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).
Hence why I hated the part where Arwen shows up in FotR. ;)
I recall reading somewhere that Tolkien produced this resurrection inadvertantly by using the same character in different roles, apparently without forethought. He then invoked the Valar to explain the contradiction. After all, Glorfindel was certainly a special guy. Now why he got a better deal than Luthien (who had to die a second time) I can't say. Luthien should try to get her money back.
Yeah, that's what I read too. End result was that Glorfindel was given a new body and sent back.
The city was Gondolin. It gets a quick mention in the Hobbit.
Yeah, I remember now. Glamdring, the Foe Hammer, that the King of Gondolin once bore.
Sorry, but Catholics don't condemn Harry Potter.
Some do, and some say that it is a good yarn that helps kids respect right and wrong. If you refer to Paul, it's like his argument about pagan gods: he says some people say these gods are not real, and others say they are real and need to be shunned.
As for mentioning God: Catholics are't usually big about bragging or pushing God to others. (except for former Protestants and for a small group who actually preach or explain the faith in some forums).
Catholics teach with stories, and see God and us as a family relationship.
Were you aware that most of the 911 firefighters were Catholic? Many were devout. Yet few reported it. Catholics just absorb the idea of love of neighbor and self sacrifice as part of their faith.
In LOTR, you don't see sociopaths, but men with flaws who seek to do the right thing, without making a big deal about it. They take responsibility. They tell stories. They like to party. They protect each other, even would die for each other, because they know that's what the world is about...but they aren't big about praying out loud and saying praise Jesus. They obey the natural law and have reverence for nature, for others, and for a higher power (note the times when they call on Elbereth, or the discussion where Frodo is told he is MEANT to find the ring-- but not by it's maker).
Gandalf was an incarnated Angel in Tolkiens's theology, so his magic is natural. Humans who seek occult power descend to evil (the ringwraiths and Boromir)...unlike Harry Potter, who learns to manipulate power as a human...this idea that occult/spiritual powers are not to be sought is a Jewish/christian idea also....
Pearce's explanations are Catholic mainly for other catholics.
However, a good Evangelical book which explores the pros and cons is : Tolkien in Perspective: by Greg Wright of the website Hollywood Jesus...
Wonderful thoughts introduced there, nyer. They make so much sense. Thanks.
But what is the ring?
The ring is power..the power to rule, to dominate, to fullfill your own will, and impose it on others.
The Hobbits are common men, who seek only simple pleasures and help each others.
When Frodo "inherits" the ring, it is understood by the great that even though he is not a "great" or powerful person, that he has qualities that are more important, and that he, not "an elf warrior" needs to destroy it.There is a passage where Gandalf says Frodo was "meant" to find the ring...the implication is that God arranged this "coincidence"...
Frodo has qualities that include humility and weakness: he has no desire to rule others. And he accepts the burden, understanding that this is his task...If the wizard or others took the ring, they would be tempted since they are people of power, and recognize the danger of power to corrupt: the danger to use power to "do good"...but leading to terror..
The christian theme here is that the meek will inherit the earth. The greatest Christian saints are often "nobodies"...like a little Albanian nun teaching rich girls in a school in India who decides to teach poor people...or a little cloistered nun in Alabama who decides to write books, then give a talk on Christian TV station, then to start a Catholic network...or a merchant's son and playboy who decides to rebuild a church and live poorly, and revives the church (st Francis)..or millions of other "nobodies" who do not seek power but allow God to use them as instruments..
Good point, but not true..
ALL the characters have evil temptations that come from there hearts.
Frodo succumbs in the end to his. Boromir and Sarumen succumb. Both Gandalf and Galadriel are tempted, and reject the ring, because they recognize that they are evil and would succumb to it's power. Sam is tempted. Pippin succumbs to the Palantir. Faramir is tempted, but declines..Theodur succumbs... Elrond and the elves presumably are tempted, which is why the ring is not kept long in Rivendale (although it is not stated as such)...the only character who is not "tempted" by the ring or evil is Tom Bombadil, who is not in the film...
So the book revolves around the characters knowing about evil, but coping with it.
Gnosticism, unlike Christianity, says that it is secret knowledge that leads us to God, not our actions. So if you learn to meditate or perform a ritual, you are better than anyone else...
Catholic christianity sees the world as a battle between right and wrong, and sees evil as both being outside ourself (the devil) and inside our own hearts (called "original sin" which is the tendency in fallen men to sin, even if men are good)...
However, you are right that the book is NOT overtly Christian...Tolkien believed that telling a tale leads people to think about important things, and that stories are a way to communicate the truth. He detested "allegory" which shoves the author's truth down your throat...he prefered stories/parables that were complete stories, but that mirrored a deeper reality..
The Lord of the Rings was written by Tolkien in support of the old ways and is anti-industrialization and pro monarchy/nobility. It is a view of the world along Jeffersonian econimic ideals a world of rural yeoman farmers under the protection of noblemen.
The theology is pure modern recreated Druidisim - nature worship - but not for the sake of Pagan gods but to drive a point that the earth is holy and provides life if treated as life (the villans are anti-earth - they rip down trees so they can build things of war for example).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.