June 13, 2002

Christianity and the LOTR
Matt

Tolkien was a devout catholic and the Lord of the Rings is upon revision a Christian Book. Tolkien says so in his letters.

Tolkien in his essay "On fairy stories" explained that in order for one to absolutely see the truth one must be divorced from all things modern and taken to a place far different from today. The Lord of the Rings is not a story about the evil of cars (although Tolkien hated them), or the perils of industrialization (although he hated machines, but liked factories, because they put all the machines in one place), but it is a story about the nature and corruption of power.

This is a Christian theme. A serious scholor of Christianity (of which there remains few) knows that power corrupts. Power over an individual is bad. Freedom is good. That is the whole moral theme of the Lord of the Rings.

Anyone who kept to themselves, helped others to help themselves, and witheld his desire for power was considered good. Anyone who desired to control other and subordinate them to their commands were considered evil.

I have read some of the comments on why Tolkien did not allow the maia (Gandalf, Saruman, and Radagast) to retain their powers and just overthrow Sauron. They felt this ridiculuos and stupid.

Yet if one thinks about it, it becomes clear. Tolkien (although Catholic) was heavily influences by Milton. Milton in Paradise lost explained through Myth how satan and man fell and how man can redeem itself.

Satan, who sort of resembles Melkor, was the highest of all angels. He knew all there was to know about God and rejected him because he sought to rule himself. Therefore, Satan is eternally damned.

But man fell not on his own will and was tricked. Eve by Satan, and Man because he did not want to spend his life without Eve. For man to redeem himself, he must through the grace of God, seek good on his own accord.

God is not about to come down from Heaven and do it all himself and save a fallen man without man making the choice himself. He will help man, but he will not do the job for him. This is not unfair, for it was man who rejected God in the first place. It is mans obligation for salvation.

That does not mean God cannot help man. He has down so through Jesus and through grace. But man must also be responsible.

Tolkien clearly shows this in the LOTR. The free-peoples of the earth have to deal with Sauron. The valar send the maia only to assist the free-peoples in destroying Sauron. For remember, it was man who refused to destroy the ring in the first place.

Tolkien specifically left out all references to Christianity on purpose. So that anyone can pick up the books and say, "yes, power is evil, man must stand up to it, and he must have faith that he can do it."

Frodo was MEANT to have the ring and that was a good thing. Frodo must make a choice whether to succumb to power, or destroy the ring.

Tolkien specifically left the end debatable. Did Frodo succede and or was it by Faith that gollum fell into the pit with the ring on his hand?