BY JEB SMITH

“The Lord of the Rings and, by extension, his broader legendarium, is at its core and foundation, or as one might say in its essential nature, based on religious, and specifically Catholic, beliefs and thought.” — Carl F. Hostetter, The Nature of Middle-earth

“Tolkien’s Christian faith inspired and informed the writer’s imagination…transcendent truths of Christianity bubble up throughout this story.” — Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware, Finding God in the Lord of the Rings

Tolkien wrote, “The Lord of the Rings is, of course, a fundamentally religious and Catholic work,” and “I am a Christian, and of course, what I write will be from that essential viewpoint.” Tolkien also said the morality of his work “is explicitly linked to the Lord’s Prayer.” His writings were in no way an allegory of Christianity; instead, Tolkien said, “The religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.” Carpenter says, “He wanted the mythology and legendary stories to express his own moral view of the universe.” As such, he included many Christian themes in his writings.

As a devout Catholic, Tolkien’s worldview could not be excluded from his works. His faith influenced his writings to such a degree that he expected to be known as a Christian author by all who read his mythology. “I am a Christian. That fact can be deduced from my stories.” David Day in The Battles of Tolkien quotes Tolkien as saying, “Myth and fairy-story must, as in all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth.” At a lecture at  Saint Andrew’s, Tolkien said it was a Christian venture to write The Lord of the Rings. Therefore, it can be tacitly assumed his mythology is Christian. W. H. Auden observed, “The unstated presuppositions of the whole work are Christian.” And author Devin Brown wrote, “Tolkien’s Christian beliefs are a fundamental part of the story from start to finish.”

His writings were not, nor were they intended to be a gospel  tract. Yet his mythology has converted some to Christianity. A recent politician running for governor in my home state of Vermont was converted in part due to Tolkien. Another example comes from an online article by Fredric Heidemann; “I was an atheist until I read Lord of the Rings.” Finally, I had an online acquaintance who was converted simply by reading The Lord of the Rings. One fan of Tolkien’s, who was an atheist wrote to Tolkien, “You create a world in which some sort of faith seems to be everywhere without a visible source, like a light from an invisible lamp.”

This was the kind of effect Tolkien desired. Tolkien believed the modern world had turned away from God. He tried to communicate his faith in a way that might be better received in a secular society. Carpenter stated, “It is a very religious book…it’s a book that tries to convey the feeling of religion to a world which is not actually a believing world…a godless modern world.”

 God himself was known as a storyteller as he used that method often in the Bible. Tolkien never saw himself as the actual author of his works since, without God, he would have no mind, and since his imagination originated from God, his stories did as well. Because of this understanding, Tolkien also believed that “the only just literary critic is Christ,” because of “the gifts he himself bestowed.”

How true he was to Christ in his writings mattered more than the opinion of any human critic. His fantasy had only been envisioned because God had first created his imagination, so, in a way, he just discovered what had originated from God. Or, as Carpenter described, “His imaginative inventions must originate from God, and must, in consequence, reflect something of eternal truth.”Tolkien said he felt a spirit was working through him while writing, which he attributed to God.

Tolkien’s world is very similar to our world as described in the Bible—where God created the world yet lives outside and above his creation; God interacts and cares for his creation; a God that works through those that follow him; a just God who punishes evil and will ultimately set his creation right. Tolkien created a world where evil and good are truly present, a world, therefore, where relativism has no place. A world where atheism has no place.

Pride Comes Before a Fall (Proverbs 16:18)

The wise King Solomon gave a proverb declaring “pride comes before a fall.” Therefore, if one were boastful and prideful, they would often quickly fall. Whenever you read of someone in Tolkien’s works becoming prideful and boastful, expect them soon to fall.

At the Battle of Helm’s Deep, the evil Uruk-hai of Isengard provided a great example of pride coming before a fall. After winning a battle at the Fords of Isen, sending the Westfold men fleeing, the massive army of Uruks now besieged Rohan’s King Théoden and his men in their stronghold of Helm’s Deep. After a night of hard battle, the orcs had destroyed the Deeping Wall, broken down the gates, and the last survivors of Rohan in the citadel were about to be overthrown. When Aragorn attempted to negotiate with the Uruk-hai, they taunted him, “Bring us your King! We are the fighting Uruk-hai; we will fetch him from his hole… Do you see the greatness of our army? We are the fighting Uruk-hai.”

Trusting in their recent victory, fighting prowess, and recent successes, they were overconfident of victory. As he debated with them over the citadel walls, Aragorn warned the Uruk-hai to humble themselves, but they refused. Soon after, Erkenbrand and Gandalf arrived with one thousand soldiers, and a forest of Huorns appeared led by the Ents. The Horn of Helm Hammerhand blew within the keep, sending fear into the orc ranks while Théoden and Aragorn led a sortie against them. The Uruks were now surrounded and ran in fear throwing their weapons down. None survived the battle. Great pride came before an even greater fall.

Likewise, after breaking the gates of Minas Tirith, the Witch-King displayed overweening pride as great fear spread among even the most stout-hearted Gondorian soldiers, who all fled before him. Only Gandalf stood in defiance. The lord of the Nazgûl mocked Gandalf, exclaiming “old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know death when you see it? Die now.” He was full of pride and sure of victory, believing that not even Gandalf could prevent the city’s capture and slaughter. Then the horns of Rohan blew in the distance as the Rohirrim arrived, and the tide of battle turned. The Witch-King himself would soon be dead on the battlefield. In his final, prideful moments, the Witch-King disdains the courage, love, loyalty, and defiance of Éowyn and overlooks the insignificant little hobbit Merry, who wields a Blade of Westernesse. Together, they destroy him. As a result, Sauron’s forces suffered a significant setback in losing him and the battle.

In “Cirion and Eorl,” we read of a war that occurred earlier in the Third Age between Gondor and an alliance of enemies. Wainriders from the east, their kin in Rhovanion, and allies from Khand joined with an army of Haradrim coming up from the south in an attack on Gondor. In response, Gondor split its army into northern and southern armies—one to meet the Haradrim coming up from the south and a northern army to meet the Wainriders and their allies.In the north, the men of the eastern alliance took Gondorian king Ondoher by surprise, routing his troops, killing the king, capturing his banner, killing his son and the king’s guard in what became known as the Disaster of the Morannon.

Since the victory came much easier than expected and since they had killed the king, the Wainriders became overconfident. They were unaware that they had not fought the whole northern army. Gondor had more troops in the north that had not engaged in the battle, as well as another army in the south. Yet “they believed they had already overthrown the defending army and that their own main army had little more to do than advance to the invasion and occupy Gondor.” So confident were they that they were singing songs of victory. However, in the south, Gondorian captain Earnil defeated the Haradrim in southern Ithilien, joined the northern army, attacked the Wainriders while they were feasting and reveling and routed the enemy.

Even heroes could succumb to pride. In A Hobbit Devotional, Ed Strauss pointed out that early in his adventure to the Lonely Mountain, Bilbo became prideful and decided to pickpocket the trolls because the dwarves had questioned his ability as a burglar. They were all caught because of Bilbo’s failed attempt, and needed rescue by Gandalf.

On his quest to Erebor, Gandalf told the dwarf lord Thorin Oakenshield, “Curb your pride and your greed, or you will fall at the end of whatever path you take, though your hands be full of gold.” Thorin’s pride and lust for gold did cause his fall, as he refused to aid the people of Lake-town and his image as King Under the Mountain was tarnished.

The mighty dragon Smaug laughed at the idea of the dwarves wanting revenge. During his repartee with Bilbo, he gloats, you “dare approach me. I kill where I wish, and none dare resist” and “my armor is tenfold shields, my teeth swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death.” But Bilbo flatters him and plays to his pride, causing Smaug to show Bilbo his underbelly, which has a “large patch in the hollow of his left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell.” This information, revealed by a boastful Smaug himself, is used by Bard to slay the dragon during his attack on Lake-town. The invincible Smaug is brought down by courage, skill, and a single arrow.

When Gandalf and the company came to discuss essential matters with Saruman, Gandalf was willing to allow Saruman to go free if he cooperated. But during the discussion, Saruman’s “pride and hate” were conquering him, and he was unwilling to humble himself. Instead of gaining liberty, he felt the power of Gandalf the White as his staff was broken; he was expelled from the order of wizards and remained locked up in his tower.

In “Feudal Values, Vassalage, and Fealty in The Lord of the Rings”, Colleen Donnelly argues that Denethor’s fall was also due to his pride. Denethor contested with Sauron through the palantir which led to his despair. Further, his pride did not allow him to consider giving up his power to Aragorn, the rightful king. His obsession with maintaining power drove his anger towards his son Faramir, who, for the common good “is willing to be a true steward and vassal” to Aragorn and the people of Gondor. In his pride “Denethor wants a son whose only loyalty is to his father and to his father’s vision of himself.”

In the First Age, as Morgoth gained the upper hand in his war against the Noldor, his pride became so great “that he deemed none  would ever come with open war against him.” He was so confident he did not prepare a defense for a possible attack from the west by the other Valar (angelic beings that reside in the West, a paradise beyond the seas). When they did come in open war against him, he was unprepared and overthrown.

The mighty warrior and captain of men, Túrin, joined with the elves of Nargothrond and rose high in the king’s council. Because of local success against the orcs, Túrin advised the king to fight against Morgoth in open war rather than employ stealth and ambush. He also recommended a bridge be built to allow troops to deploy quickly out of the fortress to assault the enemy. However, the Valar Ulmo warned of the growing mass of forces Morgoth was mustering to the north and advised them to destroy the bridge and go back into hiding, lest evil come to the realm, and they be discovered and assaulted.

Ulmo warned them to “cast the stones of your pride [represented by the newly built stone bridge] into the loud river that the creeping evil may not find the gate.” But Túrin had become proud and stern and would not heed the warning. In keeping the bridge and issuing forth to open war, their secret location was revealed, and the bridge allowed easy access to the orcs for the city’s sacking. The women and children were either burned alive or kept as slaves.

Pride played its part in the sacking of another wonderful hidden city of the elves, Gondolin. The angelic being Ulmo advised the Gondolin king Turgon, through Tuor (ancestor to Aragorn), to abandon the city and retreat to the sea or perish. Turgon was told to “remember that the true hope of the Noldor lieth in the west, and cometh from the sea”(Zec 4.6). But Turgon rejected this wise counsel as he became proud and trusted in Gondolin’s military power (the works of their hands) and its “secret and impenetrable strength.” However, the city was betrayed from within and assaulted during a festival when the defenses were unprepared. The city was consumed.

The wise of Middle-earth, such as Gandalf, heeded Solomon’s proverb. When Gandalf was called a great wizard for conducting affairs that brought about the victory at Helm’s Deep, he said, “That may be so. I have not shown it yet. I have but given good counsel in peril and made use of the speed of Shadowfax. Your own valor has done more. And the stout legs of Westfold men marching through the night.” Gandalf kept a humble attitude and praised the efforts of others in bringing about the victory.

This article is adapted from The Road Goes Ever On and On: A New Perspective on J. R. R. Tolkien and Middle-earth by Jeb Smith.