fairy tale elements in jrr tolkien's the lord of the rings and jk

Masaryk University in Brno Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

Fairy tale elements in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories

By Tereza Havířová Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A.

Brno 2005

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my supervisor, doc. Milada Franková for her time and her advice; and my friends who provided me with the books from distant libraries.

I declare that I have worked on this dissertation independently, using only the sources listed in the bibliography.

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Contents

Acknowledgement ...............................................................................................................................2 Contents .............................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................................4 FAIRY TALES ..........................................................................................................................................5 FANTASY..................................................................................................................................................7 THE LORD OF THE RINGS....................................................................................................................9 HARRY POTTER ...................................................................................................................................12 FAIRY TALE ELEMENTS ....................................................................................................................14

THERE AND BACK AGAIN ........................................................................................................................14 GOOD VS. EVIL ......................................................................................................................................18 TYPICAL AND UNTYPICAL HEROES ..........................................................................................................22 LANGUAGE ............................................................................................................................................26 Narrative language...........................................................................................................................27 Language of naming .........................................................................................................................32 Lyrical language...............................................................................................................................34 MAGICAL OBJECTS .................................................................................................................................36 SUPERNATURAL CREATURES ..................................................................................................................43 Dragons ...........................................................................................................................................44 Trolls................................................................................................................................................45 Orcs .................................................................................................................................................46 Ghosts and wraiths ...........................................................................................................................47 Dwarfs .............................................................................................................................................48 Elves ................................................................................................................................................49 Traditional creatures ........................................................................................................................50 Hobbits.............................................................................................................................................50 Ents..................................................................................................................................................51 Wizards ............................................................................................................................................52

CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................53 CZECH SUMMARY/ SHRNUTÍ...................................................................................................................55 WORKS CITED .......................................................................................................................................56

Primary sources ...............................................................................................................................56 Secondary sources ............................................................................................................................56

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Introduction If we are not like children we won’t enter.1

Do we live in a disenchanted world or do we still need fairy tales? Are there any skillful fairy tale tellers left? And are our modern fairy tales any good? This work deals with fairy tale elements used in two works of modern fantasy literature – J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) and J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories. The work goes back to the definition of fairy tale, mentioning its probable roots, its typical audience, and its function in different historical periods. It deals with its traditional elements and the question whether they can be used independently on fairy tale context especially.

Apart from fairy tales, it is going to focus on the genre of fantasy – its definition as well as the differences and similarities it has with fairy tales. The work also gives concrete examples of fairy tale elements used in LOTR and Potter, such as the opening formula ‘Once upon a time’, usage of typical and extraordinary heroes (e. g. Harry the orphan, Frodo the hobbit, Aragorn the king), supernatural creatures (e. g. dragons in Potter, elves in LOTR, dwarfs in both Potter and LOTR); or magical objects (e. g. the enchanted ring, invisibility cloak, magical mirror).

It also poses some questions concerning up-to-date state of fairy tales and their possible mutation into fantasy on the ground of similarities between the two genres. 1 „Nebudeme-li jako děti, nevejdeme.“ Neubauer, 2

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Fairy tales Fairy tale is one of the oldest genres of human culture. Dictionaries describe it as a

tale about fairies, of strange incident, coincidence and marvelous progress2 or a story, usually for children, about elves, hobgoblins, dragons, fairies or other magical creatures.3

Susan Sellers in her essay ‘Myth versus Fairy tale’ stresses the various labels it was given, such as folktale, wonder tale, fairy story. Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp deals with the genre thoroughly in his study ‘The Morphology of fairy tale.’ According to him, fairy tales are the chains of variants of individual fairy tale motifs and elements.4 He also succeed in gathering all the fairy tale motifs in a systemized list which enables creating new fairy tales by putting the motifs in a combination.

Detailed description and definition of the genre provides J. R. R. Tolkien in his essay ‘On fairy stories’ too. He is heavily against the word fairy in the term because it implies that fairy stories are inevitably texts about fairies, i. e. tiny supernatural creatures: I said the sense “stories about fairies” was too narrow. It is too narrow, even if we reject the diminutive size, for fairy-stories are not in normal English usage stories about fairies or elves, but stories about Fairy, that is Faerie, the realm or state in which fairies have their being. Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.

2 Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English 3 Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of English Language 4 Propp. ‘Morfologie pohádky’, 99

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Stories that are actually concerned primarily with “fairies,” that is with creatures that might also in modern English be called “elves,” are relatively rare, and as a rule not very interesting. Most good “fairy-stories” are about the adventures of men in the Perilous Realm or upon its shadowy marches.5 He also deals with the origin of fairy tales, which similarly as Propp connects with the origin of fairy tale motifs. As far as Tolkien is concerned, the best collectors and re-tellers of fairy stories were Charles Perrault in France who heavily influenced English fairy tale tradition; and Andrew Lang with his colourful fairy tale books of the end of 19th century (e. g. Blue Fairy Book - 1889, Red Fairy Book - 1890, Yellow Fairy Book - 1894). Fairy tale was always a popular genre and an essential part of folklore tradition. It carried a moral message as well and functions also as a mean of passing the knowledge. At the turn of 18th and 19th century it was transferred from oral to written form by scholars, researchers and folklore collectors in the search for national identity. Mapping the folk heritage was a part of literary/cultural enlightenment in most European countries. Among the most important collectors were the Grimm brothers, the already mentioned Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen or Božena Němcová. At the same time, wave of new fairy tales influenced by Romanticism and based on the traditional narrative principles appear (written for instance by Oscar Wilde). However, as Tolkien points out, the form of fairy stories was changed in the process of writing down – fairy tales were made harmless and non-violent because of their potential audience – children. Generalized and simplified form of fairy tales was suitable for children and not enough good for adults. It was not until the end of 19th century when German Romantics, such as Novalis or E. T. A. Hoffmann helped to give fairy tale the 5 Tolkien. ‘On fairy stories’

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status of a genre worth reading and working with. Thus most fantasy literature of 19th century was written in the form of fairy tale.

Fantasy Fantasy as an independent genre is a recent invention. It was long considered to be an inferior part of science-fiction literature. According to a dictionary, fantasy in literature is an imaginative or fanciful work, especially one dealing with supernatural or unnatural events or characters.6 C. N. Manlove who deals with the subject in detail in his work Modern Fantasy gives a more specified and sophisticated definition of the genre. In his opinion, fantasy is: A fiction evoking wonder and containing a substantial and irreducible element of the supernatural with which the mortal characters in the story or the readers become on at least partly familiar terms.7 And what about the books this work deals with? Are they true members of the genre? Do they fit Manlove’s definition? LOTR is work of fiction because it does not make the readers believe that it depicts true historical events of our world. It contain an irreducible element of the supernatural represented by the setting (imaginary land) as well as the characters (elves, wizards, dwarfs). What is more, Manlove points out the difference between fantasy and horror stories in the last point of his definition (the mortal characters of the story or the readers

6 Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of English Language 7 Manlove. Modern Fantasy, 1

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become on familiar terms with the supernatural) – in horrors, the supernatural stays evil and alien. In opposition to it, in LOTR there is no shock when meeting the supernatural. Similarly, Harry Potter is undoubtedly a fictional story even though it is sometimes located in existing places, such as London. It does not pretend that the story is real. Its substantial part deals with magic and supernatural creatures, which fits the fantasy definition as well as the supernaturally-friendly attitude of the author, the characters and the readers. Fantasy literature seems to have less to do with the past than with alternative realities or projected futures. However, it is heavily influenced by folklore motifs and traditional literary genres. C. W. Sullivan focuses on the connection between folklore and fantasy in his article: The writer of fantastic literature, the creator of impossible worlds, has need of and uses folklore to make those imagined worlds accessible to the reader. … In short, fantasy and sci-fi authors use traditional materials, from individual motifs to entire folk narratives, to allow their readers to recognize, in elemental and perhaps unconscious ways, the reality and cultural depth of the impossible worlds these authors have created.8 Especially in LOTR, there is a strong echo of medieval tradition. Its possible roots are examined in Manlove’s Impulse of Fantasy Literature: Many modern fantasies draw part of their inspiration from the meaning of the medieval world order. … The impulse is on the whole nostalgia for a world simpler, less populated, better ordered and more natural than the writer’s own, although this nostalgia may be 8 Sullivan. ‘Folklore and fantastic literature’

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extended to a mystic longing or even the belief that such apparently lost world are eternally co-present with this one.9 Tolkien’s LOTR is a perfect example of the quoted features – it finds delight in simple being and shows love for ordinary items: Faerie contains many things besides elves and fays, and besides dwarfs, witches, trolls, giants, or dragons: it holds the seas, the sun, the moon, the sky; and the earth, and all things that are in it: tree and bird, water and stone, wine and bread, and ourselves, mortal men, when we are enchanted.10 Fantasy was long seen as a part of low-brow culture and it was not until recently when fantasy was acknowledged as an independent literary genre. It was also because of the works, such as LOTR and Harry Potter stories, which are not only among the best of fantasy but also among valuable works of English literature of 20th century.

The Lord of the Rings The work represents a middle part of Tolkien’s trilogy The Hobbit, LOTR and Silmarillion. It is also a continuation of the story from The Hobbit where Bilbo Baggins finds a magical ring on his ‘there and back again’ journey with dwarfs and a wizard. It consists of three volumes – The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954) and The Return of the King (1955).

9 Manlove. Impulse, 93 10 Tolkien. ‘On fairy stories’

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LOTR begins sixty years later when the power of the Dark Lord Sauron grows again and Bilbo’s ring turns out to be the Ring of Power which Sauron seeks to control the whole of Middle Earth. Therefore, the Ring must be destroyed in the Mount Orodruin in the dark land of Mordor where it was originally forged. This task is appointed to Bilbo’s nephew Frodo who is on his way to Mordor accompanied by three other hobbits (Merry, Pippin and Sam), a wizard (Gandalf), a dwarf (Gimli), an elf (Legolas) and two mortal men (Aragorn and Boromir). The group is called the Fellowship of the Ring. At Part Galen near Mordor, Frodo and Sam are divided from the rest of their companions and make their way through Mordor guided by a treacherous former-hobbit Gollum who is a slave to the Ring. The rest of the Fellowship eventually allies with the ents (living trees) and the men of Rohan, conquer a evil wizard Saruman, help in the defeat at Pelennor Fields of one of Sauron’s army and then march with the last Alliance of the West to fight the battle at the Black Gate of Mordor. Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam overcome many obstacles and succeed in destroying the Ring. With this, Sauron’s power fades, his armies collapse, Aragorn is restored King of Gondor and the hobbits return to their homeland – the Shire. A few years later, Frodo who has been badly wounded in his quest leaves the Shire and Middle Earth with Gandalf and the last of the elves for Undying Lands of the Far West. This is in brief the plot of LOTR which except for the main storylines mentioned here contains a lot of subtler motifs, themes and levels of meaning: Tolkien’s intention in his book was to create a species of heroic epic. The trilogy has epic scale; we journey over what W. H. Auden tells us is 1,300 miles form the Shire to Mordor, taking in a variety of races and regions on the way – the land of hobbits, the Elf-kingdom at Rivendell, the mines of Moria, Lothlórien, Rohan, Ithilien, Mordor; men, ghosts, orcs, Elves, wizards, Ents, dwarves and hobbits. The sense of extension in space is completed by

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one in time: we are made continually aware of thousands of years of the past lying behind the story of the Ring, indeed that the history of its evil maker stretches back into the First Age of Middle-earth.11

From the form of the narration it is easy to trace the sources of Tolkien’s inspiration. As Zdeněk Neubauer in his essay ‘Do světa na zkušenou’ mentions, LOTR follows the tradition of both heroic epic, such as Iliad, Aeneis, Beowulf; or Nibelungen saga, and fantastic epic represented by medieval romances (Arthurian legends) and fantastic novels of the end of 19th century (W. Morris, E. R. Edison).12 Apart from these, Tolkien also uses features form folktales and combines these together: Tolkien structures both work [The Hobbit, LOTR] like folktales and then overlays and fleshes them out with characters, scenes and other items borrowed from or modeled after the traditional materials he had studied all his life – western European prose and poetry composed in the middle ages or earlier. ... It is because of both the traditional materials and his synthesis of them that Tolkien’s novels are the standard by which all of the others are judged.13 LOTR is considered to be one of the founding stones of the genre of modern fantasy. Tolkien create in it whole new mythology based on languages invented by him. The impact of the work is aptly expressed in a quotation from Sunday Times which is enclosed in almost every English edition of LOTR: 11 Manlove. Modern Fantasy, 171 12 Neubauer. ‘Do světa na zkušenou’, 14 13 Sullivan. ‘Folklore and fantastic literature’

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The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them.

Harry Potter In contrast with Tolkien’s LOTR, Harry Potter stories by J. K. Rowling are quite

recent piece of literature. The first book in the series Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone appeared in 1997 and the sequels followed: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2000) and Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (2003). The sixth part, Harry Potter and the Half-blooded Prince is about to come (June 16 2005). Rowling has also written two other companion books, Quidditch through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Harry Potter stories were the first children books on the bestseller’s list of New York Times since 1950s. Frequently, a question is posed whether Harry Potter books are only a passing fad or really contributive work of fiction. They bring a classical story – Harry Potter is an orphan who is brought up by the Dursleys, his relatives who hate him. On his eleventh birthday he is told by a stranger that he is a wizard and is transported to a mysterious castle where the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is located. There he gains new friends (Ron and Hermione) and starts to learn of his true heritage and potential. He is also told by the headmaster of the Hogwarts Albus Dumbledore, who takes him under his wing about the death of his parents and the evil wizard Lord Voldemort who murdered them and after an unsuccessful attempt to kill Harry died. However, Harry meets Voldemort in various forms (for he is recovering from his death) during next years of his studies and has to face various dangerous situations where he proves his worthiness and bravery.

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This is in brief the summary of the plot of the whole series. Individual parts have a similar structure – the story begins in the summer which Harry spends at Dursleys and is being tortured and humiliated by his cousin Dudley. On September 1st he leaves for Hogwarts. The term involves his studies and playing Quidditch as well as the struggle with the dark powers (mostly presented by Voldemort). He succeeds in the fight eventually and returns to the Dursleys for another horrible holidays.

In further parts, the plot grows more elaborate and sophisticated. Rowling involves in the text allusions to medieval tradition presented by alchemy, heraldic, and descriptions of landscapes and buildings used to evoke melancholy (her typical props are castles, ruins; or gloomy Scottish landscape). Apart from the characters and the setting, there is another significant element of the plot – the magic. It could be considered one of the characters because it is an intrinsic part of Rowling’s reality. Nonetheless, Harry Potter books are not stories about magic. Magic is what makes the story unreal though not untrue. The magic is the most obvious reason why Harry Potter is among fantasy literature. As far as the structure of the narration is concerned, the author follows the fairy tale principles on one hand and employs the features of Gothic novel and Bildungsroman on the other. Not surprisingly, Harry Potter is usually among the genre of children’s literature because its heroes are children. Still, there are more levels of meaning and symbolism in the texts which make it a valuable piece of fantasy literature.

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Fairy tale elements The core of the work deals with the typical elements used in the genre of fairy tale and their application and usage in fantasy literature. From the great variety of the features, I chose formal as well as thematic ones to illustrate the differences and similarities between the two genres.

There and back again One of the features typical for both fairy tale and fantasy is circular structure of

narration. The story often returns to the point where it began: lost children find their way home, Harry Potter returns to the Dursleys after his school year in Hogwarts and Frodo comes back to the Shire after destroying the Ring. According to Propp, one of the typical opening situations of fairy tale is lack of something. The lack causes hero’s desire for something extraordinary and when is he told about wonders of distant lands or beautiful ladies he sets out on the journey.14 During his travels he gains experience and returns wiser and sometimes even wealthier or married to a princess. However, his wisdom (in Czech zkušená) is something abstract and impractical which cannot be used in his everyday life. Neubauer deals with the phenomenon of the fairy tale experience (zkušená) thoroughly in his essay “Do světa na zkušenou čili O cestách tam a zase zpátky.“ In general, he stresses the positive results of the experience: even though there are no giants, wizards or dragons to be killed in his homeland he lives happily ever after. Neubauer sums the experience as gained wisdom.15 And as he points 14 Propp. Morfologie pohádky 15 „Také si při návratu nepřinášejí žádnou konkrétní praktickou dovednost ani výuční list. Doma totiž nejsou obři, černokněžníci či draci, aby na ně mohli vhodně aplikovat osvojené metodické postupy. A přesto bývá návrat úspěšný a útěšný – takový, který stojí za vyprávění. Hrdina se ze světa, kam odešel na zkušenou, nevrací s nějakými určitými zkušenostmi, nýbrž právě jen s onou „zkušenou“. Díky ní se bída z chaloupky

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out, an important aspect of the hero’s experience is a positive change of character and his relationship to people and his homeland. As was said before, one of the features of the genre fantasy is conservatism. The effort of conserving things as they are is closely connected with the circularity within the story. While fairy tales involve dynamic development of the hero (growing wiser) in fantasy it may look like the starting point being the same as the ending one: Unlike the traditional fairy tale, in which hero often betters himself in the world and may move place, most modern fantasy involves the notion of a return to a starting point so that one ends where he began. This motif of circularity is an image of the preservation of things as they are, and thus one expression of fantasy’s delight in being. It may take the form simply of coming home at the end of one’s adventures…. Tolkien’s Bilbo and Frodo come back to the Shire from their distant adventures at the end of The Hobbit; or, There and back again and The Lord of the Rings respectively.16 Nevertheless, there is a change involved. It may not be the change of the outside world because home is in fantasy literature viewed as a sacred place, a sanctuary; but it can be an inner change of the hero himself. The change may be slight and can be seen only as a peculiar feature by the people as in case of Bilbo Baggins: Bilbo was very rich and very peculiar, and had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return. The riches he had

vystěhuje a všichni žijí od té doby šťastně až do smrti… Řekněme, že tato zkušená je porozumění řádu skutečnosti, , jež vzešlo ze zážitku zásvětí, tj. světa za tímto naším světem. A hrdina se v něm osvědčil jako věrný a dobrý navzdory propastné různosti onoho od tohoto. Zkušená je dosvědčována tím, že se hrdina vrátil pozitivně proměněn a nikoliv poškozen či zmrzačen“ (Neubauer 9). 16 Manlove. Impulse, 70

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brought back from his travels had now become a local legend, and it was popularly believed, whatever the old folk might say, that the Hill at Bag End was full of tunnels stuffed with treasure.17 Furthermore, the adventure can have more serious results as in case of Frodo who was wounded and weakened both in body and mind on his travels. Frodo’s change is more obvious in comparison to other three hobbits who accompanied him on his journey – Merry, Pippin and Sam return to the Hobbiton more or less untouched and continue their lives. Frodo, on the other hand, survives on the verge of the community and lacks his former hospitality and cheerfulness. He himself feels that he is changed forever: I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved but not for me. I must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.18 The circular direction of narrative is stated in Tolkien’s The Hobbit right at the beginning in its subtitle “There and back again” The same title can be applied to LOTR because its quest begins and ends in the Shire and to Harry Potter stories too for each of them starts and ends at the Dursleys in the Privet Drive. The opening and closing setting stresses the difference between the two worlds presented in the story. They differ in various ways and often function on different rules. Therefore, non–typical heroes (such as the youngest or the weakest) are there capable of great fortitude and endurance. The striking contrast between the two worlds can be illustrated also by the lack of magic and supernatural creatures in one of them: 17 Tolkien. LOTR, 21 18 Ibid. 1006

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A further mode in which fantasy often returns to its starting point is in the departure of the supernatural. The magic realms, creatures, objects, actions or persons appear, disrupt ‘normal’ life and then depart once more at the end of the story. … Such removal need not always be final. …Nor does it suppose a return to happy ignorance and indifference. Thanks to the supernatural the world is by the end seen differently, and characters may have been altered spiritually through their experience of it. … There is not only a circular mode of ‘There and back again’ but a spiral one, whereby the return is at a higher level of insight.19 A concrete example of this statement is in Harry Potter stories – Harry is a wizard but in the world of muggles he is not allowed to perform any magic. So he lives in two realities – one of them is full of spells and supernatural creatures and the other is absolutely deprived of any of these. The cyclic structure of LOTR is similar to the quest – a heroic journey from the known world into the unknown and back. The only difference is that the goal of the Fellowship’s quest is not gaining of the magical object (e. g. holy grail) but its destruction. Structurally, quest is series of exciting events which evoke the sense of epic scope of narration. Thematically, quest enables development of the sense of self in the heroes. The cyclic notion of the story is represented also by the Ring of Power – a symbol of never ending fight between good and evil and endlessness of telling stories.

19 Manlove. Impulse, 71

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Good vs. Evil Fairy tale as one of the oldest literary genres has a set of strict rules. Among them is a specific relation between good and evil in the story. In terms of good and evil, fairy tale presents a simplified version of reality. Since the primary audience and readership of fairy stories were children direct classification of the goodies and the baddies was necessary for an easy identification with the characters. There is no doubt whether Red Riding Hood or Jack is good and the wolf or the carnivorous giant bad. For fairy tales, it is typical that a person is wholly good or wholly bad. There is no space for complicated inner conflicts and dilemmas. Simplicity and non-ambiguity were among the reasons why authors of fantasy took fairy tales as one of their source: The main writers of fantasy in the nineteenth century all look back very markedly to the traditional fairy tale: twentieth century fantasy does so also, though not so much to the traditional tale directly as to writers already indebted to it. … Whenever modern authors discuss fairy tales, they do so with profound admiration tinged with a longing to imitate the simplicity of the form.20 The equal distribution of good and evil powers belongs to one of the virtues of the genre of fairy tale. Unsurprisingly, the evil characters are in the narration as important as the good ones. And what is more, the bravery and determination of the main hero depends on the villain he/she has to face. The stronger and more terrifying the villain is, the more courageous the hero must be. 20 Manlove. Impulse, 4

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As was said, the powers of good and evil should be in balance formally. However, as far as descriptions and characteristics of the figures of fairy tale and fantasy is concerned, there are plenty of evil forms and supernatural creatures which can be described in detail to evoke horror, fear and panic – there are orcs, trolls, ogres, giants, evil wizards, dragons, wild beasts, vampires, werewolves, living deads and so on. On the other hand, the goodies appear to be always the same: he/she ought to be handsome, wise, courageous, unselfish and always ready to face the enemy. As for the generalization and strict boundaries between the good and evil, colour specification is often used both in fairy tales and fantasy – light colours, most typically white is used as a co-characteristic feature of the goodies (Gandalf the White, Albus Dumbledore). In the opposite, dark colours match with the evil characters (in LOTR, there is the Dark Lord, Black Speech of his realm and Black riders as his servants). This simplified and effective picture of the moral spectrum is common also in other genres, e. g. science-fiction (Star Wars have the light and the dark side of the Force). In LOTR, there is a strong humanistic message and the sense of catharsis after the minority of the good destroys the evil forces. Nevertheless, the portrayal of the evil is very impressive. The title itself shapes the major character – the lord of the rings which is the Dark Lord Sauron. He and his land Mordor are in the centre of the story because they are the aim the Fellowship has to achieve. Tolkien made Sauron the most powerful character though he never describes him directly. Manlove points out the impression it makes: Paradoxically, Sauron is more real than anything else in The Lord of the Rings because Tolkien has chosen never to present him directly. … We can say that Sauron is more terrible than anything else in the book because he alone feeds on the power of his Ring,

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even though he does not possess it, but this does not explain away the mode of his presentation. He alone is a mystery; he alone draws us, is felt as a presence, as nothing else in The Lord of the Rings.21 Most of the readers need some positive examples to identify with, such as Frodo or Aragorn but they will always be fascinated by the dark powers presented by Sauron or the Nazgúls. Besides the highest danger personificated in Sauron, there are nameless and faceless hordes of enemies in LOTR. They are represented by orcs, trolls and other servants of the Dark Lord who has no will and are blindly obedient. This way of describing of the bad characters can be seen as a relic of one of the fairy stories principles – in fairy tale, there is more important what a creature does than who it is. Generalization is quite common feature of the narration because of the simplified form of the genre. However, it does not matter how impressive the depiction of the dark powers is, the reader will always be on the side of the good (as well as the author is). Tolkien portrays the forces of the good far weaker so that the war between good and evil armies resembles the fight of David and Goliath. At the same time, he puts in opposition self-destruction and shortsightedness of the dark side with innocence and benevolence of the light side. Tolkien also employs biased fortune and lucky accidents to help his heroes. In his essay ‘On fairy stories’ he defines the lucky twist in the plot and happy ending as eucatastrophe – a word from Latin (eu – good, catastrophe – twist, change) seen as a necessary element of fairy tale structure:

21 Manlove. Modern Fantasy, 190 - 192

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But the “consolation” of fairy-tales has another aspect than the imaginative satisfaction of ancient desires. Far more important is the Consolation of the Happy Ending. Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have it. At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story. Since we do not appear to possess a word that expresses this opposite—I will call it Eucatastrophe. The eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its highest function. The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially “escapist,” nor “fugitive.” In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.22 In LOTR, eucatastrophe is widely used, for instance when Gandalf the Grey gives up his life for his friends in Moria and later returns as more powerful Gandalf the White; or when Sam who thinks that Frodo after being stung by a giant spider is dead finds out that he is alive and rescues him from the tower full of orcs. In Harry Potter stories, there is also variety of dangerous and evil creatures – some of fairy tale tradition (dragons, werewolves, vampires) and some of the author’s imagination (professor Umbridge). Similarly as in LOTR, there is one major villain – evil 22 Tolkien. ‘On fairy stories’

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wizard Lord Voldemort. Rowling uses similar strategy as Tolkien in her first four books – the unseen evil is more terrifying. Therefore, until the end of the fourth part, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Voldemort he is never shown in the form of the adult male wizard. However, he is always present in the story as an unspoken threat almost like Sauron’s lidless eye which from the distance watches what is happening. In terms of the positive characters, Rowling is less direct in their defining. Her heroes are more like real people with their faults, doubts and mistakes than like black and white fairy tale beings. For example, Sirius Black is from the beginning portrayed as an evil and dangerous character but the reader finds out his motivation and his real status eventually which brings him on the good side. Tolkien puts on the side of the good the hobbits with their innocence, naivety and cheerfulness. Rowling acts in a similar way when as the opponents of the evil choose children. Harry, Ron and Hermione are also innocent, a bit naïve and extremely energetic and cheerful. In both cases, it is partly the good spirit and the sense of friendship that conquer the enemy. To sum it up, there is a clear cut between the good and the evil in modern fantasy because it attempts to view things in their pure and unalloyed states. But the characters are not as schematized as in fairy tales – they are tempted, they have doubts about themselves and they can question their own part in the story.

Typical and untypical heroes Characters are essential in every story. They have to be interesting, fascinating and believable at the same time because they are the key to the story. Usually, the readers tend to identify themselves with them. While fairy tale heroes are heavily schematized and

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simplified in their desires, opinions and attitudes heroes of fantasy carry more individuality and are more real and likeable. According to Propp, a typical hero of fairy tale is a person who lacks something or suffers by deeds of an evil-doer and is about to do something about it. The fairy tale hero often carries a magical object which helps him in different situations.23 Among common fairy tale heroes are princes, princesses, kings or knights but also Simpleton Jack, orphans or step-children. The hero has to pass various tests and prove good intentions and bravery. After hero’s gaining experience and wealth a happy ending follows. Tolkien in LOTR introduces a whole set of heroes: the title of the novel implies that it is about Sauron who is in fact a mighty power behind the scene. Then Tolkien shapes the Fellowship of the Ring – a group of nine characters (four hobbits: Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin; two men: Aragorn and Boromir; Gandalf the wizard, Legolas the elf and Gimli the dwarf). Each of them can be a hero because their paths are divided into three different storylines – Frodo and Sam go right to the Mount Doom; Merry and Pippin are kidnapped by the orcs and the rest of the Fellowship follows them to rescue them. Therefore every one of them undergoes his own quest. However, not surprisingly, on the basis of fairy tale and romance structure, Aragorn is viewed as a leading typical hero of the story. As Robley Evans points out, Aragorn resembles ‘lost princes’ from fairy tales because he is of the true birth and identity and is the heir to the throne as well but is somehow prevented from being a king.24 His long way from the wild to the throne of Gondor is apparent from names he carries – at the beginning of the story when the hobbits meet him for the first time in Bree is he called Strider and introduces himself as one of the

23 Propp. ‘Morfologie pohádky’ 24 Evans. J. R. R. Tolkien

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Rangers who look after borders in the wild. In Gandalf’s message Frodo learns his real name and a short poem which characterize him aptly:

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does no 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.25

Later on the hobbits as well as the reader get to know that Aragorn is the heir of the Gondorian kingdom and the lawful leader of the army of the free peoples of Middle Earth against Sauron. However, as compared to the character of another ruler – king Théoden of Rohan who is also respectable and courageous, Aragorn is closer to the readers because his journey to kingship is long and they make it with him. Apart from this, Aragorn is depicted not only as a fighter and responsible ruler but also as a healer and comforter: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.26 Tolkien relies upon the traditional conventions of heroic descriptions – Aragorn’s identity is shaped through his predecessors (he is entitled Aragorn, son of Arathorn or Isildur’s heir); his task is presented in a form of prophetic fulfillment of the legends (the king will return with the Sword that was broken). In brief, Aragorn stands for everything Tolkien emphasizes in his work: loyalty, companionship and sacrifice. The connection of the character with medieval romances is 25 Tolkien: LOTR, 167 26 Ibid. 844

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also in the love motif of LOTR. Aragorn, a human falls in love with the princess of the Elves, Arwen. Although their love has to face many obstacles it has a happy ending. Apart from the traditional hero, Tolkien introduces an untypical one: Frodo the hobbit. There are two complementary quests in the plot – Aragorn’s assertion of his true self and his return to the throne and Frodo’s effort to destroy the Ring. Hobbits as a race are designed to surprise the reader. Their heroism is unexpected and inevitable as was proved in The Hobbit already. Evans said that the hobbit is like the typical hero of romance – it is his unexpected call to perform heroically that brings out his best.27 Manlove mentions a possible contradiction in Tolkien’s choosing such a hero in genre of epic fantasy: At the centre of his epic, Tolkien has set out to place an ethic of heroic endeavour: the Ring-bearer against the whole might of Sauron. Yet he has chosen no conventional hero, no Beowulf nor Aeneas nor Roland of almost unthinking honour or courage, but a little man, a four-foot Halfling of a race happiest just to eat and sleep. The idea is to give us in Frodo a protagonist who grows into being a hero as his journey proceeds.28 In this point, the hobbit resembles fairy tale hero Jack (or Hloupý Honza) who is also considers to be unfitting for the task but perfects himself during the journey and proves his worthiness to be treated as an independent and grown-up person. For Tolkien, hobbits represent humanity and inexperience of the readers. Therefore, he tells the story from a point of view of the hobbit. It is a third-person narrative; however, the narrator is not omniscient. He knows only as much as hobbits do. The events are

27 Evans. J. R. R. Tolkien, 111 28 Manlove. Modern Fantasy, 174 -5

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depicted to the readers in exciting and fascinating way as they would seem to the hobbits. That makes the story easier to follow and the hobbits very likeable creatures. As far as Rowling’s heroes are concerned, she picks up more traditional ones. Harry Potter is an orphan who is brought up as a step-child by his aunt’s family. Predictably, he is treated badly hence the fact that he belongs to another world is no disaster for him. It is not difficult for him to desert Dursleys and left for an unknown place – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While in the world of muggles he was peculiar, weird and the least popular in magical world he proves his bravery and skills and abilities. Among other typical characters derived from folktale tradition included in Harry Potter stories are loyal friends (Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid) and a caring guardian (Albus Dumbledore). To sum it up, affirmative heroes are the key to the story and both Tolkien and Rowling create believable characters that the readers get quickly familiar with. However, because the heroes are partly derived from simplified fairy tale characters they scarcely contain more complicated psychological developments. Far more important than inner world of the person are his/her outer actions and deeds.

Language One of the formal features which fairy tale and fantasy have in common is simple language. Both of the genres also use variety of expressions such as spells, oaths or opening and closing formulae. Another important point is the author’s might of naming created characters as well as places and things.

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Narrative language

As for the framing sentences, phrases like ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘And they live happily ever after’ are used. They signalize that we are in the genre of fairy tale. Dictionary defines expression ‘Once upon a time’ as happened on a certain but unspecified past occasion29 which is apt for defining the fairy tale setting. Tolkien in his essay ‘On fairy stories’ defines typical attributes of fairy tales and these phrases are among them. According to him, these expressions are the essential element of fairy tale language because their effect is immediate. However, he also points out that the ending formulae put artificial borders to the narration: The verbal ending—usually held to be as typical of the end of fairy-stories as “once upon a time” is of the beginning—“and they lived happily ever after” is an artificial device. It does not deceive anybody. End-phrases of this kind are to be compared to the margins and frames of pictures, and are no more to be thought of as the real end of any particular fragment of the seamless Web of Story than the frame is of the visionary scene, or the casement of the Outer World. These phrases may be plain or elaborate, simple or extravagant, as artificial and as necessary as frames plain, or carved, or gilded. “And if they have not gone away they are there still.” “My story is done—see there is a little mouse; anyone who catches it may make himself a fine fur cap of it.” “And they lived happily ever after.” “And when the wedding was over, they sent me home with little paper shoes on a causeway of pieces of glass.” Endings of this sort suit fairy-stories, because such tales have a greater sense and grasp of the endlessness of the World of Story than most modern “realistic” stories, already

29 Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English

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hemmed within the narrow confines of their own small time. A sharp cut in the endless tapestry is not unfittingly marked by a formula, even a grotesque or comic one.30 Accordingly, Tolkien views a fairy tale as a part of the endless ‘World of Story’ where all the characters, the events and the deeds are connected. This notion of his may be the source for the historical depth he employs in his works. In contrast, Neubauer disagrees with the notion of endlessness. As far as he is concerned, every fairy tale is an independent unit: In terms of Tolkien’s endeavour to put The Lord of the Rings and all his stories set in Arda among fairy tales are his statements understandable. However, those who really know fairy tales perceive that every one of them is complete in itself - they have beginnings – their ‘once upon a time’ or ‘there was a king’ – and their endings expressed in used formulae. Those phrases make strict borders between fairy tales. There is no sense of endlessness. It is this feature that differ fairy tales from history, myths or legends because these genres really go on and on right in the way Tolkien implies to the fairy tales.31 He also stresses that fairy tales need no context for understanding the story. Neubauer supports his opinion that individual stories are not connected with the fact that a hero (such as Jack or Honza) appear in more than one fairy tale without being tied up to his previous adventures.

30 Tolkien. ‘On fairy stories’ 31 „Z hlediska Tolkienovy snahy zařadit Pána prstenů a snad veškerá svá vyprávění o Ardě mezi pohádky, jsou tato tvrzení celkem pochopitelná. Avšak ten, kdo zná skutečné pohádky, ví, že každá z nich je v sobě celá, má svůj začátek – své „bylo nebylo“ či „byl jednou jeden“ – a svůj konec, jak ho vyjadřují výše zmíněná úsloví. Tyto meze nejen ostře oddělují pohádky mezi sebou. O žádné nekonečnosti nemůže být řeči. Tím se pohádky liší od dějin, mýtů či legend. Ty totiž skutečně poukazují dl a dál, právě tak, jak si to Tolkien představuje“ (Neubauer, 16).

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Fantasy literature does not take the exact expressions from fairy tales. There is no ‘Once upon a time’ or ‘And they live happily ever after’ in LOTR or Harry Potter. Nevertheless, the effect of the opening and closing parts is the same: The opening contains no specification of the time setting – When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.32 in LOTR and Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.33 in Potter. Furthermore, the closing phrases evoke the possible continuation of the story as well as fairy tales do – He drew a deep breath. “Well, I’m back,” he said.34 in LOTR or the running endings in Potter books: And, grinning broadly at the look of horror on Uncle Vernon’s face, Harry set off toward the station exit, Hedwig rattling along in front of him, for what looked like a much better summer than the last35. and And together they walked back through the gateway to the Muggle world.36 However, the continuation of the story is not the subject matter in fairy tales. Only fantasy deals with it to give the reader more complex picture of the alternative reality of the created world.

32 Tolkien. LOTR, 22 33 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 34 Tolkien. LOTR, 1008 35 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 36 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

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Another feature of the fairy tale language is generalization. Narrators of fairy stories are not concerned with details – they use ordinary adjectives mostly. Usually, a princess is beautiful, a dragon is terrifying and a king is mighty. In LOTR, Tolkien follows this tradition of generalized style of narration. His portrayals of various characters are poetic rather than descriptive as in the picture of Aragorn: Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. … A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits. … As Frodo drew near he threw back his hood, showing a shaggy head of dark hair flecked with grey, and in a pale stern face a pair of keen grey eyes.37 Or Eowyn, the Lady of Rohan: Grave and thoughtful was her glance. … Very fair was her face, and her long hair was like a river of gold. Slender and tall she was in her white robe girt with silver, but strong she seemed and stern as steel. … fair and cold, like a morning of pale spring that is not yet come to womanhood.38 Tolkien uses a lot of similes in his descriptions. Analogies between human figure and nature function as a general pattern in his imaginary. As well as in fairy tales, characters in LOTR are better described through their actions.

37 Tolkien. LOTR, 153 38 Ibid. 504

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As for descriptions in Harry Potter, they function on the same principle. Rowling does not give the reader a detailed portrayal of a character. Usually, she focuses on the striking physical or facial features as in description of Ron: He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.39 professor Lupin: The stranger was wearing an extremely shabby set of wizard’s robes that had been darned in several places. He looked ill and exhausted. Thought quite young, his light brown hair was flecked with gray40. or Sirius Black: A mass of filthy, matted hair hung to his elbows. If eyes hadn’t been shining out of the deep, dark sockets, he might have been a corpse. The waxy skin was stretched so tightly over the bones of his face, it looked like a skull. His yellow teeth were bared in a grin. It was Sirius Black. 41 After mentioning the essential features of a person’s appearance, Rowling continues with the characterization by action as well as Tolkien does.

39 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 40 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 41 Ibid.

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Language of naming

Apart from the appearances, there are also inner properties which can be described. Here also both fantasy and fairy tales employ a simplified way of doing it – they work with labels. Often a being is characterized enough by its origin, e. g. orcs are ugly and smelly, dragons are always hungry and cruel, princesses are beautiful; and dwarfs are small and skillful. Beside this, both Rowling and Tolkien use ‘speaking names’ which tell something about their owners. Rowling derives some of the names from Latin (e. g. Severus is from Latin sevérus which means strict, cruel, severe; Lupin is derived from Latin lupus which means wolf; albus is Latin for white) or use the English meaning (Cornelius Fudge). As compared to Rowling, Tolkien works with names differently: almost every character is given several names – a formal name, a nickname and various titles. There are also different forms of a name in different languages of Middle Earth. These names and titles play an important role in determining the identity of the characters – Frodo is called the Ring-bearer or Elven-friend; Aragorn’s transformation from Strider to King Elessar symbolizes his long journey to the throne.

Tolkien and Rowling agrees in stressing the power of language and the names especially – even the sound of Black speech can disturb the peace in distant Rivendell in LOTR as well as the name of Voldemort (You-know-who) which is so terrifying that it is never to be spoken.

While in the descriptions of people have fantasy and fairy tale a lot in common they differ in the way they treat spatial setting and naming places. As far as fairy tales are concerned, they apply the generalized language even for places. Fairy tales work with labels such as the village, the town; or the forest. For stressing the difference between homeland and an adventurous land, names like ‘the kingdom far far away’ or Czech ‘království za sedmero řekami a sedmero horami’ are used.

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On the other hand, fantasy tends to work with detailed spatial settings of imaginary lands. Creating of new maps is an essential part of fantasy genre. Thus the story of LOTR can be followed step by step on a map of the Middle Earth which is part of the book. In LOTR the role of language is an outstanding one. Apart from naming new creatures and new places, Tolkien develops brand new languages. Lingua franca of Middle Earth is Common speech represented by English, naturally. However, Tolkien as a linguist pays a lot of attention to languages of specific races, such as elves, dwarfs, ents or orcs. He creates whole language systems and uses them as a way of characterization of the heroes: The languages of various land and races have specific qualities and can or cannot be used by others. For instance, the language of the elves is intrinsically good and melodic and cannot be used by orcs or other servants of evil. In contrast, the Black speech is harsh and heavy apt for giving brutal orders. To sum it up, language is important for Tolkien both as the narrator and the linguist. Likewise, language plays a significant role in Harry Potter stories. It is used as a powerful tool in form of spells among the wizards. Rowling creates whole set of spells and magical formulas. She derived them mostly from Latin. For example, Lumos (light), Nox (night, darkness), Immobilus (for petrifying somebody) or Fera Vertó (fera means beast, vertó, ére means to turn; the spell for turning a beast into a goblet). For her magic world the expression ‘power of words’ is appropriate because wizards can master the supernatural and magical elements only through words. In the opinion of Evans, even Tolkien understands the magic in this way:

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Gandalf is the artist working with words, with the imagination, to affect the lives of created beings.42

Lyrical language

Another point closely connected to language which fantasy borrowed from fairy tales is usage of lyrical folk forms such as songs and poems. They are often used in fairy tales either in versed form:

Hocus, pocus, through the window, swish! Take me, bed, wherever I wish!43

or

Fee fi fo fum I smell the blood of a Christian man!

Be he dead or living, I pledge my word, To dash hi brains out with my sword!44

Or in plain text:

Open, open, Green Hill, ale let us come out!45

42 Evans. J. R. R. Tolkien, 36 43 ‘The Enchanted prince.’ Scandinavian fairy tales, 190 44 ‘Roland and Helen.’ English fairy tales, 49 45 Ibid. 50

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Tolkien retells legends in form of songs and poems either to evoke the notion of historical depth as in the song of Beren and Lúthien46 or Eärendil the Mariner47 or to express the love of language of the elves or hobbits. The love of oral and written poetic art is for Tolkien one of the ways of distinguish good races from the evil ones – orcs have neither legends nor songs. In contrast, the elves gather their wisdom in songs and stories. Not surprisingly, Tolkien as a linguist emphasizes the power of words throughout the story. As Evans points out, he shows the close connections between words and basic human desires in stories of magic and magical incantations where, if the right words are spoken in the right way, reality will be revealed according to the speaker’s wish. … Words are put in contact with the elemental forces.48 Strictly speaking, this argument can be applied to Rowling’s stories too.

To sum it up, language shows up in LOTR and Harry Potter stories in various ways – the language itself characterized by generalized style, natural imaginary a fairy tale framing phrases; creative approach to language in inventing place and personal names; and language stressing the emotional power of words in retold legends, song and poems which are part of the culture of the created world.

46 Tolkien. LOTR, 187 47 Ibid. 227 48 Evans. J. R. R. Tolkien, 31

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Magical objects Another point that makes fairy tales distinct among other genres of fiction is existence and usage of magical objects as an essential part of the narration. These items represent the old human desire for something they cannot achieve, for instance invisibility, immortality, fast traveling, limitless power over other creatures; or understanding animals. There is a great variety of magical things; most of them cause troubles as well as help the hero – magical beans show Jack the way to another world but also let him meet a dangerous giant; a wonderful lamp brings wealth and love of a princess to Aladdin but at the same time puts his life in danger. In fact, it depends on the owner of the enchanted object whether he/she uses it for good or evil purposes. One can use as well as abuse the invisibility cloak, the seven league boots, magical mirror, even the cloth that prepares food. Sometimes the hero is deprived of the magical object eventually so that the moral message of the story could be that life without magic is also possible and valuable. Of course, there are fairy tales where the magical objects are totally absent. This lack of supernatural features is not a deadly sin of the genre. A good fairy tale can function even without magic: Little Red Riding Hood, Jack sells the cow; or Emperor’s new clothes. Nevertheless, it is magic which makes the stories more interesting and thrilling for it opens new unexpected storylines and twists in the plot. LOTR is described as a story with supernatural elements, but there is less sorcery than one expects: There is little that is absolutely magical or numinous within his trilogy: it is only in relation to our world that Middle Earth is ‘supernatural’ as we have defined the term. The ultimate powers of Good and Evil that we are told are behind the wizards and the Dark Lord Sauron never appear; the magical Rings, the One, the Three and the Nine, were

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originally forged by elvish craft (the emphasis is much more on superlative natural skill than on the purely supernatural) in Eregion; and the Nazgûl, the wraith-like Black Riders, were once human kings who were enslaved by Sauron and the power of the Nine Rings.49 Similarly, David Harvey does not agree with the exact term ‘magic’ in LOTR: Frankly, I dislike the use of the term "magic" applied to Middle-earth. With very few exceptions, the major characters do not practise magic as I have defined it [magic as a strong belief in a spirit world, communication or invocation of which could result in changes to established natural patterns]. Gandalf uses his knowledge to develop truly glorious fireworks, and is able to control fire, and declares himself as the servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the Flame of Anor to the Balrog. The Elves also have powers that are greater than those of mortals. The answer to the problem, I think, lies in an understanding of the issue of power and the levels of power that there are within Middle-earth. This takes us, once again, to the issue of the Two Worlds, and the ability of Elves to pass between and be aware of the physical and spiritual realms as separate but co-existing realities. If one is to look for a word other than "magic" to describe the mystical or "magic-like" attributes of items in Middle-earth, the word "virtue" is most apt. I do not mean virtue as valour, worth, merit or moral perfection. I mean it as the embodiment of power or operative influence in a supernatural or divine being, or as a particular quality that things may have.50

49 Manlove. Modern Fantasy, 166 - 7 50 Harvey: ‘One Ring to rule them all’

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To summarize, Tolkien stresses the natural powers rather than magic – arts and crafts of different races as well as beauty and purity of nature which also shows its might (for instance, when ents who are the living trees release river and flood the evil wizard’s tower). What is more, magic is rarely considered wonderful or exciting among the peoples of Middle Earth except for the hobbits. Because they are as inexperienced as the reader is they find it thrilling to meet the Elves and wizards who seem to them to be like the heroes of old tales. This attitude is aptly expressed in a meeting of the hobbits Sam and Frodo with the Elven queen Galadriel: ‘I fancy now that she [Galadriel] could do some wonderful things, if she had a mind. I’d dearly love to see some Elf-magic, Mr. Frodo! … I’ve often wanted to see a bit of magic like what it tells of in old tales.’ 51 ‘For this [mirror of Galadriel] is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel.’ 52 Magical objects and magic itself (seen form the point of view of the hobbits) involved in the story are not used accidentally and fit into the natural laws of Middle Earth entirely. The most obvious enchanted item is the Ring itself. The motif of ring is often used not only in fairy tales. It is a symbol of love and eternity. It can also function as an emblem of authority or hereditary possession. In fairy tales rings can stand for various magical powers, for example, ring as an object which can instantly grant anything its owner wish


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for (Czech series Arabela by Miloš Macourek, Bronze King53) or a gift of the good fairy, which pricks its owner’s finger whenever he is doing any evil deed (Prince Darling54). In LOTR, there are twenty rings; their importance is obvious from a rhyming at the beginning of the book:

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the land of Mordor where Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,

In the land of Mordor where Shadows lie. However, only the One Ring appears to be magical because it can make its bearer invisible when on finger. Apart from this, the rings have no obvious magical power – the dwarf rings were given into the treasures of dwarf kings, Elven rings preserve timelessness of the place where the elves live and men’s rings made slave of their masters. One Ring can control all the other ones and stands for the embodiment of evil and concentration of Sauron’s power. It can not be wielded by anyone else than the Dark Lord and tempts every character which comes to encounter it. The ones who give in to these temptations are driven mad and become the slaves of the Ring, for instance Gollum or Denethor. On the other hand, those who resist show their moral qualities and are rewarded (Sam, Faramir). The other talisman of power and magical object in LOTR is the Palantir, a seeing stone. Palantir is ‘a globe of crystal, dark but glowing with a heart of fire.’55 It serves for 53 Lang. Blue Fairy book 54 Ibid.

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communication between distant places. Palantiri were also called stones of wizardry and were placed in towers of various kingdoms of Middle Earth (Palantir of Orthanc, Palantir of White Tower). They were made and used for sheer practical reasons until the war began and they were abused when taken by the enemy. However, palantir is in the plot not treated as a wonder or an extraordinary item of sorcery. What could be considered more magic-like is the phial of Galadriel. When the Fellowship met the queen of Lorien she gave to every one of them a gift. Frodo as a Ring-bearer was given ‘the Elven light’: ‘For you I have prepared this.’ She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it, and rays of white light sprang from her hand. ‘In this phial,’ she said, ‘is caught the light of Eärendil’s star, set amid the waters of my fountain. It will shine still brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark place, when all other lights go out.’56 Later, in a cave where a terrible giant spider dwells Frodo uses the gift: Slowly his hand went to his bosom, and slowly he held aloft the Phial of Galadriel. For a moment it glimmered, faint as a rising star struggling in heavy eastward mists, and then as its power waxed, and hope grew in Frodo’s mind, it began to burn, and kindled to a silver flame, a minute heart of dazzling light, as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow. The darkness receded from it, until it seemed to shine in the centre of a globe of airy crystal, and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire.


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Frodo gazed in wonder at this marvelous gift that he had so long carried, not guessing its full worth and potency.57 With its sudden and amazing effect it can be considered as the magical object, however there is a great deal of hope and strength of its master involved hence it is not purely magical item. Probably, the most magical thing in LOTR is Gandalf’s staff. It is an emblem of his authority and position in his order as well as his weapon. He uses it rarely as a source of magic for in the War of the Ring Gandalf is more of a fighter. However, his sorcery makes him stronger, more powerful and ready to face the supernatural evil (Nazgûls or the ancient daemon Balrog). All in all, LOTR being a work of fantasy contains some enchanted elements; nonetheless, the fact that they are magical is not necessary for the plot – the Ring is not in the centre of the story because it is magical but because it must be destroyed. Tolkien shapes the character of his magic as a helper or servant of living creatures. He also stresses the fact that all the magical things were made once – in contrast with fairy tale where the reader never gets to know how they come to be. Agreeably, Harvey said that ‘magic’ is not the right word for expressing the powers of Middle Earth: Although it may seem that there is magic in Middle-earth, there are degrees of virtue and power vested in characters and beings that allow them to achieve certain goals that are not within the natural order of things. Magic may be a convenient word, but it is, in my view, too loose, and carries incorrect and unfortunate connotations. 58 57 Tolkien. LOTR, 704 58 Harvey. ‘One Ring to rule them all’

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While in LOTR is magic subordinate to living creatures and their skills, in Harry Potter stories it is an essential part of the narration. The story is set in the world of wizards and witches where magic functions as every day reality. Rowling distinguish two types of people – wizards and muggles. Her as well as reader’s sympathy is ultimately on the side of wizards. Muggles (those who cannot practise sorcery) are depicted mostly as ignorant, intolerant and dull primitives who are not enough heedful to notice that there is also another world apart from the one they live in. The wizards are portrayed in far more favourable way yet Rowling implies in their culture problems of our own civilization, such as racism, slavery or violence. An interesting author’s invention is the Mirror of Erised – the magical mirror which reflects the deeper desires of the heart (Erised is reversed of Desire). The roots of the motif go probably to the speaking fairy tale mirror showing what the owner wants to see used for instance in Show White:

Mirror, mirror, in my hand, Who is the fairest in the land?

Fair there be both near and far,

But queen, of them you the fairest are.59 By showing profound longings of the person adds Rowling an interesting layer to her heroes’ character – Harry’s greatest desire is to meet his parents, Ron wants to win a Quidditch match; and Dumbledore longs for a pair of warm socks.

59 The Treasury of Fairy stories, 10

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In LOTR the motif of the magical mirror appears too. The queen Galadriel has a gift of foreseeing things in a small pool which is called the Mirror of Galadriel. There she shows to Frodo the consequences of his failing the task.

As well as Tolkien, Rowling uses existing fund of folktale motifs – in her narration appear invisibility cloak, magical wands, brooms or the philosopher’s stone. Furthermore, she invents a lot of enchanted items for her magical reality. Thanks to these detailed innovations the story is more believable because it gives the picture of complete alternative reality. Rowling deals with magical school items (students of Hogwarts write with quills on parchments, their basic equipment are wands; and in their free time they play Quidditch flying on their brooms), household itinerary (spells are used for knitting, washing dishes, cleaning the table or serving the plates), ways of traveling (flying on brooms, using Portkeys or the net of fireplaces with the Floo-powder) or various magical inventions and improvements, such as a Howler (type of letter with sound effects), a Sneakscope (a device which reveals a dishonest person); and photographs, paintings and books with their pictures in motion. Magic and magical objects play a significant role in the world of Harry Potter. However, they appear to be exciting and extraordinary only to a stranger, such as Harry or the hobbits in LOTR. For the rest of the characters they are part of reality as well as for the heroes of LOTR.

Supernatural creatures There is a great variety of supernatural creatures appearing in traditional fairy tales. Many of them have been modified and transferred into other literary genres, such as horror

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stories (vampires, ghosts, werewolves) or romances (princesses, knights). Fantasy also uses the fund of fairy tale creatures for its imaginary settings. It is hard to trace the origins of the more or less believable creatures which sprang from human imagination. Some of them have their probable roots in superstitions and irrational fears, such as vampires, house elves, ghosts, specters or speaking animals. Another probable source of the fictional fauna could be medieval bestiaries which enlisted not only real animals but also strange mutants and legendary beings, for instance unicorns, dragons, centaurs, sirens or the phoenix. While in fairy tales are supernatural creatures used mostly to terrify, in fantasy they widen the variety of the inhabitants of the created alternative reality. One of the main ideas of Tolkien’s LOTR is the idea of friendship, tolerance and respect among peoples of Middle Earth. Similarly, Rowling deals with the issue of cooperation between different races. She also poses a question of purity of race by including the feature of pure-blood wizards despising half-blood and muggle-born wizards in the story. At this point, I want to concentrate on specific examples of supernatural creatures of LOTR and Harry Potter stories and their relationships with the traditional fairy tales. First, I am going to focus on the evil creatures:

Dragons

One of the typical fairy tale monsters is a dragon. Etymologically, the word comes from Latin draco which means a serpent, dragon and is derived from Greek drakon (drak – to see clearly) with a possible literal sense the one with the deadly glance. Dragons are big and dangerous; they usually breathe fire and feed on princesses. A precise description

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of a dragon gives Rowling in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when Harry faces the first task in the Triwizard Tournament: And there was the Horntail, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, yellow eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, black lizard thrashing her spiked tail, heaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground.60 In fairy tales, dragons are often used as an obstacle the hero has to overcome (i. e. kill) to become a king, for instance in The Dragon of the North61 or The Story of Sigurd.62 Motif of killing a dragon appeared also in myths and legends as well as in heroic epic (Beowulf); Propp suggests that in western culture it might be derived from the popular folktale of the fight of St. George with the dragon.63

Trolls

Another monster is a troll. The label is derived from Old Norwich troll – giant, fiend or from Old German truzlan – the one who walks clumsily. There is no unified definition what a troll is – a dictionary says it is a giant or a mischievous dwarf;64 a troll can have three heads and be carnivorous as in the Norwegian fairy tale ‘The Cat and the Troll’65 or can be depicted as a hard-working dwarf who is on good terms with the villagers as in ‘The troll’s beer’.66

60 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 61 Lang. Yellow Fairy book 62 Lang. Red Fairy book 63 Propp. ‘Transformace kouzelných pohádek’ 64 Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English 65 Scandinavian Fairy tales, 136 - 46 66 Ibid. 181 - 5

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Tolkien employs trolls in The Hobbit already. Similarly as in ‘The Cat and the Troll’, his trolls turn into stone when touched by sunshine.

On the contrary, Rowling does not mention this feature of trolls and focuses on their primitiveness and stupidity: Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched on top like a coconut. It has short legs thick as tree trunks with flat, horny feet. The smell coming from it was incredible. It was holding a huge wooden club, which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.67 Obviously, trolls are not as perilous as dragons, yet they are not very pleasant companions.

Orcs

Next evil creature appearing in both fairy tales and fantasy literature is an orc. According to an etymological dictionary it is a word of unknown origin with the nearest connections to Latin word orcus which means hell. Orcs are usually seen in a negative light, however Tolkien’s and Rowling’s attitude towards them differ – in LOTR are orcs represent the servants of evil and are closely tied to the imaginary of hell, in Potter they were given the responsibility and control over money and treasures in a wizard bank: A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter,

67 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

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scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses.68

Ghosts and wraiths

A special category can be established for ghosts, specters and wraiths of all kinds. In fairy tales, they function in two ways – they are either an ominous sign of future event; or they carry message or advice of a dead beloved person (mother, father). In LOTR, wraiths are doomed servants of the Ring of Power who seek the Ring-bearer. Apart from that, Tolkien goes back to the myth of a living man’s journey through underworld known from ancient mythology (Orpheus and Eurydice) - he let Aragorn meet the army of the dead who have to fight on behalf of the rightful king to regain their honour and break the curse: ‘Then Isildur said to their king: “Thou shalt be the last king. And if the West prove mightier than thy Black Master, this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. … You shall be summoned once again ere the end.” And they fled before the wrath of Isildur; and they hid themselves in secret places in the mountains and had no dealings with other men, but slowly dwindled in the barren hills.’69 The motif of the curse which has to be broken by doing a good turn is also known from fairy tales, for instance, a wise cat who helps Jack is a bewitched prince.70

68 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 69 Tolkien. LOTR, 765 70 ‘The Cat and the Troll.’ Scandinavian Fairy tales, 136 - 46

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In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, there is a specter too. It is not a typical ghost – it is a memory of Lord Voldemort in a shape of thirteen-year old boy which preserved in his diary. It is capable of possessing and controlling a child’s mind, which he proves on Ron’s sister Ginny who under Voldemort’s command attempts to kill Harry.

Apart from the evil one, there are also quite nice ghosts in Rowling’s reality. They live in Hogwarts castle and help students occasionally.

It is evident, that Rowling uses traditionally negative and scary creatures in a slightly different way than fairy tales do. In her version, the dragons are endangered species, orcs assimilated the human community and ghosts are used as mascots of Hogwarts colleges. As far as Tolkien is concerned, he uses the evil creatures in a traditional black and white way.

Except for the negative creatures, there are also ones that stand on the side of the good:

Dwarfs

Both in fairy tales and fantasy are dwarfs presenting as guardians of the treasures beneath the earth, skillful craftsmen and miners (Snow White, The Troll’s Beer, LOTR).The word dwarf has its roots in Old English (dweorh – something tiny). As for Rowling, there is the most significant shift in her treating with the traditional motif – in Harry Potter books, dwarfs are called gnomes and are portrayed as a species of garden vermin. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron are discussing the differences between a muggle notion of gnomes and the magical reality: “Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know,” Harry told Ron as they crossed the lawn.

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“Yeah, I’ve seen those things they think are gnomes,” said Ron … “like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods … This is a gnome,” he said grimly. It was certainly nothing like Santa Clause. It was small and leathery looking, with a large, knobby, bald head exactly like a potato.71 Dwarfs are beings with long folklore tradition as well as the elves are:

Elves

Elves are the essential part of the mythology of British Isles. The word itself is of unknown origin; however, it has probably some connections to Old English elf, aelf (white). The creatures come from a Teutonic mythology apparently and undergo an interesting development in British literature. Floris Delattre describes elves as supernatural creatures teasing and worrying people, living in woods, dancing on meadows and sometimes helping with household duties.72 This notion of his matches with the conception of elves as tiny creatures presented for instance in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. Rowling uses the feature of the elves helping with household tasks and creates a character of Dobby the house-elf, who clumsily helps Harry against Voldemort in the second part of the series. On the other hand, there is Tolkien’s vision of the elves as noble, wise, beautiful and immortal beings. Elves’s past in LOTR is heavily sentimentalized and shapes the historical layer of the story. This level of narration also resembles medieval heroic romances – the Elven princess Arwen falls in love with the mortal man Aragorn; and the 71 Rowling. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 72 Delattre. English Fairy Poetry

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court of the Elven queen Galadriel and king Celeborn of Lothlórien looks like the court of Camelot. Elves are the key creatures for Tolkien – they provide LOTR with subtle beauty of a fading world and historical depth.

Traditional creatures

As for other supernatural creatures with long tradition, Rowling inhabited her magical reality with unicorns and centaurs (both of which are living in the forest near Hogwarts), the phoenix (which is a Dumbledore’s pet); or a three-headed dog (called Fluffy domesticated by Hagrid) reminding of the ancient guard of the gate to the underworld Kerberos.

Hobbits

In contrast to the established beings, Tolkien creates some of his own. Evidently, his best invention is a hobbit. At the beginning of LOTR puts Tolkien a whole chapter about hobbits so that the readers who are not acquainted with The Hobbit get to know them thoroughly. Hobbits are an unobtrusive but very ancient people, more numerous formerly than they are today; … they are a little people, smaller than Dwarves: less stout and stocky. … Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure.73 Apart from their physical appearances, he mentions their history, customs and architecture. Most of all, hobbits remind one of a peasant who is content with his warm fireplace and 73 Tolkien. LOTR, 1

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cup of tea. Because hobbits practice no sorcery they are the closest creatures to the reader who is inexperienced to the same degree as they are. Tolkien also often stresses that even that they are no full-grown warriors they are useful and indispensable in the plot. For instance, when Merry the hobbit helps to kill the wizard king of Angmar who according to a prophecy cannot be killed by a living man: The small hobbit came along at the right moment in history for his task.74

He also points out that hobbits may seem as a people with simple desires and no spectacular virtues; still, when there is need, they are ready to prove their worthiness and resilience.

Ents

The result of Tolkien’s love for trees is another invented creature of his bestiary – tree shepherds called ents. The author made them one of the oldest inhabitants of Middle Earth created by the nature-loving goddess Yavanna. He also divided all living beings into two groups – kelvar and olvar; and established ents the guardians of olvar – beings that cannot move. A typical example of an ent is Treebeard who is met by Merry and Pippin: They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that

74 Evans. J. R. R. Tolkien, 112

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was its hide, was difficult to say. … The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends.75 Ents are representatives of the powers of nature which in Tolkien’s work have dominion over the mechanics and technologies.

Wizards

Characteristically, wizards in fairy tales serve as villains. They usually kidnap a beautiful princess, keep her in a distant tower or castle and try to eliminate the valiant knights who want to rescue her. Conversely, Tolkien introduces an order of wizards who were sent to Middle Earth as its guardians. There were three of them – Saruman the White (the head of the order), Gandalf the Grey and Radagast the Brown. However, after some time, Saruman grew too proud and began to desire power embodied in the One Ring. His treason was punished by expelling him of the order. Gandalf became the head and a dignified opponent of both Sauron and Saruman. Tolkien’s wizards are wise and very old. Still, their magic is more of a craft and understanding natural elements than using spells and searching for immortality. To return to Harry Potter stories, Rowling’s conception of wizards is quite different – they are neither very old nor scarce as in LOTR. There is a whole population of wizards and witches which is built on the parallel principles as our own society. Thus there is a school for wizardry and witchcraft where spells, making potions and defense against black magic is taught; there is a Ministry of Magic and a valid magical currency – Knuts

75 Tolkien. LOTR, 452

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and Sicles. In her point of view, wizards are normal people – only they use their wands and spells to make life easier.

In conclusion, there are a great number of supernatural creatures both in fairy tale and fantasy literature. Because they are mostly of folklore origin, they have simplified characteristics and can be divided into the good and the evil ones. As a result of the deeply rooted notion of them, they usually keep their features also in the genre they are transferred to. However, Rowling tries to show some of them in unexpected roles, for example orcs as bank managers. This innovations and experiments of hers, which can be seen as one of necessary elements of topical challenging the genre of fairy tale, bring fresh air in the stiff traditional fairy stories environment.

Conclusion All in all, fairy tale elements appear in LOTR and Potter in various forms – they

influenced them structurally, thematically, in terms of characters and language. In some cases, they are slightly changed (more complicated characteristic, language of naming) and in others remain the same (happy endings, strict definitions of good and evil). Owing to mentioned examples, it is apparent that fairy tale elements are used with the same intention in LOTR and Harry Potter stories as in folktales. Their function is to enrich the plot, make it unpredictable and by exaggerated examples show virtues and vices of our own world – terrible monsters are only the personification of abstract evil, brutality, violence and cruelty of everyday reality. On the other hand, the perfect valiant heroes have the ability to reaffirm the faith of the readers that despite its dark side, the world is good and worth fighting for.

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After the brief insight into the genres of fairy tale and fantasy focusing on the two pieces of fiction mentioned in the title, there is time to reconsider the posed questions and offer some satisfactory answers.

Do we live in a disenchanted world full of muggles? In comparison to simpler and idealized imaginary lands of fantasy authors, our reality may seem grey, over mechanized and overcrowded. However, there are ways of improving our senses so that we could feel the beauty behind the things; there are ways of changing oneself. Neubauer dedicates his essay ‘to the happiest who went through Tolkien’s trilogy and returned changed’.76 He viewed reading of good fantasy literature as an initiation which as the rituals of old cultures brings the reader to deeper sensual experience and moral maturity.77 Thus, after reading LOTR or Harry Potter stories one can find magic in our world too.

Are there any skillful story tellers left and are their modern fairy tales any good? As far as this question is concerned, the popularity of LOTR and Potter should be mentioned. In both cases, the authors managed to create a consistent universe, a new mythology with lots of characters and rules of their own. And there is a large audience and readership which accept them and admire them. In my opinion, this proves the quality of both, the author and the story.

As for the readers of modern fantasy – they bring a valuable sacrifice to the story – their time. Thanks to good stories it is not wasted. And they find out that the real world also consists of stories eventually and then live happily ever after. 76 „Toto zamyšlení je určeno těm nejšťastnějším. Těm, kdo prošli Tolkienovou trilogií, ocitli se v jejím světě a kdo se vrátili proměněni. Těm, kdo vykonali cestu tam a zase zpátky.“ (Neubauer, 2) 77 Neubauer, 12

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Czech Summary/ Shrnutí Cílem této práce je seznámit vás s pohádkovými prvky užívanými ve dvou titulech moderní fantasy literatury – v Pánu prstenů J. R. R. Tolkiena a Harrym Potterovi J. K. Rowlingové. V úvodu jsou nastoleny otázky týkající se moderních pohádek – jejich kvality, zručnosti autorů i příbuznosti s jinými literárními žánry. Práce se dále zabývá podrobnější definicí pohádky, její historií v 19. a 20. století a zejména jejími vazbami na žánr fantasy, který z ní z velké míry vychází. Dále je prostor věnován definici fantasy čerpající hlavně z publikace C. N. Manlovea Modern Fantasy a charakteristickým znakům tohoto typu literatury. Od obecných zásad a tradic zmiňovaných literárních žánrů se dostáváme ke konkrétním dílům – práce obsahuje převyprávění zápletky obou titulů, jimiž se zabývá a také základní údaje o jejich vydání, přijetí čtenáři i kritikou a jejich vlivem. V další sekci se už věnuji konkrétním pohádkovým prvkům, které se objevují v Pánu prstenů a knížkách o Harrym Potterovi: struktuře vyprávění formou výpravy (quest), způsobu líčení dobra a zla, tradičním i netradičním hrdinům, jazyku vyprávění, kouzelným předmětům a nadpřirozeným stvořením. Každá podkapitola je uvedena tradičním výskytem onoho prvku v pohádkách, který je potom srovnávám s užitím u Tolkiena a Rowlingové. V závěru práce se pokouším zodpovědět otázky položené v úvodu a zdůraznit kvalitu žánru fantasy, který mnohdy svéráznou formou přivádí pohádky nebo jejich prvky zpátky do moderní literatury a je jejich důstojným pokračovatelem.

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