JRR Tolkien's work
The Lord of the Rings may seem at first to be a tale of endless descriptions of walking, brief accounts of battles and a lot of overbearing background information that the average reader does not know. I agree that this is true, however, when one looks deeper into the novel itself it becomes much richer and more fulfilling. In this abstract I will talk about Tolkiens use of guides throughout the trilogy and how that has changed from his earlier works.
Gandalf is the archetypal guide. He is old, wize and patient, though he has a penchant for mischieve. Many have described Gandalf as a Merlin like character. Though I agree with this on a superficial level, I disagree with it on the whole. Gandalf is Tolkien's first use of Dantean guide. Gandalf much like Virgil has the knowledge and experience to overcome most of the obstacles that greet the fellowship during the first part of their journey.
But Gandalf is just one guide that Frodo has throughout the novel, indeed he is never without one and sometimes has several. The second guide that Frodo has during hisquest to destroythe one ring is Gollum. Gollum possessess unique geographical knowledge of how to get to and enter Mordor. Gollum even adds a certain dramatic element as he has an internal struggle of whether to follow Frodo, who sees the core seed of good in him, or follow his lustings for the ring.
The final guide that Frodo has during the course of the novel is Samwise Gamgee. Sam provides Frodo with a moral guide. Frodo sees his own innocence and purity of heart reflected in Sam when the ring tries to manipulate Frodo for its own preservation and restoration into the hands of Sauron.
The fact that Frodo has a guide at all is a distinct break from Tolkien's speciality which was in Nordic literature. In Nordic literature the hero must survive any and all obstacles based on his own knowledge, wit and toughness. This form of epic literature was clearly found in Tolkien's
Silmarillion, which was published last but written first. In this book all of the heroes, individual and whole species, must fend for themselves in their adventures with no or very little outside interference. This changes in
The Hobbit. Tolkien, for whatever reason, switches to a hybrid version of an epic novel. Bilbo has a guide, in the form of Gandalf, for geographical and historic purposes but is left alone for all great physical and moral dangers, think of his encounter with Gollum and his decision to parlay at the end of the novel. Finally, Tolkien switches completely to the Deantean model of the epic in which the hero has a guide.
By mixing his use of guides Tolkien shows that there is more complexity to his work than may appear on an initial reading of the book.