Tragic Heroes

So I was thinking about all those papers I wrote and those books that I've read about the classic tragic heroes--Oedipus, Hamlet, Beowulf, Achilles, Macbeth, Antigone, blah blah blah, on and on.

Anyway, what does anyone think about the tragic heroes in LotR and The Silmarillion? Are they legitimate tragic heroes (flawed from the get-go, suffer great loss, catharsis for the reader, doesn't necessarily have to die but it sure helps)?

Theoden, Frodo, Boromir, Finrod, Túrin, Fëanor, etc. Are they tragic? Who else could be in this list? What does anyone think?

🙂

erm, I keep forgetting his name but one of the head elves sacrificed his life to a balrog to save others.....he did come back very quickly though

Hhhmm, for me:

Nienor - a perfect tragic heroine. She's the daughter of a tragic hero in the first place, loses all her memory, is found by her brother but they don't know they're siblings so they get married. When she realizes she married her brother and is pregnant with his child she throws herself off a cliff.

Boromir - Flawed from the get-go, but is far from evil. He wanted to keep the Ring safe, use it to defend his people and bring peace and security to Middle Earth. All good intentions, but was still twisted by the Ring, his passionate desire to do the right things was what led to his downfall and subsequent death. But he redeemed himself at the end so he's still my hero. 😄

Fëanor - a very tragic hero. He was the most clever and skillful of the Elves and it seems to me he was misunderstood and undervalued by the Valar and the other Elves. He made wrong choices (as all tragic heroes do, that's what makes them tragic?) but was not altogether at fault. He was driven into rebellion.

Túrin - he's I think the most tragic of all of Tolkien's character. He had a very messed up life and always followed by Melkor's curse. He accidentaly killed his best friend who was trying to save him, he married his sister without knowing they're siblings, his sister/wife commited suicide, and he killed himself at the end. 🙁

Denethor II - the ultimate Shakepearean king sorta guy, he loves his first son and is indifferent toward the second, his first born son dies, he goes crazy, his second born is nearly killed then he tries to cremate both of them alive, but he ends up being burned to death.

What's yours guys? I know there are many more of them.

Originally posted by Discos
erm, I keep forgetting his name but one of the head elves sacrificed his life to a balrog to save others.....he did come back very quickly though

Glorfindel. 😄

yep, that is the real hero

Originally posted by shadowy_blue
Hhhmm, for me:

Nienor - a perfect tragic heroine. She's the daughter of a tragic hero in the first place, loses all her memory, is found by her brother but they don't know they're siblings so they get married. When she realizes she married her brother and is pregnant with his child she throws herself off a cliff.

Discos - awesome!

Dude, what's so awesome 'bout that? 🙁 That's sad...🙁

lol sorry I meant it was very weird/amusing, she found out it was her brothers baby and jumped of a cliff

Discos - or perhaps just the way you typed it

LOL.. 😆 But yeah, it's quite amusing for a fictional character, but really a sad and tragic story. 🙁

my apoligies (again),

Dude, it's nothing. Ú-moe edaved, Discos.

(If you watched TTT, you should know what that means. 😛 )

Dude Beleg!

Oh, yeah. How could I forget? Beleg Cuthalion..🙁 He tried his best to save Turin but he ended up bein killed by his best friend, but despite that fact he still loves Turin. 🙁

Beleg's story is by far the most tragic story.

Glorfindel's the second 🙂

bump! 😛

We need to revive the thread, and I thought this is a decent enough topic. 🙂

Discuss. 😄

Turin, Feanor, Boromir - true tragic heroes. Fatal Flaw = arrogance. They are all destined to be great leaders, but their arrogance leads to thier downfall.

Frodo - hmm... I can't see a fatal flaw... can anyone else think of one?

Túrin oh Túrin... Tolkien's best character, imo.
Beleg 😍 is also great... but his tragic ending is Túrin's fault 😛

Other not-so-tragic-but-still-very-sad-characters are Húrin himself and Morwen (at least scenes from their lives)... Elenwe (died trying to rescue her daughter) and Finrod (died in his fortress after defending Beren with his life)... and Maeglin (the traitor who ruined the last hope of the elves, Gondolin)... and Feanor's sons with the kinslayings... and Gollum ^^ I think Eowyn is also kinda tragic, at least her part in TT.
The most tragic story (besides the one of the Children of Húrin)

But one of the most tragic-and-yet-forgotten charaters is imo Gorlim the Unhappy, one of Barahir's twelve companions. He loved his wife above all things, but then she died or disappeared or something like that... and later Sauron caught him and showed him illusions about his wife, saying that she was still alive and if Gorlim would betray his companions to Sauron he would get her back... and Gorlim tells Sauron where they usually rest and everything and so Sauron's servants killed them all except for Barahir's son Beren (who wasn't there on that day), but of course Gorlim didn't get his wife back (because she HAD died) and died a cruel death himself *sobs* - this is by the way the only story where I do not like Sauron's role 😛

Fatal flaw? I think several of these heroes were a little too proud - Feanor of course most of all, but also Túrin and some of the others, they didn't want to see their own errors which usually meant their ruin

Beren?...

not sure about this one...i suppose he's tragic enough..😬

but he did end up ok in the end...*shrugs*

i think theres something going on with exa i mean cyraiwillhavetolearnthislater and beleg 😖hifty:

Finglofin almost became a fallen hero till thorondor saved them

Discos - why wern't the eagles invited to the crowning of Aragorn....pfft