Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Volume 3 Number 3 Article 28

9-2-2002

The Moral Mythmaker: The Creative Theology of J. R. R. Tolkien The Moral Mythmaker: The Creative Theology of J. R. R. Tolkien

Paul Nolan Hyde

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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Hyde, Paul N. "The Moral Mythmaker: The Creative Theology of J. R. R. Tolkien." Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel 3, no. 3 (2002). https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/re/vol3/iss3/28

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professor john ronald reuel tolkien 189219731892 1973 the author of the hobbit and thelord of the rings

by getty images inc used by permission

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the moral mythmakerthe creative theology ofJ K RK tolkienpaul nolan hyde

paul nolan hyde is an institute instructor at the orem utah institute of religion

shortly after the theatrical release othe lord of the rings thefellowship of the ring inin december 2001 richard neitzelholzapfel encouraged me to write an article regarding the lord ofthe rings and its application to the latterdaylatter day saint classroom whileI1 believe that the proper atmospbereforatmosphere for teaching literature is in the lit-erature classroom I1 am keenly aware of the popularity of the works of

JJ R R tolkien and their potential applicability to the teaching ofgospel principles I1 have observed however that most of my students arenot clear as to why they enjoy the stories of middle earth and whatdraws them into this particular world of fantasy my remarks areintended to introduce teachers to some of the reasons behind the natu-ral gravitation of their students to tolkiensTolkiens works the youth of thechurch ofjesusof jesus christ of latterdaylatter day saints are sensitive to true prin-ciples and they nellwillwillfondwillfindsindfindssnd the truths of eternity in the writings osgoodofgoodof soodgoodsoofpeople not every man who has written his mind or has hafhadbad his workspublished or has been lauded by the academics of the world has been agood man john ronald reuel tomkeintolkeinTolkein however is one of the best As

to whether every teacher in the church educational system ought toread the hobbit and the lord of the rings I1 will say no morethan to repeat my oftquotedoft quoted advice with a bit of a wry smile A manis not truly educated until hebe has v

A personal introduction

thirtyfivethirty five years ago shortly after I1 returned home from a missionto southern mexico a friend introduced me to the writings ofofjofaJ R Rtolkien I1 began with the nobbit the socalledso called prequelpremuel to the lord ofthe rings ten days later I1 put down the return of the king hungering

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for more and there was no more I1 scoured the bookstores fortolkiensTolkiens poetry and prose and joyfully found the tolkien readersmith ofofwootenwooten major farmer giles of ham the adventures of tombombadilBom badil and the lovely leaf by niggle yet of hobbits and elves I1

could learn nothing more As a result of what I1 considered to be a lit-erary dearth I1 returned to the original four volumes and devouredthem again and again each reading revealed aspects of the narrativethat I1 had missed each reading increased the hunger for whatever itwas that tolkiensTolkiens works had addicted me to I1 am not sure that I1could have articulated what it was I1 desired I1 knew only that the desirewithin me was waiting impatiently to be satisfied

in an act of desperation I1 began to do what I1 would now term a

survey of literature I1 perused the periodical indices subsequentlymaking copies of every news article I1 could find on tolkien and his cre-ations in the process I1 learned of tolkiensTolkiens affection for the writingsof george macdonald william morris H rider haggard and othernineteenthcenturynineteenth century fantasists in short order I1 discovered for myselfthat my tastes ran in the same channel my personal library began togrow I1 learned of tolkiensTolkiens intimate friendships with C S lewischarles williams and the other oxford inklings as they styledthemselves my reading of the chronicles of narnia and the pere

landra trilogy began a lifelong love of lewiss narrative gift and led meultimately to his outwardly theological writings at which I1 wasawestruckawe struck williamss the place of the lion and the greater trumps eftcftleftleffaftme spellbound and I1 could not desist until I1 had acquired all oftolkiensTolkiens scant corpus of published works my bookshelves smiledmore and more deeply at the discovery of each of these literary andpersonal companions that graced tolkiensTolkiens life

As I1 probed into his history I1 became aware of his academic background I1 learned of his love of the english language in all of itspermutations his native gift for language acquisition and his scholarlygrasp of the historical development of language I1 had long been awareof and fascinated with the runic systems of the hobbit and the lord ofthe rings together with the elvish scripts in all their varieties I1 beganto realize that these along with the various invented linguistic piecesof poetry and dialogue were not merely creative frosting but were partof a vast seamless panorama from which the stories had been takenthe more I1 became aware of his professional pursuits the more I1

became intrigued by the obvious connection between the real worldand the world of middle earth I1 sensed that no true appreciation ofwhat tolkien had accomplished in his writings could ever materialize

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 153

unless I1 understood the fountain from which their creation sprang socompellingly did this realization strike me that I1 changed majors at thetime I1 began my masters program I1 had been a spanish major I1

would now delve into the mysteries of english language and linguis-tics A year after I1 completed this advanced degree I1 mourned thedeath of john ronald reuel tolkien a man whom I1 had never met butwhom I1 had come to know intimately

tolkien the scholar1scholarscholars1

tolkien was born 3 january 1892 in bloemfonteinBloem fontein south africato arthur and mabel tolkien emigrants from birmingham englandhis father worked as the bank manager for the bank of africa in theorange free state by february 1896 however ronald tolkien andhis younger brother hillary were fatherless their mother returned toengland with her sons in the summer of 1896 but died of diabeteseight years later the two boys were raised by relatives under the guidance of a local parish priest their mother having been received into thecatholic church four years before her death john ronald followed a

course of study at king edwards school where he clearly manifestedan aptitude for languages first with latin and greek and later withwelsh french and german although tolkiensTolkiens linguistic gift helpedhim learn ancient and foreign languages his mind gravitated towardthe reasons why languages were as they were how and why they differedcered he studied philology and in due time discovered anglo saxonand the epic beowulf and from thence to middle english and sirgawain and the green knigbtknight he then turned to old norse and theelder and youngertounger eddas the literary treasures of iceland in his finalyear at king edwards he discovered the Kakalapalalavala the principaldepository of finnish mythology

his love of language motivated him to create languages of hisown sometimes in collaboration with cousins and friends using english greek french spanish and latin elements as the building blocksfor the phonetics and vocabulary his first serious language inventionhowever evolved from his study of gothic the sole survivor of theeast germanic family of languages he created words and phrases inthe gothic manner and then proposed etymologies that would linkthem to extant vocabulary or to languages of more ancient date in1912 he abandoned gothic as the catalyst and turned to finnishfrom which would develop the family of elvish languages with whichmost readers of tolkiensTolkiens works have become familiar quenyaquenda in par-ticularti A variety of language permutations would develop as tolkien

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incorporated linguistic principles from welsh and other exotic languagesproducing sindarinsindayinSindarin laiquendi moriquendi and others nearly fortylanguages in all

in december 1910 tolkien was awarded an open classical exhi-bition to exeter college at oxford university and matriculated therein the fall of 1911 by 1913 he was preparing for his degree in thehonourshondours school of english language and literature at exeter As heprogressed in his studies of anglo saxon he read cynewulfscynevrulfs grestgristcristtwo lines of which struck him forcefully

eala earendelEarendel engla beorbtastbeorhtast

onerofer middangeard jonnummonnum bendedsended

hail Earendel brightest of angels

above the middleearthmiddle earth sent unto men

from this meager beginning would derive a series of poems andstories that would serve as the foundation of the mythology of middleearth the book of lost tales

tolkien graduated from exeter with first class honors in the sum-mer of 1915 and was immediately commissioned in the lancashirefusiliers and sent to france during the first world war he spentalmost all of 1917 convalescing in england from trench fever withlittle more to do than to write the book of lost tales in november of1918 he returned to oxford university to serve on the staff responsi-ble for publishing the oxford english dictionary a ten volume workdocumenting the historical development of the english language fromits roots to the present in 1920 he accepted an appointment at leedsuniversity as reader in english language and in 1924 was elected pro-fessor of english language at the same institution in the summer of1925 tolkien was invited to return to oxford as the rawlinson andbosworth professor of anglo saxon during his tenure at oxfordtolkien wrote the hobbitbobbit an instant literary success published in 1937eight years later he was elected merton professor of english languageand literature at oxford a chair that he held until his retirement in1959 while at merton tolkien published the lord qoff the rings

tolkien the mythmaker

the lord of the rings must be seen as part of the vast panoramadevised by tolkien twenty years before the hobbit was published Asprofessor tolkien clearly states in his foreword to the lord of the

rings this tale grew in the telling until it became a history of the

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 155

great war of the ring and included many glimpses of the yet moreancient history that preceded it it was begun soon after the hobbithobbitwswaswritten and before its publication in 1937 but I1 did not go on with thissequel for I1 wished first to complete and set in order the mythologyand legends of the elder days which had then been taking shape forsome years I1 desired to do this for my own satisfaction and I1 had little hope that other people would be interested in this work especiallysince it was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order toprovide the necessary background ofofhistoryhistory for elvish tongues 2

tolkiensTolkiens narrative references to the ancient history are notmere literary posing for rhetorical effect in a letter to W H audentolkien addressed the issue directly after referring to his particularlinguistic tastes tolkien writes all this only as background to thestories though languages and names are for me inextricable from thestories they are and were so to speak an attempt to give a backgroundor a world in which my expressions of linguistic taste could have a

function the stories were comparatively late in coming 3

when the stories did come they came with an underlying pur-pose far grander than the creation of a world where his languagesmight be spoken in a letter to milton waldman tolkien confessesthe great design

do not laugh but once upon a time my crest has long since fallenI1 had in mind to make a body of more or less connected legendranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romanticfairy story the larger founded on the lesser in contact with theearth the lesser drawing splendour from the vast backclothswhich I1 could dedicate simply to to england to my country itshould possess the tone and quality that I1 desired somewhat cooland clear be redolent of our air the clime and soil of the northwest meaning britain and the hither parts of europe not italy orthe aegean still less the east and while possessing if I1 couldachieve it the fair elusive beauty that some call celtic though it is

rarely found inin genuine ancient celtic things it should be highpurged of the gross and fit for the more adult mind of a land longnow steeped in poetry I1 would draw some of the great tales in full-ness and leave many only placed in the scheme and sketched thecycles should be linked to a majestic whole and yet leave scope forother minds and hands wielding paint and music and dramaabsurd 4

this letter was drafted in 1951 three years before the first publibublication of the lord of the rings and yet tolkien already had in handmuch of what he had described to waldman the book of lost tales

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begun while tolkien was yet an undergraduate at oxford universityrecounted the history of middle earth during the first and secondages of the world vast periods of time carefully chronicled in proseand poetry christopher tolkien J R R tolkiensTolkiens son and literaryexecutor has during the past thirty years brought to light this enormous historical backdrop of which the hobbit and the lord of the

rings were eventually made part the silmarillionSilmar illion the book of losttales the lays of belerianobeleriandBeleriand the shaping of middle earth the lostroad and the war of the jewels among others reveal with theirgrandeur of scope why tolkiensTolkiens stories regarding the war of the ringhave verisimilitude for an accurate depiction of the grueling processand the sometimes debilitating frustration that J R R tolkien suf-fered during the creation of this english mythology the reader is

directed to tolkiensTolkiens wonderful short story leaf by niggle 5

tolkien the moralist

at the heart of every writer there is a teacher a part of the authorssoul that is compelled to tell a story with a moral some are more blatant about the didactic act than others but the instruction is deliveredjust the same this isis particularly true when the writer isis fundamentallyethical one who has a theological or religious fountain from whichhis or her writing flows the degree to which a writer bares his or hersoul varies of course but to illustrate the subtlety of technique I1 turnto two of the writers I1 discovered for myself shortly after I1 came incontact with tolkiensTolkiens works C S lewis and charles williams thetitles of charles williamss seven novels clearly indicate the theologicalbent the author brought to his writing the place of the lion all hall-ows eve descent into hell shadows of ecstasy many dimensions warin heaven and the greater trumps there is no obfuscating the religiousbious aspects of the stories with allegory the ideas are plain andclearcutclear cut on the other hand though deeply religious many of the fic-

tional works of C S lewis are less aggressive theologically thechronicles of narnia and the perelandraPerelandra trilogy for example havereligious icons depicted but they are generally far more allegoricallyrepresented asianaslan and ransom as christ figures heavily chargednames for characters and so forth ifwilliams wears his religion on hisshirt cuff lewis has his farther up the sleeve tolkien however is farmore oblique close to his vest to continue the analogy

before the publication of the letters offof R R tolkien in 1981debates raged over the religiosity of the hobbit and the lord of the

rings the waybread of the elves was seen by some to be the catholic

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 157

eucharist galadnelgaladrielGalgaiadrieladnel as mother mary bilbo frodobrodo and sam as thebearers of the cross either as christ figures or cyreneansCyreneans and soforth other fans and scholars dismissed the whole discussion as nonsense that no overtly religious imagery and themes existed inintolkiensTolkiens works tolkiensTolkiens letters however demonstrate that bothextremes were inin error in a letter to robert murray a jesuit priestwho had written him regarding catholic elements inin the trilogytolkien wrote

I1 think I1 know exactly what you mean by the order of grace and ofcourse by your references to our lady upon which all my ownsmall perception of beauty both inin majesty and simplicity isis foundedthetie lord of the rings isis of course a fundamentally religious andcatholic work unconsciously so at first but consciously inin the revi-sion

revirevlsionslon that isis why I1 have not put inin or have cut out practically allreferences to anything like religion to cults or practices inin theimaginary world for the religious element isis absorbed into the storyand the symbolism however that isis very clumsily put and soundsmore selfimportantselfseif important than I1 feel for as a matter of fact I1 have consciouslyscious ly planned very little 6

in a letter written to deborah webster inin october of 1958 ininwhich she had apparently asked for some pertinent personal facts

tolkien somewhat clarifies his position on religion inin the stories afteraddressing the influence of language on his writings

and there are a few basic facts which however drily expressed arereally significant for instance I1 was born inin 1892 and lived for myearly years inin the shire inin a premechanicalpre mechanical age or more imporimbortant I1 am a christian which can be deduced from my stories andinin fact a roman catholic the latter fact perhaps cannot bededuced though one critic by letter asserted that the invocationsofofelberethofElElbereth and the character of galadnelgaladrielGalgai adneladriel as directly described orthrough the words of gimligiali and sam were clearly related tocatholic devotion to mary another saw inin waybread lembasviaticum and the reference to its feeding the will vol III111illili p 213and being more potent when fasting a derivation from theeucharist that isis far greater things may colourbolour the mind inin dealing with the lesser things of a fairy storystory7storyk

in a subsequent letter to mrs ruth austin tolkien issuesissues a caveatinin his amiable and kind hearted way 1 I was particularly interested ininyour remarks about galadnelgaladrielGalgaiadneladriel I1 think it isis true that I1 owe much ofthis character to christian and catholic teaching and imaginationabout mary but actually galadnelgaladrielGalgaiadneladriel was a penitent inin her youth a leaderinin the rebellion against the valar the angelic guardians at the end of

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the first age she proudly refused forgiveness or permission to returnshe was pardoned because of her resistance to the final and overwhelming temptation to take the ring for herself 8

the temptation to interpret the lord of the rings is difficult toresist but tolkien warns the reader from the very beginning

As for any inner meaning or message it has in the intention ofthe author none it is neither allegorical nor topical As the storygrew it put down roots into the past and threw out unexpectedbranches but its main theme was settled from the outset by theinevitable choice of the ring as the link between it and the hobbitbobbit

other arrangements could be devised according to the tastes orviews of those who like allegory or topical reference but I1 cordiallydislike allegory in all its manifestations and always have done sosince I1 grew old and wary enough to detect its presence I1 much pre-fer history true or feigned with its varied applicability to thethought and experience of readers I1 think that many confuse appli-cabilitycability with allegory but the one resides in the freedom of thereader and the other in the purposed domination of the author 9

therefore though tolkiensTolkiens story line and narrative are naturallyshaped by his religious sentiments as a roman catholic one does notneed to be a catholic or even a christian to thoroughly enjoy hisworks Is the waybread of the elves the eucharist or sacrament yesand no it is like saying that soil air and moisture equal the lilies ofthe field while it may be biologically true asserting the fact reducesthe description to mere chemistry and says nothing of the life of theflowers nor of the beauty perceived by the travelers as they pass thefield if we are to find morality in tolkiensTolkiens writings we must lookdeeper avoiding facile interpretations along the way in the space thatremains I1 will briefly address three elements that will serve as keys tounderstanding first the manner in which the stories were told sec-

ond the importance of light and darkness and finally the contrastbetween destiny and free will

on fairy talestales10

most of the early criticism of the hobbit and the lord of the

rings came as the result of misunderstanding reviewers attemptedto place tolkiensTolkiens works in the same category as contemporary novels not realizing that his models were nineteenth century rather thantwentieth century

robley evans was one of the few early critics who perceived preciselybisely what tolkien was about unlike writers of science fictiontolkien relies upon the literary traditions of the past as well as upon his

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 159

imagination as the sources for his fantasy he does not wish to breakwith western culture or with the romantic tradition that knowledgegives us power to change the world for the better the imagination hasenriched us in the past it can continue to do so not by throwing outour inheritance but by building upon it and especially upon its familiarand eternally meaningful myths symbols and dreams tyll1511

paul Kkocherocher too acquired an early insight into tolkiensTolkiens styleand contrary to other critics lauded tolkiensTolkiens facility rather thandecried it tolkiensTolkiens real mastery as a writer though consists in hispower to establish for each individual race a personality that is unmisundistakablytakable its own A dwarf is as different from an elf as an ent from a

hobbitbobbit and all from a man and from one another further each racehas not only its gifts but also its private tragedy which it must try toovercome as best it can and it must work out its own often difficultway of living with its peers all this imparts great variety and drama tothe epic within the broader movement of events 12

C S lewis is even more to the point in his review much that ina realistic work would be done by character delineation is here donesimply by making the character an elf a dwarf or a hobbitbobbit the imag-ined beings have their insides on the outside they are visible souls 13

max lithiliithiuithi in his little book on the nature of fairy tales clarifies

the stylistics associated with the traditional fairy tale and by so doingdescribes in large measure tolkiensTolkiens manner of telling his stories inthe fairy tale feelings and relationships are externalized sometimes ina manner which for us is quite peculiar the steady progression ofthe action the dispensing with a detailed portrayal of the backgroundor the characters in the predilection for everything clearly formed incolors as well as in shape the tendency toward extremes and con-trasts toward metals and minerals cities castles rooms boxes ringsand swords and the tendency to make feelings and relationships con-geal into objects so to speak and thus become outwardly visible all

these things give the fairy tale definiteness firmness and clarity thefairy tale bestows on its hearer without him being aware of it some-thing of its unaffected precision and brilliance 14

that tolkien was clearly utilizing the fairy tale as his model fortelling the stories of middle earth is easily discerned through his letters to readers to naomi mitchison he wrote the following of theelves if I1 were pressed to rationalize I1 would say that they representreally men with greatly enhanced aesthetic and creative facultiesgreater beauty and longer life and nobility 15

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to michael straight he provided this insight of course in factexterior to my story elves and men are just different aspects of thehumane and represent the problem of death as seen by a finite butwilling and self conscious person the elves represent as it werethe artistic aesthetic and purely scientific aspects of the humanenature raised to a higher level than is actually seen in men 111616

tolkien describes the hobbits in related terms in a letter to miltonwaldman the hobbits are of course really meant to be a branch ofthe specifically humanbuman race not elves or dwarves hence the twokinds can dwell together as at bree and are called just the big folkand little folk they are entirely without nonhumannon human powers but arerepresented as being more in touch with nature the soil and otherliving things plants and animals and abnormally for humans freefrom ambition or greed of wealth they are made small little morethan half human stature but dwindling as the years pass partly toexhibit the pettiness of man plain unimaginative parochial manthough not with either the smallness or the savageness of swift andmostly to show up in creatures ofvery small physical power the amaz-ing and unexpected heroism of ordinary man at a pinch 17

the external devices used to distinguish races and individuals arelegion and can be found in every aspect of the narrative including thenature of dialogue the development and uses of racial scripts and thephonological and grammatical differences among the languages of all

the speaking creatures of middle earth 18 these are in association withthe obvious racial preferences exhibited toward nature light history artand wealth that almost every reader senses as he or she reads the books

light and dark

tolkiensTolkiens use of light and dark is so patently obvious in the text ofhis books that it is almost embarrassing to mention the subject I1 doso however without trepidation knowing that the first blush is notalways the best nor the most revealing anyone who is familiar withthe volumes published by christopher tolkien after his fathers deathis unavoidably aware of how profoundly the concept nourishes theoverall creation of middle earth A few examples gleaned from the silcarillionmarillionmar illion should whet the appetite

the elves are divided into classes of families dependent upon howfar to the west they migrated after having been awakened at the watersof cuivienen in the uttermost east the valar the gods of tolkiensTolkiensmythology invited the elves to join them in aman some were

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 161

frightened by melkor and would not answer the call they becameknown along with others as the moriquendi literally the darkelves those who made their way across the wide expanse of middleearth to the great sea and from thence to aman the glorious city ofthe valar became known as the calaquendi literally the light elvesthose who hesitated at the great sea and would not cross were thesindar or grey elves the woodland elves became known as thelaiquendi or green elves referring to the predominant color withwhich they were most comfortable

the astariistari too were categorized by color sarumansaruhan and eventu-ally gandalfgandalfaGandalf is called the white who stood at the head of the councilgandalfgandalfa was the grey until his death and resurrection in moriaradgastradegast the brown is clearly of a different mentality or orientationthan are gandalfgandalfa and sarumansaruhanSaruman as his color indicates we are told else-

where that the original istari1stariiskari who came into the world were five innumber the remaining two having the color blue they went into thedark east and were never heard of again an entertaining exercisewould be to attempt to determine the character traits of thorin oakenshield and his traveling companions in the hobbit by theclassification given by the color of their respective hoods

the languages of middle earth are light sensitive as well A simplescanning of the ring inscription in comparison with any of the highelven speech will reveal that the elves favored front vowels i e a andthe speakers of black speech preferred back vowels 0 o u A diligentstudy will reveal that tolkien chooses consonants for his various languagesgrages the same way dependent upon their affinity with lightinterestingly enough the glass of galadrielGaladriel is used at minas cirithcarith byboth frodobrodo and sam to fend off evil both speak a language they donot know in evoking the power of the star glass yet prodo speaks inhigh elven and sam in sindarinsindayinSindarin Is tolkien not revealing somethingof his conception of the two characters by so doing clearly he is

mordorbordor is of course the quintessential place of darkness in middle earth followed closely by the corruption that sarumansaruhan made ofisengard lothlorienLothlorien the golden wood of galadrielGaladriel and rivendalethe home of eirondelrondelfond half elveneiven are the counterpoints of light thesingular quibble that I1 have with the otherwise brilliant filming of thefellowship of the ring is that both rivendale and lothlorienLothlorien aresometimes portrayed as dark with a kind of blue patina and somewhat somber tolkiensTolkiens conception in the narrative is far more goldenand festive all in all

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destiny and free will

at the heart of tolkiensTolkiens creation is his fundamental acceptance ofand belief in the welldevelopedwell developed theology of catholicism his is

unflinching when it comes to the underlying principles by which hischaracters are motivated the assumptions by which decisions aremade and by which powers rise and fall some of these principles aremore easily illustrated than others tolkiensTolkiens views on the moralagency of man for example can be articulated by two major episodesin the Fellowsfellowsbipfellowshipbip of the ring

in the second chapter the shadow of the past frodobrodo and gandalf discuss the nature and history of the ring which has come tofrodobrodo through an extraordinary chain of events though consistentwith the whole conception of the fairy tale genre it is a little unnerv-ing to frodobrodo and to the reader to discover that the ring has a will ofits own

A ring of power looks after itself frodobrodo itlmayamayjmaymay slip off treacher-ously but its keeper never abandons it at most he plays with theidea of handing it on to some one elses care and that only at anearly stage when it first begins to grip but as far as I1 know bilboalone in history has ever gone beyond playing and really done ithe needed all my help too and even so he would never have justforsaken it or cast it aside it was not gollum frodobrodo but the ringitself that decided things the ring left bimhim

what just in time to meet bilbo said frodobrodo wouldnt anorcore have suited it better

it is no laughing matter said gandalfgandalfaGandalf not for you it wasthe strangest event in the whole history of the ring so far bilbosarrival just at that time and putting his hand on it blindly in thedark 19

here then we have characters that seem to be manipulatedpawns that are swept into orbit around the near omnipotence of thering of power and what once seemed mere happenstance turns tomalignant purpose As in the contrast between light and dark how-ever tolkiensTolkiens characters become aware that in opposition to the darkpower there is another force one for good in the world

there was more than one power at work frodobrodo the ring wastrying to get back to its master it had slipped from isildursIsildurs handand betrayed him then when a chance came it caught poor deagold6agoldeageland he was murdered and after that gollum and it had devouredhim it could make no further use of him he was too small and

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 163

mean and as long as it stayed with him he would never leave hisdeep pool again so now when its master was awake once more andsending out his dark thought from mirkwoodkirkwoodMirkwood it abandoned gol-lum only to be picked up by the most unlikely person imaginablebilbo from the shire

behind that there was something else at work beyond anydesign of the ringmakerringping maker I1 can put it no plainer than by saying thatbilbo was meant to find the ring and not by its maker in whichcase you also were meant to have it and that may be an encourag-ing thought

it is not said frodobrodo though I1 am not sure that I1 understandyou but how have you learned all this about the ring and aboutgollum do you really know it all or are you just guessing still

gandalfgandalfa looked at frodobrodo and his eyes glinted 1 I knew muchand I1 have learned much he answered but I1 am not going togive an account of all my doings to you the history of elendilglendil andisildur and the one ring is known to all the wise your ring is

shown to be that one ring by the firewritingfire writing alone apart fromany other evidence 20

the opposing powers hinted at here become more clearly definedlater in the narrative at the bridge ofofkhazadkhazadkhadad dum together with theores and trolls a balrogbalrig assaults the fellowship notice the contrastsof light and dark and particularly the titles that gandalfgandalfa gives to him-self and the balrogbalrig

the balrogbalrig reached the bridge gandalfgandalfa stood in the middle of thespan leaning on the staff in his left hand but in his other handglamdringGlamdring gleamed cold and white his enemy halted again fac-ing him and the shadow about it reached out like two vast wingsit raised the whip and the thongs whined and cracked fire camefrom its nostrils but gandalfgandalfa stood firm

you cannot pass he said the ores stood still and a deadsilence fell 1 I am a servant of the secret fire wielder of the flameofofanorsofanoranor you cannot pass the dark fire will not avail you flame ofudunaudun go back to the shadow you cannot pass

the balrogbalrig made no answer the fire in it seemed to die butthe darkness grew it stepped forward slowly on to the bridge andsuddenly it drew itself up to a great height and its wings werespread from wall to wall but still gandalfgandalfa could be seen glimmeringin the gloom he seemed small and altogether alone grey and bentlike a wizened tree before the onset of a storm

from out of the shadow a red sword leaped flaming

164 the religious educator vol 3 no 3 2002

glamdringGlamdring glittered white in answer

there was a ringing clash and a slab ofwhite fire the balrogbalrig fellback and its sword flew up in molten fragments the wizard swayedon the bridge stepped back a pace and then again stood still

you cannot pass he said

with a bound the balrogbalrig leaped full upon the bridge its whipwhirled and hissed

he cannot stand alone cried aragorn suddenly and ran backalong the bridge elendilglendilElendil he shouted 1 I am with you Gandalgandalflgandalalfl

gondor cried boromirbogomir and leaped after him

at that moment gandalfgandalfa lifted his staff and crying aloud hesmote the bridge before him the staff broke asunder and fell fromhis hand A blinding sheet of white flame sprang up the bridgecracked righteight at the balrogs feet it broke and the stone uponwhich it stood crashed into the gulf while the rest remainedpoised quivering like a tongue of rock thrust out into emptiness

with a terrible cry the balrogbalrig fell forward and its shadowplunged down and vanished but even as it fell it swung its whipand the thongs lashed and curled about the wizards knees drag-ging him to the brink he staggered and fell grasped vainly at thestone and slid into the abyss fly you fools he cried and wasgone

the fires went out and blank darkness fell the companystood rooted with horror staring into the pit 21

in the final chapter of the Fellowsfellowshipbopbip of the ringkingrinrie tolkien demonstrates his preference for human agency even in the face of compulsionand intimidation frodobrodo has fled the distressing confrontation withboromirbogomir and finds himself at the summit of amon hen the hill ofseeing with the ring on his finger in the midst of an extraordinaryvision of the lands of middle earth he sees the fortress ofofsauronsauron andall hope leaves him

and suddenly he felt the eye there was an eye in the dark towerthat did not sleep he knew that it had become aware of his gazeA fierce eager will was there it leaped towards him almost like a

finger he felt it searching for him very soon it would nail himdown know just exactly where he was amon lhawchaw it touched itglanced upon tol brandirbrander he threw himself from the seat crouch-ing covering his head with his grey hood

he heard himself crying out never never or was it verily I1come I1 come to yonyouyouayou7 he could not tell then as a flash from some

the moral mythmaker the creative theology of J R R tolkien 165

other point ofpower there came to his mind another thought takeit off take it off7 fool take it off7 take off the rinhringrin

the two powers strove in him for a moment perfectly bal-anced between their piercing points he writhed tormentedsuddenly he was aware of himself again frodobrodo neither the voicenor the eye free to choose and with one remaining instant inwhich to do so he took the ring off his finger he was kneelingin clear sunlight before the high seat A black shadow seemed topass like an arm above him it missed amon hen and groped outwest and faded then all the sky was clean and blue and birds sangin every tree 22

frodobrodo will learn later that the opposing voice was gandalfgandalfaGandalf exercis-ing just enough of his own power against the effort of the eye so thatfrodobrodo could decide for himself this notion of being part of a destinygreater than ones own life yet having agency to determine the natureof ones own role in that destiny is not unique here the principle is

found throughout the corpus of tolkiensTolkiens work

Condconclusionusion

it is difficult to imagine a world more cynical and debased than theone in which we presently live and it is clear that the worlds wearinessderives from those two elements more than any other tolkiensTolkiens worksare fundamentally optimistic and assert that beauty and goodness will

ultimately triumph although there is an unavoidable price to be paidbecause tolkiensTolkiens works are stylistically romantic they turn the mindsand hearts of the reader to a golden age a time of great prosperityand peace a time of enlightenment while tolkiensTolkiens cosmology doesinclude such eras in the fardistantfar distant history of middle earth it is theimmediacy of the coming glorious fourth age of middle earth thatis ushered in with the destruction of the ring ofpower that is appealedto throughout the narrative it is the return of the king that countsin the end surely latter day saints ought to resonate with thatnotion the stories of middle earth can be just as morally compellingto the perceptive reader as tales told of the faithful ancestors battlingagainst terrible odds to bring sanity and grace into an otherwisebenighted world the writings ofofjofaJ R R tolkien ought not to be trifled with middle earth and its denizens were conceived by a giftedand educated mind to the intent that this earth might be a better andbrighter place in which to live or at least so that we might believethat it can be and that is essentially the beginning of the journey VB

166 the religious educator vol 3 no 3 2002

notes

1 much of the following biographical material is condensed from humphreycarpenter tolkien biography boston houghton mifflin 1977

2 J R R tolkien the fellowship of the ring boston houghton mifflin196551965 5

3 humphrey carpenter ed the letters of JJ R R tolkien bostonhoughton mifflin 1981 214

4 carpenter letters 144 455 J R R tolkien leaf by niggle in the tolkien reader new york bal-

lantine books 1966 85 1126 carpenter letters 1727 carpenter letters 2888 carpenter letters 4079 tolkien fellowship of the ring 6 710 for my detailed discussion of the controversy regarding tolkiensTolkiens

method of characterization see tolkiensTolkiens talent for portraying character thecontroversy in linguistic techniques used in character development in theworks ofofjofaJ R R tolkien phd dissertation purdue university 1982 see also

tolkienstolkicnsTolkiensklens own discussion on the fairy tale genre in on fairy stories the mon-sters and the critics and other essays boston houghton mifflin 1984 109 61

11 robley evans writerswritersforfor the 70s JJ R R tolkien new york warner1972201972 20

12 paul H kocher master of middle earth the fiction ofjofa R R tolkienboston houghton mifflin 1972 85

13 neil D issacs and rose A zimbardo eds tolkien and the critics notredame indiana university of notre dame press 1968 15

14 max luthi once upon a time on the nature of fairy tales blooming-ton indiana indiana university press 1976 51 52

15 carpenter letters 17616 carpenter letters 23617 carpenter letters 158n18 see extended discussions of each of these issues in my doctoral disserta-

tion also I1 refer readers to the journal mythloreMythlore wherein these and otherelements of tolkiensTolkiens narrative style have been treated at length

19 tolkien fellowship of the ring 64 6520 tolkien fellowship of the ring 6521 tolkien fellowship of the ring 344 4522 tolkien fellowship of the ring 41