Abstract
The Lord of the Rings is the most important full-length novel of Middle-eath mythology system, was written by British writer, poet, language scientist, Oxford professor J.R.R Tolkien. As a sequel to the novel the Hobbits, it was recognized as the originator of modern fantasy literature. But its plot construction is grander and content is more abundant comparing with the Hobbits.
Main content of the novel is as follows:
At the 111 years old birthday party, Bilbo Baggins (He got the ring from monster Gollum by cheating method and he was also the key character of the novel The Hobbits), hand over one ring to his nephew , a young hobbit Frodo Baggins, and then Bilbo left The Shire silently. The magical ring is the One Ring and it's the source of the power of Dark Lord Sauron. In order to avoid destroy all lives and prevent Sauron’s evil intention, Frodo Baggins and his companions went through thick and thin, overcame one difficulty after another and finally destroyed the ring in the chasm of the Mount Doom with the help of all kind creatures of the Middle-eath.
The lord of the rings creates a precedent of a fantastic novel, and it shows an unprecedented and completely out of reality world to us which even has its own language system. Meanwhile, it rooted in the soil of Western culture and absorbed nutrition from North Mythology, so the novel owns obvious mythological characteristic; The lord of the rings also discuss the issues in a binary oppositional narrative way, such as life and death, light and dark, and human problems; All characters in the novel, including their actions, mind, and selection, all of those are reflecting the close relations with North Mythology. The lord of the rings focus human fantasy, illustrate the real world in the thought of mythology and that thought and exploration makes the content of the lord of the rings possess modern mythology meaning.
J.R.R Tolkien present amazing language talent when he was young, as a language scientist, he worked as editorial board member for NED, but also famous for his excellent research of Anglo-Saxon, which makes him contact with mythology and
folk tales broadly from U.K. and Nordic Europe, such as Iceland myth Edda and epic Beowulf. The whole novel was reflected by ancient Nordic culture, from the theme of the novel to the plot of the novel and written grammar. All aspects of the lord of rings, such as whole conception, plot, critical characters and various creatures were imitated Norse mythology and epics.
Keywords - The Lord of the Rings, fantasy literature, Norse mythology, Modern mythology, epic, imitate
摘要
魔戒又名《指环王》是英国作家，诗人，语言学家，牛津教授J.R.R托尔金中土世界神话体系中的一篇重要的长篇小说,被公认为是近代奇幻文学的鼻祖。它是小说《霍比特人》的续集，但与之相比，其情节构思更为宏大，内容更加丰富。
其剧情大致如下：比尔博.巴金斯在其111岁的生日宴上将一枚戒指转赠给他的侄子，一位年轻的霍比特人佛罗多·巴金斯。（比尔博.巴金斯，《霍比特人》的主角，他通过欺骗的方式从咕噜手中获取了这枚戒指）。随即悄然离开他依依不舍的故乡夏尔。而这枚戒指即至尊魔戒，它是黑暗君主索隆力量的源泉。为了拯救万物生灵和组织索隆的邪恶意图，佛罗多·巴金斯和其他的同伴一起远赴万里，历经艰险，克服重重困难，在众多善良的中州生灵的帮助下，最终成功的将至尊魔戒投入了厄运山口，彻底驱散了笼罩在中州世界的邪恶势力。
《魔戒》开创了奇幻小说的先河，向我们展现的是一个前所未有的，完全游离于现实之外的，甚至拥有自己的语言体系的世界。同时它又从北欧神话中汲取营养，具有明显的神话特征；它以二元对立的叙事方式探讨了人类一直在探讨的问题，比如生与死，光与暗，以及人类出路的问题；作品中的人物，从行动、思想和选择上都反映出其与北欧文学之间的联系。《魔戒》凝聚着人类的幻想，以神话的思维阐释了现实世界，这些思考和探索使《魔戒》内容具有明显的现代神话意味。
青年时期的托尔金便表现出惊人的语言天赋，作为一名语言学家。他不仅是<新英语词典>的编委，但他更以研究盎格鲁－萨克森语著称，这使得他广泛接触到英国以及北欧各地流传的神话和民间传说。例如冰岛神话《埃达》以及史诗《贝尔武夫》。托尔金的作品，无论是故事的主题，或故事情节，还是所使用的语法，我们都可以从中领略到古代北欧文化的身影。《魔戒》的整体构思，故事情节，作品中出现的关键人物和相关生物等，均从北欧神话和史诗中进行了充分的借鉴和模仿。
关键词： 魔戒、奇幻小说、北欧神话、北欧文学、现代神话、史诗、借鉴、模仿
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 1
Abstract 2
摘要 3
CONTENTS 4
I. Introduction 4
II. Root and Inspiration 7
2.1 About Author 8
2.2 Introduction to the Norse Mythology and ancient epics 9
2.2.1 Norse mythology 9
2.2.2 Ancient epics 10
2.3 Introduction to inspiration of The Lord of the Rings 10
III. Various Creatures 12
3.1 Elves 12
3.2 Dwarf 12
3.3 Dragons 13
IV. Themes and Symbols 14
4.1 Symbols 14
4.1.1 A magic ring 14
4.1.2 Dark Lord Sauron 15
4.2 Hero: Aragorn and Frodo 16
V. Conclusion 17
Bibliography 18
