1. The Archetypes of the Fisher King
and the Wasteland

2. "One does not simply walk into Mordor
"One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren Wasteland, riddled with fire, ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume."

3. The story of the Fisher King comes out of
Arthurian legend.

4. Characteristics of the myth: The Fisher King
Married to the landwhat happens to the “King” (modern incarnations: CEO, president, famous person) happens to the land and its people
If the King suffers, the land suffers
If the King heals, the land prospers
Responsible for the future of the kingdom

5. The Wound
The king suffers in some way / is rendered impotent or sterile, incapable of leading his people
The wound (a blight) serves as a reminder of his greed or misguided priorities and contributes to the infertility of the land, hindering the progress of his people or culture.

6. The Abode A castle in traditional texts Often made of gray stone
Place associated with the grail

7. The Wasteland A “dead” land, filled with suffering and despair.
In modern times, the Wasteland can be a metaphor for modern apathy or it can symbolize
social and moral decay
a barren, desolate place, incapable of sustaining life
the psychological wounding of a culture (ex., the Lost Generation).

8. The “Dead Marshes” of WWI
In the Dead Marshes of Mordor

9. Isengard
The Gardens of Isengard (before)
(after)

10. Mordor

11. The Wasteland as metaphor for World War I
T.S. Eliot - perhaps most famous modernist poet
Wrote “The Waste Land” about the destruction of European culture and the desolation of the landscape after WWI
Like Nietzsche and Tolkien, Eliot looked to ancient myth to address modern despair
Like Tolkien, religious.
The White Tree of the King of Gondor

12. What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
  20
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
  25
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
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