Religions of the World 1: Western Religions

Religions of the World 1: Western Religions

3/15/2019

Christ and The Lord of the Rings

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) is the author of “Lord of the Rings Trilogy,” a fascinating epic about a magic ring, hobbits, wizards, kings, demons, goblins, and men; living in Middle Earth. In the “Fellowship of the Ring” Frodo Baggins inherits a magical ring (the One Ring) from his uncle, Bilbo Baggins. The ring has the power to make one invisible to ordinary folk. However, it was created by the evil lord Sauron with the intent to dominate Middle-Earth; it was lost to him when Isildur cut the One Ring from his hand during the battle between the Last Alliance and Mordor. As such, Sauron will stop at nothing to recover the ring and expand his evil grip of Middle-Earth. And so, this paper will discuss the similarities between the characters Tolkien created in the Lord of the Rings and Jesus of Nazareth.

John Ronald (“Ronald” to family and early friends) was born in Bloemfontein, S.A., on 3 January 1892, to Arthur Reuel Tolkien and Mabel Suffield; Arthur was a bank clerk who wished to improve his position, so he moved to South Africa and was soon joined by his wife, Mabel. Tolkien’s father died on February 15, 1898. The death of his father resulted in his Mother Mabel, Brother Hilary and himself moving back to England, where Mabel, Ronald, and Hilary were welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church. When his mother died in 1904 Ronald who was twelve and Hilary were orphaned and destitute, at which time Father Francis of the church took over, and made sure of the boys’ material as well as spiritual welfare.

Thus, one result of Father Francis’ involvement was that Tolkien remained a devout Christian all his life. His devotion to Christianity was evident in his writing. However, Tolkien never intended his stories to be interpreted as allegory. He detested allegory and “…[even] stated that his novels were never written with the intent of preaching religion; however, Tolkien was always quick to admit that all of his works were written in the Christian tradition and therefore were full of Christian symbols.” (Ingles, https://hobbylark.com/fandoms/The-Lord-of-the-Rings-and-Christian-Symbolism) Therefore, one can see Tolkien was able to create such characters as Gandalf the Gray, Aragorn, and Samwise Gamgee in the epic “Lord of the Rings Trilogy,” with some of the traits of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, with his strong feelings for Christianity, Tolkien created Gandalf the Wondering Wizard. In this character, Tolkien placed the critical task of saving Middle-Earth. Gandalf was sent by the Valar from the land of Valinor to save Middle-Earth from Sauron; this action can be compared to God sending Jesus Christ to Earth to protect us from Satan and the fires of Hell. Gandalf demonstrated his commitment to saving Middle-Earth