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Papers by Richard Z Gallant
Tolkien and the Classical World, 2021
As they come into contact with the Eldar, the wandering Edain of the First Age show a pattern of ... more As they come into contact with the Eldar, the wandering Edain of the First Age show a pattern of acculturation similar to the 'Romanization' that the Germanic confederations of the Migration Era showed while coming into contact with the Roman Empire. It is not a pattern that Tolkien set out to purposely introduce but rather the natural progression of a wandering people coming into contact and acculturating to a superior hegemonic presence. The Edain adopt Fingolfian norms and values as attested to in the various texts, but the texts are also written through the eyes of the Elvish chroniclers-through a lens of interpretatio noldoraria-and they narrate a process of Noldorization in the course of events during the First Age. This Noldorization consists of vassal relationships, military support and buffer zones, the education of aristocratic youth in Noldorin royal courts, the language acquisition of Sindar (the language of the Grey Elves), and the adoption of new Elvish-influenced traditions and material culture. In effect, the Edain confederation, like the Germanic confederations of the fourth and fifth centuries in the Roman Empire, progresses through a three-stage process which transform their political units from gentes (the three Edain houses) to a regna (ultimately, Númenor).
Journal of Tolkien Research, 2020
Two important characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium are pivotable to a Germanic narrative ... more Two important characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium are pivotable to a Germanic narrative of the Eldar: Fëanor and Galadriel. Fëanor pivots the narrative of the Eldar to one resembling the Germanic heroic epic by invoking a wyrd, through his free choice, against himself and the Noldor who followed him, which leads to their doom. Galadriel, on the other hand, as the last of the Noldorin rebels and a penitent, pivots the fatalistic and heroic Elvish narrative to eucatastrophe through own her free will and choice.
This article examines First Age themes of free will, banishment and exile, doom and providence through textual cue such as the spatial imagery, tonality, and character action. In doing so, themes and motifs become clearer and interweave together to form a rich tapestry of the Eldar’s Germanic narrative. This tapestry of Germanic heroism, or Northern courage as Tolkien called it, comes to an end with Galadriel’s eucatastrophe as she resist the temptation of the One Ring as well as ancient desires. The eucatastrophe allows the penitent Galadriel to not only redeem herself but also the remnant Noldor in Middle-earth. Galadriel, through her own redemption and consequently the redemption of the remnant Noldor, ends the Germanic narrative in the Lord of the Rings.
Journal of Tolkien Research, 2020
The nature of the heroic-ethos changes in the late Third Age of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. A... more The nature of the heroic-ethos changes in the late Third Age of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. At the beginning of the First Age, a Germanic ethos that Tolkien called the theory of Northern courage accompanied the exile of the Noldor. However, at the dawn of the dominion of Men, a new ethos emerges. It is an ethos of hope rather than the “sad light of fatalism” of the “long defeat.” This ethos is exemplified, ad bono exemplum, in the character of Aragorn who fuses the old ethos and tradition into a new ‘pseudo-chivalry’ appropriate for the Age of Men. Examining Aragorn’s inherited core traditions and his great deeds in contrast to our own historical examples helps us to understand the nature of the changing heroic ethos in Tolkien’s Legendarium. By contrasting Aragorn, his coronation and kingship with our own literary and historical Charlemagne and Carolingian heroic poetry, the role of the Renewal King becomes clearer and we may understand this ‘fusion’ of new and old within Tolkien’s illustrative narrative of Middle-earth.
Recommended Citation
Gallant, Richard Z. (2020) "Elessar Telcontar Magnus, Rex Pater Gondor, Restitutor Imperii," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 9 : Iss. 2 , Article 1.
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol9/iss2/1
Mythlore, Apr 21, 2020
Tolkien’s legendarium writings display a subtle command of the perspectives and aims of different... more Tolkien’s legendarium writings display a subtle command of the perspectives and aims of different storytellers, as this examination of the many “chroniclers of Elvish history” and their various motivations demonstrates. At the meta-level, the paper discusses Tolkien’s own historiographical aims in using these different voices to advance sometimes opposing views of military motive and courage.
Hither Shore: Interdisciplinary Journal on Modern Fantasy Literature, 2023
Books by Richard Z Gallant
Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives of Tolkien's Legendarium, 2024
The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien’s designation for the heroic ethos found in ‘Ge... more The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien’s designation for the heroic ethos found in ‘Germanic’ or Northern heroic lays and epics. Tolkien admired the nobility of the old heroes, such as Beowulf, but wrestled with the inherent cruelty of the Welands, Ingelds, and Gunnars that is also expressed within this heroic framework. This volume explores the means in which this conflict of nobility and cruelty, virtue and vice, expresses itself in Tolkien’s narrative fiction. Such means include the use of secondary-world chroniclers narrating a secondary-world history and tales to a secondary-world audience through illustrative narratives that dramatize the moral and ideological views of the narrators themselves. The narratives are often tragic, but they serve to highlight the different aspects of Northern courage through the examples of the Fingolfians, Fëanorians, and subsequently the Edain and Dúnedain. The moral and ideological views expressed by these secondary-world narrators parallel Tolkien’s own personal correspondence and academic essays, which also criticized the vices and praised the virtues of Northern courage.
Richard Z. Gallant earned his doctorate at the Friedrich- Schiller-Universität in Jena, Germany under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Thomas Honegger. This volume is a result of that doctoral work. Richard now lives in Weimar (Germany) with his daughter Aurelia and Pollux, their brown Labrador Retriever.
Germanic Heroes, Courage and Fate, 2024
The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien's designation for the heroic ethos found in 'Ge... more The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien's designation for the heroic ethos found in 'Germanic' or Northern heroic lays and epics. Tolkien admired the nobility of the old heroes, such as Beowulf, but wrestled with the inherent cruelty of the Welands, Ingelds, and Gunnars that is also expressed within this heroic framework. This volume explores the means in which this conflict of nobility and cruelty, virtue and vice, expresses itself in Tolkien's narrative fiction. Such means include the use of secondary-world chroniclers narrating a secondary-world history and tales to a secondary-world audience through illustrative narratives that dramatize the moral and ideological views of the narrators themselves. The narratives are often tragic, but they serve to highlight the different aspects of Northern courage through the examples of the Fingolfians, Fëanorians, and subsequently the Edain and Dúnedain. The moral and ideological views expressed by these secondary-world narrators parallel Tolkien's own personal correspondence and academic essays, which also criticized the vices and praised the virtues of Northern courage.
Tolkien and the Classical World, 2021
As they come into contact with the Eldar, the wandering Edain of the First Age show a pattern of ... more As they come into contact with the Eldar, the wandering Edain of the First Age show a pattern of acculturation similar to the 'Romanization' that the Germanic confederations of the Migration Era showed while coming into contact with the Roman Empire. It is not a pattern that Tolkien set out to purposely introduce but rather the natural progression of a wandering people coming into contact and acculturating to a superior hegemonic presence. The Edain adopt Fingolfian norms and values as attested to in the various texts, but the texts are also written through the eyes of the Elvish chroniclers-through a lens of interpretatio noldoraria-and they narrate a process of Noldorization in the course of events during the First Age. This Noldorization consists of vassal relationships, military support and buffer zones, the education of aristocratic youth in Noldorin royal courts, the language acquisition of Sindar (the language of the Grey Elves), and the adoption of new Elvish-influenced traditions and material culture. In effect, the Edain confederation, like the Germanic confederations of the fourth and fifth centuries in the Roman Empire, progresses through a three-stage process which transform their political units from gentes (the three Edain houses) to a regna (ultimately, Númenor).
Journal of Tolkien Research, 2020
Two important characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium are pivotable to a Germanic narrative ... more Two important characters in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium are pivotable to a Germanic narrative of the Eldar: Fëanor and Galadriel. Fëanor pivots the narrative of the Eldar to one resembling the Germanic heroic epic by invoking a wyrd, through his free choice, against himself and the Noldor who followed him, which leads to their doom. Galadriel, on the other hand, as the last of the Noldorin rebels and a penitent, pivots the fatalistic and heroic Elvish narrative to eucatastrophe through own her free will and choice.
This article examines First Age themes of free will, banishment and exile, doom and providence through textual cue such as the spatial imagery, tonality, and character action. In doing so, themes and motifs become clearer and interweave together to form a rich tapestry of the Eldar’s Germanic narrative. This tapestry of Germanic heroism, or Northern courage as Tolkien called it, comes to an end with Galadriel’s eucatastrophe as she resist the temptation of the One Ring as well as ancient desires. The eucatastrophe allows the penitent Galadriel to not only redeem herself but also the remnant Noldor in Middle-earth. Galadriel, through her own redemption and consequently the redemption of the remnant Noldor, ends the Germanic narrative in the Lord of the Rings.
Journal of Tolkien Research, 2020
The nature of the heroic-ethos changes in the late Third Age of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. A... more The nature of the heroic-ethos changes in the late Third Age of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Legendarium. At the beginning of the First Age, a Germanic ethos that Tolkien called the theory of Northern courage accompanied the exile of the Noldor. However, at the dawn of the dominion of Men, a new ethos emerges. It is an ethos of hope rather than the “sad light of fatalism” of the “long defeat.” This ethos is exemplified, ad bono exemplum, in the character of Aragorn who fuses the old ethos and tradition into a new ‘pseudo-chivalry’ appropriate for the Age of Men. Examining Aragorn’s inherited core traditions and his great deeds in contrast to our own historical examples helps us to understand the nature of the changing heroic ethos in Tolkien’s Legendarium. By contrasting Aragorn, his coronation and kingship with our own literary and historical Charlemagne and Carolingian heroic poetry, the role of the Renewal King becomes clearer and we may understand this ‘fusion’ of new and old within Tolkien’s illustrative narrative of Middle-earth.
Recommended Citation
Gallant, Richard Z. (2020) "Elessar Telcontar Magnus, Rex Pater Gondor, Restitutor Imperii," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 9 : Iss. 2 , Article 1.
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol9/iss2/1
Mythlore, Apr 21, 2020
Tolkien’s legendarium writings display a subtle command of the perspectives and aims of different... more Tolkien’s legendarium writings display a subtle command of the perspectives and aims of different storytellers, as this examination of the many “chroniclers of Elvish history” and their various motivations demonstrates. At the meta-level, the paper discusses Tolkien’s own historiographical aims in using these different voices to advance sometimes opposing views of military motive and courage.
Hither Shore: Interdisciplinary Journal on Modern Fantasy Literature, 2023
Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives of Tolkien's Legendarium, 2024
The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien’s designation for the heroic ethos found in ‘Ge... more The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien’s designation for the heroic ethos found in ‘Germanic’ or Northern heroic lays and epics. Tolkien admired the nobility of the old heroes, such as Beowulf, but wrestled with the inherent cruelty of the Welands, Ingelds, and Gunnars that is also expressed within this heroic framework. This volume explores the means in which this conflict of nobility and cruelty, virtue and vice, expresses itself in Tolkien’s narrative fiction. Such means include the use of secondary-world chroniclers narrating a secondary-world history and tales to a secondary-world audience through illustrative narratives that dramatize the moral and ideological views of the narrators themselves. The narratives are often tragic, but they serve to highlight the different aspects of Northern courage through the examples of the Fingolfians, Fëanorians, and subsequently the Edain and Dúnedain. The moral and ideological views expressed by these secondary-world narrators parallel Tolkien’s own personal correspondence and academic essays, which also criticized the vices and praised the virtues of Northern courage.
Richard Z. Gallant earned his doctorate at the Friedrich- Schiller-Universität in Jena, Germany under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Thomas Honegger. This volume is a result of that doctoral work. Richard now lives in Weimar (Germany) with his daughter Aurelia and Pollux, their brown Labrador Retriever.
Germanic Heroes, Courage and Fate, 2024
The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien's designation for the heroic ethos found in 'Ge... more The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien's designation for the heroic ethos found in 'Germanic' or Northern heroic lays and epics. Tolkien admired the nobility of the old heroes, such as Beowulf, but wrestled with the inherent cruelty of the Welands, Ingelds, and Gunnars that is also expressed within this heroic framework. This volume explores the means in which this conflict of nobility and cruelty, virtue and vice, expresses itself in Tolkien's narrative fiction. Such means include the use of secondary-world chroniclers narrating a secondary-world history and tales to a secondary-world audience through illustrative narratives that dramatize the moral and ideological views of the narrators themselves. The narratives are often tragic, but they serve to highlight the different aspects of Northern courage through the examples of the Fingolfians, Fëanorians, and subsequently the Edain and Dúnedain. The moral and ideological views expressed by these secondary-world narrators parallel Tolkien's own personal correspondence and academic essays, which also criticized the vices and praised the virtues of Northern courage.