History TheLordOfTheRings / TropesDToF

* DyingForSymbolism: Gandalf's sacrifice to save the party marks the nadir of the heroes' morale, his death symbolises the progress of evil forces in Middle Earth, and his resurrection and color upgrade (from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White) announces the necessity, at the end of the opus, for the hero to go meet death at the Grey Heavens.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Orcs serve Sauron, slaughter each other and non-orcs in endless racist wars, eat human flesh, and torture prisoners for fun. But they do not put up with orcs who eat ''orc''-flesh.

** When Gandalf is talking Bilbo out of keeping the Ring instead of bequeathing it to Frodo, Bilbo mentions that he's begun to feel like an eye is looking at him with the Ring in his possession, and a few paragraphs later Gandalf refuses to directly take the Ring in an envelope from Bilbo and instructs him to put it on the mantelpiece instead. It soon becomes apparent exactly ''what'' the Ring is, with the mention of an ''eye'' watching Bilbo being very literal, and Gandalf clearly already suspects what it is and refuses to get any closer to it than he absolutely has to, not even touching something that it's touching for fear of the temptations of it.

** [[spoiler:The Mouth of Sauron attempts the same thing at the Black Gates, trying to deceive Aragorn and the final alliance that Frodo is dead so that they are demoralized and routed. Aragorn, however, believes none of it, and uses the opportunity to reinvigorate everyone else before they head into battle.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: The former [[DownplayedTrope though not necessarily the latter.]] Compared to Literature/TheHobbit, the stakes are much higher and the perils the protagonists face more sinister. However it'd still be hard to describe as "edgy," in fact it's usually praised for still being an overall wholesome work despite the overall darker tone.

* ForWantOfANail: In the appendices, Gandalf says how things might have been, if Smaug the dragon had not been killed in ''Literature/TheHobbit'':
--> Think of what might have been. Dragon fire and savage swords in Eriador, night in Rivendell. There might be no Queen in Gondor. We might now hope to return from the victory here only to ruin and ash. But that has been averted - because I met Thorin Oakenshield one evening on the edge of spring in Bree. A chance-meeting, as we say in Middle-earth

* DiedInIgnorance: [[spoiler:Denethor goes mad, tries to kill his son, and then commits suicide after he sees in his palantir that the enemy is about to receive reinforcements in the form of a large Umbar fleet about to arrive. Minutes after his death, the fleet arrives and reinforcements do land. Gondor reinforcements, led by Aragorn.]]

* DiedInIgnorance: Denethor goes mad, tries to kill his son, and then commits suicide after he sees in his palantir that the enemy is about to receive reinforcements in the form of a large Umbar fleet about to arrive. Minutes after his death, the fleet arrives and reinforcements do land. Gondor reinforcements, led by Aragorn.

* FromZeroToHero: Frodo, a normal hobbit living in the peaceful village of the Shire, gets a ring obtained by his uncle Bilbo in Literature/TheHobbit. After learning it is an ArtifactOfDoom smithed by [[EvilOverlord Sauron]], this hobbit, accompanied by the Fellowship, goes on a long and dangerous journey so they can destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, which [[spoiler: he fails to do himself but helps make possible anyway.]].

* FromZeroToHero: Frodo, a normal hobbit living in the peaceful village of the Shire, gets a ring obtained by his uncle Bilbo in Literature/TheHobbit. After learning it is an ArtifactOfDoom smithed by [[EvilOverlord Sauron]], this hobbit, accompanied by the Fellowship, goes on a long and dangerous journey so they can destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom, which [[spoiler: they succeed at]].

::'''Tropes from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (the book)'''

::TheLordOfTheRings/TropesAToC -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesGToI -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesJToL -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesMToO -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesPToR -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesSToU -- TheLordOfTheRings/TropesVToZ

* TheDragon: The Witch-King of Angmar to Sauron. Sauron himself was TheDragon to Morgoth for at least part of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''. Note: there are ''literal'' dragons in Middle-earth, but Sauron has little dominion over them: dragons were Morgoth's creations [[FridgeLogic and possibly Morgoth's insurance against]] [[TheStarscream disloyalty on Sauron's part.]]