The Lord of the Rings trilogy: A Full Interpretation and Theological Critique

The Lord of the Rings trilogy:
A Full Interpretation & Comprehensive Theological Critique

A Research Paper

I do not know about you but I love movies. Matter of fact, there are very few blockbuster hits that I have not seen, especially in the last few years. Many of these movies, I have walked away from thinking I would love to dig a little deeper into the spiritual themes presented such as, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a result, I thought it would be interesting to do just that with this project.
In this project, I will discuss the spiritual themes of Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a side note, I most enjoyed The Two Towers because it is the one in which, after watching it, I wanted to go back and see The Fellowship of the Rings again and began to look forward to the Return of the King. In this presentation, I will incorporate examples by using clips from the movies. I will also present a full interpretation of Lord of the Rings as well as a comprehensive theological critique. I am assuming that the reader has seen The Lord of the Rings trilogy therefore, I will not explain Middle-earth, the Shire, the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd age nor will I describe or explain any of the characters in this presentation. I am assuming the reader already has the basic knowledge concerning the above so I will go straight into the interpretation and theological critique.
To begin, ChristianityToday.com gives an overview of the Lord of the Rings stating that The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a moral fantasy pitting good against evil in a world where wizards are the stewards of humankind, Ents shepherd forests, Elves
preserve beauty and Orcs, Trolls and Uruk-hai serve evil. The three-part epic shows darkness battling light, fighting with humility and despair wrestling with hope.[1]
In the article, “Wizards of the Rings: There must be a moral in here somewhere,” the author states that some important ideas from Tolkien have been preserved in the movie. For instance, the ring at the center of Tolkien’s saga confers upon its wearer magical powers. Those who avail themselves of this power become corrupted. Yielding to temptation becomes a hazardous business and no one is entirely safe. The author states that, “In Tolkien’s world, you perch precariously on a slope that may slide you at any moment into doom.”[2]
In “A Fellowship in Peril,” the author states that the Lord of the Rings holds themes of destiny and mortality. He states that the story of Frodo, Sam and Gollum is a journey into the darker side of Frodo’s soul as he struggles against the Ring’s evil power. He quotes a cinematographer for the movie as saying, “Frodo comes to realize that Gollum represents what he may become. The theme is that everyone is essentially good, but there are dark forces in life that affect us. It’s how you deal with those forces that is the measure of your character.” The author goes on to say that, the race of Men is presented as somewhat pagan and feudal.[3]
In “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” the author states that, “The themes play back and forth across the narrative, linking displays of courage, loyalty and selflessness while giving glints of temptation and treachery. It feels like an essential story that ages have not eroded; the story of the fight for humanity to keep alive the sacred spark. And it is a complex story, because it illustrates that both that spark and the shadow of darkness lie in every heart.”[4]
In “The End of Magic,” the author states Tolkien’s work draws on the struggles between power and powerlessness that Christians know so well from their own salvation history, namely in the sacrifice of the Ring. The author also states that Tolkien “sets the stage for the expected story of Jesus Christ some thousands of years later.[5]”
ChristianityToday.com also points out some spiritual themes in The Lord of the Rings and provides examples from Scripture of each of those themes. They are as follows: the struggle for virtue (Romans 6:15-7:25; Phil 2:1-3; 4:2-9); resisting power and sin (Gen 3:5; Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:11-12; Luke 4:1-13; 2 Cor 10:3-5); infinite power in small packages (1 Cor 1:18-19, 23-25); providence and faith (Gen 50:20; Jer 29:11; Rom 1:20; 8:28; Phil 2:12-13) and ennobling stories (Deut 6:10-19; Josh 1:1-9).[6]
In Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings, Mark Eddy Smith lists the spiritual themes as follows: simplicity; generosity; friendship; hospitality; faith; perspective; community; sacrifice; wonder; temptation; failure; atonement; suffering; resurrection; humility; providence; trust; trustworthiness; wisdom; hope; imagination; submission; courage; foolishness; perseverance; justice and love.[7] The following discussion of the above themes is paraphrased from Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings:
Simplicity: The Hobbits are country people who have little use of machinery and little concern for the outside world. They like eating plenty and often, they prize predictability over originality and despise adventures of any kind.
Generosity: Preparing to leave the Shire, Bilbo gives away his home and belongings. Matthew 19:24-26 reveals how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Generosity is also evidenced in compliments given to others and in defending others from trouble.
Friendship: Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo are true friends to one another. They stick together even on threat of death. Aragorn and the Hobbits become great friends as well. Gandalf and Bilbo have a remarkable friendship and the evidence of this is in Bilbo relinquishing his beloved ring to Gandalf in the beginning. Proverbs 20:6 mentions that it is hard to find one worthy of trust.
Hospitality: Hospitality provides the weary travelers with rest throughout the journey. At times and places not looked for, the hospitality of strangers relieves the friends and allows them some time in peace, so that their wayfaring is not simply hardship and danger unabated. Hebrews 13:2 says to show hospitality to strangers for you may have entertained angels unaware.
Faith: The Hobbits have to have faith in Strider (Aragorn) to protect and lead them. Even though Frodo is wounded before his course is fully set and he still has a long and difficult journey ahead of him, it does not deter him. He is willing to lay down his life to fulfill his mission. He trusted in and accepted the help he was offered. In the end, Frodo’s ability to trust is sufficient. A Biblical story referenced here is the story of the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 6:17.
Perspective: History is important and learning it can be valuable to the decisions we make in our present lives. History played an important role in the decisions made by the Fellowship. Because they know the Rings history, the Fellowship knew they had to destroy it. The Bible is an ancient book of stories, unpronounceable names and God’s wrath, but we need to understand it. History can show us what is important to keep or to cast away.
Community: Community is represented in the Shire, the diversity of Rivendell and Lothlorien, as well as in the make up of the Fellowship. Elrond included representatives from each of the major people groups present plus the friends of Frodo to make up the Fellowship. Together the Fellowship fights off attacks and dares the Mines of Moria. All of these things are well beyond the strengths of the Hobbits alone but their combined strengths help them succeed in their mission.
Sacrifice: The Hobbits leave behind everything that is dear and familiar; Boromir, Legolus and Gimli leave behind homelands that are threatened by war. Aragorn leaves Arwen, his lover, behind at Rivendell. In comparison, Jesus asks us to make sacrifices to follow Him.
Wonder: The Hobbits experience a sense of wonder at Lothlorien, an undecaying garden set in the midst of a falling world. Lothlorien is like the Garden of Eden. The Lord of the Rings is filled with a sense of wonder. The landscape, the people and the friendships they develop keep alive in them a sense that the world is good and worth saving.
Temptation: There is the temptation of the ring of power throughout the tale. There is also the temptation to turn back or give up when Frodo looks into Galadriel’s mirror.
Failure: After Gandalf died, Aragorn had much trouble as he learned to lead. Boromir fails when he is overpowered by the ring.
Atonement: Boromir returns to the Fellowship after his betrayal and confesses to them. He could have run but he did not. He stayed to protect Merry and Pippin from death. In the process, he is pierced with many arrows and dies.
Suffering: Merry and Pippin suffered when they were captured by the Orcs.
Resurrection: Gandalf was resurrected after dying in a battle with Balrog.
Humility: Saruman is humbled by Gandalf the White when Gandalf breaks his hold over Théoden. Théoden is humbled when he is released from the spell and Saruman’s lies have no more power over him.
Providence: Throughout the tale, the weather was a proactive agent, sometimes for evil and sometimes for good. Even the failures, mistakes and choices of Merry and Pippin were valuable instruments of Providence such as, rousing the Ents and providing a means for Boromir’s atonement.
Trust: The Fellowship is trusted to carry the ring to its destruction in Mordor. Gollum is trusted by Frodo to lead them to Mordor.
Trustworthiness: Faramir had to prove his trustworthiness to Frodo and Sam. Faramir did prove his trustworthiness because Frodo and Sam revealed their mission to him and he released them.
Wisdom: One thing the ring gives is sight. However, wisdom is the ability to see things as they really are and sometimes this was not the case with Frodo. Faramir showed wisdom in all his actions. Wisdom is not so much about intelligence and the ability to strategize as it is about the heart. Sam shows wisdom when he takes the ring from Frodo, who appeared to be dead after Shelob’s sting, and sets out to destroy it.
Hope: When Frodo and Sam reach the Black Gate of Mordor and see the vast army and wasteland, it is hope that keeps them going forward. Hope is not a feeling; it is a choice.
Imagination: On occasion, Frodo and Sam imagined what kind of story they are in and how people might hear about it in the years to come. They did this once while walking through the woods together and once when they were with Faramir.
Submission: The servants of Sauron show submission to him. Merry and Pippin show submission throughout the tale. Faramir submits to releasing Frodo and the ring.
Courage: Courage is evident in the characters as they undertake perilous tasks.
Foolishness: The entire tale is mostly about the biblical paradox: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak to shame the strong.” (1 Cor 1:27)
Perseverance: During the long road to Rivendell, the tragedy of Moria, the passage of the barren hills, the Dead Marshes, the closed gates, the long way around to the Crossroads, the stairs, the fight with Shelob, the lack of food, water and sunlight Frodo and Sam persevered. When they still had to cross the plains to Mount Doom, Sam’s hope was turned to a new strength. They did not give up but persevered and achieved their goal of destroying the Ring in the end.
Justice: Justice is rendering unto others their due. Justice is concerned with punishment but only the innocent can render such judgments. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23) Therefore, mercy is our only option. Sam and Frodo show mercy to Gollum. Aragorn shows mercy when he becomes king and sits upon the throne.
Love: The Lord of the Rings resounds with love. There is romantic love between Arwen and Aragorn, Rosie and Sam and friendship love between the members of the Fellowship. There are also characters in the story who exemplifies some aspect of the Savior. For example, Gandalf dies and rises again; Aragorn descends to the dead and emerges as a King with the power to heal; Frodo takes sin upon him and casts it into the fire and Sam is the servant of all.[8]
In The Gospel according to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth, the author discusses Tolkien’s vision of the following: Creation; the calamity of Evil (the marring of the divine harmony); the counter-action to Evil (Tolkien’s vision of the moral life); the lasting corrective (Tolkien’s vision of the redeemed life).[9]
Concerning the Creation, the universe Tolkien conceives is hierarchical. His pre-Christian world does not know God as the Trinity but as the One. There is only one God in Middle-earth. There is also the omnipresence of Fate, Death and Doom. Tolkien, a Christian writer, modifies the pagan conception of fate to imply its providential direction. There is a pagan sense of Doom, the idea the world’s outcome is unchangeably bent toward final destruction, throughout the tale. In the Lord of the Rings, Death is an omnipresent reality, which serves as a warning against the life-worship that is the unofficial faith of the modern world. Finally, the assorted powers of evil are dedicated to sweeping all travelers off the one Road into the pit of death.[10]
Concerning Evil, Tolkien says that evil does not truly exist; it is nothing. He says that if Evil had a logical explanation, then it could be combated with some success however; it possesses instead an irrationality that does not submit entirely to rational or moral control. Evil always has the character of absurdity. Like Jesus with the Pharisees, Tolkien understands the danger posed by virtue cut off from Good. Repeatedly, Tolkien demonstrates his conviction that evil preys upon our virtues far more than our vices.[11]
Concerning counter-action to Evil, Tolkien imbues the Lord of the Rings with the conviction that, when completed and perfected, prudence issues in holy folly, justice in undeserved mercy, courage in unexpected endurance and temperance in joyful self-denial. He reveals that wisdom and prudence are virtues that prompt self-sacrifice and that justice is a virtue that requires mercy. He also talks about the necessity and limits of war, heroic and supernal courage and that courage is the virtue that issues in endurance.[12]
Concerning Tolkien’s vision of the Redeemed Life, Tolkien sees faith as an act of trust and that humans are called to faith and trust. There is also the faith to petition and receive divine aid and faith that produces friendship. In Lord of the Rings, there is also a hope throughout of a future that is permanently good and this hope is brought by the return of the true king. In Lord of the Rings, there is also love that forgives. Hope and faith shall pass away but love will endure forever.[13]

Bibliography

Baggins, Harry. “Wizards of the Rings: There must be a moral in here somewhere.” The
American Spectator. Vol. 35, No. 1, Jan/Feb 2002; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/04580/W6R55/7FU.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.

Gray, Simon. “A Fellowship in Peril,” American Cinematographer. Vol. 83, No. 12, Dec
2002; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/04580/W6R55/7FU.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.

Hinlicky, Sarah E. “The End of Magic.” First Things, No. 120, Feb 2002;
available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/04971/1EWY4/1FX.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.

Smith, Mark E. Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord
of the Rings. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2002.

“The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Overview.” ChristianityToday.com. Available from
http://store.yahoo.com/biblestudies/loofritr.html; Internet; accessed 17 October 21, 2004.

Vineberg, Steve. “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.” The Christian Century.
Vol. 120, No.1, Jan 11, 2003; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/03891/15WR2/3F7.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.

Wood, Ralph C. The Gospel According To Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-
earth. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003.

[1] “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Overview,” ChristianityToday.com; available from http://store.yahoo.com/biblestudies/loofritr.html; Internet; accessed 17 October 2004.
[2] Baggins, Harry, “Wizards of the Rings: There must be a moral in here somewhere,” The American Spectator, Vol. 35, No. 1, pg 88, Jan/Feb 2002; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/04580/W6R55/7FU.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.
[3] Gray, Simon, “A Fellowship in Peril,” American Cinematographer, Vol. 83, No. 12, pg. 36-53, Dec 2002; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/04580/W6R55/7FU.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.
[4] Vineberg, Steve, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” The Christian Century, Vol. 120, No.1, pg. 39, Jan 11, 2003; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/03891/15WR2/3F7.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.
[5] Hinlicky, Sarah E., “The End of Magic,” First Things, No. 120, pg. 45-50, Feb 2002; available from http://firstsearch.oclc.org/images/WSPL/wsppdfl/HTML/04971/1EWY4/1FX.HTM; Internet; accessed 20 October 2004.
[6] “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Overview,” ChristianityToday.com; available from http://store.yahoo.com/biblestudies/loofritr.html; Internet; accessed 17 October 2004.
[7] Smith, Mark E., Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings, Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2002, pg. 17-138.
[8] Smith, Mark E., Tolkien’s Ordinary Virtues: Exploring the Spiritual Themes of The Lord of the Rings, Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2002, pg. 17-138.
[9] Wood, Ralph C., The Gospel According To Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, pg. 11-155.
[10] Wood, Ralph C., The Gospel According To Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, pg. 11-155.
[11] Wood, Ralph C., The Gospel According To Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, pg. 11-155.
[12] Wood, Ralph C., The Gospel According To Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, pg.11-155.
[13] Wood, Ralph C., The Gospel According To Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2003, pg. 11-155.