2. Plot, Meaning and Structure of the Text
2.2 Topics and Meaning
There is no 'symbolism' or conscious allegory in my story.
[...]
That there is no allegory does not, of course, say there is no applicability. There always is. And since I have not made the struggle wholly unequivocal: sloth and stupidity among hobbits, pride and [illegible] among Elves, grudge and greed in Dwarf-hearts, and folly and wickedness among the 'Kings of Men', and treachery and power-lust ever among the 'Wizards', there is I suppose applicability in my story to present times. But I should say, if asked, the tale is not really about Power and Dominion: that only sets the wheels going; it is about Death and the desire for deathlessness. Which is hardly more than to say it is a tale written by a man.
Tolkien & Carpenter, The Letters of Tolkien, 262
Tolkien talks about the depiction of both human qualities and faults in this letter. And he also considers it to be an unquestionable applicability; he had created his characters under the image of Mankind: stupid, proud, greedy and ambitious. In this case there is no metaphor or allegory, but a direct depiction. However, the great topic in The Lord of the Rings seems to be Death. From the very beginning, in The Silmarillion, we meet the hunger for Immortality and its devastating effects. And at the end, the so-called War of the Ring is also a battle for immortality, for the future survival of good or of evil.
Gods and demons
Is there any ultimately revealing point about the enemies of the Free Peoples? They worship Sauron, a fake/false idol, a creator of mockery. From the viewpoint of a conservative Christian, any worshipper/supporter of false idols would be a heretic. It can be concluded then that the enemies of the Free Peoples are some kind of non-Christians, they would be some sort of heretics or infidels as they follow other gods different than the only true One. Sauron was Morgoth's best-man, being Morgoth the rebellious Valar who earned to be Master of all that can be seen, so the former was the servant of the original Fallen One in Tolkien's "Genesis". Devil worshippers, consequently Luciferans, the historical Illuminati, "followers of the light" or "enlightened", under the lead/guide of the (Red Lidless) Eye wreathed in flames which rules from the top of a tower.
Maybe Britain's public opinion about the Eastern world by the end of the 19th and the early 20th century would influence Tolkien. Hatred and mistrust towards Germany were a fact, as the country had been Britain's most infamous enemy at the two World Wars. Even so there is no possible connection insofar Tolkien admired Germany for its legendary past, and so he studied it as we have seen in one of his letters. On the other hand Tolkien's attitude would have been that of a religious extremist, if he had considered Japanese, Hindi, Romans or any other Eastern or non-Christian peoples so evil as to suggest that they worshipped Satan. Obviously, the pity Gandalf feels for orcs as slaves of Sauron, together with Tolkien's opinion that every country on Earth is filled with its own "monsters", is an indication of what the author thought about the supporters of tyrants; they were nothing but low-spirited beings following an irrational cause just to keep themselves alive. Even in spite of it they could never enjoy the freedom granted by Eru Ilúvatar/God under the shape of free-will.
That is just the exact point where Tolkien keeps off the most obscure and conservative Christianism. Tolkien's deities hardly take active part in the story of The Lord of the Rings. And there are no prayers or cults. There are maybe some heroically deeds in the name of some illustrious person or city. An isolated example of a possible religious token is the Light of Earendil, as it is an artefact which turns on when Frodo or Sam summon the Lady of Lothlórien. It could also be considered mere Elvish 'magic' as the little flask acts like a lantern. In addition, no god appears to undo or to balance fate, unless we considered Gandalf's "return to life" a godly device to bring back hope to the Free peoples of Middle-earth in their struggle. This "return" as well as the fulfilment of the oath by the Dead Men mentioned in part IV, could be cases of "Deus Ex Machina", but even so they are not a proof for the presence of religion, but of spiritual life.
However, it should be more accurate to conclude that all this divine help is more Tolkien's "eucatastrophe", the light at the end of the tunnel, so to say. The natural way things happen can lead to sorrow or happiness, but there must be compensation between those two forces so a balance is finally reached. In my opinion, Tolkien confronts eucatastrophe with doom. The Long Defeat so many times mentioned by Elves is an example of doom, but it is a compensatory happening within an eucatastrophe. Elves leave Middle-earth but they are leaving room for the next race, Men, the inheritors of their legacy. Frodo's doom, carrying the One Ring as well as leaving for the Undying Lands (passing away) instead of remaining in Middle-earth, is also necessary for the eucatastrophe to take place. He is, together with Gollum, the main balancing character for the outcome of the plot, for Gollum's greed and treachery are a final twist of fate in favour of the good.
So at the end we could say The Lord of the Rings is an epic based on myth in the world of Fäerie, containing certain moral meditations (and by any means allegories) about actual issues in contemporary Western civilization (from World War I onwards) Amongst them, we can highlight the following:
- Politics, and mostly the hunger for power and ambition which leads to corruption, seen in the following examples:
Boromir, eldest son from Steward Denethor of Gondor, who mistakenly thinks the Ring is the solution for the problems of Gondor and his guarantee to become a heroic leader, for it is the ultimate weapon of war to defeat the Enemy.
Saruman, the wisest of the Istari (wizards) sent by the gods. His knowledge of the Ring turns into an obsession for possessing it, insofar he knows the great power it holds inside. He earns for replacing Sauron and getting rid of the stupid orcs, and setting a Tyranny of Wisdom, for the Wise are the only ones with the right to rule. Both in the book and in the film, his voice and speech are a strong form of propaganda and manipulation, but Peter Jackson presents him in a more messianic form, for in one of the epic scenes of the film he addresses the armies of orcs and Uruks from the top of a balcony, in the likes of a great political meeting.
Aragorn, the outlaw wanderer turned to king. At the beginning he is sort of running away from fate, as if he had nothing to do with nobility or royalness, but as the story develops we discover a character bound to be a king, as he has a noble and brave spirit, corageous and fair. Tolkien managed to keep both Strider and Aragorn/Elessar alive together, because although at the end there is a king, the hobbit-friend, brother of elves and comrade of dwarves still remains behind his eyes. There is the final sensation as if every member of the Fellowship of the Ring had achieved a higher status but still remained as humble and "real" as they had been originally described. Of course this is due to the continuous feeling of struggle and suffering contained in the plot to achieve an at times not-so-clear victory.
Politics always bring forward the possibility to talk about righteousness and corruption, and so did Tolkien at a very high scale. The discourse of politics is quickly recognisable to 20th century readers and spectators, so considering the fact we could conclude that Tolkien used contemporary issues as 'catchy images' and thus appealed to philosophy and ethics impulsing readers to search their own mental images and considerations. The Lord of the Rings was not the allegory, but the impulse for each reader to build his own one.
- Immorality, or simply deviation from noble/right ethics:
Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, who gets caught by impatience and looks into the Palantir (seeing stone) being this imprudence the cause of his fall, as he had the pride to believe that he would be better off dead than give up and be submitted. In fact, his assurance that Gondor is bound to failure becomes cowardice, and his attempt to commit suicide is far from noble.
Grima Wormtongue, the spy of Saruman who misleads King Théoden by pouring lies into his ears, and convincing him that he is too old and weak to face the Wizard. His character is that of a natural-born liar, fulfilling a propagandistic role for Saruman.
Then we have Gollum, who has the ability to play with the balance between good and evil, because of his two personalities. The most terrifying and twisted feature of Gollum is how easy he can turn from a demon to an angel and convince himself that he is doing the right thing each time. One personality justifies the other in really disgusting manipulative arguments (the conversations between Gollum and Sméagol quoted in part III of this essay).
- War, or any kind of human sacrifice
One of the discussions in Dickerson’s book is Tolkien’s glorification of war. Dickerson denies the presence of it because he considers that any celebration or depiction of a combat is just a relieving, cathartic process to humanize the conflict. War is too complex and horrible for hobbits, as it catches them by surprise, and turns the most peaceful and ordinary people into confused and bitter soldiers, set straight in the middle of an ancient fight between fantastic creatures.
That feeling of struggle mentioned above is what makes The Lord of the Rings an epic tragedy: the book is starred by heroes in the middle of great deeds, and also all those main good characters struggle against a terrible fate coming from ancient times. It contains revisions of myths from the very beginning of civilization (the origins of the world and its inhabitants, cults to Mother Nature and the Afterlife), as well as a mythology of its own (creatures and places). And though being too long for a fairy-tale, it could be treated as one, insofar the environment and events created by Tolkien belong to the world of Fäerie, and everything takes place in the "Perilous Realm". The best proof for this are hobbits, for they think and live in the most realistic, pragmatic way, and they enter a world of taller, more powerful and dangerous beings, whether they are just Men or Elves, wizards, spiders, orcs, Nazgûl, and so on.
© 1996-2006, Universitat de València Press
© Ignacio Pascual Mondéjar, 2006
© a.r.e.a. & Dr.Vicente Forés