“Ecocriticism is the study of the
relationship between literature and the physical environment.” –Cheryll
Glotfelty
Straight from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings comes a completely
invented world called Middle Earth, meticulously detailed and mapped out by its
creator. Within Middle Earth in the North is a place called Rivendell, an elven
city that is visited by the members of the Fellowship of the Ring on Frodo
Baggins’ quest. The elves also play a
significant role in Rivendell’s natural setting and connection to the Earth. This
home of the elves lies on the foothills of the Misty Mountains to the east with
Hobbiton to the west, as shown in the map below, Figure 1.
Figure 1: Red Book’s Map of Rivendell
Though
invented, Tolkien supposedly based Rivendell on the Lauterbrunnen in
Switzerland, which he visited in 1911 (Rivendell in Switzerland). In these two
images below (Figure 2 and Figure 3), one of the Lauterbrunnen and one that
Tolkein drew of Rivendell, there are definite similarities in the terrain and
layout of the area.
Figure
2: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Figure 3: Tolkien’s drawing of Rivendell
The
most important aspect of Rivendell’s location is that the mountains surround
and protect it from enemies. Upon further inspection of the ecology, the Misty
Mountains border Rivendell and a river runs through it. It is called Loudwater
(see Figure 1) in English and Bruinen in Elvish, noticeably similar to the name
Lauterbrunnen, the location that inspired him (Rivendell in Switzerland). The
buildings themselves are built into the ledges and side of the mountain, hidden
in a valley between tall mountain cliffs.
Throughout
the story, Frodo and the Fellowship use Rivendell as a place of refuge because
the city is protected by a kind of elven magic that makes it almost impossible
to find. The book speaks of a “power in Rivendell to withstand the might of
Mordor, for a while.” (Chapter 5: A Conspiracy Unmasked) However, Frodo eventually
decides that they cannot stay there and risk enemies finding the elven retreat. Gandalf says: “To go back is to admit defeat
and face worse defeat to come . . . sooner
or later Rivendell will be besieged, and after a brief and bitter time it will
be destroyed” (Chapter 5).
Tolkien
describes the departure from Rivendell as the Fellowship begins their journey:
Their
purpose was to hold this course west of the Mountains for many miles and days.
The country was much rougher and more barren than in the green vale of the
Great River in Wilderland on the other side of the range, and their going would
be slow... The spies of Sauron had hitherto seldom been seen in this empty
country, and the paths were little known except to the people of Rivendell . .
. Yet steadily the mountains were drawing nearer. South of Rivendell they rose
ever higher, and bent westwards; and about the feet of the main range there was
tumbled an ever wider land of bleak hills, and deep valleys filled with
turbulent waters. Paths were few and winding, and led them often only to the
edge of some sheer fall, or down into treacherous swamps. (Chapter 5)
Elves: Connected to Nature
“All ecological criticism shares the
fundamental premise that human culture is connected to the physical world,
affecting it and affected by it.” –Cheryll Glotfelty
In
The Lord of the Rings, not only do
the elves live in the contours of the land and in the forests, they have a
unique relationship with the nature surrounding them. They were even credited
with teaching the Ents—huge old trees that move—to talk. (“Elves”)
During
one passage of The Fellowship of the Ring
when Arwen is trying to save Frodo from nine riders on horseback (the
Ringwraiths, servants of Sauron), she speaks to a river and prevents the
wraiths from crossing. The river roars by and washes over the enemy, leaving
her and Frodo safe and allowing them to escape to Rivendell.
Elves
have a magical presence in the eyes of men who don’t understand their
relationship to nature quite as well. This connection stems from the fact that
elves are immortal beings who must live in peace with nature. Instead of living in conflict with nature,
they live in harmony with it and grow upon its own
beauty (“Elves”). This idea is directly
shared with ecological thinking: all creatures are connected to the earth in
occasionally inexplicable ways; Tolkien suggests that this connection should be
embraced.
Allison
B. Wallace says that ecoliterature is “writing that examines and invites
intimate human experience of place’s myriad ingredients: weather, climate,
flora, fauna, soil, air, water, rocks, minerals, fire and ice, as well as all
the marks there of human history.” Tolkien’s work is certainly ecoliterature
because of his imaginative and vivid descriptions of Middle Earth.
Works
Cited
"Elves." Lord of the Rings Wiki.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/Elves>.
Glotfelty, Cheryll. "What Is
Ecocriticism?" What Is Ecocriticism? N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.asle.org/site/resources/ecocritical-library/intro/defining/glotfelty/>.
"Rivendell
in Swizterland." Rivendell in Switzerland. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov.
2012.
<http://scv.bu.edu/~aarondf/Rivimages/realriv.html>.
Tolkien,
J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967. Print.
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