Frodo and Perseus A compare and contrast of two

heroes

The Journeys

Birth/Home

Helpers/Amulet

Crossing the Threshold

Final Battle

The Return

Thesis

Birth/Home•Frodo’s birth place is unknown to me but he was raised by his “uncle”, Bilbo Baggins in The Shire with other hobbits.

•Perseus was born in Argos to the god Zeus and the Princess of Argos, Danae but when the King of Argos finds out that a prophecy states the Perseus will kill him, he send Perseus to exile on a neighboring island as a child.

• A similarity in their births/homes is that neither one of the heroes really knew their parents.

Helper/Amulets• Frodo amulets/helpers were the mythril chain mail, and sting given to him by Bilbo and the fellowship of the ring were his helpers.

• Perseus’ amulets/helpers were his adamant helmet, the mirror shield, his sword and the winged shoes, all of witch was bestowed apon him by the Gods, and he was given multiple warriors to complete his quest

• a comparison I made here was that both were given armor and warriors to complete their quests with.

Crossing the Threshold

Frodo’s Threshold

Perseus’ Threshold

• Frodo’s threshold was finding a way into Mordor

• Perseus’ threshold was crossing The River Styx

• A similarity I made with the crossing of the thresholds was that both Frodo and Perseus were going from a place of good to a place of evil.

Frodo’s Threshold• Frodo’s threshold is Mordor, the part of Middle Earth were all the dark and evil creatures live, and in the heart of Mordor lies mount Doom, the only place were the One Ring can be destroyed.

• The way Frodo gets into Mordor is by being led first astray by Shmegal/Gollum and then

Perseus’ Threshold• The Threshold for Perseus is The River Styx, as you see in the picture, it looks like a hooded man crossing a river but that hooded man is the Grim Reaper and this is so because The River Styx is known as the barrier between the mortal world and the underworld.

• When Perseus crosses the river he makes his way to the Gorgons lair, where he runs into the infamous Cerberus, the three headed beast.

Final Battle• The thing I noticed most about this is that while Perseus’ final battle is the traditional outer, physical battle, Frodo’s is an inner battle with himself

• Perseus’ final battle is against the Gorgon known as Medusa (shown at right) in which he used his mirror shield to watch the Medusa and not get turned to stone and when the time is right he cuts off her head and is quick to put it in a bag for to kill the kraken with. • Frodo’s final battle is when he has

just escaped Gollum and is dangling the One Ring above the flames of Mount Doom and the evil Frodo is plainly recognized when instead of following Sam-wise’s advice, he turns to him and says “No, its mine”

The Return• For Frodo, the return isn't what you'd think it would be. This is because after he comes back to The Shire, for four years he writes his story in the same book that Bilbo had written his, and when all is said and done, he realizes that you cant go back to the way things were after you go through such an adventure.

• And so he leaves with Bilbo and the rest of the Elven leaders to the land across the western sea.

• Perseus on the other hand, did have a traditional return, when he came back from his journey he was just in time to save the people and his future wife from the dreaded Kraken. To kill the Kraken, he pulls Medusa’s head out of the bag and shows it to the Kraken. And he and his wife live happily ever after

Thesis• My thesis is that in order to be a hero, you have to have an important quest, you can’t be considered a hero if you just went on a quest for your self. For Frodo, his quest was to take the One Ring to Mordor and destroy it and in the process keep it out of Sauron’s grasp. And for Perseus his quest was to save the people of his inhabited island and his future wife from the Kraken.

Sources•http://www.scifiscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/worthington_clash_of_the_titans.jpg

•http://kateblogsworth.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/perseus.jpg

•http://lilithlotr.ejwsites.net/frodo01.jpg

•http://www.freewebs.com/frodo4eva/frodo1_1024x768.jpg

•http://members.aye.net/~gharris/blog/frodo01.jpg

•http://www.tolkienforums.com/Shire_dg4.jpg

•http://www.xs4all.nl/~kenr/Griekenland/images/weekdrie/argos.jpg

•http://ringtrilogy.tripod.com/lotr/lotr-31.jpg