Unorthodox Heroes?

[Elladan and Elrohir]

Feanor was a jerk, plain and simple. I spit upon his grave. OK, that's disrespectful, I apologize.

I also like Boromir. Actually, I think I like him better now that I've seen the movies, because Sean Bean's performance is incredible. He finishes well, of course, and that seems to be a chief Tolkien criterion for determining one's moral nature.

Gollum, on the other hand, finishes in evil, and even though his fall saves Middle-earth, he is in the end an evil character. I think it is however fascinating to watch the changes that come over his character in Book Four.

This is one of the things I don't like about the movie TTT: They oversimplify and somewhat change Gollum's character. As they portray it, Smeagol orders his Gollum side out, then he lets "Stinker" back in after his "betrayal" by "wicked tricksy Master." After the departure from Osgiliath, Stinker takes over completely.

The book is, to my mind, more complex than this. It's a matter of opinion as to whether Gollum is quote unquote "schizophrenic". Also, Stinker doesn't take over completely until just before Shelob's lair, when Gollum returns from his visit to Shelob and nearly has a complete change of heart, only to be met by rough words from Sam. Tolkien wrote that he saw that moment as the supreme tragedy of that story.

Well, this post has turned into a discussion of Gollum, and for that I apologize. Hopefully someone else can come along and steer the topic back in the right direction.