All stories teach. Great stories teach us timeless truths.[1] Such stories stick with us because they transform how we live. While there are countless fantasy novels, few evoke the passion of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s fantasy world transcends its peers because of how he teaches eternal truths through things like dragons, Elves, orcs, and Hobbits. When someone visits Middle-earth, they return understanding our world a little better.
1. A special thanks to Richard Lindstrom and Randall Johnson for providing invaluable insight and direction for this article.
According to Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings is a “fundamentally religious” work.[2] To enjoy the richness of Middle-earth, one must grasp how Tolkien infused his world with Christianity. When we do this, we see that visiting Middle-earth is not an escape from reality, but an escape from our transient age. The emptiness of life in a secular age haunts us, but Tolkien beckons us back to reality. Thus, Middle-earth feels both other-worldly and just like home. Fantasy novels come and go, but Middle-earth endures because it is built on transcendent truths. In this article, we will learn what great truths Middle-earth teaches us about the human condition, our enchanted world, and the cosmic battle between good and evil.
2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Humphrey Carpenter (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981), 172.
The Human Condition
Whether it’s displayed in Elves, Dwarves, or Hobbits, Middle-earth offers a Christian understanding of the human condition. Ours is a day obsessed with the self. Because of the influences of worldviews like postmodernism and critical theory, many locate evil outside of the individual. Allegedly, humanity’s greatest problems are external; society and unbalanced power structures enslave the individual. Enter the gospel of expressive individualism: salvation comes through personal empowerment, believing in yourself, and casting off the shackles of society by expressing your truest self. In Middle-earth, however, seeking your own empowerment has more in common with Mordor than it does with the Shire.
Tolkien offers a different moral vision than the expressive individualism of our age. At the heart of Frodo’s struggle to destroy the Ring is the realization that the main threat is found within himself. To be sure, there are many external threats in Middle-earth to the Fellowship of the Ring—orcs, betrayal, and even Sauron himself. Yet, when Frodo accepts his quest, the main obstacle is not an oppressive society, but his own temptation to keep the Ring. At any moment, he could give in and take the Ring for himself and evil would triumph.
Frodo’s objective is not to find his truest self or to seek empowerment; he must reject the power and temptation of the Ring. Frodo’s quest warns us about the corruption of human nature and the allure of power. Author Tom Holland explains, “True strength manifested itself not in the exercise of power, but in the willingness to give it up. So Tolkien, as a Christian, believed.”[3] Tolkien’s story teaches us to distrust our own hearts. It rejects self-empowerment and embraces self-sacrifice instead.
3. Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World (New York: Basic Books, 2019), 485.
For Tolkien, the primary threat is not found in society but within our fallen human nature. Where we locate the problem informs where we look for a savior. Expressive individualism positions evil outside of the self and therefore turns within to find redemption. We are our own saviors. Conversely, Tolkien locates evil within the hearts of individuals. In the ethics of Middle-earth, we find self-denial in the place of self-expression. Instead of looking for salvation within, we are forced to look to God for deliverance.
Thus, Frodo brings the Ring to the Cracks of Doom where he intends to destroy it, but as a fallen sinner, he cannot defeat evil. In his corruption, Frodo claims the Ring for himself. Reflecting on his own story, Tolkien tells us that Frodo was bound to fail for evil is “not finally resistible by incarnate creatures.”[4] Salvation must come from the divine “Author.”[5] God himself had to defeat evil because we cannot.
4. Tolkien, Letters, 252.
5. Tolkien, Letters, 252.
To the casual reader, the final destruction of the Ring appears accidental as Gollum falls into the fire, but the preceding providential events suggest this is really an act of divine deliverance. God ordained this “accident” to happen, and In The Hobbit, Bilbo refused to kill Gollum. Preserved by Bilbo’s pity, Gollum reaches the Cracks of Doom where he steals the ring but falls into the fire through a God-ordained slipping. Thus, the destruction of the Ring is set in motion through mercy, not power, and the ring is finally destroyed through a God-ordained “accident.” Tolkien, in a masterstroke of storytelling, has the Ring unmade on March 25, the date Catholics believe Christ was both incarnated and crucified.[6] Salvation in Middle-earth comes through self-denial, mercy, a rejection of power, and divine providence.
6. Holland, Dominion, 487.
An Enchanted World
Several years ago, I visited the movie set of Hobbiton in Matamata, New Zealand. The tour guide told the story of a very tall German man dressed as a Hobbit. When his tour ended, he refused to leave. The man insisted that Hobbiton was his real home. While we may chuckle at his childishness, his actions touch on the ache of life in a disenchanted age.
Charles Taylor argues that as the West secularized, it rejected an enchanted view of life. This understanding of life views the world as full of meaning. But today, everything becomes disenchanted as it is reduced to the natural.[7] With no transcendent God, life is reduced only to the here and now. Today, we make our own meaning, but we know that all such meaning dies with us. As we live in this disenchanted age, we yearn for something more (Eccl. 3:11).
7. Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007), 542.
Middle-earth offers an escape from this secular age by returning to a world charged with meaning. Our modern ache for greater significance draws us into Tolkien’s world. In this way, Middle-earth feels both foreign to us and just like returning home. By creating volumes of history, languages, and characters, Tolkien shaped an enchanted world soaked in both transcendence and meaning. Every sword, rock, and tree has a history and has a part to play in the grand story of Middle-earth. Tolkien’s world makes us reconsider the enchanted world we live in as he appeals to our God-given desire for meaning.
A Cosmic War
Tolkien is sometimes critiqued for the simplicity of good and evil in his stories. The bad guys are bad and the good guys are good. Yet, the moral clarity of his story reflects Tolkien’s Christian belief in a universal morality. In The Lord of the Rings, the cosmic war between good and evil colors everything. Frodo’s quest occurs in a time of increasing darkness, societal decay, and deepening despair. For us who live in the twilight of the West, it all sounds too familiar. Today, just like in Middle-earth, evil may appear undefeatable. How then should we live?
Through the examples of different characters, Tolkien warns us which ways we must not go. Because King Théoden believed the lies of the enemy, he couldn’t tell what time it was. He thought his enemies were really his friends, and treated his friends as his enemies. By ignoring the clear threat to his people, Théoden initially helped the enemy. Saruman, who was sent to Middle-earth to defeat the enemy, betrays the cause of righteousness to seek his own power. Denethor, the one in charge of the first lines of defense, beholds the power of the enemy and is consumed with despair and gives up. Through ignorance, betrayal, and despair, each of these parties advances the cause of evil. Evangelicals would be wise to learn from the mistakes of these characters.
There are also positive examples in Middle-earth. Ultimately, Tolkien’s story is a call to courage and hope in the face of evil. He reminds us that there are things in life worth fighting for. What are we to do in the face of a growing menace? Gandalf pictures endurance in the face of both betrayal and personal attacks. He is often dismissed by the very people he seeks to help as a “disturber of the peace,” “Stormcrow,” or a “herald of woe.” In the face of a growing evil and such personal losses, Gandalf never loses hope and inspires others to resist the enemy. Aragorn radiates a courage that emboldens others at both Helm’s Deep and the Paths of the Dead. It is the strength of his resolve that unites and inspires others. Frodo’s willingness to sacrifice everything for the good of others mirrors the gospel’s call for us to lay down our lives as Christ did. Finally, Sam’s loyalty and service teach us that even seemingly small acts of bravery in defiance of evil can change the world. One does not need to be a “big name” with lots of recognition to strike a major blow against the enemy. These characters, and many more, are positive examples for us to emulate. They remind us that evil is never as strong as it appears, and it is always sowing the seeds of its own destruction.[8]
8. Tolkien, Letters, 76.
Conclusion: There and Back Again
Tolkien reminds us that evil is not the only force at work in this world. Through the story of Middle-earth, he invites us to see the sovereign hand of God as he orchestrates the final defeat of evil. The story of The Lord of the Rings directs us outside of ourselves toward the transcendent God. It teaches us that humanity needs a savior, that this world has meaning, and that we must oppose evil with both courage and hope. God has appointed our time, location, and the challenges we face. All we have to do is choose what we will do with the time given to us. Once we understand Middle-earth as Tolkien intended, not only are we changed, but we come to understand God’s world a little better.
