The Nature of Evil

Tolkien makes the face of evil apparent throughout The Fellowship of the Ring. Symbols follow the common stereotypes associated with evil: covered in black/darkness, dangerous, ugly and malicious. The Black Riders are the first introduction into the face of evil and they follow these trends so that there is no doubt of their true nature. The one ring symbolizes the most powerful evil prescience within the novel. Sauron has encompassed almost all of his own power within the ring; and it is therefore one of the most destructive things in the book. The reader notices that it creates evil inside the mind of its wearer and all those who come too close to it. Frodo almost leaves his friends through the influence of the ring, something he would never have considered otherwise. Bilbo Baggins is so overcome by the power that he grows malicious...