EG
Firstborn of Imladris
Vala
Mighty
 
Mushrooms 1
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Men ? Men are weak ...
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« : November 17, 2005, 03:47:32 PM » |
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Doris and John have said that we can copy their flowchart here for us to read and comment on:
Here I am again in my pondering form with a refined but not yet polished chart of Beowulf connections. Please comment John or anyone so I can continue to improve it. ___________________________________________________________ GRIGSBY'S RESEARCH ON ANCIENT FERTILITY MYTHS ___________________________________________________________
STORYLINE # Two-faced fertility goddess is GIVER(maiden/spring)-TAKER(hag/late fall). Her husband/son is a sheaf (grain) god who dies (is harvested) in late fall to sprout in the spring as a seedling-young again. Earth is seem as both womb and tomb
BASIS #Tragic tale based on agricultural cycle, death leads to new life in a yearly cycle.
KEY ELEMENTS #Goddess worship linked to rivers and lakes. Sometimes goddess lives under the lake. Priestesses drink intoxicating mead which gives them power to tell future. Males sacrificed to the goddess strangled and sunk in a bog to rise again in spring. -Myths involve trolls, orcs, elves, dwarves and giants.
Goddess as taker/psychopomp in form of animal spirit (raven, wolf, sow) takes souls of dead to otherworld for rebirth. ____________________________________________________________
GRIGSBY'S RESEARCH ON ODIN MYTHOLOGY ____________________________________________________________
STORYLINE #Odin,god of war, also known as Geat ‘the Goth’, chooses those who died bravely on the battlefield to live again in Valhalla(mead hall in the sky), (derived from role of Goddess as psychopomp) practicing battle skills daily for RAGNAROK , an end of world battle against the unworthy, held prisoner in Hel. Between Valhalla and Hel is "Middle Earth"
BASIS #Hero Cycle Saga based on war-hero's quest to triumph bravely over the physical challenges of war. Good vs Evil. Heroic death leads to new life.The end of all life in postponed to RAGNAROK
KEY ELEMENTS #Odin barters an eye to gain the intoxicating drink of inspiration. He has two wolves in his hall which are linked to his image. He wanders through his worlds disguised as an old grey-bearded man in a wide brimmed hat. Through knowledge of rebirth gleaned from fertility Goddesses is able to die and be reborn on the world tree Yggdrasil. Men sometimes believed to be "hag ridden" suffocated by an old woman straddling their chests. Heroic dead buried in ships. Myths include dwarves and rings of power.
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BERZINS' FILM, BEOWULF AND GRENDEL, RETELLING BEOWULF POEM ____________________________________________________________
STORYLINE #Beowulf the Geat journeys to Daneland to help King Hrothgar slay an evil troll, Grendel who has been killing the king's warriors in the mead hall. Once there he encounters a young beautiful witch (priestess)who can fortell people's deaths. This witch bestrides him and figuratively "takes his breath away". Through her, Beowulf learns that Grendel the troll has been wronged by Hrothgar's warriors. The tale ends much as the poem with the death of the troll and the hag trying to strangle Beowulf who defends himself with her powerful sword and kills her.
BASIS #Classic tragedy with flawed men sowing the seeds of their own destruction, based on possible raw human events that serve as a prequel to the Beowulf poem. Hero triumphs over a physical challenge, but is spiritually torn by the choices he makes. Not good vs evil, but human shades of grey
KEY ELEMENTS #Beowulf, warriors, a quest, mead hall witch/priestess able to tell future associated with troll and a hag who lives under a lake and tries to strangle Beowulf.
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GRIGSBYS RESEARCH ON ORAL BEOWULF SAGA ____________________________________________________________
STORYLINE # Beowulf (literally barley grain-wolf) comes as a righteous warrior to kill Grendel, an evil troll who has been beheading the warriors of King Hrothgar the Ring-Giver in the mead hall. Ultimately Sea Hag, the troll's mother, who lives under the lake is also killed after bestriding and trying to strangle Beowulf. Beowulf uses her sword which loses its powers after her death. Beowulf emerges triumphant from what might have been a watery grave, to be killed as an old man, slaying a dragon and buried in a burial mound. Monsters include troll, Sea Hag, giants and orc.
BASIS # Hero cycle saga, celebrating triumph of Odin, represented by Beowulf, over older fertility goddesses represented by the troll and hag. Hero's quest is to physically triumph over symbols of earlier fertility goddess. Good vs evil.
KEY ELEMENTS # Sheaf god/ Odin/Geat (Symbol wolves)folded into Beowulf the Geat, fertility godesses living under the lake appear as Sea Hag-sword representing her power which shrinks after she dies, hero must descent into water as early male sacrifices were sunk into bogs, but emerges victorious.
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WRITTEN BEOWULF POEM ____________________________________________________________
STORYLINE # Same story as before but framed with a Christian viewpoint. Troll becomes spawn of Cain. Warrior virtues are reinterpreted to be triumph of Christian values over pagan myths.
BASIS #Hero cycle story with Christian motifs laid over a pagan tale. Hero's quest is a physical and spiritual triumph over pagan myths.
KEY ELEMENTS # Same as Oral Beowulf
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TOLKIEN'S LORD OF THE RINGS ____________________________________________________________
STORYLINE #Frodo is entrusted with the ring of power which he must carry to Mount Doom to be destroyed. On the journey he is aided by Gandalf(old wizard in broad-brimmed hat), elves (whose queen, referred to as the ‘Lady’ - 'Freyja?-, can tell the future), dwarves the Riders of Rohan and an army of dead rising from a marsh., but is hindered by All-Seeing Eye, orcs and evil wizards. The quest begins as a physical journey, which becomes a spiritual struggle at it's end. Ultimately, Frodo is triumphant, but weakened by the ordeal he dies, passing to "Grey Haven" in a boat. (Frodo is not said to ‘die’ as such – but we can perhaps see his passing beyond the Grey havens as a metaphor for death as it is certainly the end of his life in this world) Q. Might Celeborn and Galadriel – Lord and Lady be derivatives of Freyr and Freyja? BASIS #Story begins as a hero cycle quest of physical challenges and ends as a spiritual struggle in which Frodo triumphs, but is mortally damaged (old Beowulf in his fight with the dragon.) This is a romantic tale of Good vs Evil with many moral shades of grey.
KEY ELEMENTS # Quest, horseback riding warriors(Riders of Rohan) future-telling powerful woman (Galadriel), the ring giver(Lord of the Rings), wide-brimmed hatted grey beard, Odin (Gandalf) who undergoes death and rebirth, orcs, dwarves, trolls, elves, dragons, Middle Earth, dead reborn from the marsh.
One more thought…not relevant to Tolkien as such, but to the LOTR films. One key element of Beowulf is his disappearance and presumed drowning in the marsh in which he fights Grendel’s mother – termed in the poem a ‘weargh’ or ‘warg’. In The Two Towers movie Aragorn, clearly the Beowulf of the tale, while fighting wargs – falls over a cliff and is presumed drowned – only to emerge safe to his friend’s relief and happiness. Was this rebirth symbolism introduced into the film consciously – or is the echo with Beowulf due to the recurrence of the same archetypal motif? _______________________________________________ Hope some of this is useful John
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