One Ring to Bring Them Both and in the Darkness Bind Them: The Shire as Frodo Baggins’s Topographical Equivalent

Abstract

This paper deals with the problem of identity and place in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. It attempts to show that the main character’s connection with his homeland is deeper yet than what is usually perceived. When comparing Frodo’s journey and the Shire’s development throughout the novel it is possible to see many coincidences in their paths. As a result, we may state that the Shire mirrors Frodo’s evolution. This curious discovery prompted the creation of the term “topographical equivalent” to describe their unique relationship. This, in turn, affects the hero’s journey, for when he reaches the Shire’s doppleganger, the land of Mordor, he is also facing his own. This encounter not only affects Frodo as a near death experience. It results in a painful extension of consciousness too, since the world is capable of containing an evil so opposite to his and his homeland’s natures. A change is produced from a local conception of place to a broader one of space. Both these traumatic events alter the hero. Furthermore, these consequences become quite revealing when trying to decipher Frodo’s strange relationship and final abandonment of the Shire after the Quest of the Ring is over.