Being of absolutely no religious affiliation, I’m not too interested in allegories of Christianity. I’ve never read The Chronicles of Narnia, nor have I read any Harry Potter book after the fourth. When I began The Lord of the Rings, I had no idea it was a Christianity based piece of literature, much less a Catholic one. I don’t know whether it’s my naivety when it comes to such things, or the fact that the allegory is imbedded in the story in a way that it’s hard to detect. Like the destruction of the Ring signifying March 25th to be a great day, that day of importance in real life being the crucifixion. Also, how the cock crowing after the Nazgul chief defies Gandalf is demonstrative of what happens after Peter says that he doesn’t know who Jesus is. This puts even more holes in Tolkien’s supposed hate of allegory.
Shippey brought to light a few points that made sense to me, such as Denethor’s suicide being a substantial Catholic sin. But regardless of that information, suicide isn’t what I would label to be widely accepted. However, I can see how Sauron could be linked with Lucifer. He was one of the Maiar, became corrupted by the being of ultimate evil that was Morgoth and was forsaken by the Valar. He is also similar to Lucifer in the respect that he is able to sway those of weak moral standing under his power. For example, the Kings of Numenor (Ringwraiths) and the orcs throughout Middle Earth, the Ring being his tool.
I also thought that Tolkien’s idea of eucatastrophe was interesting. The idea that if a terrible turn of events is a catastrophe, there should also be a term for an incredibly favorable turn of events. The eagles play an insurmountable role in eucatastrophe. In sources I’m using for my paper I’ve learned that the Eagles represent a sort of divine aid. The Valar are in charge of the well being and safe keeping of Arda and Iluvatar’s children, those being men and elves. They used the Eagles as tools to fight Morgoth, however they only come at moments when all hope is lost, somewhat like a trump card against catastrophe, thus creating a eucatastrophe. If Arda (and/or mankind and elfkind) is threatened and are in a very precarious situation, the Eagles come, like a sign of divine intervention and save the day. This can be seen in the Battle of 5 Armies in The Hobbit, and the rescue of Frodo and Sam. Also, when Gwaihir saves Gandalf from Isengard, he was looking out for the good of Arda, seeing how Gandalf is an integral part of Sauron’s defeat.
Brian Nacov November 06, 2008, at 04:30 PM
