‘The Lord of the Rings’ as Christian Fable

By LOU BALDWIN
CS&T Staff Writer

No question, the film version of “The Return of the King,” the final volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” now playing in your local theater, is well worth the wait. It is deserving of the four stars most critics have given it, and of the Academy Award it well may receive for best picture of the year.
This is thoroughly enjoyable action-entertainment, even for those who have never read the books, or the peripheral works which are critical to a true understanding of them and of the essentially Christian themes which are at the heart of Tolkien’s myths.
Peter Jackson, the director, cannot be completely faulted if this Christian subtext is less than obvious in the films because Tolkien, himself a devout Catholic, deliberately expunged obvious allusions to organized religion from the books. They are excised as well as from the prequel, “The Hobbit,” to which Jackson alludes from time to time.
This earlier volume,written with children in mind, explained how the great ring, seemingly harmless, came into the hands of a simple hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In the later volumes and the films, it passed to his nephew, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood).
The ring was discovered to be a thing of great evil which could, in time, corrupt all who possess it, and ultimately, if returned to Sauron, its maker, enslave the entire world of Middle Earth to evil. The ring could only be destroyed by being cast into the flames of the volcanic mountain in the heart of Sauron’s realm where it was crafted.
Hobbits dwell in the Shire on the edge of the known world (modeled after rural England of past generations). They are an almost comical little race and seem an odd choice for so epic a task. Yet, it is Frodo who must destroy the ring before it destroys him and everything he holds dear. Adding to the task is the problem that the ring has a narcotic attraction to whomever possesses it or has possessed it in the past.
Aiding Frodo in his quest are chiefly fellow hobbits; the wizard, Gandalf (Ian McKellen); warrior and king presumptive, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen); noble elves; valiant men and a dwarf. Gondor, the city and kingdom which they must save, was modeled by Tolkien after Christian Rome at the height of its glory.
The ring, this terrible burden, is symbolic of the cross. Frodo is not a Christ-figure but he must bear the burden of Christ, the weight of the sins of the world. To aid him and his companions, the elves supply them with a symbolic eucharist, lembas, a kind of bread of which a single bite nourishes both body and spirit.
To understand Gandalf, one must read “The Silmarillion,” the epic lifework of Tolkien which was edited and published after his death by his son, Christopher Tolkien.
Through this, we learn that Gandalf is, in effect, an angelic being sent to Middle Earth to aid in the combat against Sauron, a powerful fallen angel. Sauron is not the equivalent of Satan; that, as the Silmarillion explains, is Melkor. Sauron is his chief servant.
But Sauron’s weapons are indeed the weapons of the devil, something less apparent in the films than in the books. For example, the wizard, Saruman, (Christopher Lee, omitted from “The Return of the King”) is corrupted when he attempts to probe the mind of Sauron. Envy of Sauron’s power is his downfall.
By the same token, Denothar, ruling steward of Gondor (John Noble), is ensnared, first by pride — the thought of losing his power if the true king emerges. Jackson spells this out, but does not explain that Denothar’s ultimate sin of despair comes from studying the thought of Sauron. The Dark Lord, in Tolkien’s original text, deceives him by revealing half-truths which suggest the forces of good cannot win.
For reasons not easily understood, the director has reduced the character of Denothar to a caricature, in no way suggesting the noble heights from which he has fallen.
The behavior of these two characters is typical of the thinking of Tolkien. He deeply disapproved of “The Screwtape Letters,” written by his good friend, C.S. Lewis, a work of faith told from a devil’s viewpoint. It is dangerous, Tolkien believed, to delve too deeply into the mind of evil.
If there is one miscast character in this brilliant production, it is Elijah Wood. His Frodo too often appears to be a deer in the headlights, quite bewildered by events. The book text is much clearer; it is the terrible burden of the ring and the spiritual, psychological and physical wounds of the quest which have weakened him.
On the other hand, the role of Sam, his servant (Sean Astin), is somewhat enhanced. Sam, whom Tolkien modeled after the loyal yeomen he knew as an officer in the British Army in World War I, overshadows Frodo. This was not the intent of Tolkien, who was a bit of a snob with a British sense of class distinction.
It is true, even in the book, that Sam resolves to continue the quest when he believes Frodo is dead. The great strengths of Tolkien’s Sam are courage and his loyalty to his master. He would most certainly have returned to the Shire, quest unfulfilled, had Frodo decided to do so.
Jackson, probably rightfully because of length, omits most of the final chapters of the Return of the King which take place in the Shire. In these, Tolkien himself implies Frodo’s true heroicity is unappreciated by his own countrymen. Unlike his hobbit companions on the quest, he is not seen as a warrior. Rather, his unique experience has left him as a healer with a Christ-like sense of pacifism.
On the other hand, Jackson introduces a spiritual touch which was not in Tolkien’s text. Before the onset of a battle which promises little chance of success, Gandalph reassures the hobbit, Pippin (Billy Boyd) that death is not the end but only a transition. He gives him a beautiful explanation of what to expect in the afterlife — heaven, if you will.
Let’s give Jackson three stars for general fidelity to the essence of Tolkien’s Christian thought.

Contact Lou Baldwin at (215) 587-3672 or lbaldwin@adphila.org