Monday, September 3, 2018
The Power of Corruption: The Greed for Wealth
As we saw the epic struggle of power over the one ring in Lord of the Rings, we also saw the struggles of power over the desire and accumulation of treasure and wealth in The Hobbit. We saw how the craving of wealth and treasure for dragons became dominating and controlling factors as Smaug craved the power of wealth even though it was useless to them besides hoarding it and worshipping it. The whole tale is an adventure for treasure lost but looking to be reclaimed. We saw the ways of the Dwarven folk as a bit gruff and arrogant but still one of the friendly 'peoples' on Middle-earth. After regaining their ancient homeland, Thorin showed a side of himself that was slowly appearing through the adventure, and that was the lust for gold and jewels. Thorin nearly alienated himself from his dwarven friends and fellow adventurers after reclaiming the Dwarven treasure from Smaug. Not only was Thorin affected with lust and greed, but so were Bard and the humans from Dale and the elves too. It was a kind of greed for the power associated with great wealth that almost undid the forces of good when faced with an advancing army of evil orcs. So the line can blur between what is good and what is evil. Forces claiming to be good have been corrupted over time and have done evil deeds in the name of goodness because of the nature of greed and in the obtaining of treasure not rightfully their own. Do you think that if Thorin was never corrupted with that greed and it's undeniable lust for it, would the Battle of Five Armies turned out drastically different? Would the forces of good standing united together from the beginning against the evil threatening all of them have had less casualties and not such a tragic turn of events?
2 comments:
I think the deeper question underlying your post is, "What is good?" Which can be a very difficult question to answer with many differing opinions. The ring and its power were evil and would corrupt even "good" people; it represented a force that existed even without a creature to put a face on it. What about good? Is it also something that can be demonstrated by those who choose to but that does not need to be demonstrated through other creatures to exist in the world?
Concerning Thorin, I think the only thing he damaged unnecessarily was his reputation. Which is quite sad when considering that one of the primary reasons he wanted to return to his homeland was to reclaim the treasure and dwelling of the ancestors he felt so proud of.
Nicely said my friend. What i was trying to get at is that there is the wanting/seeking of wealth and riches and then there is the actual becoming rich from such wealth. Thorin was more light hearted through the book as he desired his homeland and the treasure too, but once he had it, the wealth corrupted his soul so he surely wasn't acting so cold hearted while he was seeking his lost treasure. Once he had his treasure, to me it seemed he became blinded by it and started acting unreasonable to Bilbo and his dwarven friends as well. He was far more light-hearted and kind until he had his treasure and all he thought about was "the heart of the mountain', the Arkenstone of Thrain, and then you kind of saw the shadow fall over his character and his good judgement flee from him.
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