Archetypal View: Frodo
Frodo: A Study of the Archetype of Initiation
This is part of an ongoing series that views contemporary films through the lens of archetypal psychology and the King, Warrior, Magician, Lover model of the masculine psyche as defined by the late Jungian analyst Robert L. Moore in his book of that name. It’s an attempt by me to refresh that work by presenting more current and diverse examples of the archetypes than what are given in that excellent but somewhat outdated book.
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The central storyline in the Lord of the Rings trilogy follows young Frodo Baggins on a journey that perfectly parallels the Archetype of Initiation as outlined by Robert Moore in his excellent book of the same name.
In the beginning of the story, our hero is living the life of a typical Hobbit, an existence very much centered around the Lover archetype, full of simple pleasures, play, friendship and community. The Shire itself is a kind of paradisiacal Garden of Eden, the archetypal space of the Lover.
Of course, the Hobbits are only able to frolic carefree in the Lover’s Garden because the Shire is protected from the forces of evil and chaos by a band of righteous Warriors, Kings and Magicians. Like children in the best (and rarest) of circumstances, they’re completely shielded from the reality of cruelty and evil in the outside world.
But, as in all great myths, our Hero’s Journey begins when the paradisiacal peace of the Shire is disturbed by the encroaching forces of darkness, leading to Frodo’s “call to adventure”, the first stage of the archetype of initiation.
Justifiably afraid and understandably reluctant, our young hero eventually answers the call, prodded on by his mentor Gandalf doing what good mentors do — encourage us to confront the challenges in our life that require more of us than we think we’re capable of handling.
The classic storyline that we all know and love plays out with the classic elements of the Hero’s Journey as presented in Joseph Campbell’s famous book The Hero With a Thousand Faces, published in 1949, coincidentally the same year Tolkien finished writing LOTR.
Frodo the initiate enters into the liminal space of the unknown, where life as he knows it is turned upside down. He finds himself the unlikely leader of a small fellowship, receiving guidance and help from supernatural forces, facing threshold guardians and having a death and rebirth experience in the cave of Shelob, a giant spider symbolic of the Dark Mother.
Finally he must face the archetypal force that Robert Moore called the Dragon of Grandiosity that guards the threshold to mature masculinity. This is the psychological equivalent of the mythical dragon that guards the cache of gold, and the final adversary that every young hero must conquer or else remain trapped in self-centered adolescent narcissism.
Interested in an archetypal approach to men’s work?
Check out The Four Initiations, my 6-week coaching program based on King, Warrior, Magician, Lover
Tags: tolkien, men’s work, lord of the rings, masculinity, myth, archetype, archetypal psychology, jung, marie-louise von franz, four initiations, robert moore
