The Role of Evil Characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's Fiction: A Study of Sauron and Saruman, Lecture notes of Psychology

Download The Role of Evil Characters in J.R.R. Tolkien's Fiction: A Study of Sauron and Saruman and more Lecture notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity! SBORNÍK PRACÍ FILOZOFICKÉ FAKULTY BRNĚNSKÉ UNIVERZITY STUDIA MINORA FACULTATIS PHILOSOPHICAE UNIVERSITATIS BRUNENSIS S 11, 2005 — BRNO STUDIES IN ENGLISH 31 JAUME ALBERO POVEDA VILLaINS aND THE REpRESENTaTIONS Of EVIL IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN’S fICTION Of mIDDLE-EaRTH This paper aims to reveal the main elements of Tolkienian imagery behind vil- lain characters and tries to reveal their unconscious content. We shall combine analysis of symbolic function with observation of purely narrative aspects. Our methodological point of departure is cultural studies, but we shall be assisted by comparative literature, which offers a higher degree of analytical precision. Finally, we shall be aided by literary genre studies, as most of Tolkien’s imagery has been inspired by the folktale. This research is a journey through the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien by way of the collective imagination, following its reflections in oral and written literary tradition. The analysis of this imagery will take us through psychology, anthropology, folklore as well as other disciplines. In our interpretation of Tolkien’s work, we shall start with the two Ring novels: The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Between the two works of the Ring, i.e., The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings there is a change in narrative tone that is clearly manifested in the figures of the villains. Sauron and Saruman, the main evil characters in Frodo’s story, are con- siderably more dangerous than the trolls and the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit. Gandalf explains this circumstance to the dwarf Thorin, who wants to confront the Necromancer, in the following way: “Don’t be absurd! He is an enemy quite beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together” (H, 37). An enemy of such dimensions as the Necromancer requires heroes with comparable epic stature. Because of this, elves, men and the magician Gandalf occupy an extraordinary place in Frodo’s story. 1 Villains: Ourselves in fin and fur Usually, in folkloric legends, a single supernatural character amasses the forces of evil. On the other hand, there can be several demonic and magical figures that help the hero. This second pattern is one we can apply to the novels of the Ring, which include a broad spectrum of figures with supernatural powers. These magi- 156 JAUME ALBERO POVEDA cal beings personify people’s ancient fears. The characters of small mythology, such as dwarves, goblins and dragons, embody human fears and project their anx- ieties. This projection consists of attributing to another person or the environment what is inside us. These figures are release valves for fears originated by hatred, envy and egoism, in the same way that medieval witches were a means of repre- senting fear of female sexuality and unorthodox ways of life. Tolkienian villains are part of the cultural language of fear, which verbalizes our anxiety created by the changing uncertainties of modernity in the face of a progressively more com- petitive and hostile environment. To that effect, Tolkien’s fantasy moves away from the format of the folktale, where fear and death are repressed and only the satisfaction of desires counts. The reader of fantastic fiction identifies himself, on the one hand, with the hero that suffers and emerges as the winner, and on the other, with the monster or enemy that has antisocial behaviour and transgresses the norms that govern communal life. According to Román Gubern, through the monster or enemy, the reader can free his aggression, his frustration, and himself from the restrictions and the regulation of social life by means of projection. The monster embod- ies our unconscious fears, our internal chimeras, and our repressed impulses. Through the monster, the reader can see in fiction all the lustful or destructive acts that he does not dare to do in real life. Then a paradoxical situation is cre- ated, in which the reader wants the victim to escape from the monster, but at the same time, for the monster to capture the sufferer, thus increasing the narrative tension (Gubern & Prat 1979: 44). Les Daniels explains this phenomenon when he examines the reasons for the failure of the film Son of Kong (1933), a sequel to the famous King Kong: “El hijo de Kong fue el monstruo más altruista jamás presentado en la pantalla, pero esto de volvió en contra suya. La función primaria de un malvado de ficción es la de expresar la agresividad reprimida del público” [Kong’s son was the most altruistic monster ever presented on the big screen, but this fact turned against him. The primary function of a villain in films is to show the repressed aggressiveness of the audience] (Daniels 1975: 136; qtd. Gubern & Prat 1979: 45). This phenomenon of identification with the villain has also been observed in radio dramas. To a certain extent, female listeners identify with the “depraved woman”, who is more seductive and attractive than the sweet, honest heroine (Klapper 1986: 189; qtd. Gubern & Prat 1979: 45). Following this logic of identification, the victory of the heroes over Sauron, Saruman and their armies represents the success over our socially unacceptable impulses, over the monsters of our minds. The death or banishment of the villains stands for our liberation from the feelings that we do not accept. The disappearance of these figures reinte- grates us with the safe world of conscious thought. The representation of evil in The Lord of the Rings follows a typical format in Christian theology, which is, like in Islam, receptive to the idea of evil, which is personified by Sauron. In most religions we find, on the other hand, an ambiva- lent God that contains the perception we have of ourselves, i.e., that good and evil coexist in our hearts (Burton 1988: 7–8). Ilúvatar (God) has only one face, 159VILLAINS AND THE REPRESENTATIONS OF EVIL IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN means “one who obstructs”. Later, he was represented as somebody that commit- ted evil for the simple pleasure of causing harm. Both embodiments of evil, that of the Bible and that of the hobbit fantasy, use the possession of souls as a prima- ry weapon. The Devil takes Christian souls through temptation and purchasing power; Sauron uses magical objects such as the Ruling Ring and the Palantíri. Both figures practise torture: the Devil in hell and Sauron through Melkor, who captures a group of elves and torments them in dungeons until turning them into horrifying figures. In The Lord of the Rings, we find two kinds of representations of the Devil. The lidless eye, which corresponds to a learned formulation, emphasizes the destruc- tive power of the Devil. This idea has had a long tradition in monastic and eccle- siastic culture in general since the Middle Ages. But in the popular imagination, this terrifying representation has been placed opposite a more trivial portrayal. The popular devil is less frightening, more stupid and easily deceived. There are many tales in folklore narrating how the Devil gets tricked. In oral tradition, he is embodied in figures such as giants and ogres, and also as animals such as drag- ons, snakes, etc. His appearance in animal form, except for the lamb (since Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God), can be explained by the fact that animals were sa- cred to pagan gods. Here we can apply the maxim Omnes dii gentium daemonia (all pagan gods become demons); the gods of defeated religions become demons in the triumphant faith. Similar to how the New Testament not only refers to the Devil, but also to the legions of devils led by Satan or Beelzebub, in The Lord of the Rings Sauron ex- pands evil with his armies of orcs, with the balrogs and the Black Riders. Indeed, one of the traditional embodiments of the Devil is as a horseman wearing black and riding a black horse. These horses are winged and have the ability to fly. They seem like a parody of the eagles that help the heroes in several moments of Bilbo and Frodo’s stories. The fact that we initially ignore the identity of these horsemen makes them particularly troubling characters. The Black Riders are the spirits of kings, sorcerers and warriors from years past who are still alive thanks to the nine Rings of Power that Sauron had handed out among them. They are invisible, probably because of the Nine Rings, but are not capable of seeing the rest of the mortals in an ordinary way. Sauron shares some features with two mythological figures. In mythological tradition, there are many gods that, like Sauron, only have one eye. Some of them, for example, Amaterasu, Apollo and Ra, represented the sun. Its importance in mythology comes from the fact that the sun is the source of life on earth. In Greek mythology the Cyclops, who built the palace of Olympus, was an enormous beast with only one eye. Odín, the god in Nordic mythology that inspired Tolkien, sac- rificed an eye in exchange for being able to drink from the well of Mimir, which provided great knowledge. Because of this, he was usually represented with only one eye. The presence of a single eye in one’s anatomy is a symbol of second sight, which is magical. In the same way, it is generally believed that people who suffer some kind of mutilation of a limb acquire extraordinary faculties in the 160 JAUME ALBERO POVEDA remaining limb. That is, the strength that was in the absent limb is transferred to the other, several times multiplied, as a way of compensation. The Viking king Odín was the god of death, war and knowledge. Like him, Sau- ron has authority over the wolves and the ravens. On the other hand, the fact that he is embodied in a ceaselessly wandering eye that seriously disturbs the person who sees through the Palantíri, reminds us of the sorcerer Balor from Celtic mythology. This god of death had only one eye that killed whoever gazed upon it. The main villains in Tolkienian fantasy, Sauron and Saruman, have extensive magical abilities. Both of them know the secrets of the divine blacksmith’s trade and use the Palantíri for their depraved aims. This is a typical characteristic of the folktale, that the villains (witches, ogres, devils, etc.) naturally have these magical powers, whereas the heroes acquire them through magical objects given to them by supernatural auxiliaries like fairies or magicians. The hobbits receive magical help from the magician Gandalf, and the marvellous objects that the princess Galadriel gives them as presents. Sauron and Saruman’s eagerness to acquire forbidden knowledge involves a concept that is central to Judaic theology, which is that, behind knowledge (and also behind sex) is concealed sin. When Eve, influenced by the snake, persuaded Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil (i.e., knowledge), the first two people that God had created were banished from the Garden of Eden. This legend of the fall from a primitive paradise appears in the religious folklore of Egypt, In- dia, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Mexico. However, only the Jews identified this fall with Original Sin. The Jewish creed has been so extreme in its will to regulate all aspects of human life that a religious historian has defined it as “El vestido más apretado con que se ha querido encorsetar jamás la vida” [The most tight clothes with which life has ever been confined] (qtd. Donovan 1985: 33). Mordor is also a lost paradise, because when Sauron turns it into his fortress, these lands, originally uncultivated and infertile, deteriorate even more, in contrast to the veg- etative richness of other nearby regions. Saruman is a magician who was loyal for a long time to Gondor and Rohan, but who later becomes an ally and vassal of Sauron, who represents the Devil in the universe of Middle-earth. The story of the man who sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for earthly power and wealth is deeply rooted in the Western spirit. The evocative force of the figure of Satan has powerfully contributed to it. This idea of the contract appears as early as in the Old Testament, where we find the germinal idea of this bond: “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves” (Isaiah 28: 15). We can also find this idea of the pact in the New Testament in the words of the Devil to Christ when he showed him all the kingdoms of the earth: “And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Matthew 4: 9). The name Saruman derives from the Anglo-Saxon root of the Old English searu, which means device, contrivance or art. Saruman is an individual who plots, and 161VILLAINS AND THE REPRESENTATIONS OF EVIL IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN plotting corrupts people. Sauron and Saruman’s wicked natures are related to their desire to achieve power. Both apply the famous Latin saying “Flectere si nequeo superos,/Acheronta movebo” [If I cannot make the gods bend, I will move the un- derworld]. In fact, these two figures are the conductors of all the evil characters of Middle-earth and those who lead the uprising against the free peoples. Saruman is a Machiavellian character in the sense that he believes that the end justifies the means: We can bide our time, we can keep our thoughts in our hearts, deploring maybe evils done by the way, but approving the high and ultimate purpose: Knowledge, Rule, Order; all the things that we have so far striven in vain to accomplish, hindered rather than helped by our weak or idle friends. There need not be, there would not be, any real change in our designs, only in our means. (Tolkien 1954a: 340) This villain abandons the forms of diplomacy that he had used in the past; for instance, using his serpentine tongue to change the will of King Théoden, and trying to achieve his aims by exclusively warlike means. In the same way that Frodo and Gollum make up an antithetical pair, so do Gandalf and Saruman. The latter follows a path that is the opposite of Gandalf’s, who goes from being called the Grey to the White and to wearing a tunic of this colour. At the beginning, Saruman is named the White, but because of his pride during the War of the Ring calls himself the Many-coloured. In short, we notice that in Middle-earth the popular saying is true – the habit makes the monk. Saruman, like Sauron, is a flat character or, in André Jolles’ words, is not a char- acter that acts but an “exécuteur de l’évènement éthique” (Jolles 1972: 193). Sau- ron, the main agent of evil, is not described in The Lord of the Rings; we only have access to a few of his statements. Because of this, it is necessary for the evil to be materialized, to personify it in lower ranking figures like Saruman, the narcissistic Gollum, and above all the orcs, the balrogs and other monstrous figures. 4 Orcs: Sauron’s Sleep produces monsters The orcs are created by Melkor at the beginning of the First Age, in order to parody the elves. As in the case of these creatures, the orcs are brave warriors that cannot die of natural causes. This is the only feature that they have in common – they differ in every other. Even the things the orcs produce are burlesque copies of what the elves make. The elves have a drink called Miruvórë, which is a tonic that tastes good. Orcs, on the other hand, have a drink that Merry and Pippin find very pleasant. In a similar way, the trolls are counterfeit ents. The resource of creating parodic characters is a narrative practice that in folk- loric studies is known as unsuccessful imitation. According to popular belief, God created the frog and the Devil, the toad. The latter has a swollen body, prominent 164 JAUME ALBERO POVEDA read in Psalm 91 “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet” (13). The death of the dragon at the hands of the saint means the triumph of good over evil. The image of this victory has deep roots in the medieval imagination, so that they have over sixty saints who kill dragons. Saint George is the most famous. Apart from St. George, Jesus Christ himself is a killer of dragons, if we remember the aforementioned Psalm 91, in the part that says “The dragon shalt thou trample under feet”. As Claude Lecouteux has pointed out, victory over the dragon symbolizes the triumph over chaos and confusion, and the establishment of a new hero-governed order (Le- couteux 1999: 82). The figure of the dragon is present in all popular, mythological and legen- dary traditions. Its complexity derives from this multiple presence. Originally, it was a snake with a large tail, and instead of a mouth it has a hole from which its tongue emerged. Human imagination and the mixing of traditions has given form to a much more complex creature (Amilien 1996: 249–250). However, despite the metamorphosis that happens with time, the dragon is generally represented as a big reptile with a big tail and an enormous mouth from which he spits fire, a feature that makes him similar to the Devil who is also a producer of fire. The dragon Smaug in The Hobbit and the spider Shelob in The Lord of the Rings are characterized by a bestiality that distinguishes them from the rest of the super- natural beings. The orcs, trolls, balrogs and other monstrous figures wandering about the scene of Middle-earth operate within a social sphere. The dragon is a very instinctive animal with a primitive mentality. The other characters are in the service of a much more elaborate form of wickedness where the desire to dominate other races prevails. Dragons represent the forces that confirm taboos. In some popular folktales, they deny people’s access to well water, and inhibit the fertility of land and the production of food; in other stories they have kidnapped a princess and hindered her marriage to the hero (see Röhrich 1980: 205–209). In The Hobbit, we find a typical representation of the dragon as the keeper of a treasure. In this case, the beast hinders Bilbo’s access to wealth. The dragons from the folkloric tradition have no history. They come from an- cestral times and, like Smaug, can only be defeated by means of a physical fight. They represent the unconscious feelings of human psychology, the regression to an archaic previous state. They also embody the dangers of a particular epoch as James McGlathery has explained. In Babylonian stories, for instance, the dragon threatened people. He was the warden of wells and rivers, which can provoke floods and infertility. In Christian thought, the dragon is the Devil, the enemy of faith, according to the legend of St. George. In historical legends it is the enemy of the state, as in the Catalan story of Jofre el Pelós. In chivalric novels it is the hero’s rival and holds the maiden captive. In more modern representations, as it appears in newspapers and publicity, there exists the dragon of inflation, of unemployment, of war, of contamination or any other problem feared by people (McGlathery 1988: 3). In short, the figure of the dragon has maintained a con- 165VILLAINS AND THE REPRESENTATIONS OF EVIL IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN stant function throughout the centuries: it personifies people’s fears and anxieties. To this effect, he has metamorphosed to express the specific fears of his time (Röhrich 1988: 3). Therefore, dragons, like giants and witches, are part of the grammar of the so-called cultural language of fear. In the First Age, Morgoth creates the Great Worms called dragons. There are three kinds: giant snakes that walk on four legs, others that crawl and others with wings similar to those of bats that allow them to fly. Within each group, three types can be distinguished: the so-called cold ones with claws and fangs, and those that spit fire. These reptiles are protected by scales made of the strong- est steel. Their teeth and nails are metallic and have exceptional consistency. They could destroy walls with their tails. The dragons’ fluttering causes torrential winds and the flames from their mouths burn everything in their path. Regardless of their physical strength, these animals have prodigious intelli- gence and supernatural sensory powers. Their sight is keener than a falcon’s, their hearing is very acute and their sense of smell is very sharp, so that their enemies cannot pass unnoticed. We must remember that in folktales the ogre or demon with a very sharp sense of smell is a very recurrent motif. Dragons, like orcs and wargs (wolves) prefer darkness to sunlight. Their blood is black and poisonous. Their breath smells like a combination of mud and sul- phur. Their laugh is so raucous that it cracks the mountain and their voices are harsh whispers. Their eyes emit a ruby light and when they are angry they cast red lightning bolts. The darkness of their skin reveals their association with evil, in the same way that the darkness of the Devil’s skin is an indication of his link with machination and modernity. The spider Shelob has a long iron claw in each of its legs. Smaug is not the last dragon of Middle-earth. Gandalf explains, in a confused and contradictory way, that the Ring could be melted down with the fire of some old dragons that were more powerful, but in Frodo’s time there is not “any dragon left on earth in which the old fire is hot enough” (Tolkien 1954a: 94). As Tolkien himself has stated: “The dragon had the trade-mark Of Faërie written plain upon him” (Tolkien 1997: 135). Like the dragons of popular legends and folktales, Smaug inhabits a far-off place, beyond the limits of civilisation. To arrive in the region where these antediluvian reptiles live it is necessary to make a long jour- ney, to travel through disturbing lands and overcome tests of endurance. The dragon Smaug that appears in The Hobbit plunders the caves under mount Erebor and throws them out. Erebor is “The Lonely Mountain” in a plain east of the Mirkwood and North Long Lake. Around the Mountain, everything is charred and desolate. Smaug is the past form of the Germanic verb smugan, which means “to squeeze through a hole.” Smaug is a telluric dragon, not an aquatic one, because his dwell- ing is in the mountain, which is a lithic element. As Virginie Amilien has pointed out, stones and rocks are closely bound to death in Indo-European culture through the grave stone (Amilien 1996: 114). Before settling into the Lonely Mountain, Smaug kills the dwarves that built and inhabited the subterranean passages that 166 JAUME ALBERO POVEDA serve as the dragon’s residence and warehouse for his treasure. The dragons of the folkloric tradition usually appear connected to an aquatic environment, although they live in mountain. Normally, it is not flowing water, it is stagnant, usually a lake. The mountain of Erebor is near the Long Lake, as previously mentioned. Bard’s arrow fatally wounds Smaug in the year 2941 and the dragon comes down to the lake and destroys the city of Esgaroth. When the water’s level is low, his skeleton is visible. The condition of draconitas includes the symbolism of the four elements: the scales remind us of his bond with the aquatic environment, the wings his connec- tion with air, his long reptile tail his attachment to earth. Many of Smaug’s fea- tures have been inspired by a human model. For instance, his greediness: “‘I ate six ponies last night and I shall catch and eat all the others before long’” (Tolkien 1937: 213); his desire for flattery: “‘I am old and strong, strong, strong. […] My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane and my breath death!’” (Tolkien 1937: 216); equally, his intelligence, his liking for riddles, his immoderate greed, etc. forms a fully human psychology despite his bestial form. We can affirm that these supernatural creatures are human in their behaviour, but fabulous and leg- endary in their physical construction. The dragon Smaug in The Hobbit speaks very politely, using many roundabout expressions, in a tone of superiority typical of the privileged class. His is an Or- wellian double-speak, because his refinement when speaking contrasts with the brutality of his behaviour. Smaug is an indomitable and asocial beast, and does not allow any kind of regulation or limitation on his disproportionate aggression. In Smaug’s terrifying image, we notice the use of the first narrative laws out- lined by folklorist Bengt Holbek, called externalisation (Holbek 1998: 442), ac- cording to which one’s inner qualities are expressed by means of attributes or actions. The cruelty and wickedness of the dragon are expressed mainly through his external appearance. Smaug is gigantic, breathes fire, and emits foul vapours. His greed is expressed in his gold and diamond covered body, and in his habit of sleeping on his stolen treasure. Smaug’s passion for collecting jewels can be understood as a manifestation of coprophilia; that is, the characteristic tendency in childhood to be attracted to ex- crement. To Freud’s disciples, gold and money are “copro-symbols” and the pas- sion they arouse is the effect of the regression to the anal libido. This interpreta- tion is based on Freud’s approach, who states that “En las antiguas civilizaciones, en el mito, en el cuento, la superstición, en el pensamiento inconsciente, en el sueño y en la neurosis, hay establecida una relación de las más estrechas entre el dinero y los excrementos” [In ancient civilisations, the myth, the folktale, the superstition, the unconscious thought, the dreams and the neurosis there has been established a close connection between money and excrement] (Freud 1965; qtd. Cerdá 1985: 205). Coprophilia is a symbolic value that has enormous importance in the formation and social behaviour of human beings. There is in the adult an inclination to “collect” that is inherited from the child. However, this adult does 169VILLAINS AND THE REPRESENTATIONS OF EVIL IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN alithic monuments were attributed to giants because people believed that they could have only been made with colossal strength (Lecouteux 1999: 24–25). Trolls are demoniacal beings from Scandinavian folklore. They are particu- larly wicked to human beings. Originally (before the year 1000) they were de- scribed as giants in the folkloric tradition. Sometimes it is said that they inhabited castles where they kept fabulous treasures. This is the same race that appeared in the folktales of the Northern Men. The monster Grendel from Beowulf is inspired by them. Trolls are better represented than the dragon Smaug or the Balrog as the stupid giants in folktales, which are conquered by the hero, as we find them in tales such as “Jack and the Beanstalk” or “Petit Poucet”. Trolls are larger- than-life characters and, at the same time, are dull. Their primary personality is an expression of primitivism. Moreover, their stoutness and ugliness confer a grotesque identity to them. The trolls that appear in The Hobbit become orcs in The Lord of the Rings. Trolls are stout, strong, ugly and stupid. They have thick skin made up of green hard scales that only the strongest metal weapons could pierce. Their blood is dark and their two feet have no toes. All the trolls, except the class called Olog- hai, who are more intelligent, turn in stone when exposed to sunlight. Because of this, they are only found in shady places. In the folkloric tradition, this is a feature assigned to gnomes or trolls and also to dwarves. The petrifaction of trolls or ogres can be explained by the hero’s inability to beat them through physical com- bat. The sun is an auxiliary that in many stories provides the magical help that the protagonist needs to win. This help can be related to the fact that since the Bronze Age the sun was considered a divinity in many cultures (Amilien 1996: 87–88). Particularly in cold countries, in whose mythology our author found inspiration, the sun is highly valued as a supplier of light and heat. Solar light is also a symbol of knowledge; because of that, the inability to tolerate sunlight makes the orcs ob- scurantist beings. In fact, one of the orcs’ most distinctive features is stupidity. To avoid contact with sunlight they live in caves and under rocks. The relationship of the trolls to stones is analogous to that of the ents to trees, because they are cre- ated out of them. They are fond of killing by biting their enemies in the neck and they eat all kinds of meat. They only understand the Black Language and speak very little. Sauron compensates for their lack of intelligence by increasing their doses of wickedness. They constantly work in the service of evil creating armies for the dark lord. Their sense of military discipline makes it possible for them to sacrifice their lives while carrying out an order. The chapter “Roast Mutton” in The Hobbit relates the meeting of Bilbo and the dwarves with the trolls. The latter are depicted according to a pattern that resem- bles the giants in folktales. They are characters with insatiable hunger and great voracity when it comes to providing themselves with new victims. These features reveal a childish and primitive psychology. The trolls are like big children, unable to restrain their appetites, living by the pleasure principle. These figures with no control over their desires are easily tricked by others who are smaller but more intelligent. This idea is recreated in the myth of David and Goliath. 170 JAUME ALBERO POVEDA The trolls keep treasures of stolen coins, weapons, clothes and food. In the folkloric tradition, we also find giants in charge of keeping hidden treasures, which are symbols of a lost power. These figures, giants and trolls, are members of defeated religions, that have seen how other more intelligent races dominate the regions that they had ruled before. The other gigantic creatures with a certain anthropomorphic appearance are the balrogs. They are spirits of fire. They appear before the elves and men as big demonic beings wrapped in fire, and also use it as a weapon. They wear swords, whips and maces. These creatures cannot be killed by ordinary soldiers or with conventional weapons. Gothmog is the lord of the Balrogs, who kills Fëanor. In the stories of Frodo and Bilbo, the only Balrog that appears is the one that Gan- dalf defeats in Moria. Another animal serving the cause of evil, although not gigantic, is the wolf. This mammal has been the main enemy of the European population throughout their history. It was called the “tiger of the West”. It always walks in the direc- tion of the wind so that dogs cannot follow its trail. It is a cruel and unpredictable animal that moves in groups at an extraordinary speed. It is the only animal that directly attacks a person who is walking alone or has lost his way. He is a slayer of livestock and a carrier of rabies (Fossier 1995: 32–33). He is a threat to people as much as to livestock. Because of this, we can say that he defies the civilised forms of life as did the Vikings (who identified themselves with the wolf) and the Nazis (who described themselves as werewolves) (Thomas 1989: 116). In folk- loric tradition, this animal is the favourite villain of many tales. The relationship of the wolf to evil is very established in the popular imagina- tion. Wolves have been popularly identified with the Devil, who often adopted this animal’s appearance. During the Middle ages, the Church encouraged the association of the wolf with the Devil, so that believers felt its real presence everywhere. Many hagiographies describe the miracle of the wolf tamed by the saint, as in the tale of St. Francis of Assisi and the beast of the Gubbio. It is gener- ally believed that wolves have a predatory nature, but are also very cowardly. In folktales, it appears as a very menacing wild beast. The wargs (wolves) are created by Melkor by corrupting the nature of dogs to serve his evil plans. The orcs ride them. The Rohirrim are afraid of them because they tear the horses’ bellies. The wargs are ghosts that only acquired bodily form at night: the sun destroys their evil power. 8 Villains from Inside: psychology and means of Composition We can establish the following correlation that is applicable to Tolkienian fan- tasy: the more space devoted to describe the external world, the smaller the space devoted to the inner universe of the characters. In the case of the villains, this in- ner being is only shown by means of their pernicious effects on the environment and the towns of Middle-earth. In the case of the heroes, the treatment of their 171VILLAINS AND THE REPRESENTATIONS OF EVIL IN J. R. R. TOLKIEN psychology is limited to establishing a game of temptation and fear of failure that the bearers of the Ring and their companions have to varying degrees. The vil- lains of The Hobbit have a more hedonistic and childish psychology than those in The Lord of the Rings. A young reader can feel himself drawn towards certain antisocial acts of the protagonists of Bilbo’s story. Instead, the evil characters in Frodo’s story are the nightmares of an adult mind. The wicked characters in Tolkien’s fantasy and in romance fiction in general are characterized by their egotism, their desire to promote their interests at the expense of the legitimate rights of other people. The lack of generosity that char- acterizes them is also a lack of intelligence. In general, they are easily tricked. Thus, Bilbo escapes from Gollum thanks to sophistry in a game of riddles. The dragon Smaug boasts about his belly full of gold and diamonds, and when he shows it to Bilbo, the hobbit notices that he has an exposed hole on his left side that makes him vulnerable. The elves of the wood imprison Bilbo’s friends, but the hobbit manages to liberate them thanks to the fact that their guardians are drunk. Frodo and Sam manage to escape the tower of Cirith Ungol disguised as orcs thanks to the fact that among the orcs that had imprisoned Frodo there were two rival factions fighting each other, causing several deaths. The villains’ lack of control over their appetites causes them to fail. Bilbo and Frodo display much slyness to beat their different rivals. They are, to that effect, true tricksters. In tales from oral tradition, we often find this figure, because in a world where it is necessary to fight every day for subsistence, to be a rogue is more of a virtue than a defect. On the other hand, a disproportionate desire for riches or power is harshly punished. In this way, the romance establishes the degree to which per- sonal ambition is acceptable. In addition to being easily deceived, the lack of intelligence of villains is made evident in their inability to create and their inclination to destroy. The unskilful- ness of villains is well exemplified in Sauron, the forger of the Ring, who does not naturally have the knowledge for this creative act, but learns it from the Vala Aulë. The inventive ineptitude of the orcs is reflected in the language they speak, which was not created by them, but borrowed from other peoples and impover- ished to adapt it for their scarce communicative needs. In contrast to the villains’ creative incompetence, which is clear in the orcs’ impoverished language, others have an exacerbated linguistic creativity. For instance, Galadriel is known as the Lady of Lórien, the Lady of the Wood, the Lady of the Galadrim, the Sorceress of the Golden Wood, the Mistress of Magic, the White Lady and Queen Galadriel. The hobbits, particularly, really love language, as is shown by their liking for stories, poetry, songs and conversation. Heroes, as we are explaining, are defined by their creativity. The hobbits and dwarves show great inventiveness in their songs. Both races are producers of books that record the incidents and exploits of their ancestors. The elves are even more creative. They are fond of music, poetry, art and science. It is said that they taught the trees to speak. They invented a white flour biscuit that preserves them for a long time and is very invigorating. They are called lembas, which means