TOLKIEN MEETS AMINO ACIDS

TAVISHI

I recently went through the pleasure of rewatching Lord of the Rings with my brother, Yash, and I have found myself, once again, truly enamored with Tolkien's characters. And thus, I've decided to take the task upon myself of assigning LOTR characters to amino acids! FRODO BAGGINS: TRYPTOPHAN Let's start off strong with Frodo Baggins, who's watching us from wherever he is in Valinor (I don't actually understand how Valinor works, but oh well.) Frodo was, actually, one of my least favorite characters of LOTR. He felt dry compared to the rest, albeit being a ring-bearer. But while he did make us all pretty sleepy, he was very important to all of our hearts. And Frodo, for his ring-bearing, earns himself a ring or two... haha.

BILBO BAGGINS: PHENYLALANINE

I like Bilbo significantly more than Frodo. But I can chalk this up to the immense character development he experienced. Also, I relate to him on matters of cheese. But Bilbo does not earn the title of tyrosine, albeit being a ring-bearer.

GANDALF THE GREY: TYROSINE

Gandalf is so utterly goated, that naturally, he deserves the title of tyrosine. Gandalf himself does have a ring, but is so much more fun than phenylalanine and tryptophan. And as a character, Gandalf SCREAMS polar. And as a precursor to epinephrine, Gandalf brings adventure with him to each generation of Baggins. And also, he killed a Balrog, although I did like the Balrog. Poor Gandalf puts up with too much, between the dwarves in the Hobbit and the Fellowship... Tyrosine earned.

GALADRIEL: ALANINE I love Galadriel. She's wonderful. But she's also... really old. Which is more than fine, it's cool. But she's been here for so long, and thus, in accordance with the Alanine World Hypothesis, naturally, she is alanine.

BOROMIR (RIP): HISTIDINE Boromir and Faramir both deserved better (we don't like Denethor in this household...). But the death of Boromir was truly a heartbreaking scene to see. Although at first glance I wasn't fond of Boromir, I was able to see that he was the way he was in order to protect Gondor, which loyalty I can laud. But a reminder of Boromir has got me sniffling and tearing up, just as histamines, for which histidine is a precursor, do.

GIMLI: GLYCINE

Gimli is a dwarf. He is small (just like glycine!) and does not sit quite right with me, although I do like him. He is very... off balance and passionate. Which is fun, but indicative of achirality.

MERRY AND PIPPIN: ISOLEUCINE AND LEUCINE

The two are similar in size and appearance, but when you look critically at the two, don't always share the same characteristics. (Above is isoleucine, Merry, and below is leucine, Pippin.)

SAMWISE GAMGEE: VALINE

Samwise Gamgee is so utterly sweet and wonderful. He is one of my favorite characters- I love how loyal he is, and above all else, I value his adoration for potatoes. Samwise Gamgee is 1000% a nonpolar character, just for how unproblematic he is. But even more, as strange as it sounds, I associate valine with maple syrup urine disease. And thus, Samwise Gamgee's sweetness earns himself valine.

SAURON: METHIONINE I know I'm supposed to like methionine, but I simply cannot. While Gandalf is old, being a Maia, Sauron is so old. And I suppose it is fitting thus that I assign him the start codon amino acid. Furthermore, as silly as it sounds, I've always assumed Mordor reeks of sulfur (See: Mount Doom is volcano.) And within methionine, you can find sulfur. I also just despise methionine.