"Christian" Myth at the Multiplex

The Wall Street Journal ^ | December 6, 2002 | John J. Miller

[BaghdadBarney]

HOUSES OF WORSHIP

Myth at the Multiplex Tolkien poured Christian values into a pagan world.

BY JOHN J. MILLER Friday, December 6, 2002 12:01 a.m.

The movie version of "The Two Towers" opens on Dec. 18, the second installment in what is already a blockbuster J.R.R. Tolkien film trilogy. The new movie begins (at least it did at a recent screening) by replaying part of a scene from last year's "The Fellowship of the Ring." As his companions flee, the good wizard Gandalf turns to face the demonic Balrog and yells: "You cannot pass! I am a servant of the Secret Fire!" The line about the Secret Fire is a curious one. Gandalf certainly speaks it in Tolkien's novel, but its real meaning is never made clear on the book's pages, and certainly not on screen. That would seem to make it a prime candidate for the cutting-room floor, since director Peter Jackson must delete all kinds of material to cram Tolkien's epic into a few hours of film.

Yet the line is there--as it should be. As Bradley J. Birzer explains in "J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth" (ISI Books), it is "the most important religious statement in the book." The Secret Fire, Tolkien once told a friend, is really the Holy Spirit.

[billbears]

bump

[EternalHope]

The Wall Street Journal gets it.

[joesnuffy]

It aint for sale...someone tried to buy it once...they were dissapointed

C.S. Lewis would have known...

[BaghdadBarney]

The author of the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy has told numerous people over the years that the books are littered with Christian themes and deeply influenced by Christian values and you're "not buying it"? Did you secretly write the trilogy and not tell anybody?

[Valin]

Between his Oxford lectures on medieval literature, Tolkien invented a mythology of Middle Earth. It was published posthumously as "The Silmarillion" in 1977

Absolutely the best analogy of the Genesis story ever.

[malakhi]

ping!

[Valin]

I'm not buying it.

Buying what?

[ecomcon]

Not buying what?

[Oberon]

I'm not buying it.

Of course; you're korrupt.

[proxy_user]

Try reading Tolkien's classic essay, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics". This will give insight into how Tolkien worked.

[MHGinTN]

Have never read it. Thanks for the link, will read it a.s.a.p. [Big C.S. Lewis fan, BTW. Hate the 'modernization' of his great works.]

[RAT Patrol]

LOTR ping!

[BaghdadBarney]

"Try reading Tolkien's classic essay, "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics". This will give insight into how Tolkien worked."

It's actually an insight into how many Christians (or for that matter Jews) viewed the poem. It's hard to miss the Beowulf/Moses/Saul/David analogy. Hell you could even argue that Darth Vader is another of those characters inspired by the "great but flawed" model...

[tarawa]

Tolkien absolutely despised allegory, and I think he would have been severely disappointed in how we have chosen to interpret his stories. That being said, once the work is out in the public, it will always be up to the individual reader to interpret it however he or she sees fit, and truly can or should sway that.

[shezza]

Bump for later....

[HairOfTheDog]

Gandalf: "I am the servant of the secret fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. The dark fire will not avail you! Flame of Udun!"

From The Encyclopedia of Arda

I didn't really know there was that much uncertainty as to what was meant by that line...

I thought it referred to his Ring of Power, Narya, Ring of Fire...

Ring of Fire
Narya, the Red Ring

Timeline:

Dates:	Completed c. II 1590. Passed into the West with Gandalf 29 September III 3021
Origins:	Made by Celebrimbor and the Mírdain of Eregion
Other Names:	Narya, The Red Ring

Narya, the Red Ring; one of the Three Rings of the Elves that was originally granted to Círdan, but passed on by him to Gandalf.

Which is not to contradict the message of the article, that Gandalf certainly had power given by the Holy spirit, as an Istari, a spirit sent by Ilúvatar (The One) to Middle Earth to aid the Free Peoples of middle against the return and rise of Sauron.