To most viewers, The Lord of the Rings series is simply just an action-packed trilogy filled with mythical creatures and a daunting quest, but I believe that the series encompasses much more than meets the eye, though I may be biased since the movies are some of my favorite ever. Hiding behind the veil of sword fighting and enchanted rings is a layer of life lessons, some visible to viewers while others are buried more deeply as if trying to get you to peel back multiple layers of the cinematic onion these movies represent.

A very apparent theme present with this popular trilogy is loyalty. Loyalty between life-long friends, and a group of new, unsuspecting friends as the fellowship of the ring, a group designed to carry out the task of destroying the ring, is formed. They lean on each other through tough times, carry each other over obstacles, and never leave each other behind no matter what. That express all of the loyalty required in a true friendship.The characters model the concept of never giving up. They push through the hardest struggles and climb over the highest mountains to achieve their goal, and though the struggle is not applicable to real life, their perseverance is. The most unsuspecting characters in this series carry the biggest loads, allowing for the cliche "don't judge a book by its cover" to be apparent as many people doubt Frodo will able to finish the journey he was sent on because of what he is, a hobbit, but he pushes through and proves all of those who doubted him wrong. Never doubt someone because of their appearance as everyone has a warrior within them.

The idea that you can explore all you want, but will ultimately come back to what you desire and who you truly are is shown in the dim light, but it is apparent in the characters, accepting who they are and believing in themselves which Aragorn learns to do once he accepts that he is meant to be king. They fight for love and never give up on it because giving up on love will only leave you with regrets of what could've and should've been, and no one wants to live a life of regrets, which is what occurs between Aragorn and Arwen.

"Be true to who you are" is a big idea within the series as the characters struggle with greed and desires that can change who they are, but ultimately overcome these urges for staying true to the person they want to be in life. The idea to never let someone else poison your thoughts, present through Saruman's taking over the mind of many and imploring them to join him in his quest for power, is only a small concept apparent in the series, as well as the idea of having your own thoughts, beliefs and free will is very important to being who you are and who you will ultimately become. Anything is possible, even when you don't believe it is an idea that can be seen throughout the entire series as the characters push themselves to their breaking points, and as hard as they can to achieve what they want, as Frodo does when he destorys the ring and the great evil that accompanied it.

To me, The Lord of the Rings series is more than just a fantasy series centered around the image of a ring representing the greediness of mankind, and instead teaches life lessons that one should always carry around with them.