Keilah Bradley

Christianity in The Lord of the Rings

Keilah Bradley

5,214 Words

Copyright Keilah Bradley December 11, 2008

There is a lot of literature that has connections to religion, more specifically, there is a lot of literature that includes references to the Roman Catholic faith. One of the greatest trilogies, The Lord of the Rings, has many Catholic meanings embedded within its pages. The author of this trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, was a devout Catholic throughout his life and consciously placed these meanings in his work. Tom Shippey in his book J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, includes a letter that Tolkien had written to a friend stating, “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision” (Shippey, 175). This proves that the famous trilogy is indeed a work with religious intentions.

Tolkien had many accomplishments in his life such as being a poet, English writer, professor at Oxford teaching Anglo-Saxon history and culture, creator of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, influencer of many other fantastic novels, veteran of World War I, and philologist. Some people would disagree, but many people believe that at least two major factors were influences in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: World War I and Catholicism. There is evidence of both. Through the discreet use of Christianity and war in his trilogy, Tolkien definitely shows us his view on many things in the world. The Lord of the Rings is a story about the struggle between good and evil. The view of Christianity will be explored throughout The Lord of the Rings in this paper. More specifically, temptation, the depiction of evil, sin, the call to Frodo, the connection of Tolkien’s characters to Christian figures, and Reincarnation will be explored.

First, temptation is a big part of The Lord of the Rings that shows up in various ways throughout the trilogy. Temptation is when a creature is being enticed towards something. Sometimes the characters do not even realize that they are being lured towards something, especially something evil, until it is too late. In The Lord of the Rings, anybody would agree that it is a common scene to see Frodo giving in to temptation at many points throughout the storyline. In The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, Scott A. Davison says that the turning scene in The Lord of the Rings is when Frodo caves to temptation and claims the ring for himself (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 99). At that point, evil takes over for a second. All throughout the trilogy, Frodo is making the journey with the fellowship (later on just Sam) to the Crack of Doom so that he can help his world by destroying the ring. We see various attempts on his part to fight the growing temptation to keep the ring to himself forever throughout this journey. Eventually he can no longer stand it and, slipping the ring on his finger, declares to Sam that the ring is his (VI, “Mount Doom”). After a horrible journey that included near death and fear the whole way through, we get about five sixths of the way to the end of the trilogy and Frodo finally caves. This shows that temptation is a test and can be so powerful as to break a character and lead them into sin even after a journey of working to be faithful.

Tom Shippey also supports the view that Frodo is tempted throughout the trilogy in his book J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. Shippey agrees with the common view that we see the unclear beginning of temptation in the beginning of the story when Gandalf asks Frodo to see the ring real quick (Shippey, 135). This, if looking through the Boethian view, shows that Frodo is unconsciously set against parting with the ring if only for a short time. Clearly something so powerful as this ring that is already producing a magnetic affect to Frodo has the potential to go against Christianity and lead someone into an evil temptation. By the time we reach the Crack of Doom, Frodo has a stronger connection with the ring. When asked, Sam is able to gently pull Frodo’s arm away from it (Shippey, 139). This shows that temptation is able to overtake somebody physically as well as mentally. By this point, Frodo had no choice in the matter of destroying the ring and the decision was made for him by the power of the ring to stick with it and never let it go (Shippey, 135–140). Had the story ended at that point, The Lord of the Rings could have ended in a completely different way then it did.

Mike Foster offers further evidence to support the above view. In his article “The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings,” he reviews Caldecott’s work. While the focus has been on many of Frodo’s temptations, Foster and Caldecott take a stand on the last of Frodo’s temptations. Many can agree that when Frodo has reached the point when he can physically destroy the ring, he fails in his attempts. Caldecott does look at Frodo as a failure at this time when he gives in and says that he will not let the ring go (Foster, 294). Caldecott says: “Thus in the end it is not Frodo who saves Middle-earth at all, though he bore the ring to the Mountain, nor Gollum who took the Ring into the Fire. It can only be God himself…” (Foster, 294). This statement is very powerful. In The Lord of the Rings, while the reader does not see God step in when Frodo is failing his last temptation, they do see that neither the hobbit nor Gollum really destroy the ring. In a Christian’s view, God was the higher entity that ended the journey and made the destruction of the ring possible. Caldecott plants this thought and it does solve the problem of who really saved Middle-earth in the end. This also shows that God steps in when something major is happening in a person’s life. When Frodo is about to ruin the end of the mission, God makes sure that he does not ultimately fail.

Despite his failures, many people look at Frodo as an epic hero and as a character who exhibited many Christian traits throughout the novel. In the article “The Text Tale of Frodo Nine-fingered” by Maria Prozesky, it is suggested that Frodo is an epic hero. Pity and hope are two Christian qualities which Frodo displays. This is based on a new thinking of heroism that reflects Christian and contemporary thinking (Prozesky, 36). This means that Frodo normally would not be considered a hero, but through Christian thoughts and the religious qualities that he expresses, he is portrayed that way. Frodo displayed pity with Gollum many times because he really thought that Gollum might be of some help and felt bad that he had become such a pathetic creature because of the ring. The hope was displayed by letting Gollum help lead him to the Cracks of Doom as he was hoping there was some good left in the fallen hobbit.

Frodo was not the only character in The Lord of the Rings that thought about or even fell to the temptation of the ring. Boromir also falls to the temptation. He wants it so badly that he is willing to mess up the trust of companions for it. In the article “Frodo’s Faith” by Ralph C. Wood, we find Boromir who had succumbed to evil through the temptation of the ring. He is described as the “Judas of the story” (Wood, 24). Judas was the apostle who betrayed Jesus. Boromir breaks the trust of the fellowship by trying to take the ring away from Frodo causing Frodo to have to wear the ring to get away. Boromir comes to his senses before he dies only minutes later and realizes what he did was wrong. To obtain forgiveness from the rest of the fellowship for his actions he dies while fighting the orcs protecting Merry and Pippin (III, The Departure of Boromir). At this point, we see that Boromir realizes he has failed. He realizes that he gave in to the temptation of the ring and that he had broken the trust of the fellowship while trying to obtain it (Wood, 24–25). This was a tragedy including another character besides Frodo resulting from the sin of falling to temptation.

Quite opposite of characters that gave in to the evil of the ring, there were some characters that did not even come close to falling to the temptation. It is evident when they do not break trust or try to hide it when they are around it. Tom Bombadil and Sam Gamgee fit into this category. Shippey supports this view for Tom Bambadil in his book J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. “…Tom, characteristically, is quite unaffected: he neither becomes invisible himself when he puts it on nor fails to see Frodo when he puts it on” (Shippey, 136). Tom is a very bubbly person. He is very happy with the life that he has been given and has no desire for the ring that holds an evil power. He has no need to fall for the temptation that the ring delivers. Sam Gamgee is said to have been “…holding ‘a debate with himself’” (Shippey, 139). Sam hears two voices; one telling him to destroy the ring and the other telling him not to. The latter could have been the personification of the ring’s voice. Either way, it is arguable that Sam resisted the temptation because he did not give in to the eviler of the voices (Shippey, 140). This argument can be proved for Sam because the temptation was becoming a lot heavier to him and he still was able to turn around and try to do the right thing.

Moving away from temptation, evil is a topic in The Lord of the Rings that is often portrayed in many ways. One of those ways is through characters’ souls of the story. Many characters want something more than they have whether it be a desire, a power, or a material. In the chapter “Evil Intentions” found in Finding God in The Lord of the Rings, Bruner and Ware prove this. Lucifer is one of the characters that represent all that is evil in Christianity. He was once a servant of God who turned prideful and hoped to exceed his creator and become the highest being equivalent to God. Lucifer was then exiled but still wanted the power of control. In The Lord of the Rings Sauron is the Lucifer of Christianity. Lucifer seeks world domination in Christian views and Sauron seeks domination of hobbits and Middle-earth. Evil, destruction, and enslavement are what these two beings represent in Christianity and The Lord of the Rings (Bruner and Ware, 17–20).

Sauron is equivalent to our modern day thoughts of Lucifer. Saying this, he is the complete opposite of God. First, God is good and Sauron is evil and a sinner. That concept is not disputable. Second, we usually hear the word of God, but we, the readers, are able to visualize and see the evil of Sauron. In The Gospel According to Tolkien, Ralph C. Wood explains this opposite effect. God has never been seen, existing only through aural ways. This is how faith is explained: one has faith if they believe in God without having to see Him. Also, much of the time, one is not able to ignore God’s word. We are not able to shut our ears so that we can no longer hear because those people who do have faith hold it in their hearts. On the other hand, we can shut out whatever we see by closing our eyes and blocking out all visions (Wood, 58–61). Sauron is represented by an eye that is huge and has no lid in The Lord of the Rings. Since this is all he has, he is deaf and can not make sense of much. Everything is chaotic and senseless. Evil is commonly said to be chaotic. Since the fellowship constantly runs into despair, they feel like they would be content with giving up and leaving (Wood, 58–61). Here evil is shown through the character Sauron. There are no short-cuts; he is, in a sense, the epitome of evil in The Lord of the Rings just like Lucifer is in the Christian view.

Sauron being the epitome of evil proves that the ring is not so. In discussions of the novel, a common view is that many people have a personified view of the ring. They think that the ring is always the source of the evil issues that happen; that it has more power than it actually does. In The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, this is explained. Sauron is the evil behind the ring because he created it in his quest for world domination (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 100–101). This provides evidence that the Boethian view discussed before was accurate when talking about Frodo not being able to separate from the ring if even for a short time. “We must remember that the One Ring has the powers it possesses only because it was created by Sauron to aid in his quest for world domination. This means that the Ring is not an example of the Manichean idea of an independent evil force in the world, since it is animated by Sauron’s will and power” (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 100–101). This quote gives us evidence of true evil that is more within a person or creature. Sauron created the ring and doing so was able to transfer his power to it. Sauron was tempted to create a ring (and obviously did create it) to control everybody so that he ended up with the Middle-earth/world domination. He sinned by corrupting people through the use of the ring. Other characters such as Frodo in turn sinned when they fell to the power of Sauron’s ring. This explanation of Sauron is evidence of pure evil and also evidence that the ring holds a power through its creator.

On a lower level than evil, sin also appears as a theme in The Lord of the Rings. One of these themes in the trilogy is possessiveness. The readers see characters throughout the novel desire the possession of the ring. Also seen is the desire to have possession of the Shire and all of the creatures through Sauron. Marjorie Burns talks about the sin possessiveness as the greatest evil in The Lord of the Rings in her article, “J.R.R. Tolkien: The British and the Norse in Tension”. To be possessive of something shows that there is an addiction or an obsession taking place. Burns gives a couple examples of possessiveness that are shown in the trilogy. First, there is materialism which obviously centers on the possession of the ring. There is also domination, enslavement, and control (Burns, 50). The domination, the concept of enslavement, and the idea of control all center mainly on Sauron throughout the books. He wants possession of the Shire and the creatures so badly that he devotes every waking moment of his mind to getting it. This makes sense as he is a very evil being and seems to sin more than the other characters.

Aside from just evil, temptation, and sin there are many other subjects in The Lord of the Rings that represent Christianity. One subject is the call. As Christians, it is a belief that God calls to people to do His will. They are supposed to live good lives and follow in the footsteps of Christ as his disciples. In the end, if Christian’s have done God’s will and have found and kept faith, they are called to eternal life in Heaven. It is common for religious people to believe that when the call is received, it can be at a very bad time. Even though it is bad timing, faithful people also believe that when they receive the word, there is a strong pull to it and they cannot wait to do the mission. It is what religious people live for. In the chapter “The Call” of Finding God in The Lord of the Rings, Bruner and Ware talk about the call according to the trilogy. “The call to follow Christ is a call to adventure-inconvenient, imperious, and irresistible” (Bruner and Ware, 11–15). This is applicable to The Lord of the Rings just as much as to Christianity. Frodo does not necessarily want to answer the calling that he received to take and destroy the ring during his average life in which he is content, but he knows that he has to do it, that he has been living for it, and that his call is as irresistible and as important as a Christian’s call to do God’s will.

When God calls out to certain people to do His will, those people are often the normal and average people that live day to day. Much of the time He asks them to go out on a limb and do something that they never thought would be possible. People often think that God calls to them at bad times, so they tend respond at first in a way that seems like they want nothing to do with God’s word. In many cases, there is “reluctance, resistance, and protest” (Bruner and Ware, 14). The chosen people try to get out of the job. In the end, after the begging is through, the chosen will graciously do God’s will (Bruner and Ware, 15).

The idea above is applied to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Bilbo left the ring behind and it became Frodo’s responsibility to “do the will” and take the ring to be destroyed. It came at the inconvenient time when Frodo was piecing his life together after his uncle had left. Even though Frodo was called at a bad time, he felt the pull that he needed to do this action. “As [Frodo] felt the weight of the Ring on the palm of his small hand, as he trembled inside, staring into the glowing embers and picturing the fabled fires of Orodruin, it dawned on him that, for all the danger, for all the terror, for all the unthinkable labor and pain it might involve, there simply was no other choice. And though he felt ‘very small, and very uprooted, and…desperate,’ he knew he had to go” (Bruner and Ware, 15). This is the description that is given to Frodo after he realizes and comes to terms with the fact that he was the chosen one. In the book Walking With Frodo: A Devotional Journey Through The Lord of the Rings, it is said that Frodo has the choice, “to humbly persevere in the tasks our Savior-King has chosen for [him] to do, or slowly succumb to the darkness” (Arthur, XIX). You see the process of resistance, reluctance, and protest going through his head until he reaches that moment of epiphany and accepts his responsibility to help the world out of the path of destruction. Instead of Frodo choosing the dark path, he accepts faith and accepts action in the call.

Apart from the previous subjects, another big topic that signifies that there is Christianity in The Lord of the Rings is how characters from the trilogy symbolize religious figures in Christian religion. Aragorn is the first character that came to mind when finding religious symbolism. Aragorn is the King in The Lord of the Rings. The reader would never suspect that from his actions alone. The King in Catholicism is Christ. Finding God in the Lord of the Rings supported this conclusion. Aragorn goes through the journey as a normal man would throughout the story while nobody realized that he was a meant to be the king. When the other characters did find out, some of them still did not believe who he was. While everybody was figuring out who Aragorn really was, he remained as humble as ever. He remained modest and caring for his people still (Bruner and Ware, 94–95). Bruner and Ware describe the crowning of Aragorn in a very religious way. “At last Aragorn arose and stood before them, a king indeed. All gazed upon him in silent awe. For it was as if they were seeing him for the first time. He was like a new man , ancient of days, but vigorous, hale, and hearty, a man they had known well and yet had never known before” (Bruner and Ware, 94). This quote is like the way that Catholics would describe the coming of the Christ as. Aragorn is described using words that we connect with Christ: leader, mighty, wise, patient, and compassionate (Bruner and Ware, 94–95). It is clear to see from this description that Aragorn is a close match to the Christ in Christianity. He is the character in The Lord of the Rings that most matches the traits of Christ.

Aside from Aragorn, there are many other characters in the trilogy that symbolize religious figures. Most people would agree that both Gandalf and Frodo can be compared to Catholic figures. In discussions, it is agreed that Gandalf can be compared to Jesus because he expresses qualities such as love and care that make him seem like the Jesus of the book. The book Walking With Frodo supports this conclusion. Gandalf is described as Jesus because they have both “fought the powers of hell on our behalf and returned from the dead in order to save us in our darkest hour of need”(Arthur, XVIII). Jesus was betrayed and beaten brutally. The result is that He died on the Cross to save human kind from their sins. He was resurrected and rose back up for us because he loves humans and cares for them. Gandalf died by falling off the Bridge of Khazad-dum in Moria when he was fighting the Balrog (II, The Bridge of Khazad-dum). He was resurrected and came back to help save the fellowship and many others as Gandalf the White in the forest of Fanghorn (III, The White Rider). He cared for them, loved them, and considered them friends. The point is that Gandalf came back for the creatures he cared for to help them win against the darkness as Jesus came back to save human kind from their sins (Arthur, 14–19).

Like Gandalf symbolizing Jesus, Frodo symbolizes a servant of Jesus. At first, it seemed that Frodo was comparable to Jesus because he was the bearer of the ring like Jesus was the bearer of the Cross. With further research it seems like he portrays the humbleness and the will to serve just like a servant. Arthur supports that Frodo is portrayed as one of the servants of Jesus. She says that victory can only be ahead if people are willing to be humble and do whatever Jesus wants them to do. Arthur says that Frodo is humble and is willing to serve [Gandalf] who is portrayed as Jesus (Arthur, 36–37). Frodo goes through the journey of taking the ring to be destroyed without thinking about all that he will lose or has already lost in the discovery of the ring. He does not even think about the outcome in the grand scheme of things. Instead, he focuses on the task at hand and what Gandalf and the Council of Elrond told him he had to do. He is just an average hobbit leading a normal life who comes to be portrayed as a humble servant (Arthur, 36–37). The conclusion that Frodo is comparable to a servant is a better route to research because logically, there is already a Jesus in the trilogy. Further, Frodo does what he is told he needs to do by Gandalf (Jesus) and the Council of Elrond; he takes the ring to the Crack of Doom. Frodo as a servant is a valid conclusion.

Aside from the main characters of the trilogy that obviously depict religious figures, there are lesser characters that also portray more than a mere character in a book. In the book The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, there are two entities that are depicted as religious figures. Tom Bombadil is described as being divine (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 13–14) and the Undying Lands are described as being equal to eternal life (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 126). Tom Bombadil is described as being divine because he seems pure when the ring is presented to him. He does not desire it at all and has no connection to it. He does not even disappear when he puts the ring on his finger. He is able to hand the ring back to Frodo with no sign of wanting to keep it like we see with so many of the other characters. Tom can also see Frodo when he is wearing the ring (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 13–14). It takes someone pure with a clear conscious and content in life to not desire something like a powerful ring which is why Tom can be seen as divine. It is also noticeable that Tom, being a character that does not have a strict image is seen as divine which can encompass anything religious. He is not comparable to one religious figure, but the broad spectrum of divinity. He is not corrupted at all by the evil of it all like many others in the book were.

Next, the Undying Lands are described as being like eternal life in Heaven. In the third movie, Gandalf described the Undying Lands to Pippin as they waited for the battle to begin. It sounded beautiful, heavenly, and serene. In The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy, the Lands are described as peaceful and deathless. It is a place where Frodo can try and get over his wounds and sadness (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 126). That is great imagery for what Christians think Heaven is like. Heaven is believed to be the place where you go and stand by God’s side forever. It is the place that one should strive for. As long as one has faith in God and leads a good life, they are said to be going to Heaven. It is a place where you are not supposed to worry anymore and you are supposed to rest in joy and happiness. This is what Frodo was trying to accomplish in The Lord of the Rings when he goes to the Undying Lands in the end (VI, The Grey Havens). He needed peace so that he could settle the wounds that had fallen on him throughout the journey.

In Foster’s article, he points out that Caldecott seems to have missed an important resemblance of Catholicism in the story. He missed the lembas. The lembas is equivalent to the Holy Eucharist of today. This bread is used for fasting and acts to fill Christians with Jesus’ body. It lasts Sam and Frodo up until March 25 which is Easter time (Foster, 295). This Christian symbol should not have been missed by Caldecott, but Foster caught it.

Just as the lembas was an important detail in the trilogy, reincarnation is also a big detail. This is how Gandalf is comparable to Jesus as already explained above. Gandalf came back as Gandalf the White and not the same old Gandalf the Grey (III, The White Rider). This symbolizes the growth of his soul. Jesus was resurrected, but in a way, he also grew. His love for us grew more than ever as He came back to deliver us free of our sins. He looked the same, but he came back more caring, nurturing, and loving than ever. It is stated in The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy that, “The most common afterlife fate depicted in Tolkien’s story is reincarnation. The clearest and most spectacular example of reincarnation in The Lord of the Rings is Gandalf’s return” (Bassham, Gregory, and Bronson, 129–130). This article supports the idea that reincarnation is indeed a very important topic in The Lord of the Rings. Logically, it is one of the most important because if Gandalf had not been reincarnated, the story line would have been immensely different.

Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings clearly has Christianity throughout the story line. There are many points that suggest the resemblance of this religion in the story. In his article “Traveling the One Road”, Ralph C. Wood suggests that maybe The Lord of the Rings is a story set before the time of religion (“Traveling the One Road”, para 6). Religion in this novel is discreet and the readers need to have a religious background to be able to make any connections. Though Wood says this, The Lord of the Rings is obviously written with religion in mind. There are many religious symbols in the novel. The article then proceeds to talk about the one road that we have to travel. Along that road are many temptations that can cause the final ruin for the traveler (“Traveling the One Road”, para 11). What everyone works towards is basically the ruin or the joy that they end with in their lives (“Traveling the One Road”, para 10). Christians believe in working towards the joy of eternal life in Heaven. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo (maybe not realizing it and not intentionally) ended up working for life in the Undying Lands.

Expanding on what Wood stated, many Christians throughout their lifetime run into dead ends. Whether it is losing faith and finding faith again or just losing faith completely, most religious people do lose that faith at least once. Sometimes, it seems like a Catholic’s mind cannot focus on the details of religion and it can be hard to keep the imagination and wonder of God and His ways alive in one’s mind. Carol Zaleski, in her article, “Habits of Hobbits”, supports this idea while talking about imagination fatigue. She talks about how Christians do not read Tolkien’s trilogy to seek the Christian resemblances in it, but to re-awaken the imagination (Zaleski, 37). When hobbits, elves, and orcs come into play, it makes Christians re-imagine the angels and men. This way, Christians can keep their beliefs up to par. If they can re-awaken the imagination and think about elves and hobbits, then they can re-imagine and put more belief in angels, God, and faith (Zaleski, 37). It is commonly known that Catholics lose their faith and just have to hang on to the Word. Many times they get it back. The Lord of the Rings seems like a good novel to awaken the imagination and the spirits when a Catholic is lost.

As shown, The Lord of the Rings is very consciously a Christian work. There are many occurrences in the trilogy that prove this to be true. J.R.R. Tolkien was very efficient in making the references to religion discreet. It was as if to make the reader figure out the references on their own and not make them obvious. It seems as if he wanted the reader to use their own background to catch the symbolism. This trilogy is a great piece of literature to study religion through and to use while in the process of awakening the imagination; both for religious people and non-religious people.

Bibliography

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Foster, Mike. The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings (review). Tolkien

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