Christian Themes in The Lord of the Rings—2

This is the second part of a two-part article that I originally published back in 1978 in the now-defunct Mission magazine of Irving, Texas. Find Part 1 here.

Orcs

Possibly the strongest statement of The Lord of the Rings regarding Good and Evil is concerned with the use and abuse of Power.  On one hand may be seen beings who use Power for the common good, who are unwilling to seize Power from others; on the other hand, there was a grasping and struggling for Power to promote selfish gain. 

This latter struggle for personal power promoted Retribution, Punishment and Treachery on the part of those allied with the Dark Lord, or on the part of those who, like Saruman, wanted to become their own Dark Lord, or on the part of those who were reduced to a sub-human state like Gollum.  But Mercy and Forgiveness characterized the Good beings: Frodo, for example forgave Gollum for trying to kill him. 

At the heart of the greatest Good beings was a sacrificial love.  This can be seen clearly in that most winning character, Sam Gamgee whose devotion to his beloved master is beyond compare.  On the other hand, Gollum’s indifferent hatred toward Sam, and Shelob’s ravenous loathing of everything and everybody is at the heart of the most powerful Evil beings. 

In this preoccupation with self and with hatred, the Evil ruler of Middle Earth, the one who possessed great power and wielded it in fear and hatred, Sauron the Dark Lord, may be seen as a Satan figure.  In a similar way, Saruman, once the chief wizard of the White Council was a Satan figure as a sort of “fallen angel.”  This does not mean that Sauron and Saruman can be equated to the Satan in whose existence thinking Christians believe, and the story reduced to a simple allegory: nothing could do more injustice to Professor Tolkien’s intent.  But, just as one catches a fleeting glimpse of the Messiah in the Old Testament David and in Isaac and in the nation of Israel, one catches a glimpse of greater beings from The Lord of the Rings.  Aragorn, for instance, is not equivalent to Jesus Christ; yet the former fulfilled the prophecy, “The hands of a king are the hands of a healer” (The Return of the King, p. 166), a prophecy which Christ Himself fulfills in a far greater way. 

Near death because of wounds and weariness, the unconscious Faramir awakened at Aragorn’s beckoning:

“My Lord, you called me.  I come.  What does the king command?”

“Walk no more in shadows, but awake!” said Aragorn …

“I will,” said Faramir.  “For who would lie idle when the king has returned?”  (The Return of the King, p. 173)

Thus, the perceptive reader catches for a brief moment a fleeting glimpse of the resurrection of the dead in Christ, just as Gandalf’s encouragement of the failing, and his own death and resurrection resemble similar events and traits in the life of Jesus. 

Faith, hope and love characterized the Good people; fear, greed and hatred can be seen in the others.  A sense of mission, unselfishness and forgiveness are extolled by Tolkien; selfishness, coercion and treachery are excoriated.  In the Good forces we see the voluntary alliance of diverse elements for the purpose of mission, just as the Body of Christ unites differing factions for the Church’s mission.  And underlying everything in Middle Earth was an uncertain hovering between what we call the “Natural” and the “Supernatural”; one concludes that in Middle Earth such distinctions are artificial.  Might it not be so in our own age?  As Hamlet admonished his friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  (Hamlet, Act I, Scene v)