Posted on 12/17/2007 11:09:50 AM PST by Greg F
I watched the movie versions of Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" over the last three days and tried to sort out the symbolism in Christian terms. Here's what I came up with, would love the insights of any regarding.
Hobbits: Your home and hearth Christians. Humble and happy, not seeking power and acclaim to the same extent as others, perhaps, and content with small things.
Elves: Angels. They are superhuman in their understanding and abilities and they can choose to leave middle earth unlike the other races.
Orcs: Demons. They are a race of elves abused, corrupted and changed by Sauron.
Men: Men.
Dwarves: ?
Sauron: Satan.
Gandolf: The Holy Spirit (?). Gandolf can be seen as a Christ figure, but most often he is advising men, hobbits and elves, and acting through them. That said, he does act directly as well, and at the end of the movie he sails away with the elves (does this end correspond to the book?). If he were a Christ figure I think his actions would be much more definitive. He would be the actor that saves and no army would stand before him.
The Ghost Army: Tolkien was a Catholic. Souls in purgatory given a chance at redemption.
The Ring of Power: Temptation. Only the humble Christian (Hobbit) can withstand the temptation. The lords and kings cannot.
Make that “endure for long” rather than withstand, regarding Frodo’s ability to withstand the ring while others quickly succumb. Frodo ultimately tried to claim the ring (as a post above said, only grace allowed him to ultimately succeed in the task). I also agree that there is no 1:1 correspondence in Tolkien like you will find in Lewis’ works. That’s why it’s more fun to talk about than the allegory of Lewis’ works. Lewis’ are straight line. There is definitely allegory and a Christian worldview in the LOTR and I don’t blame Tolkein for taking himself out of that discussion . . . it would be boring and end the discussion and thought . . . and sometimes the writer is acting as an artist not a theologian or philosopher . . . and so he says more than he realizes as he produces the work.
I see the destruction of 19th century romaticism, the destruction of the rural lifestyle, and the evil of runaway industrialization in that tale.
Those elves represent the thinkers of the classic world, rennaisance, and 19th cent. romanticism.
The immortality of the grey havens represents the fame of great people—thinkers or doers—after they die.
The departing of the elves represents the change from a more pastoral life and way of thinking to the dog-eat-dog industrial twentieth century.
Gandolf represents science used rationally.
The bad wizard represents runaway industrial science (shown by the destruction of natural beauty, the forests, to fuel and be replaced by those underground factories.
The “resurrection” of Gandolf represents how one can be changed by the experience of war into someone of great inner strength, with a matured view of the meaning of life and death. It also reminded me of those people who come back to life after having almost died, and who remember death as so pleasant an experience that they no longer fear dying (expressed by Gandolf in his White Shores talk to the hobbit).
When Aragon enlists the dead in that mountain, that represents how those who accept their own death in a struggle (represented here by war), are those most likely to survive that struggle—they, like Aragon, take death as an ally.
The red glow and various lights of Mordor on the horizon represent the explosions of distant modern warfare on the horizon.
The Ents represent how the natural world can destroy those who carelessly damage it through rampant industrialization (as global warming today threatens our industrial lifestyle?).
I could tell more if I had the time.
The LOTR books were written during and after World War II. ‘37 to ‘49 was the period in which Tolkein wrote it and then editing and publication in 1954 as three volumes. Hobbit published 1937. So definitely influenced by WWII.
If you go by the book, it’s Gandalf, not Gondalf.
In a Christian context I thought the Ents may have represented some form of good territorial principality.
Yah, Gandalf, not Gandolf. Typo.
If you go by The Sting, it's Gondorf. Harry Gondorf.
We Boggies are a merry folk
who like to eat until we choke
loving all like friend and brother
and hardly ever eat each other
No, the Pope was definitely Gollum.
“There are three Christ figures in The Lord of the Rings. Prophet (Gandalf), Priest (Frodo), and King (Aragorn).”
...And inderectly, a reference to the Christian Trinity.
Men are just men, but Hobbits are Christians?
I think so, the men were all over the map in moral terms and in their interests. The hobbits were for the most part “good” and humble. Their differences were minor squabbles and cliques.
Good analysis. Can't add much. Unlike "Narnia," "Rings" isn't meant to be an exact metaphor for Christian belief. I think Tolkien's idea was to create another Creation, or "sub-Creation," or something like that. At least that's what I've read.
The Ghost Army: Tolkien was a Catholic. Souls in purgatory given a chance at redemption.
Not exactly. Every soul that enters purgatory is bound for heaven. Purgatory represents a state of purgation or cleansing prior to heaven. Purgatory does not represent a "second chance."
1 Corinthians 3:10-15But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Let us keep this civil. Tolkien was a devout Catholic. Please leave your polemics elsewhere.
Grin. You agreed and then disagreed. I think you are right in both cases because Tolkien is not using direct theologically precise symbols or direct allegory but may have created more than he realized in a Christian context. When Lewis gained Tolkein’s agreement to write direct allegories of Christianity, Lewis as Science Fiction, Tolkien as fantasy, Lewis promptly wrote the Perelandra series. Tolkien promptly wrote . . . nothing. I think Tolkein used up what he had to say in LOTR, he exhausted his imagination with that eruption, whether he knew it or not.
The story is also heavily influenced by Tolkien’s experiences as a WW1 soldier.
He is Frodo. Keeps losing ones around him. He keeps feeling alone. This is how Tolkien felt ehen his friends would fall to German bullets.
The scene at the marsh where you can see the dead in the river is allegory to his seeing dead bodies after a big battle.
Also, the machines and the forests being destroyed by the “war” machine. That was allegory to Germany’s rapid build up of its military in WW1.
My info is from the extras on the dvd set. They had a great bio on Tolkien.
Him being a devout Christian is evident by characters influenced by Chrustianity.
Gandalf is Christ like, as is Frodo, carrying the burden for man.
Above I said Tolkein agreed to write fantasy . . . I think it was actually time travel in a Christian context that Tolkien agreed to write about . . . Lewis about space travel . . . Lewis wanted to take two sci-fi genres and put them in a Christian literature. Anyway, same point, Tolkien didn’t do it while Lewis was very excited about it.
So in LOTR, when the trees themselves take part in the war in reaction to the destruction of their own, probably comes from Tolkein seeing what happened to nature on a battlefield.
You could definately say that.
But there was more emphasis on the fear of a dark army making weapons and getting bigger.
I remember in the dvd extra talked about the scene mainly showed the destructive force growing.
Similar to the German military machine, churning out weapons and getting bigger.
Mind you all influence is from Tolkien’s military experience in WW1.
The story starts out happy for the first few pages and is dark all the way to the end.
The loss of hope in a long bloody war.
Jackson perfectly captured the emotion of the novels and put them into the silverscreen.
Where does God fit in?
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