open/close all folders
J-K
- Jumped at the Call: Sam is even described as "springing up like a dog invited for walk" when Gandalf tells him to go with Frodo.
- Just the First Citizen:
- The Steward of Gondor, Denethor. This also causes conflict between him and Gandalf, who strives to bring the One True King back to the throne of Gondor, which Denethor is not particularly eager for. It also causes Boromir, son and heir to Denethor, to feel resentment over his father not being allowed to become king of Gondor despite there not having been a king for centuries now, and this frustration feeds into his temptation to wield the ring.
- Galadriel and Celeborn who are the Lord and Lady of Lothlórien rather than the King and Queen, they decided not to take royal titles as they saw themselves as the guardians of Lothlórien rather than its rulers.
- Kansas City Shuffle: The whole War of the Ring is used to distract from the attempt to destroy the Ring.
- Kaiju: Watcher of the Water. Also Oliphaunts could qualify.
- Karmic Death: Although Saruman had done so much harm to the heroes and caused a lot of innocent deaths, it's one of his own evil deeds that does him in.
- Keystone Army, in part: The destruction of the Ring kills Sauron, which confuses and thus incapacitates the parts of his armies which were more directly controlled by his will (e.g. the orcs), which makes them easy game. The generals of Sauron's human forces had various natural reactions, with some fighting on hopelessly while others surrendered or withdrew.
- Kill It with Fire: As a general rule fire is bad for the forces of evil, especially the Ringwraiths, Shelob. Gandalf also describes himself as a Servant of the Secret Fire. Depending on how you want to look at it, the Balrog inverted the trope, since it was a corrupted fire spirit.
- King Incognito: Aragorn for the first part of Fellowship is just Strider.
- The Kingslayer: It takes a king, Isildur, to slay Sauron, the Sorcerous Overlord of the dark forces in the backstory of the series. However, Sauron's One Ring of Power acts as a Soul Jar, keeping him kind-of-sort-of alive until Frodo Baggins goes on a journey to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring. Ultimately, though, it's Gollum who destroys the Ring and Sauron—and he does it completely by accident.
- Knight Templar: According to Tolkien, had Gandalf taken the Ring, he would have defeated Sauron easily—and become even worse.Tolkien: Gandalf as Ring-Lord would have been far worse than Sauron. He would have remained "righteous", but self-righteous. He would have continued to rule and order things for "good", and the benefit of his subjects according to his wisdom (which was and would have remained great). Thus while Sauron multiplied [illegible word] evil, he left "good" clearly distinguishable from it. Gandalf would have made good detestable and seem evil.
L
- Lady of War: Éowyn manages to keep an air of grace and beauty while still being a very capable warrior.
- Large and in Charge: Aragorn stood at 6'6'', which was considered very tall for Men at the end of the Third Age. His ancestor King Elendil was even taller at nearly 8'. The High King of the Sindar, Elu Thingol, was taller still!
- Last-Minute Hookup: Faramir and Éowyn get together rather abruptly at the end, having spent a week almost constantly in each other's company in the Houses of Healing. On Éowyn's side, at least, it's not entirely unexpected: she's no longer duty-bound to care for her beloved uncle, has put her infatuation with Aragorn behind her, and has even received the recognition for heroism she always yearned for: in the midst of searching for a new purpose to life, she's in prolonged proximity to an admirable man wounded in the same campaign.
- Last Moment Together: Arwen suffers this twice.
- The first is her last meeting with her father Elrond, unwitnessed in the hills near Edoras, "and bitter was their parting that should endure beyond the ends of the world."
- The second is in the appendices, at the deathbed of her husband Aragorn, with more detail given and the implication that they will meet again beyond death and the circles of the world.
- Last Stand: Or so everyone thinks at the Battle of the Black Gate.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler:
- The Return Of The King is the title of the third book. Tolkien initially insisted on "The War Of The Ring" as a title to avoid the table of contents spoiling the (albeit secondary) story. It was also pointed out to him that "The Return Of The King" did not necessarily imply "The Victory Of The King".
- Frodo's title for the story was even worse: The Downfall of the Lord of the Rings. Since Frodo was writing contemporary history, however, most people reading it would already know the basics, such as that Sauron doesn't rule the world.
- Layered Metropolis: Minas Tirith has seven levels, with a stone promontory jutting out from the topmost to overtake the rest of the city. It was built this way to be extremely defensible, with multiple lines of defense.
- Leaf Boat: The elven boats, while not literally made of leaves, use this as a visual motif.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- The chapter "The Uruk-Hai," which focuses on Pippin, includes a line by Merry that Pippin's actions in it were so impressive that there will likely be a whole chapter about them in Bilbo's book.
- And then by Sam and Frodo in a strangely Genre Savvy conversation during the climb to Cirith Ungol:Frodo: "...we are in the very darkest part of the story now, and it seems all too likely that some would say, 'Close the book, Dad. We don't want to read no more.'"Sam: "Some, maybe. Not me."
- "Why Sam, to hear you makes me somehow merry, as if the tale were already written!" Frodo quips in the last chapter of the second book, during this very same discussion.
- Least Is First:
- Bilbo (who's an aged hobbit and in no condition to undertake such a journey) offers to take the One Ring—an artifact known to corrupt its wielders and very sought after by the Big Bad Sauron—since he figures he started the whole thing. Gandalf praises him but remarks he's being silly, Sauron is the one who started all this, and no one can hold Bilbo accountable. As they can't reach a decision (and inspired by Bilbo), Frodo offers to take it, which prompts the rest of the Fellowship to form when Sam says he will not be going alone.
- Downplayed because while Frodo is the least experienced in terms of combat and travel, what the council is worried about is the Ring's corruption. Hobbits seem especially resistant to it, Frodo in particular. So he was the natural choice for this quest. The rest were just accompanying him to deal with general mayhem along the way.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: The Lady Galadriel looks each of the Fellowship in the eyes, and during this she tests their resolve to go forward.Sam: She seemed to be looking inside me and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back home to the Shire to a nice little hole with a bit of garden of my own.
- Legendary Weapon: Narsil is the legendary sword that was forged in the First Age by a famous dwarven smith, wielded by Elendil til it broke, and then used by Isildur to cut off Sauron's ring finger at the end of the Second Age. It lay as a historical relic in Rivendell for three thousand years, then was reforged under the name Andúril at the end of the Third Age to fulfill one of the ancient prophecies.
- Lemony Narrator: Mostly in the early chapters in the Shire and till Bree; again in the later chapters on the way back. Denotes a shift of sorts from the semi-Shakespearean lands of High Fantasy to the more convivial, personal fairy-tale atmosphere of The Hobbit.
- The change of tone also has an in-story explanation: Most of the Red Book is Frodo's work, but the first few chapters were written by Bilbo and the last few were written by Sam.
- The Lightfooted: In The Fellowship of the Ring, when the Fellowship is trapped by a blizzard while trying to go through the Redhorn Gate, Legolas is able to run lightly on top of the snow without making much imprint on it.Legolas: "But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and leaf or over snow-an Elf."With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow."Farewell!' he said to Gandalf. 'I go to find the Sun!' Then swift as a runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men, with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and vanished round the rocky turn.
- Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: The series fairly straightforwardly associates the heroes with light and the villains with darkness, despite some instances of Light Is Not Good. The heroes are guided by Gandalf the White and aided by Galadriel, the Lady of Light, who gives Frodo a phial who can light up dark places. Meanwhile, Sauron rules over shadowy, dark Mordor and Gollum revels in the anonymity of darkness.
- A Light in the Distance: The Will-o'-the-Wisps seen in the Dead Marshes.
- Light Is Not Good: In the context of Tolkien's mythos, the Sun is not good for the elves, who see it as symbolic of the triumph of men over them (it is outright stated that the Sun symbolises the waning of the elves, and Galadriel implies that they see the dawn in the same way mankind sees the dusk - as symbolic of the end). The Elves frankly prefer the stars, which at least were already around when they were created.
- Saruman the White is a traitor to the factions opposing Sauron and is ultimately revealed as a petty, vindictive man. However, he also downplays it a bit: His declaration that he is now "Saruman of Many Colours" is part of what gives away his Face–Heel Turn.
- The will-o'-the-wisps in the Dead Marshes are flashes of light that can mislead travelers to a watery grave.
- Line in the Sand: Before the battle at the Black Gate.
- Load-Bearing Boss: Justified in a roundabout way. The fall of Barad-dûr coincides with Sauron's death, because it was built impossibly high by using the Ring to magically strengthen its foundations. Once the Ring was destroyed, the spells woven with it were shattered, and the Tower couldn't stand.
- Loophole Abuse: A double example is responsible for the downfall of the Lord of the Nazgul. The elf Glorfindel restrains a hot-blooded human king from pursuing the Witch-King, counseling him "Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of Man shall he fall." Two thousand years later, the now Lord of the Nazgul is on the Pelennor battlefield, reminding a lowly warrior of Rohan of this destiny. Dernhelm then takes off "his" helmet and shakes out her hair and announces herself as female. Assisted by a (male) Hobbit who has passed under the radar, she downs the Witch-King...
- Loser Has Your Back: Sam Gamgee is with Frodo all the way to Mount Doom, and through Character Development, ends up having the real heroic arc of the story, according to
Word of God. (Frodo's journey becomes more that of a shaman than a hero.) - Losing the Team Spirit:
- This happens to the fellowship when Gandalf falls in Moria. Even though Gandalf returns from the dead early in The Two Towers Frodo and Sam don't find out until after the quest is over! Aragorn manages to pull them together long enough to get them to safety in Lorien.
- Even then, Aragorn takes a while before he feels comfortable enough in the leader position. How long? Three weeks in Lorien, another week and a half sailing down the Anduin, and the sheer chaos that comes at Amon Hen - Boromir dies, Merry and Pippin are captured by the Uruk-Hai, and Frodo and Sam make use of the resulting chaos of the orc invasion to slip off the other side of the Emyn Muil. Only then does Aragorn start to get some of his fire back to help rescue Merry and Pippin, having accepted Boromir's death and final wishes and realizing Frodo's own intention to not drag the entire group into danger.
- Once Sauron realizes that Frodo has claimed the Ring for his own, he immediately shifts his attention away from the battle he is overseeing, abandoning his troops to their own devices. Without his will driving them the Orcs become a disorganized and cowardly rabble.
- Lost in Translation: In-universe example. When reading the inscription on the doors to Moria, Gandalf translates the phrase pedo mellon a minno to "Speak, friend, and enter", and interprets it to mean "if you are a friend, say the password out loud and the door opens". He then spends hours trying every manner of password, until he realizes he's made a bad translation. The phrase is in fact "Say 'friend' and enter", and the password is the Elvish word for "friend", mellon.
- Lost Language: In The Fellowship of the Ring, when Gandalf talks at the Council of Elrond about trying to find information about the One Ring in the ancient archive of Minas Tirith, he mentions how the language of Gondor has changed since the city was founded, and now even most of the lore masters cannot read the oldest documents in the archives. Naturally, that's where Gandalf finds the information that he needs.
- Love Hungry: What Galadriel would become under the influence of the One Ring.
