[2]). The main protagonist is a Type I anti-hero who is The Only One for the job for this very reason, and his mission is to throw away the only weapon powerful enough to defeat their Enemy (several characters comment on the seeming folly of this). Moreover, at the end of the story, Frodo, rather than finding happiness, suffers from physical and spiritual wounds that will not heal, and must eventually leave Middle-Earth altogether.
    • Although deconstruction wouldn't be around in name until a decade and a half after The Lord of the Rings was published (and then only in French), Tolkien's letters clearly show that he did intend his book to interrogate conventional ideas about heroism. Frodo's fate in particular was inspired by Tolkien's own experiences in the First World War.
  • Defictionalization: Caradhras, Orthanc, Dol Goldur [sic!] and the Mindolluin Crag are real places in Washington State. Two climbers (and Tolkien fans) in the 1960's were the first to climb a segment of mountains in the Cascade range and thus ensured naming rights.
  • Denouement: the Scouring of the Shire is a pretty jarring denouement sequence
  • Despair Event Horizon: Denethor during the Siege of Gondor, which leads to him trying to immolate himself and his son on a funeral pyre.
  • Despair Gambit: Sauron runs several of these, one culminating in the point immediately above. His armies also make use of it in their tactics, and the Nazgul have it in weaponized form.
  • Despair Speech: Denethor gives several, each more long-winded than the last.
  • Deus Ex Machina: Somewhat, and in the more literal way (of a god appearing on stage, since they are the eagles of Manwe, Lord of the Valar), considering that the Eagles repeatedly show up when absolutely nobody else can get the heroes out of a situation... but never appear any other time they might be just a bit useful.
    • However, although Valar involvement cannot be disproved, these Eagles were established as descendants of those in The Hobbit, who were free agents with a leader that just happened to be Gandalf's good friend (again, there might still be otherworldly involvement as Gandalf is hinted to be of divine origin).
    • Tolkien himself said in a letter than he realized they were a Deus Ex Machina, hence why he didn't like using them often because they make solving problems too easy. This was in fact his reason when someone asked him the "why didn't they just use the eagles to drop the ring in Mt Doom?" question.
      • Not only did he realize that they were an easy deus ex machina, the Eagles themselves know and resent it—as he said in another letter, the Eagles would never stoop to being Middle-earth's taxi service.
  • Determinator: The Three Hunters, Gollum, Frodo and Sam, especially when going through Mordor.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: When Éowyn kills the Lord of the Nazgûl.
    • And when Sam mortally wounds Shelob.
  • Didn't See That Coming: The fact that his foes actually want to destroy the Ring never entered Sauron's mind until it was too late. See Evil Cannot Comprehend Good.

Gandalf: That we should wish to throw him down and have no one in his place is not a thought that occurs to him.

  • Diplomatic Impunity: The Mouth of Sauron invokes this when it looks as if Aragorn is about to cut him up into little pieces. Perhaps surprisingly, Aragorn allows it to fly, although it probably didn't help the Mouth too much in the long run.
  • Dirty Business: When Frodo lures Gollum into the hands of Faramir's men.
  • Disney Death: Happens to Frodo twice when he is stabbed by an Orc and stung by Shelob. His mithril armour saved him the first time and Shelob used paralytic poison instead of a fatal one.
  • Distant Finale: There is an epilogue with Sam and his children after having just finished a reading of the book. Tolkien decided against including it in the original LotR, but it was eventually published in HoME 9: Sauron Defeated.
  • Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: In the books, pretty much everyone smokes a pipe. But the older, more established authority figures are seen smoking them more often. Especially in the films.
  • Divided for Publication: Tolkien hated the idea of splitting it up, but the publisher insisted on publishing the novel in three separate volumes, due to a long-running postwar paper shortage. This is the root of the mistaken belief of the Lord of the Rings as a trilogy, and ironically inspired the trend for fantasy to be written in trilogies.
  • Divided We Fall: More in the beginning than the end. Fortunately.
  • The Dog Bites Back: Gríma.
  • Doomed Hometown: The Shire, though it's sort of inverted. And it gets better eventually.
  • Don't Think, Feel: Subverted because, after he hears that Frodo is still alive, Sam gives this admonition to himself:

You fool, he isn't dead, and your heart knew it. Don't trust your head, Samwise, it is not the best part of you. The trouble with you is that you never really had any hope.

  • Doorstopper: Despite being called a trilogy, it's really just one giant book. Which the publisher divided into three volumes because of its size. And, supposedly, postwar paper shortages. There wasn't enough to print a full run of the whole book, and a financial risk as success was not seen as guaranteed.
  • Double Agent : According to Unfinished Tales one of Bill Ferny's companions ('the squint-eyed southerner') was a spy for Saruman until the Witch King intimidated him into working for Sauron. In the book Aragorn is shown wondering who he had been working for.
  • The Dragon: The Witch-king of Angmar to Sauron. Sauron himself was The Dragon to Morgoth for at least part of The Silmarillion.
  • Drama-Preserving Handicap: The Istari (Gandalf and co.) were explicitly told not to match themselves 'power for power' against Sauron. Their job was to inspire and enable the Free Peoples and thus they had to limit a lot of their own natural power.
    • Sauron left the door to Mount Doom unlocked. Of course, it's hard to maintain a door in such conditions (it's a damn volcano, for one thing), but one would assume he'd find a way to guard the entrance if the thought ever came to him to do so. (Though he may have felt that it was already guarded by being a hundred miles inside Mordor, a region that, famously, one does not simply walk into.)
  • The Dreaded: Lots of examples. The Nazgul scare by their nature, Sauron commands awe and fear by reputation, and the ghosts Aragorn leads just plain look scary, though being ethereal invulnerable killing machines doesn't help matters...
  • Dreaming of Times Gone By: Both Frodo and Faramir.
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Frodo's dream of a far green country in the house of Bombadil.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Frodo and Sam in Mordor.
  • Driven to Suicide: Denethor
  • Due to the Dead: Good guys bury corpses, or at least keep them out of orcish hands; evil guys mutilate them, and even use their heads as siege weapons.
  • Dying Race: The Ents have lost all the Entwives, rendering them incapable of reproducing. And the Elves are vanishing from Middle Earth, slowly.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Very much so for the Hobbits in the Scouring of the Shire
  • Easing Into the Adventure: The beginnings in the Shire.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Shelob, though technically she's the daughter of a full-on Eldritch Abomination and an "ordinary" Giant Spider. The creatures that Gandalf and the Balrog encounter beneath Moria are implied to be this as well.
    • The "nameless things" were supposedly intended as a subtle Shout-Out to H.P. Lovecraft's works. Tolkien's earliest writing suggests they are entities with entirely separate origin from the Ainur, and perhaps even from Eru himself, but this idea was dropped as part of aligning Middle-Earth with Tolkien's own Catholic values.
      • As Tolkien put it, there are many things in Middle-earth that could be evil without necessarily being explicitly allied with Sauron. Shelob is one example—Sauron does not rule her, and he probably could kill her or drive her out if he wished (although he might have to do it in person), but he permits her to continue to dwell at the top of Morgul Pass because her presence there is useful to him.
      • It's implied, though, that Sauron's resurgence has awoken a number of eldritch things that were asleep. The Barrow-wights are not allied with Sauron, but Tolkien's copious notes indicate that they were probably roused by the presence of the Black Riders scouting out the edges of the Shire.
      • The Barrow-wights are direct result of Sauron's work—they were originally sent by the Witch-King on Sauron's orders to haunt the tombs of the Dunédain as a part of the effort to destroy the Kingdom of Arnor.
  • Eldritch Location: Morgul Vale. And if we're talking just 'eldritch' and not 'spooky, filled with death and decay' as well, then Lothlorien and Rivendell would qualify due to the presence of the Elven Rings. Really, any place the Elves dwelt for an extended period would qualify as 'eldritch'; the most unnerving thing about any Elvish dwelling is that keeping track of time within such a place becomes a complete Mind Screw for anyone who isn't an Elf.
  • Elite Mooks: Saruman's Uruk-hai and Sauron's specially bred sun-proof Trolls, the Olog-Hai. Heck, Morgoth essentially created all the evil races on Middle-earth through dark magic and breeding.
  • Elves vs. Dwarves: They don't get along. Possibly the originator of the cliche.
  • Emerging From the Shadows: A revived Gandalf the White keeps his face and new garments hidden until it is time to reveal himself.
  • Emotion Bomb: Evil things, especially the Nazgûl, are cloaked in Fear and Despair. This may also be (at least part of) how Denethor was Driven to Suicide. In fact, Fear is the Nazgûls' primary weapon.
  • End of an Age: Set at the end of the Third Age.
  • Enemy Civil War: The various factions of orcs.
  • Enemy to All Living Things: The Nazgûl; their horses have to be specially bred and trained just to stand being near them, let alone serving as their mounts.
  • Engagement Challenge: Elrond gives this to Aragorn in the backstory. If he wants Arwen's hand in marriage, he's got to earn the throne of Gondor first. After all, who wouldn't want the best possible, comfortable and safe life for their daughter? Especially since by choosing to marry Aragorn she gives up a seat on the ships to the West and her immortality.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The whole plan hinges on the fact that Sauron can't even conceive of someone trying to destroy the Ring and get rid of that kind of power.
    • In all fairness, he was right. At the moment of truth, instead of throwing the One Ring into Mount Doom, Frodo claimed it for his own. The Ring was only destroyed when Gollum tried to steal it back, succeeded, and fell into the lava still clutching his "preciousssss".
    • Also a safe assumption when you consider that the ring manipulates people into evil and blocks its bearers from being able to harm it.
      • Except Tom Bombadil. The reason they couldn't just give him the Ring and let him protect it was in part because he was too good to be trusted; it was so unimportant to him that he might forget he even had it. As Gandalf puts it: "Such things have no hold on his mind."
  • Evil Is Burning Hot: The eye of Sauron is described as being quite fiery. Furthermore, Sauron's hand is burning hot, which is why the ring glows on his hand.
    • The Balrogs also have much association with fire, as they use fiery weapons like whips or swords.
  • Evil Overlord: Sauron.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Saruman, and Sauron, which, combined with the above, add up to Sorcerous Overlord.
  • Evil Tower of Ominousness - The (original) Dark Tower, Barad-dûr.
    • Also Minas Morgul, Orthanc, Dol Guldur, and the Tower of Cirith Ungol.
    • Not to say that there are no good towers. Minas Tirith is only the most obvious example; there are some to the west of the Shire, though the hobbits never get curious enough to climb them.
    • And most of the examples given are corrupted ones. Only Barad-dûr and Dol Guldur were Evil from scratch. All others were constructed by the Numenoreans.
      • Even Dol Guldur was originally the capital of the wood-elves of Mirkwood, before it fell to the invaders' hands.
  • Evil Versus Evil: Saruman was constantly plotting against Sauron.
  • Exactly What It Says on the Tin: "Edoras" means "buildings" in Old English. "Meduseld" means "mead hall." "Mearas" is "horses."
  • Executive Meddling: Tolkien and his publisher went back and forth about the titles of the books, with Tolkien suggesting many different possibilities for both the three published volumes and the six narrative books (including some subsequently used by Christopher Tolkien like "The Return of the Shadow" and "The Treason of Isengard", and some very literal ones such as "The Ring Goes East"). Tolkien finally settled on "The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Two Towers", and "The War of the Ring" for the volumes, and left the narrative books untitled. The publisher overruled him and went with "Return of the King" for the third volume despite Tolkien arguing that it was a Spoiler for anyone picking up the series.
  • Expansion Pack World: Not directly, more like The Hobbit got transplanted very neatly into Middle-earth during the writing of LotR.
  • Exploring the Evil Lair: Sam and Frodo in Shelob's lair, and in Mordor in general.
  • Exposition of Immortality: Tom Bombadil, Elrond, Treebeard and even Gollum all get in on the remembering things from long, long ago as a means of reminding or showing the reader that they're ancient beings.
  • Face Heel Turn: Saruman seduced into evil by the perceived superiority of Sauron's power; Denethor driven mad due to his imperfect understanding of how a Palantí­r works; The Scouring of the Shire, the ultimate result of a few hobbits wanting to bring in "outside ways" to do things "better" and "faster".
  • The Faceless: The Nazgûl
  • Fainting: Happens to everyone, naturally, but most often to Frodo.
  • Facing the Bullets One-Liner: "Fly, you fools!". Gandalf's last words urging his companions to continue the quest before he falls into the abyss dragged by the Balrog in Moria. The trope is subverted since Gandalf does not die right there and keeps on fighting but his fellowship and the reader doesn't learn that until much later.
  • The Fair Folk: Not exactly—the Elves are all on the side of good—but the Rohirrim think the Lorien elves are these. For that matter, Galadriel herself isn't 100% sure she's not one; Men and Hobbits have an irritating (by Elvish standards) tendency to group elven works and Sauron's dark arts under the umbrella term of "magic".
  • Famed in Story: Aragorn's family; ultimately Frodo (but not in his hometown).
  • Fantastic Fragility: The One Ring is a Clingy MacGuffin par excellence, except for that tiny weakness to melting via Mount Doom, though explicitly not dragon-fire, even if said dragon had power on par with the first Worms of Morgoth such as Glaurung or Angacalon the Black. (The lesser Rings could be melted that way, and indeed four of those that went to the Dwarves suffered just such a fate.)
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • Frodo shares his view of the Big People (Men) with Gandalf:

Frodo: For I have become very fond of Strider. Well, fond is not the right word. I mean he is dear to me; though he is strange, and grim at times. In fact, he reminds me often of you. I didn't know that any of the Big People were like that. I thought, well, that they were just big, and rather stupid: kind and stupid like Butterbur; or stupid and wicked like Bill Ferny. But then we don't know much about Men in the Shire, except perhaps the Breelanders.

Gandalf: You don't know much even about them, if you think old Barliman is stupid...

Witch-King: Come not between the Nazgul and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn ... He will bear thee away to the Houses of Lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.

    • The Mouth of Sauron says that this will happen to Frodo if the heroes do not give into Sauron's demands.
  • Feathered Fiend: Crebain—dark crows, spies in the service of Saruman.
  • Fighting a Shadow: The reason Sauron keeps coming back, until the Ring is destroyed.
  • Fighting for Survival: If Sauron wins, the Free Peoples are either destroyed utterly or enslaved.
  • The Film of the Book: Several, see film page for tropes.
  • Final Battle: the battle at the Black Gates
  • The Final Temptation: Galadriel, and Sam at the pass of Cirith Ungol. The first is dramatized as a One-Winged Angel moment in the live-action film, the second is dramatized in the animated ROTK. Galadriel imagines herself as a Queen -- "not dark, but beautiful" beyond compare—and Sam imagines himself as Samwise the Strong, who would make the desert of Mordor bloom.
    • This is also literally the final test for Galadriel' by passing it her exile in Middle-Earth ends.
  • Fingore: Gollum biting off Frodo's finger.
  • Flaming Sword: The Balrog and the Witch-king.
    • Andúril, Aragorn's sword and an Ancestral Weapon (in the sense that it was reforged from the shards of his ancestor Elendil's sword Narsil), is called "Flame of the West", but it never actually catches on fire, though it occasionally shines as though it were. Its a more metaphoric flame, like the flame of courage and hope.
  • Follow the Leader: It started the fantasy genre as we know it, and indirectly started role playing games as we know them too. The live action movies led the way for more film adaptations based on epic fantasy books.
  • Forbidden Zone: The Paths of the Dead, and of course Mordor.
    • The wrecked and ruined plain of Dagorlad, which fills a good forty or fifty square miles outside the gates of Mordor. Tolkien gives this forsaken place one of the purplest and most horrific descriptions in the book:

Frodo looked around in horror. The gasping pools were choked with ash and crawling muds, sickly white and gray, as if the mountains had vomited the filth of their entrails upon the lands about. High mounds of crushed and powdered rock, great cones of earth fire-blasted and poison-stained, stood like an obscene graveyard in endless rows, slowly revealed in the reluctant light. They had come to the desolation that lay before Mordor: the lasting monument to the dark labour of its slaves that should endure when all their purposes were made void; a land defiled, diseased beyond all healing, unless the Great Sea should enter in and wash it with oblivion.
 "I feel sick," said Sam. Frodo said nothing.

    • The Dead Marshes and Moria are also rather harsh, and both the Old Forest and Fangorn Forest get this label all but smacked onto them.
    • There's also the Vale of Morgul that grows beautiful but deadly flowers, and where drinking water can drive a person to insanity. Faramir warns Frodo and Sam from drinking from any stream that flows from Imlad Morgul for this reason.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In Book I, at Bree, the hobbits hear that a lot of refugees are coming from the South. They don’t pay attention because it seems improbable the Big People will want to live in the Hobbits' small holes and houses. Cue Book VI, "The Scouring of the Shire", where a bunch of men have taken over the hobbits' land.
    • Sam's cousing spots a giant walking tree in the Shire, but his tale is considered unbelievable.
    • Frodo is unable to cast the Ring into the fireplace at Bagg's end when Gandalf is looking for its runes.
  • A Friend in Need
  • Friend or Foe: The fleet of the Southrons, which was supposed to reinforce the army of Sauron at the battle of the Pelennor, but was captured by Aragorn. Both the Rohirrim and Gondorians thought they were still hostile at first.
  • Freudian Trio:
    • Ego: Aragorn
    • Id: Gimli
    • Superego: Legolas
  • Gaia's Lament: The Scouring of the Shire.
  • Gaia's Vengeance: Fangorn and the Last March of the Ents
  • Genius Loci: Probably many, but Caradhras is perhaps the most active.
  • Gentleman Adventurer - Bilbo and Frodo
  • Ghibli Hills: Most of Middle-earth fits, especially in the films.
  • Giant Flyer: The Ringwraiths' flying steeds, and the Eagles.
  • Giant Spider - Shelob.
  • Go Back to the Source: Frodo returning the One Ring to Mordor, its place of creation, in order to destroy it,
  • God in Human Form: The group of so-called "wizards", while appearing as old human men, are actually five Maiar, a kind of angelic spirit, who are themselves incorporeal but can usually clothe themselves in any form they like. The five have been sent on a mission to help the peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron, during which they are bound in their physical form, unable to change it, and also limited in their powers and knowledge.
  • God's Hands Are Tied: The Valar, mainly because the last time they tried to intervene directly whole continents were destroyed.
  • Good Hurts Evil: Shout A Elbereth, Gilthoniel at a Nazgul and watch them writhe in agony.
  • Good Is Not Dumb: Frodo makes it very clear to Gollum that he is well aware that Gollum is trying to think of a way to betray the hobbits and take back the ring. Sam is surprised at this because he had assumed Frodo was far too good a person to be able to understand deception and treachery. Sam admits that he (and probably Gollum as well) "had confused kindness with blindness."
  • Good Is Not Nice: Denethor. Also, Frodo threatening Gollum.
    • Gandalf himself, who has a short temper and a caustic sense of humor.
  • Grail in the Garbage: How both Bilbo and Gollum acquired the One Ring.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: Smeagol got these when Deagol found the Ring
  • Guilt-Free Extermination War: the humans and elves vs the armies of Mordor.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Elrond and his family are half-elven, Aragorn's ancestors had elven blood (his ancestor was Elrond's brother), and the Uruk-hai are rumoured to be part-human part-orc.
    • Actually, if you trace the bloodlines of the Númenorians back to Lúthien and then look at HER parents, you find that her father was an Elf Lord and her Mother was a Maia. As such, Aragorn, Elrond and company are part spirit/angel as well as elf.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Saruman Hannibal Lectures all of his triumphant enemies, and all are swayed by the power of his voice; likewise, the Riders of Rohan (except for Theoden, as it happens) are wholly overcome by it, while Pippin is particularly shamed. Gandalf breaks the effect by laughing.
    • Gríma Wormtongue is a student of Saruman's, and earlier uses similar Hannibal Lecture techniques on Theoden to render him helpless and hopeless against Saruman, and on Eowyn in order to break her resolve and drive her to desperation.
  • Happy Fun Ball: The Ring
    • Warning: Prolonged use of the One Ring may cause one to become obsessive compulsive, immortal, or schizophrenic. Finger loss may occur in certain circumstances.
  • Hate Plague: The Ring
  • Have a Gay Old Time: Most obvious is the abundant uses of 'queer', which is rarely used to describe something strange any more. Some material also falls into Separated by a Common Language, since in parts of the world the term 'faggots' isn't any longer used to represent bundles of wood. Also, though it doesn't come up in the book, Celeborn's alternate name is the hilarious Teleporno.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Saruman and Denethor, via the Palantir. Sauron looked back.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: Sauron himself.

Gollum: There are only four fingers on the Black Hand, but they are enough.

  • Healing Hands: Aragorn, as well as Elrond and other powerful Elves.
  • Healing Potion: The Uruk-hai use this with Merry. It tastes awful, of course, but it gives him enough energy to keep up without being dragged.
    • The steam of boiled athelas deserves a mention here as well. It's particularly powerful when used by Aragorn.
    • There's also miruvor which is a cordial of Elven-brew that peps you up significantly.
  • Hellish Pupils: The Eye of Sauron is yellow and has a slitted pupil.
  • Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Aragorn shows up to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields wearing a diadem (a royal heirloom of Arnor) instead of a helmet. Averted in an early draft, though, as originally he wore a proper helmet with a crown attached.
  • Herald: Gandalf, of the Harbinger of Impending Doom variety.
  • Here There Were Dragons: To us the War of the Ring takes place in such a world. To the characters, the earlier Ages were this.
  • Heroic Lineage: Elrond and Aragorn are descended from many of the Elven and Human heroes/protagonists from earlier Ages.
    • To lesser extents, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, and even Pippin.
  • Hero of Another Story: There are hints of adventures that the other members of the fellowship had before meeting the hobbits at Rivendell, such as Aragorn's capture of Gollum, or Gandalf's escape from the Ringwraiths. At one point Sam wonders if Gollum thinks he's the hero of his own story.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Frodo and Sam, Gimli and Legolas, Merry and Pippin.
  • Hidden Elf Village: Rivendell, Lothlorien.
    • Though interestingly enough, the Shire rather than any elf haven is the closest to this example. Along with being generally unknown to most of the world, they also generally don't bother themselves whatsoever with outside business.
  • High Fantasy: One of the most notable examples of the genre.
  • Hiss Before Fleeing: Grima does this, along with spitting before King Theoden's feet, before returning to Isengard.
  • Hobbits: Trope Namer and Trope Codifier
  • Honour Before Reason: The Three Hunters, who are determined to reach Merry and Pippin after their capture even if it is simply to sit down and starve with them. The various people who spared Gollum's life also apply, since letting him loose was much more dangerous than outright killing him, but in the end this illogical act pays off, since Gollum is crucial in the saving of Middle-Earth.
  • Hope Is Scary: Eomer's reaction to learning that Eowyn was still alive.
  • The Horde: Orcs
  • Horsing Around: Rest in peace, King Leod.
  • Humans Are Special: Interesting twist on this, because the whole thing usually revolves around either their negative qualities or their mortality.
  • Hyde Plays Jekyll
  • I Am Not Shazam: The "Lord of the Ring(s)" is Sauron. People get it wrong and are corrected in the book, as well as in real life.
  • I Am X, Son of Y: Modern-style family names are only used in the Shire and Bree-land. Everyone else works with patronymics.
  • I Call It Vera: In spades...which are probably also named. Justified in that the myths that the book is based on do this as well.
  • I Can Still Fight: Éowyn tries this.
  • I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Mt. Doom and Mordor, among other places.
  • I Have Many Names: Gandalf, Aragorn, the Witch-king, and Sauron all have many names.
    • Gandalf, called Mithrandir by the Elves, Tharkun by Dwarves, and Olorin in the West as an example.
  • Iconic Characters: "Frodo Lives!"
    • Also, Gandalf, who beat out Merlin in a "most iconic characters" poll in Britain once. And that was before the films...
  • I'm a Humanitarian: In the films, orcs will kill and eat one of their own if there's no other food. Averted in the novels where they express disgust at the thought of eating orc-flesh, but they rather enjoy eating humans.
  • Inferred Holocaust: The Entwives, who lived in what is now the Brown Lands, after a campaign by Sauron.
    • They're Just Hiding is Treebeard's hopeful attitude, which is possibly backed up by a hobbit mentioning a "walking tree" in the north of the Shire.
  • Immortality Inducer: This is one of the powers of the One Ring, as experienced by Gollum. It is also implied that any of the greater Rings of Power would have this effect on mortals, such as the nine held by the Nazgul.
  • Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Elves in JRR Tolkien's works are almost invariably described as being good looking. The three best looking females in Middle-earth are all Elves. The Valar also count, although they cheat, since their bodies are artificial and custom-made, so their beauty is limited only by ego and imagination.
  • In Mysterious Ways: According to Tolkien's letters, the trilogy is partially about Iluvatar's guidance. It's only explicitly mentioned a few times, and none of God's names are ever even spoken; nevertheless, one could make a long list of the many, many suspiciously fortunate "coincidences" in the story—some very small, but ALL of which lead toward Sauron's downfall and the victory of the West.
  • Industrialized Evil: Mordor and Isengard.
  • Instant Plunder, Just Add Pirates: The corsairs of Umbar.
  • Invisible Jerkass: Gollum was this when he first found the Ring.
  • It May Help You on Your Quest: Here, take this phial... and this other stuff that will be important later. You Will Know What to Do.
  • It's for a Book: Excuse used by Frodo for his traveling to Bree. Not to mention, of course, the fact that he ended up writing about the whole quest in a book.
  • It Sucks to Be the Chosen One - Like crazy for Frodo, though Aragorn and Gandalf both get a bit of this as well.
  • It Was a Gift: Quite a few, including that small, completely insignificant trinket Bilbo gave to Frodo...
    • Of course, the fact that Bilbo gave away his "trinket" explicitly as a gift meant it kept very little hold on his mind after it left his possession. Compare what losing the same trinket did to Gollum.
  • Jumped At the Call: Sam is even described as "springing up like a dog invited for walk" when Gandalf tells him to go with Frodo.
  • Kansas City Shuffle: the whole War of the Ring is used to distract from the attempt to destroy the Ring.
    • Also Xanatos Roulette declined. The history of the Second and Third Age including the forging of the Great Rings through Sauron's encouragement was a complex attempt to enslave the peoples of Middle-earth.
    • And let's not forget the ring itself. 3000 years of manipulating people to deliver it back into its master's hand. And then a hobbit comes along...
      • Gandalf laid a few of his own as well, some take place offstage: a prime example is that the events of The Hobbit were helped along by Gandalf to A: reduce the strength of the goblins in the north of Middle Earth and prevent Sauron from having a strong ally in Smaug, B: create a strong dwarven nation in the Lonely Mountain to stop Sauron's easterlings from flanking Rohan and Gondor.
  • Karmic Death: Saruman
  • Keystone Army, in part: The destruction of the Ring kills Sauron, which confuses and thus incapacitates the parts of his armies which were more directly controlled by his will (e.g. the orcs), which makes them easy game; the not-magically-controlled human armies had various natural reactions, some surrendering and some keeping on fighting.
  • Kill It with Fire: The Ringwraiths, Shelob. Depending on how you want to look at it, the Balrog inverted the trope.
  • King Incognito: Aragorn for the first part of FOTR.
  • Lady of War: Éowyn
  • Large and In Charge: Aragorn stood at 6'6, which was considered very tall for Men at the end of the Third Age. His ancestor King Elendil was even taller at nearly 8'.
  • Last-Minute Hookup: Faramir and Eowyn get together rather abruptly at the end, having spent a week almost constantly in each other's company in the Houses of Healing.
  • Last Stand: Or so everyone thinks at the Battle of the Black Gate.
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: The Return Of The King is the title of the third book. Tolkien initially insisted on "The War Of The Ring" as a title to avoid the table of contents spoiling the (albeit secondary) story.
    • Although it was also pointed out to him that "The Return Of The King" did not necessarily imply "The Victory Of The King".
    • And Frodo's title for the story was even worse: The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings.
      • Since Frodo was writing contemporary history, most people reading it would already know the basics, such as that Sauron doesn't rule the world.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The chapter "The Uruk-Hai," which focuses on Pippin, includes a line by Merry that Pippin's actions in it were so impressive that there will likely be a whole chapter about them in Bilbo's book.
  • Least Is First: Frodo offering to take the Ring at the Council of Elrond, immediately joined by Sam.
  • Leave Your Quest Test: When Lady Galadriel questions the Fellowship.
  • Lemony Narrator: Mostly in the early chapters in the Shire and till Bree; again in the later chapters on the way back.
  • A Light in the Distance: The will-o'-the-wisps seen in the Dead Marshes.
  • Light Is Not Good: Saruman
    • In the context of Tolkien's mythos, the Sun is not good for the elves, who see it as symbolic of the triumph of men over them (it is outright stated that the Sun symbolises the waning of the elves, and Galadriel implies in The Lord of the Rings that they see the dawn in the same way mankind sees the dusk - as symbolic of the end). The Elves frankly prefer the stars, which at least were already around when they were created.
  • Line in the Sand: Before the battle at the Black Gate.
  • Literary Agent Hypothesis: The author claims that The Lord of the Rings is translated from the Red Book of Westmarch, which was written by the hobbits (mainly Bilbo, Frodo, and Samwise).
    • It seems obvious in retrospect, given the changing nature of the narrator's voice from section to section. The story begins with Bilbo's homely descriptions of the hobbit characters' interaction, gradually changes to Frodo's scholarly and slightly purple narration throughout most of the rest of the book, and ending with Sam's down-to-earth, humble (but still educated) language towards the end—the second half of Book Six, detailing the Scouring and renewal of the Shire, is directly implied to have been written by Sam ("I have finished. The last few pages are for you"). As for the characters who didn't directly contribute to the writing of the Red Book, Merry has a remarkable eye for detail and consequence that strikes quickly to the heart of matters, and the narrator—probably Frodo—takes care to report his and Pippin's dialogue as faithfully as he can.
      • It's entirely possible that Pippin and Merry contributed to the Prologue, "Concerning Hobbits". Both of them seem to be quite swotted up on the history of their families, which are as close to nobility as anyone in the Shire can claim; Merry's interrupted spiel to Theoden on the subject of pipeweed is almost a verbatim copy of some of the prologue's remarks on the Leaf, and he is credited with an exhaustive treatise on the herblore of the Shire.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Some of them with loads and loads of names too!
  • Load-Bearing Boss: The fall of Barad-dûr coincides with Sauron's death. Justified because he created it using the Ring. Once the Ring's power was no longer holding it up, its foundations crumbled and took the rest of the Dark Tower with it.
  • The Lone Dalek: Gollum
  • Losing the Team Spirit: This happens to the fellowship when Gandalf falls in Moria. Even though he's not really dead, they have no way of knowing this -- Frodo and Sam don't even find out until AFTER the quest is over. Aragorn manages to pull them together long enough to get them to safety.
  • Lost in Transmission: The Book of Mazarbul. See Apocalyptic Log above.
  • The Lost Woods: The Old Forest, Fangorn Forest, and Lothlórien
  • Love Epiphany
  • Love Hungry: What Galadriel would become under the influence of the One Ring.
  1. ↑ Frodo Lives! Gandalf for President!
  2. ↑ In one of his letters, Tolkien stated that Gandalf claiming the ring would lead to a worse situation than Sauron recovering it, because at least Sauron was openly evil, whereas Gandalf with the Ring would do evil in the name of good, thereby corrupting even the idea of good
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