Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings, written by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, is an epic trilogy of fantasy novels that explores the resurgence of a Dark Lord named Sauron in the fictional realm of Middle-Earth, and follows its inhabitants' subsequent attempts to thwart his evil conquest . The first entry in the series, "The Fellowship of the Ring", was adapted to film in 2001, and based on its success, the rest of the series promptly followed. The film, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is an excellent example of the "Medieval" cinematic genre, and includes countless instances of medieval imagery and themes. These medieval elements, classified as such because they are drawn from or relating to the Middle Ages, heavily influence and enhance the film. However, what exactly can be seen in the film that would be classified as Medieval?

One of the aspects associated with Medieval themes that is seen in the film is the type of clothing that the inhabitants of Middle-Earth wear. Throughout the film the women often wear long simple gowns and dresses, loosely cut to compensate for pregnancy,  similar to those of the early middle ages. The elves and wizards wear robes resembling those of medieval clergymen, indicating their shared status as reclusive scholars. For long journeys, they inhabitants of Middle-Earth wear simple cloaks to shield themselves from the elements, rather than more contemporary outerwear. Much like the  European middle-age social hierarchy, the extravagance of an individual's clothes is decided based on their social class. The elves and royalty all wear beautiful and elegant clothing made with fine textiles and vibrant colors, just like medieval aristocrats, while peasants wear much simpler garments with plain fabrics and unsaturated colors. To further explore the numerous medieval clothing inspirations, take a look at Behind the Scenes: Costume Design 

There is also heavy usage of armor in the film. Every race can be seen wearing a unique type of armor whenever they are preparing for battle, each varying in materials, style, and use, but are all derived from medieval counterparts. The equipment includes shields, helmets, scale shirts, plate armor, and the usage of Mithril for its magical properties.  The armors of the elves, dwarves, humans, and even orcs have their own style of armor based on the different geographical and ethnical styles of the steel age. Check out the opening scene,  the Battle of Dagorlad, to see the variety of armors that men, elves, orcs, and even Sauron are wearing in the battle.

Additionally there are many different types of medieval weaponry in the film. There are swords, spears, axes, bows and arrows, daggers, and even bare hands for the likes individuals such as Gollum. Similar to armors, each race has a distinct style of weaponry, influenced by common Middle-Age designs. Elves highly value the quality of their workmanship, but lower classes have more crude tools due their lack of education or the accessibility of materials. As was popular in medieval times, almost all the weapons, especially swords, have a name. Some of the weapons, inspired by medieval legends, are enchanted. For example, Frodo's sword lights up blue when orcs are near, which draws on medieval mysticism. The bow and arrow are highly prominent in the film, as they represent an ideal range weapon, much like how they were utilized in medieval times. Some individuals, like Legolas even use the arrows as daggers for close combat. It's long ranged and close combat rolled into one! The less nimble Dwarves favor using axes, which make sense since Middle-Age axes were used for large crushing blows rather than for quick thrusting movements.  The usage of spears is also used in a similar fashion to in medieval times, to help elongate reach, especially when on horseback. There were no guns during the Medieval ages so when steel weapons like these are used in anything, they are usually associated with this time period.This clip shows the importance and naming of the sword that Aragon receives. Aragorn receives Anduril

The music soundtrack for the film has a medieval feel to it as well, because of the use of orchestrated Celtic folk music in combination with instruments like violins, flutes, and harps. Using a medieval style of music and instruments available at that time period, the Medieval influence is abundantly apparent. The composer, Howard Shore, used these characteristics with contemporary composition techniques to create a soundtrack that is distinctly medieval, yet slightly otherworldly. The result is a perfect mix of historical and fantasy.

There are also many miscellaneous Medieval themes and meanings in the movie that may not be obvious at first. There are various different races in the film such as orcs, elves, dwarves, hobbits, and men, and in the race of men there are knights, wizards, kings, queens, princesses, princes, peasants, etc. All of these can be associated with the typical organization of social hierarchy in Medieval times. There are social class distinctions between all of the races. Kings are higher than peasants however elves are higher than men. The social pyramid tends to be organized with Elves and Wizards at the top, then middle-classes such as Men, Hobbits, and Dwarves, and finally evil creatures such as Orcs and Goblins at the bottom. There is also tension between all races which can be seen with the hatred of dwarves that the elves have, similar to the tension of social classes in medieval Europe. However, this quest brings everyone together in the end. Additional medieval themes include magical elements such as wizards, enchantments, rings, and mystical beasts like trolls and balrogs. Horses also play a big part in the film. They wear armor when going into battle, and are used for riding and battling much like in medieval history. The film can even be connected to the religion of Christianity which was a big part of the Medieval period. Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragon can all be seen as Christ figures. Frodo being the priest, Gandalf being the prophet, and Aragon being the king. There is also a clash of values during the passage from the Third Age of Middle-Earth, dominated by the elves, to the Fourth Age, dominated by men.

However, the most important medieval themes in the movie are the idea of a hero's quest and an attempt at working toward a resolution to that quest, which form the main narrative of the film and are heavily featured in stories from Medieval times. They walk, ride, and even fly (on birds) across the land. Individuals and groups sometimes even  have their own sub-journeys, like Merry and Pippin. Some of the sub-journeys include battles which feature tactics like marching (which looks visually stunning), using ladders to scale the walls, cannons, etc. The main journey is to bring the ring to Mordor and destroy it. However, that larger journey consists of many smaller journeys that contribute to advancing the greater one,  with everyone's journey coming together in order to help destroy the ring, driven by a common goal but also unintentionally creating alliances and friendships, a very "Medieval" concept indeed. This tale is simply stunning to both read and watch!

And ladies, if action isn't your thing just remember:

All pictures taken from Google Images

Sheila Lutz

September 9, 2015