Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings: A Philosophy of War by Graham McAleer

Author:Graham McAleer [McAleer, Graham]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-08-31T00:00:00+00:00

Théoden accuses Saruman of four things each of which is a ground for war: usurpation – stealing an authority over a people to which he has no right; destruction of property; killing of the innocent; and unnatural acts.[44]

Having looked at how Tolkien combines the new theory of war in Schmitt with the older just war tradition of Aquinas and de Vitoria, it is time to turn to the troubling topics of vengeance and wrath.

CHAPTER FIVE: RED DAWN

Chasing a band of Uruk-hai that has Merry and Pippin captive, Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn keep up a remarkable pace. After days of pursuit, one morning Legolas notices the sky red at dawn and declares, “red sun rises, blood has been spilt this night.” (TT* 10). They later learn from the Horse Master, Éomer, that riders of Rohan stormed the Uruk-hai camp at night and “left none alive.” In a book dating to 1272, Thomas Aquinas writes in On Evil: “For it is evidently virtuous for one to seek vengeance according to the proper ordination of justice, as, for example, when one seeks vengeance for the correction of sin without violating what the law prescribes. And this is to be angry at sin” (p. 374). Éomer’s work of vengeance was total.

Aquinas’s theory of war is the bedrock of the West’s belief that war can be conducted in a civilised manner. War, rightly waged, can express God’s justice, a punishment for havoc. Aragorn and Éomer speak openly of war as vengeance. Dying from wounds at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Théoden makes Éomer king. Éomer’s grief at the passing of his king is compounded when he sees his sister lying on the battlefield. “He stood a moment as a man who is pierced in the midst of a cry by an arrow through his heart; and then his face went deathly white, and a cold fury rose in him… Over the field rang his clear voice calling: `Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world’s ending!’” His forces move forward with him to confront the enemy anew: “Death they cried with one voice loud and terrible” (RK, 825-26). He meets Aragorn in the midst of the battle. “And they clasped hand in hand. `Nor indeed more timely,’ said Éomer. `You come none too soon, my friend. Much loss and sorrow has befallen us.’ `Then let us avenge it, ere we speak of it!’ said Aragorn, and they rode back to battle together” (RK, 830). The battle concludes, and Tolkien writes:

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