LOTR and the Imperius Curse

[Amy Z]

Betty posted to HPforGU:

> While I was reading Lord of
> the Rings, a thought crossed my mind that related to GoF.  If the
> emperius curse had existed in Tolkien's world, which characters 
would
> have been most and least likely to resist it?  That is, which 
characters
> would be most likely to be controled by the emperius curse and which
> would be most likely to resist it?

It's funny that this never struck me before, but the Ring is a lot 
like the Imperius curse--or the other way around, to give credit where 
credit is due.  So I think we get a good idea of who would resist it 
best by the way they respond to the temptations of the Ring.

-Bilbo is easily controlled.  He never does acknowledge to himself how 
much power the Ring has had over him, nor how it's affected his life 
(lengthened it and "thinned it out" also).

-Frodo is someone whom we see resist it and be controlled by it.  As 
with the Imperius, is this a measure of his own strength of self and 
will?  Frodo is very grounded, in a way that goes beyond pride or 
humility--like Harry.  He knows who he is.  I don't think Frodo would 
be easy to control with the Imperius; you'd have to control him with 
fear, as the Ring does.

-Boromir would be vulnerable to it for the same reasons he's tempted 
by the Ring:  he has a strong need to prove himself, he's proud and 
envious, he's even a little racist in a really pathetic, jingoistic 
way (i.e. Men are the worthies, Hobbits laughable).  He's one of the 
most interesting characters IMO (along with his father, Denethor), and 
he is a good person, but there's a weakness at the core that seems 
like just the kind of weakness that makes people easy to control with 
the I.C.

-If you're looking at inner strength, I'd say Sam would stand up very 
well.  He, even more than Frodo maybe, knows who he is.  He 
exemplifies what Tolkien sees in the Hobbits--why they are the ones 
fated to destroy this thing after all its travels amongst humans and 
elves:  they are very simple, grounded folk.  Kind of annoyingly 
bourgeois (all that talk of food and baccy at crucial junctures--I 
want to shake them and say "will you be serious for ONE SECOND?! this 
is the fate of the earth we're talking about!"), but the up side of 
that is that they're very solid.

-Gollum is just the opposite of Sam in this way--he's filled with 
self-hatred and belongs nowhere.  (Though he resists the Ring strongly 
at times, remarkably so considering how long he owned it.)  I imagine 
him resisting the I.C. as he resists the Ring--in irregular bouts, 
giving in completely at other times.

-Aragorn?  Yawn.  He's such a dull character that I hate to give him 
any credit.  I have to admit he'd probably stand up well to the I.C., 
though.

One of the neat things about LOTR is that no one is so noble as to be 
immune to the Ring's influence.  Gandalf feels it strongly enough to 
order Frodo not to tempt him.  Those who have the best intentions are 
aware that their wish to use the Ring's power for good ends is their 
greatest temptation, and one that could bring about their downfall.  
Off the top of my head, of those whom Frodo offers the Ring or who 
otherwise have the opportunity to take it, only Galadriel seems 
untempted.  When you know her whole story (i.e. the stuff from the 
Silmarillion), this is very moving.  She's given into evil before, and 
learned the hard way how to resist it.  Kind of like Snape!  Now those 
are two characters I'd never have put together in my head . . . !  I 
don't know how Snape would hold up against the Imperius, but I'm 
guessing he would resist it very well.  It must have taken incredible 
strength of will and strength of self, as well as physical courage, to 
break away from the DEs and Voldemort.  

Amy Z