August 30, 2002

Re: Reply To Beans
Aiglos

Many people who have posted messages in this forum concerning the relationship between Christianity and Lotr have claimed that there is no relationship and that Tolkien never intended such an allegory anyway. However, one has to assume that Tolkien's experiences with Christianity influenced him, even if only in a subconscious way. The characters he placed in Lotr are simply too similar to certain Biblical figures; Beans is mistaken in assuming that such conclusions are the result of hours of laborious analysis and contemplation.
It is easy for many people to compare the Bible and Lotr due to the fact that they both discuss the same theme: a conflict between ultimate good and ultimate evil. This similarity cannot be denied. Furthermore, the two works are also related by the fact that there can only be so many versions of an epic story. This genre nearly always includes characters which have counterparts in other cultures. One could just as easily say that Lotr was similar to epics such as Homer's Iliad or the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Finally, I would like to say that, yes, Beans, it is necessary to analyze the roots of the works which you read, because if you better understand these, then you can better understand the work itself.