Heroes in The Lord of the Rings and Journey to the west

Comparative analysis

1 origins

Origins of heroes are different in these two fantasy literatures. Frodo in The Lord of the Rings is an ordinary hobbit, who was born in Shire and led a simple and happy life with his friend. Gandalf described Frodo as “taller than some and fairer than most, [with] a cleft in his chin: perky chap with a bright eye.” (Tolkien, 1954) Unlike the traditional heroes, Frodo is short, likes singing and just one of all the hobbits. He is so common that nearly no one can recognize that he will be an important role during the process of destroying the ring. This may be the hero in western fantasy. It is trying to tell the readers everyone can be a hero when facing to a great challenge of saving the world.

Monkey King is different with Frodo. He was born from a huge stone that was used to fill the sky. The usual origin tells the readers this character will play an important role in the rest of the story. After he was born, he distinguished himself from the other monkeys by entering the water curtain cave. Before starting the journey to the west, Monkey King had already learned magic, defeated the celestial soldiers of Jade Emperor and suffered from the penalty of Buddha. As a result, when he was on the way to the west, protecting his master, monk Xuanzang, the readers known that he would be a great hero in the journey.

In Chinese fantasy, hero becomes hero not only because he was gifted but also for the unusual difficulties that he suffered from. And this difference may come from the various religions between east and west. In china, Buddhism tells people suffering difficulties is the way to success. And that belief affects the heroes in Chinese fantasy literature.

2 Characteristics

Frodo had not enough confidence in finishing the mission of destroying the ring. On their way to Minas Morgul, Frodo was scared and he thought he was not the right one to complete the mission. Facing the difficulties, Frodo almost gave up and did not understand why the Ring chooses him. Unlike traditional hero, Frodo dared to express his regret, fear and helplessness. This makes the readers consider Frodo, the hero, as an ordinary person just like everyone in our lives. According to this, hero in western fantasy is not almighty and he or she may have the shortcomings just like ordinary people, which makes heroes close to people. And I believe that heroes in western fantasy are more popular with these flaws.

Monkey King had strong confidence in himself even when others misunderstood him. He was the greatest one in the group to the west. Monkey King had great power to defeat almost all the monsters during the journey. However, sometimes monkey king had to appeal to the Buddha to help him. This may also relate to religions in china and not my main topic in this article. No matter how difficult the journey is, Monkey King had never surrendered. He scared nothing even the jade emperor and Buddha and he did not express any negative feelings.

According to the above, hero is hero in Chinese fantasy literature, who are a little bit far from ordinary people in our daily life. On the contrary, western hero in fantasy seems to be one of us and has his own disadvantages all the time.

3 Endings of heroes

Finally, Frodo arrived in the Mount Doom and surrendered to the evil force of the Ring. He would fail to complete the mission without the greed of Gollum. In some extent, Frodo is a hero with failure, which is unlike the other heroes. But again, it is proved that hero in western fantasy is ordinary who has all the shortcomings that people do. After finishing destroying the ring, Frodo lost himself and did not want to go back to shire. He suffered too much and could not find a place to have a rest (Tang, 2001). In this way of ending, readers are in touch with Frodo, the hero, and feel all his feelings.

Monkey King succeeded in protecting his master, monk Xuanzang, and becoming a real god. There is no surprise in the end and all readers agreed that he deserves that honor. This is the happy ending of a traditional hero which makes the image of a hero promote to a higher level.