Cookie Cutter Characters--Bullies

[Iarwain]

Recent events have inspired me to begin a new series of threads based on the analysis of blanket characteristics in the good and the bad of Tolkien's writings. To begin the series, I would like to point out the remarkable similarities of several personalities in The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Silmarillion. That is, the use of superior resorces (coercion) to intimidate others and force one's will upon them or their evironments.

The first of these examples that I will point out is Bill Ferny. Bill uses his resources both for personal gain, and to enjoy the suffering/loss of those besides himself. Both of these characteristics are displayed in Bill's sale of Bill the Pony to Frodo in Bree (Book I-11). He is also shown to be a bully even when his own personal gain is not involved, though he flees immediately at the sign of danger (Book VI-8).

My second example of bulliness is Morgoth himself. When, at the awakening of the firstborn, he immediately uses his forces of fear and uncertainty to snare and torture elves, he is bullying those who know little about the world, if anything at all. He uses his power to torment them and mock their forms, creating orcs as a product. Much of the distrubance and turmoil that he causes is in a way, bullying those whom he feels are a threat and dislikes for that reason. He was the ultimate bully.

Next was Ted Sandyman. Ted was a good debater with Sam in the Green Dragon. He kept up good conversations, but even when Sam wandered into the realm of abstract, Ted used the open door of reality to stab Sam in the back and make public fun of him. Sam had the mind to think of possibilites and outside places, other than the Shire. But Ted shut him down, perhaps merely because he could not comprehend anything other than working at the mill in Bywater. Even at the end of the book, when Ted's friends in high places are gone, he (thinking himself triumphant) mocks Sam and spits at him in rebuke.

Saruman also prooves himself a bully. His pride, by the time of the War of the Ring, has utterly consumed him, and he looks down upon even Gandalf, his close friend as merely a tool. Gandalf is a "lesser" character in the greater scheme, for it is up to Saruman to pursue that high and lonely destiny past all rules, to save and govern Middle-Earth from the unknowing, savage behavior of men, the lesser race. He is the king that orders his pawns around with a pursuasive tounge and a decietful heart. Saruman's brand of coercion is much more sophisticated, but he is a bully all the same.

I could continue by listing many different characters in Middle-Earth that are bullies, from Saeros to Sauron, and from Celegorm to Ungoliant, for there are many. What does everyone think of the appearance of bullies in Tolkien's writings?

Calm and Tired,
Iarwain.

[ January 20, 2003: Message edited by: Iarwain ]

[ January 20, 2003: Message edited by: Iarwain ]