Eneh Akpan Writes: Hobbit

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Frodo Baggins & Harry Potter: A Comparison

Frodo Baggins
Photo credit:
fromlandptoenglishtea.blogspot.com

The Hobbit, Frodo Baggins of The Lord of the Rings franchise and the bespectacled wizard, Harry Potter the eponymous character of the fantasy series by J. K. Rowling have striking similarities and peculiarities that all but beg to be recognized.

As far as speculations go, J. K. Rowling's series take after Tolkien's work but my topic is a mile wide of such theories. I'm not even about how the Harry Potter character is a spin-off of Frodo Baggins. What you have here people, is a fan's obsessive streak; a highly opinionated view of two of my favorite fictional characters.

Note: The bold and italicized fonts mark out the similarities.

In Tolkien's LOTR, Bilbo Baggins, who is his Uncle adopts his cousin, Frodo Baggins. The latter's Parents are almost non-existent in the plot. Harry Potter shares a similar fate difference is his parents are indeed dead. He lives with his aunt and uncle-in-law. While Frodo's task is destroying the immortal Dark Lord Sauron and Saving Middle Earth, Harry Potter has his hands full fighting off psycho wizard Lord Voldemort whose mind is bent on taking over the world.

The process by which Frodo becomes the Ring-Bearer and thereby the chosen one is a little complicated but somewhere down the line is An Act of Love that put the show on the road. Frodo's uncle Bilbo whose love for his favorite cousin made him adopt Frodo as heir gave him charge of The Ring before embarking on his journey. In the HP universe, the love of his mother who gave her life for his, saved baby Harry Potter's life and somehow, picked him out as the special one.

Harry Potter
Photo credit: harrypotter.wikia.com

As the fate of their worlds come to rest on the shoulders of these two characters, they are accorded Chaperons. Frodo goes to the Dark Tower with Samwise Gamgee and Gollum (a most unlikely of escorts); Harry leaves on his quest with friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. I have my doubts though, but I perceive the creature Gollum as Frodo's Dark Side. The despicable creature the easygoing and cheerful hobbit could become if The Ring takes over the control of his mind. And who is Harry's dark side but the Lord Voldemort in whose bloodstream flows Harry Potter's blood cells? One of them (Harry or Voldemort) must die if the other is to function maximally.

The Wizards add a twist to the entire storyline. In both characters' lives, two wizards play a major role; one good, the other not-so-good. Frodo has Gandalf the Grey (the good wizard) and Saruman (the evil wizard); Harry has Dumbledore (the good wizard) and on the other hand is Lord Voldemort (the evil wizard).

Another similarity that stares you in the face is the Persuasive ability both Frodo and Harry exhibit in their separate but unique macrocosms. When Frodo and his faithful companion and friend, Samwise catch Gollum riding their backtrail, Frodo talks the creature into guiding them to the Dark Tower where he would destroy the One Ring. And Harry is called upon by Professor Dumbledore to assist in retrieving information from a fellow Hogwarts professor. After much ceremony, Harry successfully drags out the secret about Voldemort's seeming immortality from the villain's former teacher.

Just in case it crossed your mind to ask, who of the two characters is my favorite? That's an easy enough question. I should get you an answer say... in my next lifetime; when I reanimate as a crossbreed of Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

30 Personal Favorite Quotes From the LOTR Books

Updated: June.17.2015

The Lord of the Rings books contain many fantastical elements of course, it's fantasy. Yet, within these books of great magic and wars and portrayal of evil that thrives on lust for absolute power are equally memorable lines that stay with the reader long after s/he turns the page and closes the book.

These are selected personal favorites.

1.
Let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.

2.
Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

3.
The choice is yours: to go or wait.

4.
Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

5.
Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.

6.
Sworn word may strengthen quaking heart.

7.

Courage is found in unlikely places.

8.
Some things are ill to hear when the world's in shadow.

9.
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

10.
Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

11.
He was great once, of a noble kind that we should dare to raise our hands against. He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.

12.
Let us do first what we must do.

13.
I have more need of thought than of sleep.

14.
It is easier to shout stop! than to do it.

15.
A king will have his way in his own hall, be it folly or wisdom.

16.
In doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom.

17.
Every man has something too dear to trust to another.

18.
There are children in your land who, out of the twisted threads of story, could pick the answer to your question.

19.
The evil of Sauron cannot be wholly cured, nor made as if it had not been.

20.
It seems less evil to counsel another man to break troth than to do so oneself, especially if one sees a friend bound unwitting to his own harm.

21.
As for valour, that cannot be computed by stature.

22.
What I can do, I would do.

23.
The fool's hope has failed. The Enemy has found it, and now his power waxes; he sees our very thoughts, and all we do is ruinous.

24.
For yet another weapon, swifter than hunger, the Lord of the Dark Tower had: dread and despair.

25.
The arm that was broken has been tended with due skill, and it will mend in time, if she has the strength to live. It is the shield-arm that is maimed; but the chief evil comes through the sword-arm. In that there now seems no life, although it is unbroken.

26.
She was pitted against a foe beyond the strength of her mind and body. And those who will take a weapon to such an enemy must be sterner than steel, if the very shock shall not destroy them.

27.
You had horses, and deeds of arms, and the free fields; but she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours.

28.
Men looked up and wondered if the coming of the King had been but a dream.

29.
It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.

30.

Seldom do they (men) fail of their seed. And that will lie in the dust and rot to spring up again in times and places unlooked-for. The deeds of Men will outlast us.

There's more beautiful quotes in those books that I have time or strength to translate to blog as you'll probably find out (or have already found out) if you read the series. These are some of my favorite from the three books.

Keep your pen bleeding.

Akpan