Posted on 11/06/2003 7:47:49 AM PST by Pyro7480
Divine Mercy in the Lord of the Rings
by Joseph Pearce
The Return of the King, the final part of Peter Jackson's blockbuster film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, will be let loose on an expectant nation this December. During the coming months, it will be watched by millions of movie-goers throughout the world, most of whom will be unaware that they are watching a film version of a fundamentally religious and Catholic work.
The work's author, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a lifelong devout Catholic who poured his Catholic heart into the writing of the myth that is now captivating a new generation, half a century after its first publication. Tolkien insisted that the fact that he as "a Christian, which can be deduced from my stories, and in fact a Roman Catholic," was the most important and "really significant" element in his work. Indeed, it's not difficult to discover the manifestation of Divine Mercy in The Lord of the Rings.
In this epic tale of good and evil, the great Ring of power must be destroyed otherwise it will be used by the Dark Lord Sauron to enslave all of Middle Earth. The hobbit Bilbo and then his nephew Frodo come into possession of the Ring from Gollum - a hobbit who has been reduced to a crazed and pitiable shadow of his former self through long exposure to the Ring.
With his trusty servant Sam, Frodo accepts the daunting mission of destroying the Ring by returning to the fire of Mount Doom, where it was forged by the Dark Lord. On their quest to reach Mount Doom in the heart of the evil land of Mordor, Frodo and Sam's steps are dogged by Gollum, who willing to do anything to regain possession of the Ring himself.
The issue then becomes do Frodo and Sam take matters into their on hands by killing Gollum, or do they show him mercy even though he poses a threat to them at points on their arduous journey?
Knowing his treacherous intent, Frodo had wished that Gollum has been killed: "What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature when he had a chance!"
"Pity?" replied Gandalf, the wise wizard. "It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy." Gandalf believes Gollum is mystically bound up with the fate of the Ring. "My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many - yours not least." (Caution: Spoilers ahead for those who haven't read the book yet!)
These words are recalled later by Frodo when he, too, has the chance to kill Gollum. Like Bilbo, Frodo also chooses the path of mercy over vengeance, and, like Bilbo, his charitable choice comes to "rule the fate of many." At the climatic moment on Mount Doom, Frodo finds that he cannot, at the very last, cast the Ring into the fire. On the very brink of success, he finds himself on the verge of final,and fatal, failure.
It is at this crucial moment that Frodo and Middle Earth itself are saved by Gollum who rushes forward and bites the Ring from Frodo's finger before falling into the abyss, destroying himself and the Ring in the process.
The scene is not only a triumph of divine providence over fate, it is the triumph of Divine Mercy, in which free will, supported by grace, is fully vindicated. According to Tolkien himself, Frodo has been saved "because he had accepted the burden voluntarily, and had then done all that was within his utmost physical and mental strength to do. He, and the Cause, were saved - by mercy: by the supreme value and efficacy of pity and forgiveness and injury" (from Tolkien's Letters).
In the Church, the greatest manifestation of Divine Mercy is, of course, the Incarnation and the Crucifixion. At its deepest, Tolkien's myth serves as a reflection of this archetypal mercy. The journey of Frodo and Sam is emblematic of the Christian's imitation of Christ in carrying the cross.
Tolkien makes the parallel even more explicitly. "I should say," he wrote, explaining the final climatic moments on Mount Doom when the Ring is finally unmade, "that within the mode of the story [it] exemplifies (an aspect of) the familiar words: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive [those who] trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.'"
Furthermore, Tolkien makes the Christian dimension even more unmistakable in the fact that the climatic destruction of the Ring - and in consequence the destruction of the Dark Lord who had forged it - occurred on "the twenty-fifth of March." That's believed to be the date Christ was crucified. It is also, of course, the Feast of the Annunciation, the celebration of the absolute center of all history as the moment when God Himself became incarnate as man.
As a Catholic, Tolkien knew March 25 was the date in which God had "unmade" Original Sin, which, like the Ring, has brought humanity under the sway of the Shadow. If the Ring, which is unmade at the culmination of Tolkien's Quest, is the "one ring to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them," the Fall was the "One Sin to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them." On the twenty-fifth of March the One Sin, like the One Ring, has been "unmade," destroying the power of the Dark Lord.
It is very comforting in the midst of these dark days that the most popular book of the twentieth century, and the most popular movie of the new century, draw their power and their glory from the light of the Gospel.
Joseph Pearce is Writer in Residence at Ave Maria University in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and author of Tolkien: Man and Myth (Ignatius Press).
"I should say," he wrote, explaining the final climatic moments on Mount Doom when the Ring is finally unmade, "that within the mode of the story [it] exemplifies (an aspect of) the familiar words: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive [those who] trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.'"
As a Catholic, Tolkien knew March 25 was the date in which God had "unmade" Original Sin, which, like the Ring, has brought humanity under the sway of the Shadow. If the Ring, which is unmade at the culmination of Tolkien's Quest, is the "one ring to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them," the Fall was the "One Sin to rule them all... and in the darkness bind them." On the twenty-fifth of March the One Sin, like the One Ring, has been "unmade," destroying the power of the Dark Lord.
Very interesting article - thanks for posting it!
Dark days, indeed!! This production of LOTR is superlative! What a letdown there will be after Part 3 is released and been viewed. Perhaps, they will follow this with the original book The Hobbit.
With the possible exception of the Elves, his cosmology is quite Catholic.
I hope they make the Hobbit also, that would be the icing on the cake.
We need more movies like this.
I disagree. This is being like the Jews and Protestants who discarded a few books from the Old Testament because of they were no longer useful. If you read the Simirilion, Tolkien's account of what happened in Middle Earth in its First and Second Ages, there is DEFINITELY a God active in the story. His name is Iluvatar, or Eru, "the One." In fact, Gandalf, in his confrontation with Balrog in the Mines of Moria, refers to himself as "the Servant of the Secret Fire." The Secret Fire is the Holy Spirit, according to Tolkien.
Tolkien himself responed defensively in an interview in 1968 to this charge. "Of course God is in The Lord of the Rings. The period was pre-Christian, but it was a monotheistic world." When the interviewers asked him who the God in the trilogy was, Tolkien said: "The one, of course! The book is about the world that God created - the actual world of this planet." Please read the third chapter of Bradley Birzers' book, J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth before repeating such a statement.
That is simply incorrect. I am not Catholic, but I am a fan of both Tolkien and Potter. Not all Catholics condemn Harry Potter.
Let's take just one issue: there is no God in the books. No mention ever of a supreme being, no reference even to life after death. What happens to these characters when they die? From a truly Catholic perspective, that is the only issue that really matters. Yet LoR ignores it entirely, even though basic consistency of plot would require some explanation of what happens to elves when they die as opposed to living forever.
You need to read the books with understanding. God is all through the books, and the appendices and subsequent works by Tolkien. I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't see God in these works, you aren't paying attention.
As for the afterlife...what do you think is represented by the Grey Havens? It is most significant that "non-elves" (Frodo, Bilbo, Gimli) are invited to go on that journey. What could it mean except heaven?
And the Christlike symbolism is all through the books: Frodo the Deliverer, Gandalf the Resurrected, Aragorn the Returning King.
We're not talking about the Silmarillion, we're talking about the Lord of the Rings. And in the trilogy, there is no reference to God. The Silmarillion was written later and never finished in Tolkien's lifetime.
Gandalf, in his confrontation with Balrog in the Mines of Moria, refers to himself as "the Servant of the Secret Fire." The Secret Fire is the Holy Spirit, according to Tolkien.
Sorry, I can't buy this. The only reference to God is "the secret fire"? And somehow this makes the work all Catholic? This sounds totally pagan, which would be in keeping with Tolkien's sources in Norse mythology.
When the interviewers asked him who the God in the trilogy was, Tolkien said: "The one, of course! The book is about the world that God created - the actual world of this planet."
If the world of LoR is supposed to be our world, then all the more reason to make the absence of God inexcusable. Where, by the way, are Adam and Eve in the story? What about the condemnation of poly-genism that came out during the very time that Tolkien was writing the books? This is absolutely unacceptable from a Catholic perspective.
Please read the third chapter of Bradley Birzers' book, J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth before repeating such a statement.
If I need to read someone else's explanation before understanding where God fits into the story, then that is just perfect confirmation of the fact that it is not there in the text. I've read others besides Joseph Pierce promoting this theory, and none of them are credible.
According to Jane Chance, professor of English, Medieval Studies, and Women and Gender at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and author of "Tolkien's Art" and "Lord of the Rings."
Tolkien was a Roman Catholic, close to being Tridentine in his conservative Catholicism.
The Bible As 'The Ultimate Fairy Tale' A Tolkien expert explains how for the creator of hobbits, a tree was never just a tree.
I suppose that one needs to be able to appreciate this sort of logic in order to understand the "Catholic" symbolism of Lord of the Rings.
You need to read the books with understanding. God is all through the books, and the appendices and subsequent works by Tolkien. I don't mean to be rude, but if you don't see God in these works, you aren't paying attention.
Your ad hominem arguments have somehow failed to convince me.
the Christlike symbolism is all through the books: Frodo the Deliverer, Gandalf the Resurrected, Aragorn the Returning King.
These could just as easily be Hindu or Zoroastrian symbols. Next I'll be hearing that "Gilgamesh" is also a Catholic work. It has a hundred times more symbolism that could be interpreted as being "Christ-like."
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