Which Myths and Stories influenced LotR?

[alatar]

Can't seem to find the best place to put this, and in lieu of creating another thread, figured I'd work within this one.

Recently I got to attend 'scout' camp with my son. We spent a few days in the wilderness, sleeping in a tent, lighting fires and whittling. There were also scheduled activities, and other campers as well. The best times were when he and I walked through the woods alone, and also when he would still take and hold my hand, as some of you know (and as a country song puts it) "It won't be like this for long."

Of course, me being who I am, I was able to find something to get worked up about. This year, the theme for the camp was, I guess, King Arthur or fantasy or people who dressed as if in a Renaissance fair, wearing funny clothes, carrying chunks of iron that were supposed to be swords, and speaking with 'British' accents that sounded none too real (an aside: my astute son wondered if people back in the day sounded anything like the camp staff - he too was annoyed).

But we played along. Along with Arthur (who looked a lot more like a Friar than a King) was Lady Guinevere, and of course Merlin, and playing the part of the bad guy (but none too bad as the kids had to sleep at night) was...

Mor... Mor... All I was able to hear was Mor...something.

Mordred? Morgana? What?

The last night, to my horror, I learned what the 'something' was.

Morgoth!

Yes, that's right. Morgoth was the evil wizard. Not only was this a bit of a mixing of fantasy worlds, I thought that Morgoth was a tad underrepresented. He...He was the equal of Arthur? But it got worse. Morgoth was actually Red Riding Hood. Some big dude had to wear some silly red ill-fitting cape and hood, and mask his face with some stockings. Humiliating as this was for the Lord of Arda (pending), he was then taken by surprise by Guinevere, who came up behind him with a sword and took Excalibur from his hand...hmmm...now where have I seen something like that before?

"What's this? A Vala taken by surprise?"

Then again, Arthur was monologuing, and after a day of hiking an swimming and play and more hiking, I too was a bit stunned by the syllogizing.

And completely astounding to the kids, and mostly unintelligeable, was something earlier about a creature called a jabberwock.

I now have one more thing to fix in my son's brain.

[Hakon]

Just read him some text about Morgoth from Silmarillion. Also read him some version of King Arthur. It should help him realize how this camp insulted two great stories.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

And completely astounding to the kids, and mostly unintelligeable, was something earlier about a creature called a jabberwock.

If the jabberwock was quoted as saying "Nevermore", I'd expect the camp leaders to be post-modern deconstructionists of the most notorious ilk. Or, since this was a wilderness camp, perhaps I should say, "elk."

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by alatar

And completely astounding to the kids, and mostly unintelligeable, was something earlier about a creature called a jabberwock.

I now have one more thing to fix in my son's brain.

I'd just run with it... like the bored history teacher convinced his students never listened who would slip in the odd gem about how Henry VIII invented the sport of hammer throwing while making a rabbit hutch for his daughter... after all seeing how Hollywood treats even relatively recent history you have a lot of tide to hold back

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

I'd just run with it... like the bored history teacher convinced his students never listened who would slip in the odd gem about how Henry VIII invented the sport of hammer throwing while making a rabbit hutch for his daughter...

The kids soon realized that nothing 'fun' was about to happen when one of the staff started speaking, and so they quickly tuned the speakers out. Merlin, doing magic tricks to show that the power of Morgoth was all illusion, was talking as well, and so was tuned out. My son, catching a brief glance towards the wizard, lit up when it dawned on him that this wasn't just more blather and that there were some cool tricks being performed.

Poor Merlin, when finished, said to the scouts, "Thank you for your indifference." They just walked away, probably not even hearing what he said.

[Mithalwen]

It sounds like a tough gig....

[Galadriel55]

Tolkien included a lot of the mythology of Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, and probably some of the surrounding countries. However, the only mythology that I know relatively well is the greek one. I find that Tulkas is very similar to Ares, the god of war - although Tulkas is still very different, he has a bit of Ares in him.

And don't you think that Beren's story is similar to Herculese's? Both are sent by kings on a hopeless quest to get rid of them...