The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy by Gregory Bassham

Author:Gregory Bassham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780812698060
Publisher: Open Court
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

PART IV

Time and Mortality

10

Choosing to Die: The Gift of Mortality in Middle-earth

BILL DAVIS

Aragorn’s love for Arwen makes the safety of Frodo and the Ring especially important to him. He very nearly fails to guide Frodo and the Ring from Bree to the safety of Elrond’s house. And had he failed, the price would have been very great. In possession of the Ring, Sauron would have been unstoppable. All the good in Middle-earth would have been destroyed. Aragorn would never have been allowed to marry Arwen, Elrond’s daughter, and all his hopes would have been dashed.

Arwen’s love for Aragorn, however, is even more complicated. The movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring shows the two of them discussing their future during Aragorn’s stay at Rivendell. On a bridge in a lush garden they speak tenderly of their commitment to each other. She asks if he remembers her promise. He does, saying, “You said you’d bind yourself to me, forsaking the immortal life of your people.” Her reply is unwavering, “And to that I hold. I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone. I choose a mortal life.” She clearly loves him, but what does death have to do with her choice?

Aragorn’s love will send him on a long and dangerous road to protect Frodo and the Ring. Arwen’s love demands even more. If he succeeds, she will marry him and accept his fate as a mortal. How can Aragorn ask this of Arwen? And why would Arwen choose to pay such a high price?

Questions like these can be answered on two levels that ultimately converge. On the first level, we might look for answers that would make sense to Tolkien’s characters inside his story. Tolkien’s world is rich and complex, and explaining his characters’ choices is challenging. By the end of this chapter I hope to show why Arwen doesn’t cling to immortality and why Aragorn accepts death peacefully. Answers on the second level concern death and immortality in our own lives. The choices made by Arwen and Aragorn raise important questions about our own death and what will happen to us afterwards. And thoughtful answers to these questions are all around us in popular culture and in religious and philosophical writing. On the way to explaining Arwen’s choice, I will consider some of these responses. Even though we cannot choose to avoid death, we can learn to face it more thoughtfully by considering Tolkien’s difficult suggestion that death can be a gift.

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