Highlights
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The Lord of the Rings
explores the fight between good and evil, with dark characters on both sides facing redemption or descent. - Frodo’s journey reflects the burden of the One Ring, with Sam playing a crucial role in his salvation from the darkness.
- Characters like Boromir, Gollum, and Shelob show different facets of evil in Tolkien’s world, with redemption as a rare possibility.
Considering that J. R. R. Tolkien was an idealist and a romantic, and his work is uplifting and hopeful for the most part, there’s still a lot of darkness in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien wasn’t afraid to face the problem of evil, and many of his characters embody the fight between good and bad in everyone.
The three books that make up The Lord of the Rings Trilogy have a clear dichotomy of evil versus good, but there are dark characters on both sides. Some of them walk the path of darkness but can return thanks to the power of love and friendship, while others descend into the shadows and are lost forever.
6 Frodo Baggins
The One Ring Gave Him A Wound That Never Fully Healed
In the Peter Jackson movies, Frodo has a more obvious character arc than in the books, starting as an enthusiastic traveler but slowly being worn down by his heavy burden. He becomes darker and more isolated as the story progresses, reflecting the power the One Ring would have even on a humble hobbit.
Frodo’s separation from Sam is his lowest point, and his soul might have been lost too, if Sam had not carried the ring for a while. Sam would also literally carry both Frodo and the Ring up to the caves of Mount Doom, and even then, it was only because of Gollum’s intervention that the Ringbearer was saved from a fiery fate.
5 Boromir
Presented Both The Weakness & Strength Of Men
Boromir was under a lot of pressure. Waking up every morning in Minus Trith means getting a clear view of the distant clouds growing over Mordor, so unlike other characters who lived in faraway, places, the threat of the Dark Lord was a shadow over everything in his daily life. That includes his relationships with his father and brother along with his political and social connections.
Boromir is famous for falling under the power of the Ring and trying to take it from Frodo, even trying to bargain that he would only borrow it for a short time. Boromir’s last pursuit of Frodo, who puts on the Ring and escapes, is a chilling episode of greedy madness that the son of Denethor could never take back. He was able to redeem himself, however, a chance that dark characters don’t always get.
4 Gollum
A Physical Manifestation Of The One Ring’s Corruption
Can we blame the power of the One Ring, or was the urge to murder near the surface of Smeagol’s thoughts the whole time? Tolkien seems to believe that nobody is born inherently bad and that it takes a touch of evil to push a person into darkness, but the character of Gollum might have been evil from the very start.
The story of his first meeting with Bilbo in The Hobbit makes him more benign, even whimsical, but when he appears again in Fellowship, he’s a villain in the thrall of other, more powerful villains. Gollum might be one of the more sympathetic characters in the Lord of the Rings books, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t evil, and his ultimate end is one of perfect karma and bitter irony.
3 Shelob
A Giant Spider Who Paralyzes & Eats Anyone Who Ventures Into Her Lair
In the earliest days of creation, two trees filled the world with gold and silver light, and The Silmarillion tells the story of how they were destroyed by Melkor and his accomplice, a giant spider named Ungoliant. Legend has it that her descendants found a home in the mountains that surrounded Mordor, and Shelob is likely one of them.
Tolkien connects this creature to the one that consumed the Two Trees, so this isn’t just a fan theory. Instead of the heroes of lore, however, it’s just two hobbits versus one of the story’s darkest characters. Luckily, a combination of Sting, the magic of Galadriel’s vial, and Sam’s raw courage illuminated the dark caves, and although Shelob might not be dead she won’t be threatening weary travelers anymore.
2 The Witch King
The Leader of the Evil Ringwraiths
If Sauron was Melkor’s right hand, then the Witch-king of Angmar was the right hand of Sauron. The Black Riders were the kings of men who accepted the rings from Sauron as a gift, only to be turned into Ringwraiths, and the Witch-king was their leader. He was so powerful that it was said no mortal men could kill him.
The Witch-king tracked the hobbits to Weathertop and wounded the Ringbearer, but was driven away by Strider and ultimately rebuffed by the power of Elrond. He would reappear later to attack Minas Tirith, but it was at this final battle that the true nature of the prophecy would be revealed and he was slain by Emowyn, a shieldmaiden of Rohan.
1 Sauron
The Darkest Of All, Who Was Once A Being Of Light
Sauron began as a Maia, the same order of higher beings as Gandalf, and the Vala that he served was Aule, the same as Saruman. Eventually, however, he fell under the spell of Morgoth, another Vala of immense power. Morgoth had already been confined to the void when The Fellowship of the Rings began, but Sauron had taken his place as the most terrifying villain in Middle-earth.
In the years before the War of the Ring, Sauron oversaw the Downfall of Númenor by replacing the religion of the Valar with a cult that worshipped Morgoth. Years later, he forged the rings as gifts while making the One Ring in secret that would control all the others. When the One Ring was destroyed, his spirit faded with it, never again to darken the skies of Middle-earth.
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