Descent into Hell!!! Rarrr!...Well, sort of...

[Lush]

Ok, so, I think that most people on this board would agree with me that the idea of the hero's descent into hell and subsequent re-emergence of it is a structure of the symbolic language of many, many cultures. Think Odysseus. Jesus. Dante.

Now, what made the older tales so compelling was the idea that there was a strong risk, of course, that the hero would not, in fact, be able to return, hence the heroic nature of the quest in general. Of course, the descent also had to have a specific purpose, usually a good one.

And then we have Aragorn and his dealings with the army of the dead, which more or less resembles the classic tale. However, from re-reading this, I understand that the incident in question takes place on the mortal plane. Or, kind of on the mortal plane. As in, they're still in Middle Earth, but in some darker dimension of it. Maybe? Maybe not. Anyone want to explain this further? Now, I'm exteremly curious about the location that Aragorn & Co. have to journey to and the way it relates to the old myths. What does this say about Tolkien's take on the myth?

Furthermore, we have the journey of Frodo and Sam into Mordor. Once again, from what I can understand, Mordor is presented as a kind of hell-on-Middle-Earth. What is Tolkien trying to say in general about hell here? And which one of the myths is it closest to? Now, in my opinion, this is more of a classical interpretation rather than a Christian one. Or a mix perhaps? When we keep Frodo and Sam's sacrifices in mind...?

And what of failure? Frodo appears to have failed at the end, to be "rescued" by Gollum who seems to have fallen in a kind of madness by the end. This is also curious, because from what I understand, the failure of a hero to return from hell is a failure of the spirit which results in madness. Yet it is precisely Gollum's fit (or semi-fit, or however we might want to call it) that allows for the Ring to be destroyed. I'm struggling to understand what this aspect of the story might mean in relation to the myths. Is there any significance there? What do you think?