This Week at FPC | Upcoming Events | From the Pastor | Newsletter | Home

The Gospel in Epic Literature: The Lord of the Rings

Pastor's Study | October 28, 2009 | Rev. Doug Pratt
 

JRR Tolkien’s Literary Efforts
The author was a renowned Oxford professor and scholar of an obscure and little-known discipline called Philology (the study of languages). He was a most unlikely candidate to write a series of fantasy novels that are frequently ranked as among the greatest works of 20th century literature.

His creative work produced:

• The Hobbit (published in 1937), a children’s story that developed in his mind from imagining a humble creature populating a rural countryside much like Tolkien’s homeland of central England; became a big surprise commercial success (children and adults), and publisher clamored for a sequel (expected to be a similar length and style).
• The Lord of the Rings (published in 1954-55 in three books: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). These actually took over 15 years to write, and grew exponentially in scope, characters, themes and complexity during the composition.
• The Silmarillion (published in 1977, four years after Tolkien’s death, by his son Christopher from various notes and writings). Many find that this final book, which may have been meant to never be published, is nearly-unreadable to all but “geeks” who absorb themselves in the details of Tolkien’s imaginary world).

The Film Versions of Tolkien’s Epic
Peter Jackson, a quirky director, spent years beginning in 1997 creating, in studios and on-location in NZ, a 3-film epic series. Using mostly unknown actors (who have since gained fame and success), and obsessed with control and fidelity to the story, project was rejected by several studios before “New Line Cinema” decided to take a chance and bankroll the project.

The films were released in December of 2001, 2002 and 2003. They proved to be huge box office successes, as well as gaining great critical acclaim (they won a combined 16 Oscars, including Best Picture for the third film). Some entire sections of the books were omitted in the films to keep them within time and budget constraints, yet most critics and fans praise films as being faithful to main story and spirit of books

Jackson is currently working on a two-film version of The Hobbit (no release date yet). The films have introduced a whole new generation to Tolkien’s Epic.

Tolkien’s Biography
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in 1892 (he was six years older than CS Lewis) in South Africa, to English parents living there temporarily for his father’s work. The family moved back to England when their son was age 3, and soon after his father died. He and his mother lived in the Birmingham area, and his mother died when JRR was 12. A Catholic priest became his guardian, and he lived at various boarding schools for the rest of youth. His academic brilliance in classics and languages earned him a scholarship to Oxford; he graduated with a degree in Philology in 1915.

During the First World War Tolkien was drafted into the British army. He married his childhood sweetheart, spent 4 months in the trenches during the Somme offensive, and contracted typhus. He was returned to England and spent the rest of war till 1918 on home assignment.

Tolkien’s first job after his military service was as an editor of the great Oxford English Dictionary. He was then hired as a professor of English at Leeds University, near Birmingham. In 1925 he received his dream job: he became professor of Anglo-Saxon literature and language at Oxford, where he remained for 34 years till retirement in 1959. He wrote many scholarly articles and books on philology, but for years was unknown outside his narrow professional field until his fiction works were published.

While at Oxford, Tolkien formed a weekly discussion group known as The Inklings, which included CS Lewis, Charles Williams, and many other first-rate minds. These men met weekly in the local “Eagle & Child” pub and in their college rooms to talk, read each other’s works aloud for critique and feedback, and generally stimulate one another’s intellects.

Tolkien was a lifelong faithful Roman Catholic (who never lost faith, as Lewis did). In the late 1920’s he began tinkering with ideas for an imaginary world, including its own languages and mythology. He actually developed a language for a race of elves, based on Finnish and Welsh.

Soon a story began to take shape in his mind based on an imaginary creature called a Hobbit: short, agrarian, hairy-toed, beings who lived in homes dug out of hillsides and had with many mannerisms of English country folk.

The Stories of “Middle-Earth”
Tolkien invented a vast continent with remarkable geography populated by multiple intelligent races, including humans, elves, dwarves, and wizards; a vast array of mythological creatures from European legends, including trolls and goblins and dragons; and active magical spiritual powers and forces influencing creatures and events. The prevailing reality of Middle-Earth is a Satan-like figure seeking to rule the world through an all-powerful Ring created to exert its will over all. The books chronicle a period when the long-lost Ring of Power is rediscovered and the climactic battle between good and evil for control of Middle-Earth develops and is waged.

The Plot of The Hobbit
Contrary to their nature and tradition, a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins agrees to leave his comfortable home and accompany a wandering wizard named Gandalf the Grey and some other traveling companions on a long and dangerous journey. During this journey to find lost treasure, Bilbo sees the broader world of Middle-Earth. He stumbles upon a lost ring and tricks it away from the creature (a talking lizard-like being called Gollum). Bilbo returns home to the land of the Hobbits (called the Shire) to tell his tales and serve as the local celebrity or curiosity.

The Plot of The Lord of the Rings
The action of the Trilogy begins decades after The Hobbit ends. The Fellowship of the Ring brings Gandalf back to the Shire for Bilbo’s 111th birthday party. Bilbo has decided to leave the Shire and deed his ring to his nephew Frodo. But dark forces are looming across all Middle-Earth. The evil Satan-figure called Sauron, creator of the Ring of Power, is rebuilding his strength in his homeland of Mordor, and is sending his servants to try to find the Ring. Gandalf discovers the true identity of the Ring, and sends Frodo and three traveling companions on a frantic dash to safety in the land of the Elves — barely escaping capture or death from the evil messengers of Sauron. Gandalf discovers that his fellow-wizard Saruman has gone over to “the dark side” and has allied himself with Mordor. A council is held among elves, dwarves and men to decide on a course to defeat the growing power of evil. They conclude that the only hope is to destroy the ring by dropping it into the same volcano from which it was forged, deep in Mordor. The nine travelers set out, have some death-defying adventures, Gandalf sacrifices himself to save the other 8, and then the traveling party breaks up and goes in different directions.

The middle book, The Two Towers, continues the stories of the separate members of the Fellowship of the Ring. Battles are fought on multiple fronts. Gandalf returns to life and leads the defeat of his rival wizard Saruman. The still-free human countries of Rohan and Gondor are under increasing siege (the looming feelings of overwhelming enemy force and besieged allies felt very familiar to people in Britain who had just survived World War 2; the second book feels a lot like 1942 and 1943, the darkest days of the war!). Meanwhile, Frodo the Ring-bearer and his “Sancho Panza”-figure Sam are working their way slowly towards near-certain doom in Mordor, under the radar of the evil forces but constantly harassed by Gollum — who is trying to reclaim the ring.

The final book, The Return of the King, reveals one of the members of the Fellowship as being the true heir to the throne of Gondor, the strongest of the nations of men. He leads their forces in defense of their capital city. A climactic battle begins on the plains outside Mordor. Frodo, Sam and Gollum meanwhile slip into the enemy’s fortress-land and make their way to the volcano. Just as the evil powers are about to crush the good forces, the ring of power is dropped into the inferno and the power of evil is vanquished. The hobbits return home with some work to do to clean up the evils that have infected the Shire; the new King takes his throne; and Gandalf and the Elves leave Middle-Earth, ushering in the beginning of a new era in its history.

Unique Aspects of Tolkien’s Creation
The Hobbits are an unusual literary invention; the author has made them the heroes and main characters.

The languages and millennia of history and culture created by the author are incredibly detailed.

The geography is far more intricate and comprehensive than any other imaginary world, including Narnia and Lucas’s Star Wars.

The character-development of many of the main characters reveals a novelist’s sensitivity to inner motivations and complexities.

Christians Symbols and World-View in Tolkien
Evil and good are both real forces (unlike the contemporary philosophy of post-modernism which claims that there are no ultimate truths or good and evil.) Evil is very seductive and corrupting, especially in the form of power. Moral choices, for good or evil, have consequences. {Gandalf says to Frodo, who comments “I wish none of this has happened”, “We can’t choose what happens in our times; we can only choose how we will respond.”} The Christian virtues of self-sacrifice, courage, friendship and loyalty are lifted up as the highest ideals in the books.

The Wizard Gandalf goes through a sacrificial death, resurrection and glorification — a Christ-figure. The King Aragorn reflects another Christ-figure, especially in his return to rule after a time away. The end of the last book has strong suggestions of eternal life.

The centrality of the Hobbits is a reflection of I Corinthians 1 (“God has chosen the weak of this world to shame the strong”) and Jesus’ prediction: “the last shall be first”); the least-likely creatures outdo the mighty races in heroism and valor. The Evil Spirit is a very strong and active force, but is not all-powerful or all-knowing (comparable to the biblical doctrine of Satan). The tendency of individuals, cultures and societies to drift away from their values and strength is portrayed, along with the need for “prophets” to call them back, and the role of a crisis to galvanize to action (Britain and other European nations had been through such an experience in the years prior to publication with the Second World War).