The Lord of the Rings/Tropes G-I


 * Tropes from The Lord of the Rings (the book)


 * Tropes A-C -- Tropes D-F -- Tropes J-L -- Tropes M-O -- Tropes P-R -- Tropes S-U -- Tropes V-Z

Tropes G-I
"Gollum: There are only four fingers on the Black Hand, but they are enough."
 * Gaia's Lament: The Scouring of the Shire.
 * Gaia's Vengeance: Fangorn and the Last March of the Ents
 * Genius Loci: Probably many, but Caradhras is perhaps the most active.
 * Gentleman Adventurer - Bilbo and Frodo
 * Ghibli Hills: Most of Middle-earth fits, especially in the films.
 * Giant Flyer: The Ringwraiths' flying steeds, and the Eagles.
 * Giant Spider - Shelob.
 * Go Back to the Source: Frodo returning the One Ring to Mordor, its place of creation, in order to destroy it,
 * God in Human Form: The group of so-called "wizards", while appearing as old human men, are actually five Maiar, a kind of angelic spirit, who are themselves incorporeal but can usually clothe themselves in any form they like. The five have been sent on a mission to help the peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron, during which they are bound in their physical form, unable to change it, and also limited in their powers and knowledge.
 * God's Hands Are Tied: The Valar, mainly because the last time they tried to intervene directly whole continents were destroyed.
 * Good Hurts Evil: Shout A Elbereth, Gilthoniel at a Nazgul and watch them writhe in agony.
 * Good Is Not Dumb: Frodo makes it very clear to Gollum that he is well aware that Gollum is trying to think of a way to betray the hobbits and take back the ring. Sam is surprised at this because he had assumed Frodo was far too good a person to be able to understand deception and treachery. Sam admits that he (and probably Gollum as well) "had confused kindness with blindness."
 * Good Is Not Nice: Denethor. Also, Frodo threatening Gollum.
 * Gandalf himself, who has a short temper and a caustic sense of humor.
 * Grail in the Garbage: How both Bilbo and Gollum acquired the One Ring.
 * Green-Eyed Monster: Smeagol got these when Deagol found the Ring
 * Guilt-Free Extermination War: the humans and elves vs the armies of Mordor.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Elrond and his family are half-elven, Aragorn's ancestors had elven blood (his ancestor was Elrond's brother), and the Uruk-hai are rumoured to be part-human part-orc.
 * Actually, if you trace the bloodlines of the Númenorians back to Lúthien and then look at HER parents, you find that her father was an Elf Lord and her Mother was a Maia. As such, Aragorn, Elrond and company are part spirit/angel as well as elf.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Saruman Hannibal Lectures all of his triumphant enemies, and all are swayed by the power of his voice; likewise, the Riders of Rohan (except for Theoden, as it happens) are wholly overcome by it, while Pippin is particularly shamed. Gandalf breaks the effect by.
 * Gríma Wormtongue is a student of Saruman's, and earlier uses similar Hannibal Lecture techniques on Theoden to render him helpless and hopeless against Saruman, and on Eowyn in order to break her resolve and drive her to desperation.
 * Happy Fun Ball: The Ring
 * Warning: Prolonged use of the One Ring may cause one to become obsessive compulsive, immortal, or schizophrenic. Finger loss may occur in certain circumstances.
 * Hate Plague: The Ring
 * Have a Gay Old Time: Most obvious is the abundant uses of 'queer', which is rarely used to describe something strange any more. Some material also falls into Separated by a Common Language, since in parts of the world the term 'faggots' isn't any longer used to represent bundles of wood. Also, though it doesn't come up in the book, Celeborn's alternate name is the hilarious Teleporno.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: Saruman and Denethor, via the Palantir. Sauron looked back.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Sauron himself.


 * Healing Hands: Aragorn, as well as Elrond and other powerful Elves.
 * Healing Potion: The Uruk-hai use this with Merry. It tastes awful, of course, but it gives him enough energy to keep up without being dragged.
 * The steam of boiled athelas deserves a mention here as well. It's particularly powerful when used by Aragorn.
 * There's also miruvor which is a cordial of Elven-brew that peps you up significantly.
 * Hellish Pupils: The Eye of Sauron is yellow and has a slitted pupil.
 * Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Aragorn shows up to the Battle of the Pelennor Fields wearing a diadem (a royal heirloom of Arnor) instead of a helmet. Averted in an early draft, though, as originally he wore a proper helmet with a crown attached.
 * Herald: Gandalf, of the Harbinger of Impending Doom variety.
 * Here There Were Dragons: To us the War of the Ring takes place in such a world. To the characters, the earlier Ages were this.
 * Heroic Lineage: Elrond and Aragorn are descended from many of the Elven and Human heroes/protagonists from earlier Ages.
 * To lesser extents, Legolas, Gimli, Boromir, and even Pippin.
 * Hero of Another Story: There are hints of adventures that the other members of the fellowship had before meeting the hobbits at Rivendell, such as Aragorn's capture of Gollum, or Gandalf's escape from the Ringwraiths. At one point Sam wonders if Gollum thinks he's the hero of his own story.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Frodo and Sam, Gimli and Legolas, Merry and Pippin.
 * Hidden Elf Village: Rivendell, Lothlorien.
 * Though interestingly enough, the Shire rather than any elf haven is the closest to this example. Along with being generally unknown to most of the world, they also generally don't bother themselves whatsoever with outside business.
 * High Fantasy: One of the most notable examples of the genre.
 * Hiss Before Fleeing: Grima does this, along with spitting before King Theoden's feet, before returning to Isengard.
 * Hobbits: Trope Namer and Trope Codifier
 * Honour Before Reason: The Three Hunters, who are determined to reach Merry and Pippin after their capture even if it is simply to sit down and starve with them. The various people who spared Gollum's life also apply, since letting him loose was much more dangerous than outright killing him, but in the end this illogical act pays off, since Gollum is crucial in the saving of Middle-Earth.
 * Hope Is Scary: Eomer's reaction to learning that Eowyn was still alive.
 * The Horde: Orcs
 * Horsing Around: Rest in peace, King Leod.
 * Humans Are Special: Interesting twist on this, because the whole thing usually revolves around either their negative qualities or their mortality.
 * Hyde Plays Jekyll
 * I Am Not Shazam: The "Lord of the Ring(s)" is Sauron. People get it wrong and are corrected in the book, as well as in real life.
 * I Am X, Son of Y: Modern-style family names are only used in the Shire and Bree-land. Everyone else works with patronymics.
 * I Call It Vera: In spades...which are probably also named. Justified in that the myths that the book is based on do this as well.
 * I Can Still Fight: Éowyn tries this.
 * I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Mt. Doom and Mordor, among other places.
 * I Have Many Names: Gandalf, Aragorn, the Witch-king, and Sauron all have many names.
 * Gandalf, called Mithrandir by the Elves, Tharkun by Dwarves, and Olorin in the West as an example.
 * Iconic Characters: "Frodo Lives!"
 * Also, Gandalf, who beat out Merlin in a "most iconic characters" poll in Britain once. And that was before the films...
 * I'm a Humanitarian: In the films, orcs will kill and eat one of their own if there's no other food. Averted in the novels where they express disgust at the thought of eating orc-flesh, but they rather enjoy eating humans.
 * Inferred Holocaust: The Entwives, who lived in what is now the Brown Lands, after a campaign by Sauron.
 * They're Just Hiding is Treebeard's hopeful attitude, which is possibly backed up by a hobbit mentioning a "walking tree" in the north of the Shire.
 * Immortality Inducer: This is one of the powers of the One Ring, as experienced by Gollum. It is also implied that any of the greater Rings of Power would have this effect on mortals, such as the nine held by the Nazgul.
 * Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Elves in JRR Tolkien's works are almost invariably described as being good looking. The three best looking females in Middle-earth are all Elves. The Valar also count, although they cheat, since their bodies are artificial and custom-made, so their beauty is limited only by ego and imagination.
 * In Mysterious Ways: According to Tolkien's letters, the trilogy is partially about Iluvatar's guidance. It's only explicitly mentioned a few times, and none of God's names are ever even spoken; nevertheless, one could make a long list of the many, many suspiciously fortunate "coincidences" in the story -- some very small, but ALL of which lead toward Sauron's downfall and the victory of the West.
 * Industrialized Evil: Mordor and Isengard.
 * Instant Plunder, Just Add Pirates: The corsairs of Umbar.
 * Invisible Jerkass: Gollum was this when he first found the Ring.
 * It May Help You on Your Quest: Here, take this phial... and this other stuff that will be important later. You Will Know What to Do.
 * It's for a Book: Excuse used by Frodo for his traveling to Bree. Not to mention, of course, the fact that he ended up writing about the whole quest in a book.
 * It Sucks to Be the Chosen One - Like crazy for Frodo, though Aragorn and Gandalf both get a bit of this as well.
 * It Was a Gift: Quite a few, including that small, completely insignificant trinket Bilbo gave to Frodo...
 * Of course, the fact that Bilbo gave away his "trinket" explicitly as a gift meant it kept very little hold on his mind after it left his possession. Compare what losing the same trinket did to Gollum.