BY JEB SMITH

Tolkien’s model can best be described by the usage of Christian stewardship… Tolkien’s environmental ethic was firmly rooted in a deeply Christian, Catholic understanding of the world and its creator…the Christian faith it might be said is green.

—Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans; Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien

The medieval world was profoundly Christian. People believed that God had created a beautiful world that He loved and cared for and that we should also be good stewards of it. We expressed our love for its creator by respecting His creation and artwork.[1] Each animal, organism, tree, plant, and rock was created with a purpose by God and, therefore, had innate worth. The clergy during the Middle Ages were outlawed from hunting by the Church, seeing it as immoral. To the Medieval mind, and to Tolkien, a bird doing what it was created to do, honors God and fulfills its intent within the created order. Whereas a great, powerful, and wise wizard like Saruman is disgraced because he does not live according to his intended purpose.

In his “Salutation of the Virtues,” Saint Francis wrote, “Obedience subjects a man to everyone on earth, and not only to men, but to all the beasts as well, and the wild animals, so that they [animals] can do what they like with them, as far as God allows them.” Francis believed that if animals caused people pain or distress, it was only because God is using this as a teaching moment. For example, when mice became a nuisance, he would not hinder them because he believed humanity should not impose on wild animals.

This viewpoint is taught in The Silmarillion when two Valar (angelic beings), Aulë and Yavanna, discuss the future wounds that will be done to Middle-earth by both humans and dwarves. Both the Valar agree that “things of thy realm [nature] have worth in themselves, and would have worth if no children [men elves dwarves] were to come.”

“The Christian perspective on loving care for the earth that is central to Tolkien’s environmental thought involves a natural progression from love for the creator who made the world and recognition that it was created to have meaning and purpose, to love the world itself and the nonrecognition that its goodness is grounded in the supreme goodness of its divine creator.

(Matthew Dickerson and Jonathan Evans; Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J. R. R. Tolkien [University of Kentucky Press, 2011])

Tolkien loved creation because he loved its creator and his creator’s artwork. He especially loved trees, animals, and gardens. Tolkien maintained a garden, raised chickens, and was known for taking long hikes in the woods. Tolkien’s love of the natural world is unmistakable in his portrayal of Middle-earth’s beauty.

Keep it Secret, Keep it Safe—Preserving the Medievalist View of Nature

Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey believed that by creating his mythology and form of writing, Tolkien was trying to revive medievalist fantasy literature. Tolkien once wrote of “that noble northern spirit…which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.”In The Keys of Middle-earth, Stuart Lee and Elizabeth Solopova argued that the keys to understanding Tolkien’s creation were to first understand the primary medievalist literature that influenced him. Those documents provided the roots and ingredients that made up Tolkien’s imagination. C. S. Lewis once said to Tolkien, “There is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”

Tolkien incorporated many elements of medieval literature into his works, such as poetry, quests, heroes, rings and riddles. In addition, medieval literature heavily influenced Tolkien’s languages, characters, names, plots, the structure of his poetry, and songs. By bringing back medievalist literature, Lewis and Tolkien were in part, attempting to resurrect the wonder of nature that had been lost by the widespread acceptance of materialism.And as with medieval tales, the intended audience was adults; Tolkien said, “fairy-story” is really an adult genre, and one for which a starving audience exists.”

Medieval or Modern?

As in our own, in Tolkien’s day, the world was seen through the lens of the dominant philosophies of evolutionary materialism. Those perspectives understand nature as matter originating from randomness and chaos. Christians and traditionalists G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, and J.R.R Tolkien still held a medievalist view of the natural world. Lewis wrote, “The medieval and Renaissance delight in the universe was, I think, more spontaneous and aesthetic… It was…a ‘love of nature.’”Moderns find out how objects in nature work; they describe, categorize, and name them believing they are now their owners. Traditionalists believe this is false, and discovering how something works does not take away its wonder.

Wonder filled the medieval peasant’s existence. Nature and the mighty forces of nature provided him with all kinds of amazement and unexplained beings beyond his understanding. The map was full of unexplored gray areas, perhaps even with dragons and sea serpents. He heard tales of great saintly miracles and the demonic activity of witches and heretics. He knew of heroic deeds by chivalric knights, betrayals, self-sacrificial loyalty, and beautiful ladies worthy of all admiration. He knew Pious monks and superstitious pagans, perhaps in league with the devil. He knew of great kings and Queens and of ruthless tyrants. He knows of people alienated from God living on the fringes of society and faithful followers of Christ who died to restore the Holy Lands. He knew good, evil, eternity, hell, miracles, wonders, death, festivals, life, plagues, and droughts. His life was anything but dull.

Further, people in the Middle Ages tended to find the miraculous in the ordinary, and so did Tolkien. Éothain of the Rohirrim said to Aragorn, “Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?” As if to say that what we are accustomed to and know cannot be a ‘legend.’” Aragorn replied, “A man may do both, for not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!”According to Aragorn, the earth and grass we tread on every day is the stuff of legends. We simply grow accustomed to it and forget the wonder that lies all around us. A genuine atheist has never seen a tree. Instead, they have seen a large plant vital to our planet’s life cycle providing fresh air. Perhaps it staves off global warming or benefits them in some manner. The atheist, however, has not seen a unique being created by God. The wonder, the beautiful artwork, and the “magic” of this fantastic creation are lost to him.

God designed and intended us to find wonder and enjoyment in nature and to see beyond what is right in front of us to him. Tolkien believed fairy stories could convey nature’s marvels “as we are [or were] meant to see them.” He continued, “We need in any case, to clean our windows,”and myths help us to do that. Think of the Eucharist; it’s merely a wafer in its composition, but Tolkien believed it becomes the flesh of Jesus. Yet it is still just an ordinary wafer but beyond is wonder. Or take the tree of life in Revelation 22:2. It gives off new fruit every month, twelve varieties, and its leaves provide healing for the nations. If there were such a tree today, we might think it magical. Yet why is a tree that consumes sunshine, water, and dirt while producing delicious and healthy food not considered magic? Chesterton and Tolkien explained the medievalist view of the natural world that is so vital to a complete understanding of Tolkien and Middle-earth.

“It is essential that we should regard them in the philosophic manner of fairy tales, not in the unphilosophic manner of science and the “Laws of Nature.” When we are asked why eggs turn to birds or fruits fall in autumn, we must answer exactly as the fairy godmother would answer if Cinderella asked her why mice turned to horses or her clothes fell from her at twelve o’clock. We must answer that it is magic… The only words that ever satisfied me as describing Nature are the terms used in the fairy books, “charm,” “spell,” “enchantment.” They express the arbitrariness of the fact and its mystery. A tree grows fruit because it is a magic tree. Water runs downhill because it is bewitched. The sun shines because it is bewitched. I deny altogether that this is fantastic or even mystical…this fairy-tale language about things is simply rational and agnostic. It is the only way I can express in words my clear and definite perception that one thing is quite distinct from another; that there is no logical connection between flying and laying eggs. It is the man who talks about “a law” that he has never seen who is the mystic. Nay, the ordinary scientific man is strictly a sentimentalist. He is a sentimentalist in this essential sense, that he is soaked and swept away by mere associations. He has so often seen birds fly and lay eggs that he feels as if there must be some dreamy, tender connection between the two ideas, whereas there is none.”

(G. K. Chesterton, The Three Apologies of G. K. Chesterton [Middletown, Delaware: Mockingbird Press, 2018])

“You look at trees and call them “trees,” and probably you do not think twice about the word. You call a star a “star,” and think nothing more of it. But you must remember that these words, “tree,” “star,” were (in their original forms) names given to these objects by people with very different views from yours. To you, a tree is simply a vegetable organism, and a star simply a ball of inanimate matter moving along a mathematical course. But the first men to talk of “trees” and “stars” saw things very differently. To them, the world was alive with mythological beings. They saw the stars as living silver, bursting into flame in answer to the eternal music. They saw the sky as a jeweled tent, and the earth as the womb whence all living things have come. To them, the whole of creation was ‘myth-woven and elf patterned.”

(J. R. R. Tolkien, quote in Humphrey Carpenter’s The Inklings: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Their Friends[HarperCollins Publishers, 2006])

I believe medievalists held an enchanted view of nature because they saw the creator behind the creation; I think C. S. Lewis would agree. In Narnia, Lucy begins to see moving trees, yet “she was only half interested in them. She wanted to get beyond them to something else; it was from beyond them that the dear voice [Aslan] had called.” What had been an ordinary tree now appeared to Lucy as magical (and it was) because Aslan (God) was nearby. Lucy was enchanted because she looked beyond the creation itself to its creator.

Chesterton wrote, “There was a time when you and I and all of us were very close to God; so that a color of a pebble [or a paint], the smell of a flower [or a firework], comes to our hearts with a kind of authority and certainty, as if they were fragments of a muddled message, or features of a forgotten face—to pour that fiery simplicity upon the whole of life is the only real aim of education.” Kids have no problems using their imagination or finding wonder in nature. You can tell kids all kinds of magical things about nature, and they will have no problem believing it. They have not become dull mature adults; I say this not as a negative but a positive. They look at the world with wonder, the way we once did. They see the world as God intended, a miraculous, wonderful magical world.

Middle-earth and The Middle Ages

When reading Tolkien, it does not take long to encounter evidence of his deep love and appreciation for the natural world. During an interview, Tolkien said, “If you really want to know what Middle-earth is based on, it’s my wonder and delight in the earth as it is, particularly the natural earth.” Throughout his writings, Tolkien gives the reader a very descriptive picture of the weather, terrain, plants, stars, and animals of Middle-earth. Due to the realm’s beauty, the free peoples chose to build in harmony with their surroundings, not wanting to destroy or negate its beauty.

The elves seemed to exemplify Tolkien’s appreciation for the beauty of nature. The Lady Galadriel used her elven ring of power to preserve Lothlórien from stain and decay; the beauty of the Elder Days endured. Galadriel said, “The love of the elves for their land…is deeper than the depths of the sea.” Elvish crafting resembled the land they love. The cloaks given to the fellowship were designed after “leaf and branch” and “all things under the twilight of Lórien that we love.” Aragorn’s sword sheath which was crafted by the elves was adorned with designs of silver and gold leaves and flowers of Mallorn. Within Lórien, colors, shapes, wind, trees, leaves, and the sun all took on a new reality; it was a world of wonder Frodo could not describe.

The Eldar’s week included days dedicated to the sun, stars, moon, sky, the two trees of Valinor, and the last day was reserved as a “high day” dedicated to the Valar. The elves, being good stewards, never worked against nature, only enhanced it. In the First Age, the green elves of Ossiriand refused to allow men into their realm because men were hunters and cut down trees.

Many things of the Middle Ages have counterparts in Middle-earth. In particular, the monks remind me of the elves and Rivendell of a monastery. Like Rivendell, monasteries were built in secluded areas that were picked for their beautiful surroundings. Both were houses of learning, scholarship, and preservation of the past. In a world where manuscripts were limited, monks translated, maintained, and studied works of the past and were “advanced” in their use of technology compared to their neighbors. They maintained theology, history, and other knowledge, which at times, was lost outside of these havens.

Dominican friar, Thomas Aquinas, suggested considering the following when choosing a dwelling place; “The life of man cannot endure without enjoyment. It belongs to the beauty of a place that it has a broad expanse of meadows, an abundant forest growth, mountains to be seen close at hand, pleasant groves and a copiousness of water.” Aquinas also suggested a further requisite for choosing the site for the founding of a city, “It must charm the inhabitants by its beauty. A spot where life is pleasant will not easily be abandoned.” He believed that natural beauty was good for the soul and that something must have beauty in order to attract people. A glimpse of our modern cities would imply this sentiment no longer holds true.

Medieval peasants did not generally build their housing in defiance of nature, as our modern complex houses are, but as simple structures and at times, not permanent but seasonal. They were designed and erected based on terrain, weather, agricultural potential, the risk of natural disasters, and so on. Nature determined how and where they built their houses as it did for the elves. Being stuck in a single area, paying for an expensive house that cannot be easily adapted to changing weather patterns, and being shackled by debt for decades, would seem like madness to a medieval peasant.

Some suggest similarities between Saint Francis of Assisi and the wizard Radagast. In Sanctifying Myth, Bradley Birzer wrote that Radagast “embodies elements of St. Francis of Assisi…like St. Francis, Radagast is described as the friend of all beasts and birds and dressed in earth brown, like a Franciscan”. Like Radagast, Saint Francis was well-known for communicating with birds and once preached a sermon to them. Francis’ love of animals was so great that he once was given a fish to eat, but instead of eating it, he referred to it as his “brother,” and let it go.

In the Middle Ages people were closer to nature and closer to animals; many even had grazing animals living with them in their house. They also depended on animals to a greater extent than we do today, which resulted in a closer, more personal relationship. Saint Anselm was brought to tears when he observed a rabbit seeking shelter from dogs. He protected and helped free the animal from its pursuers.

Gandalf seems to share characteristics with the medieval Saint Remacle, who, like Gandalf, had a grey beard, a staff, and was a miracle worker. Saint Ulrich of Augsburg seems to have inspired Elrond’s ability to overwhelm the invading ringwraiths with flood water when Frodo was attacked at the Ford of Rivendell. Ulrich was said to have had the power to control rivers and was credited with drowning the invading Hungarians in 955 at the Battle of Lechfeld.

Like many of the saints, Radagast, Gandalf, and Beorn had the ability to communicate with animals. During the Middle Ages it was commonly believed that man could communicate with animals in the Garden of Eden. Thus it was thought that because of their holiness, medieval saints could carve out a small secluded area (similar to Beorn’s homestead, Radagast at Rhosgobe, or the elf havens) that could return, in part, to how it was before the fall.

While in Rivendell, Sam Gamgee said his pony “Could nearly talk, and would talk, if he stayed here much longer.” It was commonly believed that saints like Cuthbert and Francis were so holy that animals would return to their pre-fallen state to communicate with and take orders from them. To some degree, these wild animals would become domesticated around the saints; just as they had done around Gandalf, Radagast, and Beorn. You can see an example of this domestication and communication in the giant eagles, taking commands from Galadriel and Gandalf.

The saints were also known for showing great kindness to animals. It was said that an eagle once brought a fish to Saint Cuthbert because he and a boy were starving. When the boy offered Cuthbert some of the fish, Cuthbert told the boy to give it to the eagle, for his great service. Cuthbert was known to give blessings to the local otters. Saint Francis said, “These creatures minister to our needs every day; without them, we could not live. And through them, the human race offends the creator. Every day we fail to appreciate so great a blessing by not praising as we should the creator and dispenser of these gifts.”

 Like Radagast, Beorn, and the elves, monks built into and around nature. Like Saints Augustine and Francis, they enjoyed nature.

“Even though mankind has been condemned and cast out from paradise into the hardships and miseries of this life—how could any description do justice to all these blessings? The manifold diversity of beauty in sky and earth and sea: the dark shades of woods, the color and fragrance of flowers, the multitudinous varieties of birds, with their songs and their bright plumage: the countless different species of living creatures of all shapes and sizes, amongst whom it is the smallest in bulk that moves our greatest wonder we are more astonished at the activities of the tiny ants and bees than at the immense bulk of whales. Then there is the mighty spectacle of the sea itself, putting on its changing colors like different garments, now green with all the many various shades, now purple, now blue.”

(Saint Augustine, quoted in Roger D. Sorrel’s St. Francis of Assisi and Nature Tradition and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes Toward the Environment [Oxford University Press, 2009])

“Be praised, my Lord, through all Your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and You give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor! Of You, Most High, he bears the likeness.Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars; in the heavens You have made them bright, precious and beautiful.Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air, and clouds and storms, and all the weather, through which You give Your creatures sustenance.Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Water; she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire, through whom You brighten the night. He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth, who feeds us and rules us, and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.”

(Saint Francis, “The Canticle of the Sun”)

Animal Care

Various characters in Middle-earth portray Tolkien’s love of animals. Proverbs 12:10 and 27:23, and Ezekiel 34:2–3 describe how man should care for animals; no one exemplified this better than Beorn. He spoke with his animals and “loved his animals as his own children.” He cared for and protected them; they lived in his house and ate at his table. After allowing Gandalf, Bilbo, and the dwarves to borrow his ponies, Beorn secretly followed the company for a long distance, keeping watch to ensure that his ponies were being well taken care of. Beorn free-ranged his animals and did not hunt or eat meat; rather, he preferred honey from his beehives. Unimpressed and uninterested in what man and dwarves could make, he had no care for gold, silver, or smithcraft. Due to a lack of interest, Beorn fell asleep while the dwarves talked of inventions and treasure.

Tolkien has the name “Beren” inscribed on his tombstone; “Lúthien” is inscribed on his wife’s. Beren is a character from the Elder Days, and Lúthien was Beren’s wife. Beren lived in the wild for a long time and became friends with birds and beasts. He was a vegetarian and would kill no animal unless the animal was under the influence of Morgoth.

Faramir ordered his Rangers not to kill any animal without cause in the wilderness of Ithilien. Gandalf said that Gondorians took great care of their animals because they are both wise and good. During the Second Age, the island of Númenor was inhabited by the ancestors of the people of Gondor, and great flocks were allowed to roam freely, some even joining ships on long voyages. The Númenórean women took delight in their horses, whom they treated honorably with love and kindness. The horses were so well housed that “the stables of a great man were often as large and as fair to look upon as his own house.”Pippin says that Gandalf loves his horse, Shadowfax, “better than he loves many men;” they had a special bond.

Many aristocrats during the Middle Ages maintained their own personal zoos. And Medieval historian Thomas Asbridge said that among the knightly class, “Horses were valued almost as much as men.”According to Asbridge, there was no difference in the way the crusaders described the death of animals or man. Very similarly, the men of Rohan, home of the horse lords (King Théoden’s massed cavalry charge happens to be the primary weapon of the nobility and crusaders in the medieval period) held their horses to such high regard that they include horses when counting their casualties in battle. Their herds’ population was a factor looked at when determining the health and prosperity of their realm. Boromir said the people of Rohan “love their horses next to their kin.” King Théoden’s horse Snowmane was buried at Minas Tirith, and a plaque was made in his honor. The Rohirrim also valued their animals above financial gain. Sauron had offered Rohan a great price to purchase horses, but they refused, knowing they would be mistreated and used for evil doings.

While traveling through Rohan, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas encountered Éomer of Rohan and his men, who were suspicious of the foreign travelers. An escalating situation soon followed between Gimli and Éomer. Knowing the men of Rohan’s love and concern for their favorite animals, Aragorn defused the situation by assuring Éomer that they meant no harm to man or horse in Rohan; this let the Rohirrim know that the strangers also valued their beloved horses.

There is a stark contrast between how the good and evil characters treat their animals in Middle Earth. For example, let’s look at Sam of the Shire and Bill Ferny of Bree. Bill is a spy for the Shadow; his pony, also named Bill, is half-starved, unhappy, and mistreated. Out of need, the hobbits purchase the pony, and under Sam’s care, Bill becomes a well fed, happy pony who loves his new master. Sam loves the pony so much that he comes to tears when he has to part with Bill at the entrance to Moria. Only Sam’s devotion to Frodo enables him to let Bill go.

In Tolkien’s mythology, evidence of the proper treatment of animals could be seen in the use of “free-ranging.” The mighty Valar Manwë allowed his beloved winged animals to “come and go as their own bidding.” The elves gave the Númenórean Erendis a pair of birds as a marriage gift. When Erendis asked the elves, “How shall I keep them?” the elves responded, “let them fly and be free.” The birds chose to make her dwelling their home, where they could come and go as they pleased. The great horse Shadowfax willingly went into battle and served Gandalf, yet ran free otherwise. Gandalf said, “You do not ride Shadowfax; he is willing to carry you—or not” At their parting, Gandalf told the fellowship’s beast of burden, Bill the pony, to go wherever he pleases. Tom Bombadil’s pony, Fatty Lumpkin, was Tom’s friend and wandered “free upon the hillsides.”

During the feudal period, lords owned massive forested areas preserved to ensure abundant hunting, but this was not the only reason for preservation. In 1177 the following discussion takes place regarding why so many massive forests were preserved; in it we learn they were provided as a safe place for wild animals owned by the Lord.

DISCIPLE. What is the forest of the King, and what is the reason for this name?

MASTER. The forest of the King is a safe lair for wild beasts; not of any kind of beast but of those of the woods only; not in any place whatsoever but only in certain places and in those suitable to the purpose; whence such a place is called a forest…i.e., the place of wild beasts.

DISCIPLE. Is there a forest of the King in every county?

MASTER. No. But in wooded counties where there are lairs for wild beasts and forage in abundance; it is immaterial who owns the woods, whether the King or a noble, the wild beasts are safe and may roam at will anywhere.

Return next week to read the conclusion to this discussion.

Footnotes

[1] For an in-depth view of the traditional and Biblical view of environmentalism, see The Road Goes Ever On and On: A New Perspective on J. R. R. Tolkien and Middle-earth By Jeb Smith. Only after our modern secular and mechanical worldview (put in place to an extreme extent in Middle-earth under Saruman, Sauron, and Morgoth) came to dominate in the West did environmental devastation begin in earnest.