Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pearce

Author:Joseph Pearce [Pearce, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9781642290912
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2019-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

Earlier, Sam had experienced a similar sensation when, believing Frodo had been killed by Shelob, he had taken the burden of the Ring upon himself: ‘And then he bent his own neck and put the chain upon it, and at once his head was bowed to the ground with the weight of the Ring, as if a great stone had been strung on him. But slowly, as if the weight became less, or new strength grew in him, he raised his head, and then with a great effort got to his feet and found that he could walk and bear his burden.’29

Again, images of the Cross are unmistakable, and particularly Christ’s promise that those who take up their Cross to follow Him will find their burden light.

Another Christian image of sacrifice which recurs throughout The Lord of the Rings is the reflection of Christ’s teaching that there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend. Notable examples include Boromir’s heroic death in order to save his companions, a death which followed shortly after his repentance for his earlier effort to seize the Ring by force from Frodo. There is also Gandalf’s apparent death on the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm as he fought to save the rest of the company from the Balrog—followed, of course, by his ‘resurrection’.

This recurring theme of selfless sacrifice was discussed by Sean McGrath in an essay which was appropriately titled ‘The Passion According to Tolkien’:

The Lord of the Rings myth depicts the dynamics of this fundamental option to give up our lives for the sake of a higher good, that lies at the heart of human ethics. The pretty poison that lures us away from God’s design toward a kind of temporary personal omnipotence is subtler than the evil at work in Middle Earth. In my daily life in middle class North America, no winged Nazgul block out the sun with their huge black wings; no emaciated Smeagols remind us of the price of unchecked selfishness,—or do they? This ‘escapist’ literature presents in vivid dramatic pictures what is otherwise intangible and inexpressible: our battle for salvation, for overcoming the all-pervasive, crippling legacy of sin. It gives form and substance to our very real quest and projects it into an imaginary universe where the ultimate questions are blazingly clear. . .

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