Moments of Grace in Middle-earth

Happy Yule!

2011-12-31T14:33:00.002-06:00

Just a little note to say I'll be back in a couple weeks or so. I'm almost done with my book. Also going to be starting my Master's Degree at Mythgard so that will be exciting. 2012 is going to be great! Especially the end of it! :) :)

Catholic Courses | The Hidden Meaning of The Lord of the Rings

2011-09-16T17:16:00.003-05:00

This is a brand new series from prominent Catholic Tolkien scholar, Joseph Pearce. It's available December 1 - just in time for Christmas! It's available on audio CD or DVD. It's on sale now at a discounted price.

Here's what the website says about it -

"Joseph Pearce offers a fascinating and insightful course on The Lord of the Rings, which is the greatest and most popular work of literature of the twentieth century. The course discusses the book's phenomenal success and the life of its author, J. R. R. Tolkien, before embarking on a tour of the world and characters of Middle-earth.

"Despite the absence of any direct mention of Christ or the Catholic Church, Tolkien described his work as "fundamentally religious and Catholic." He was able to infuse his fictional world with theological orthodoxy through his creation myth and world order, by endowing his protagonists with Christian virtues, and by incorporating themes of grace and mercy.

"Tolkien's deep faith and creative philosophy emerges from the narrative as an unmistakable Catholic presence. The very foundation of Tolkien's Middle-earth, from its creation by Ilúvatar, the one God, to angel-like Melkor's sinful rebellion, to the menacing presence of Sauron, the dark lord, supports Professor Pearce's argument for the Catholicity of the work. You'll learn how the One Ring symbolizes Original Sin, how the dates Tolkien chose for events in the story are theologically significant, how the Elvish waybread, lembas, figures as the Eucharist, and how Frodo acts as a Christ-figure." Read more...

Did Frodo Fail?

2011-08-27T11:52:00.006-05:00

This was first published in slightly modified format in the April 2011 issue of Beyond Bree.

“Man always travels along precipices,” Blessed Pope John Paul II said. “His truest obligation is to keep his balance.” Frodo loses his at the Fire after his heart, mind and soul endure a months-long siege of “torture and disruption of personality,” words Tolkien used when speaking of techniques employed during World War II which “would rival that of Mordor and the Ring” (Letters 234) and which certainly describe Frodo’s agony as well. Bit by bit, his will and his very self are eroded as he struggles on, losing even his memories while he, along with Sam, valiantly tries to hold himself together, but as Peter Kreeft notes, “the self is saved only when it is lost, found only when really given away in sacrifice. True freedom comes only when you bind yourself to your duty” (“Wartime Wisdom” 46). This Frodo does to the utmost. By the time he reaches the Fire, he has drunk the last dregs of a very bitter cup and emptied it completely. As Gunnar Urang said, “the world is saved, ultimately, not just by grace as overwhelming presence and power but by grace as humble redemptive suffering” (Shadows 117).

Yet for all Frodo’s strength and endurance, he is increasingly aware that his resistance to the demonic assaults on his will is failing. When he reaches the Sammath Naur, worn out physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, he has nothing left with which to defend himself against the last terrible attack. Still, this failure at the end is not a weakness unique to Frodo alone. As he has been shown throughout the Quest, it is simply not possible for our wills to always overcome a stronger one. “Not all evil is chosen,” says Ralph Wood in his wonderful book, The Gospel According to Tolkien. “For while evil can subtly seduce, it can also brutally enforce its will. . . The Ring creates a compulsion, in short, that cannot be broken with mere human strength of will” (70, 71). With the Ring’s power to “burn [the] mind away” (LotR V:4, 796), it is no wonder after months of incessant torment that Frodo gives way. It is a moving testament to the incredible strength of his will, fortified by grace and by Sam, that he lasts as long as he does. Tolkien wrote, “But one must face the fact: the power of Evil in the world is not finally resistible by incarnate creatures, however ‘good’; and the Writer of the Story is not one of us” (Letters 252). He notes in another letter, “It is possible for the good, even the saintly, to be subjected to a power of evil which is too great for them to overcome - in themselves” (Letters 252).

So at the same time that Éowyn speaks of feeling as though she stands upon the edge of an abyss, Frodo truly is, as his will crumbles at last. As Gandalf and Aragorn fight at the Black Gate and men are willingly giving their lives in the blind hope that they will be able to give the hobbits the time they need, without any knowledge where they are, the Ring-bearer stands in the Sammath Naur at the very brink of destruction, physically and spiritually.

As Frodo is consumed, Sam hears these terrible words: “I have come . . . But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!” (LotR VI:3, 924). This is, however, not the freely willed act it appears to be, and which Frodo later thinks it is. Every word in this tale has been very deliberately chosen to mean very deliberate things. Some of the most respected Tolkien scholars, including Tom Shippey and Verlyn Flieger, not to mention the Professor himself, consider the words “I do not choose” to mean literally that. Frodo did not claim the Ring; he was claimed by it. His will is, in actuality, the least free it has been the entire time, as he already knew was coming when he tells Sam near the Mountain: “I am almost in its power now. I could not give it up . . .” (LotR VI:3, 916).

Shippey remarks, “It is . . . interesting that Frodo does not say, ‘I choose not to do’, but ‘I do not choose to do’. Maybe (and Tolkien was a professor of language) the choice of words is absolutely accurate. Frodo does not choose; the choice is made for him” (Tolkien 140).

Flieger observes, “His use of choose and will makes it clear that he believes he is acting freely. But the negative, the repeated not is telling evidence that his will has been perverted and his choice preempted” (Splintered 153-54).

Tolkien notes in one of his letters,

"I do not think that Frodo’s was a moral failure. At the last moment the pressure of the Ring would reach its maximum - impossible, I should have said, for any one to resist, certainly after long possession, months of increasing torment, and when starved and exhausted. Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) . . . . I do not myself see that the breaking of his mind and will under demonic pressure after torment was any more a moral failure than the breaking of his body would have been - say, by being strangled by Gollum, or crushed by a falling rock" (Letters 326, 327).

Urang observes,

"Frodo has not developed, or has not been brought, to the point of being able not to succumb . . . What Gollum does is a vindication both of his freedom to pursue his own evil will and of an overruling Providence which exercises its freedom in his willful act. The upshot is that Frodo here seems not to be free to do either good or evil. Tolkien has chosen to emphasize one side of the paradox of grace and freedom, giving the last word to an overriding grace" (Shadows 128).

Sauron rules in Mordor, but even at the Sammath Naur, at the heart of his strength, the Dark Lord’s power is not absolute. It crushes the created, but it has no power over the Creator. Just as God later allows with Job to demonstrate to Satan, He permits evil to do its worst to Frodo’s body and soul so that He may put forth His strength through Frodo’s weakness, that He might show Sauron Who retains charge of all. When Frodo, small, spent and mortal, stands at the edge of the Abyss, completely exposed and defenseless before his Enemy, his soul at the point of its greatest peril, he is also, as he always has been, completely exposed to God. The One knows His child will be broken by the burden in the end, but still He sets him aside from all others to be His Bearer. His. Not what the Ring twists Frodo into, but a holy vessel of the One Who gives him a sacred task none other could perform, for none other was created to do so. When God asks Frodo to be Bearer, He is asking for everything Frodo is, which is what the hobbit gives in the thousands of ‘yes’s, silently offered with each painful breath and step. That he is unable to say ‘yes’ at the end and falls prey to a power under which any other would have broken down much sooner, does not mean he is anything less of a hero, a fact Tolkien heartily agrees with:

"Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), ‘that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named’ (as one critic has said)" (Letters 253).

Indeed, it is only after Frodo fulfills his vocation that his will fails at last. Even if Ring-bearer and Ring-destroyer is thought by others and by Frodo himself to be one and the same, they are actually two different missions in God’s mind, for He knows it is too much for one person to sustain. None of us could bear such a terrible cross and not be crushed by it, which is why Frodo is given companions to help him and why we are also. It is his task to create “a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved” (Letters 326), and this he does perfectly.

When the beleaguered Ring-bearer can no longer say ‘yes’ to God, God says it for him and gives him what the hobbit has relinquished to God: his self and his life. The One turns the ‘no’ that has come from His child’s broken will at the nadir of Frodo’s strength and at the height of the Ring’s into the ‘yes’ foreseen from all eternity. By working through Gollum, God shows that nothing has power over Him, that He can still work His will through whatever instruments He chooses, whether these vessels say ‘yes’ like Frodo and Sam do or whether they do not, even those enslaved to evil. All powers are indeed subdued at the Fire, except for the Power of God that nothing could defeat.

Rolland Hein rightly observes,

"Above and beyond the intentions and purposes of all the characters in the saga stands an overarching Power whose purposes will not fail, but whose workings quietly exist outside the conscious awareness of created beings. Its greatest strength is realized through human weakness. The presence of such Power is glimpsed in the text such as . . . Gandalf’s statement . . . to Frodo that he was meant by a Higher Power to possess the Ring. The sudden transfiguration of Frodo in his struggle with Gollum just prior to the Ring’s destruction further attests to the presence of the supernatural in league with the good. Nowhere in the text are decisions freely made by individual characters or groups abrogated. The One honors without exception the set of the will and works completely through human endeavor. It is, therefore, hardly accurate to call it Fate, as some scholars tend to do. It is the power and purpose of God" (Christian 208).

C. Baillie speaks beautifully of this when she says,

"Love watched him all the way through Mordor. ‘You can do this and you must do this, or I will demand a reckoning of you,’ Love said. Then Frodo came to the brink of utter damnation and fell, and Love said, ‘This is beyond your strength, what I am allowing to happen. Therefore I will not demand reckoning of you. I will save you.’

"In that instant, when [Frodo’s] soul hung imperiled between life and eternal night, he became no longer responsible. The trial had become too much.

"So, no, I don’t think Frodo failed, not morally. Because nothing he could give could save him, only something given to him.

"Only Love" (“Frodo”).

This is why we need not fear when everything appears to be falling into ruin around us. We are never alone in the dark. We are helpless by ourselves, and that would be cause for despair if we had only ourselves to depend upon, not relying at all on the power that only God can provide. He will carry us through any difficulty if we allow Him to: “I know the plans I have for you . . . plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you” (Jer. 29:11). We must trust that God will take care of us, just as Frodo also trusted.

Patti Benson writes wonderfully of this: “Evil found him, and for a brief, terrifying time it took him; but it could not keep him. His light still shone out of the darkness, despite it all. . .” (Mallorn 46).

Additional Reading

‘I do not choose…’ and ‘not a moral failure’ both by Trudy G. Shaw.

Works Cited

Baillie, C. “Frodo and Grace.” Christianity and Middle-earth. Web. 26 Jun 2010.

Benson, Patti. Letter. Mallorn 46 (2008): 5. Print.

Flieger, Verlyn. Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World. Rev. ed. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 2002. Print.

Hein, Rolland. Christian Mythmakers. 2nd ed. Chicago: Cornerstone Press, 2002. Print.

Kreeft, Peter. “Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights About Evil in The Lord of the Rings.” Ed. John G. West, Jr. Celebrating Middle-earth: The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization. Seattle: Inkling Books, 2002. Print.

Shippey, Tom. J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Print.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

---. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965-66. Print.

Urang, Gunnar. Shadows of Heaven: Religion and Fantasy in the Writing of C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams and J. R. R. Tolkien. Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press, 1971. Print.

Wood, Ralph C. The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth. Louisville, KY: Knox, 2003. Print.

Toward the Gleam: A Book Review

2011-08-24T21:10:00.007-05:00

I loved this wonderful book and so did my dad. Warning: spoilers ahead!! Knowing ahead of time what this book is about helped my enjoyment of it tremendously, and is the reason I was so looking forward to reading it. But if you don't want to know, don't keep reading!

Lovers of The Lord of the Rings, of which the author is definitely one, will enjoy this tale the most. The main 'character' is Tolkien himself, under the alias of John Hill which he took from the alias used by Frodo. It concerns primarily his discovery of a mysterious box in a cave (which I can't help thinking is really a very long abandoned hobbit hole). It is seemingly made of silver but much brighter than any silver we know (mithril, anyone?) Contained within in an unknown tongue is an even more mysterious ancient manuscript that Hill is able to translate. He is convinced it's a chronicle of events that actually took place thousands of years ago. He feels strongly that this history is something that the world is in desperate need of knowing about, though when he does publish it with some additions of his own, he also leaves some of it for he believes some of it is too dangerous to be revealed lest it fall into the wrong hands. I felt the same awe he did as I looked over his shoulder as he opened the box for what he has found is the Red Book, including Bilbo's Translations from the Elvish. There are scattered references that those who have eyes to see will understand: the Necromancer, the Traitor, the Burglar, the Hero, the Hero's faithful companion, the Grey Pilgrim are all so named. The ring (small r) is mentioned and a Seeing Stone is hinted at. It is exciting too that the manuscript is not the only artifact that survived from that time either. A chapter early on about Tolkien's time at the battle of the Somme is also vividly presented. The Tolkien children and Edith are all there, as well as Lewis and Barfield of the Inklings and other famous figures of the time, referred to only by first name or nickname. It's a fun book, well written and I really enjoyed it and am sorry that it is over. Highly recommended!

Fellowship at Ravinia!

2011-08-20T16:14:00.000-05:00

Had a great time watching Fellowship at Ravinia on Thursday night with my mom, dad and one of my sisters. Didn't get home until after midnight! Went in costume as Frodo (of course) and blew away the young man who took our tickets. "You look fantastic!" he said with awed fervor which I thanked him very much for. :) Another man complimented me two different times on my costume as well. We parked in a remote lot (B for Baggins, though that wasn't done deliberately) and got a shuttle and found our way with directions to great seats in Row T (for Took, Row F and S were already filled). The movie was the theatrical version which I'm not sure I saw more than the one time I saw in the theatre itself. They were parts that I must have forgotten because they are not in the extended edition, most notably some of Gandalf and Frodo when they first meet up for Bilbo's birthday.

The music was marvelously performed by the Chicago Symphony and like last year at Wolf Trap, they were placed below the screen. The choir was especially vivid, more than the one last year. I am especially looking forward to hearing them sing at the Fire if and when they do Return of the King. Sometimes the orchestra drowned out the dialogue so it was good, again like last year, they had subtitles for what was being said. I finally know what Bilbo was saying to Gandalf while he scurried around Bag End trying to find something for his friend to eat. I also saw or heard other things I hadn't before. The music as the Black Riders ride into Bree when you see only their battered swords was just wonderfully loud as it should be. I have loved that scene since I first saw it.

I ache when Frodo tells Sam in Rivendell that he's ready to go home and you know they are going to be doing that except by going through hell first. The Ring-bearer was on the cover of the Ravinia magazine which of course I picked up and the article instead said the tale celebrated loyal friendship and individual courage. The courage impressed me while I watched the extended editions in the theatre in June and again here, especially Merry and Pippin's who deliberately attract the attention of the orcs to give their beloved cousin the opportunity to get away, Boromir's continuing to fight even when so wounded and Aragorn's "Go ahead, make my day" salute to the orcs right after he tells Frodo to run. I also love Aragorn's words to Frodo at the Council and his kneeling to him.

My mom thought it was "terrific" and my dad thought it was "marvelous". I think I had a better time here than at Wolf Trap which was cool in itself of course. I hope they do Two Towers next year and Return of the King the year after that!

Get a Master's Degree with concentration in Tolkien Studies!

2011-07-28T12:57:00.003-05:00

A new school is forming that will allow you to get a Master's Degree in English with tons of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in it! Sound cool? Check out Mythgard today! They are accepting applications until August 15 for the Fall 2011 semester. It's entirely online. Oh, to be back at school doing papers again! I've wanted to do this for years. Alas, it shall have to wait for a while but just in case anyone else wants to do, run, do not walk to the site!

Thoughts on the Films

2011-07-04T11:29:00.011-05:00

Greetings! I am still working on the book and will be for a while yet, but wanted to drop in to assure you that I have not left the Circles of the World. Warning - this is quite long. I watched all the Extended Editions in the theatre and it was neat to do that for the first time. I loved Peter Jackson’s intros. To think my second favorite scene from Two Towers was almost not filmed! I liked that he noted there was 6000 of the Rohirrim riding to battle just as at Waterloo. I thought it was neat that he, almost shyly, thanked us for coming and appreciated that we had mad the effort. Hey, no problem, glad to do it!

It’s appropriate on this 4th of July weekend to reflect on what impressed me the most this time was the tremendous courage of the men of Gondor and Rohan to ride into battle, knowing they would likely die, but willing to make that sacrifice to save their world and those they loved. Freedom is not free. It is brought in blood and sweat, toil and tears, sacrifice of wholeness, redemptive suffering for the sake of others, lives given to save their world. Frodo shows this as well, of course, but the men really stood to me this time.

Needless to say, I love the films and in writing this I come to realize anew how much. I came to this marvelous tale through them and I am a happily obsessed Frodoaholic (or FrodoandSam-aholic) because of them. Every single performance is perfect (though I strongly disagree with some of the interpretations, more on that later), the music is magnificent and the special effects spectacular. The only thing that mars my enjoyment is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with how very much they diverge in parts from what really happened. In becoming more loyal to the books and the magnificent BBC Radio adaptation that is so faithful, I have become more of a purist and I cringe when I see in the credits “Based on J.R.R.Tolkien” when parts of it are most definitely not based on the Red Book at all, but are in direct opposition to it.

I don’t mind all the changes of course as you can see from the quite extensive list below. Some of them are just plain fun. Some are beautiful moments of grace that are not in the original but are wonderful additions. There are many love stories or individual scenes of love in the films, most having nothing to do with romantic love but based on family ties or compassion, mercy and pity. That all these are celebrated is another great strength of this version of the tale.

In no particular order, I love:

- Arwen’s embrace of and prayer over the dying Frodo, someone she just met but to whom she already shows such tender care.
- Frodo’s vision of Galadriel in Shelob’s Lair is another marvelous addition. I never understood how some others saw even when the book first came out a comparison with the Virgin Mary, but in this scene, that is portrayed perfectly. (I doubt very much that is intentional, but it is there nonetheless which is lovely). Galadriel is shining so beautifully and lovingly smiling and offering her hand to aid the exhausted Ring-bearer. Now that’s Mary!
- “Oh, the perfection that is Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins” to quote the Artisan of the Shire. Those wonderfully expressive eyes show everything from innocent joy and love to fear, torment and grief as the Ring slowly and painfully devours him and he can do nothing but endure it. Truly those eyes are windows to the soul which the Artisan so wonderfully expresses in her wallpapers that you must check out to understand even more about the terrible cross Frodo willingly took upon himself. The Mouth of Sauron was right when he said it is amazing how much torment such a small being could endure. Frodo did indeed spend time in the houses of lamentation.
- the loyalty to the greatest love story in the tale, that of Frodo and Sam, showing it in its pure and innocent glory in all the hugs and loving and supportive looks they share. Frodo indeed would not have got far without his Sam and throughout the films this bond is beautifully celebrated.
- Frodo saying Sam’s name in fear and sorrow when he comes to his senses in Shelob’s Lair after the insanity of sending him away and apologizing to his absent friend for that just before he collapses in exhaustion.
- that look of joy, love and forgiveness that is Sam’s smile as they reunite in the Tower. So much said in that loving look and not a word spoken. I think this well conveys the happiness that book-Sam felt upon seeing his treasure again. A lot of Ring-induced tension has passed between them, angry words and accusations, all melted away in that look. If such love and forgiveness could be felt in all relationships!
- the tender look they share in the Houses of Healing, when all else fades as they stare into each other’s eyes, happy, proud, grateful, content. Again so much shared that no tongue could speak anywhere as adequately as their eyes do.
- the encouragement that Sam continually gives to his Frodo when the Ring-bearer is most despairing, like when Frodo says he has a feeling he won’t be coming back and Sam says of course they are going to return home, just like Bilbo, and when looking down at the huge Orc host and saying, let’s just get down this hill first. The gaze that Frodo gives to Sam, desperately trying to draw some of that strength into himself. They are so cute as orcs.
- Sam offering the last of the water to Frodo. When Frodo says there will be nothing left for the way back, Sam admits he doesn’t think there will be one, then immediately offers his hand to help his treasure up and they continue on. This moment is Sam’s finest, surpassing even carrying Frodo later
- holding Frodo on Mount Doom
- after Sam nearly drowns and Frodo rescues him, the Ring-bearer is so moved he is in tears, both from the horror of what almost happened and gratitude for the loyalty and love Sam bears him. I love their big hug in the boat, all they care about at that moment is holding onto each other, and Frodo’s look at Sam afterwards to reassure himself that his beloved brother is truly all right and ready to continue on.
- the smiles that Sam inspires in Frodo that Sam doesn’t even see: the first night out in the woods when Sam is complaining that he will never be able to sleep on the ground and Frodo tells him to imagine he’s really in a soft bed with feather pillows. He has such a sweet smile then and after praising Samwise the Brave, especially touching to see such a tender and happy smile then after the horror of holding Sting at Sam’s throat. It is a beautiful gift for him to feel and for us to see
- Sam saying “It’s all right” in the Dead Marshes and “You’re all right” at Osgiliath as the Nazgûl is near, just as he does in the BBC adaptation at several different times. Things are definitely not all right, but at the same time, they are since Sam says they are. In the Dead Marshes he holds onto Frodo’s hand tightly to keep him from reaching for the Ring and says, “I’m here”: those two words are why it’s all right. Every moment Sam is with his treasure is a moment of grace for the beleaguered Ring-bearer, whether it is in the book, films or musical (what I know of it, since I have unfortunately not seen it).
- The scene of Frodo/the Ring drawing Sting on Sam is my favorite in TTT because it shows not just the terrible corruptive power of that fell object, but more the greater power of love which Sam continues to display without skipping a beat, despite having a sword held at his throat by the one he loves most in the world.
- how the hidden-in-plain-sight love story of Frodo and Sméagol is portrayed; a love based on understanding and compassion for another tormented soul, faithful to the book, though different in how it is shown how Frodo wished to be “my brother’s keeper” or as The Jerusalem Bible has it, “my brother’s guardian.” That is who the younger Ring-bearer is to his wretched guide and kindred spirit. This is most beautifully shown when Frodo crouches close to him one night and softly calls him Sméagol, a voice that is almost a caress, restoring to him his God-given name and some dignity and worth. It’s a wonder to that creature who has only known centuries of Gollum to hear a kind voice. I love the expression on Sméagol’s face at that time as he speaks his name himself. Frodo telling Sam he wants to help their guide and believe that he can come back. If Sméagol can, then Frodo can himself. “This creature is bound to me. And I to him.” Frodo offering his hand to Sméagol which he takes. After Frodo nearly throttles his shadow/mirror/dark brother and self under the influence of the Ring, he says, “I have to destroy it, Sméagol. I have to destroy it for both our sakes.” This love and bond begins because of the pity and compassion that Frodo has gained through his own growing addiction to the Ring and the realization of the harm that it is causing to both their souls. This is why Frodo wants to destroy it and to save Sméagol and himself if he can. In a way only an addict can understand another addict. It is a love that Gollum is constantly trying to undermine while Sméagol struggles to remain loyal to it with limited success. The wretched creature shows when he brings back the coneys and excitedly drops them by Frodo who wakes and smiles at him and up at Sam, as though to say, ‘See, he’s not so bad, look at what he’s brought us.’ It is a love that is ultimately destroyed by the Ring-lust that unites them.
- The lighting of the Beacons gives me goosebumps it is so beautiful and the music so majestic. I am touched by the inspiring men who are there, so isolated from all else but who remain loyally there just in case they are needed. You don’t even see their faces, but they are still living beings, if only seen from a distance for a moment, showing another great strength of these films. “Hope is kindled.”
- Frodo staying in the Shire long enough to know Elanor much longer and able to see his namesake born. It is too bad they didn’t show a moment of them together, but they must have of course.
- Aragorn’s ‘Henry V’ speech at the Black Gate - so rousing and inspirational I almost want to join the battle myself
- Merry and Pippin as they part after Pippin has his terrifying encounter with Sauron and has to be carried off by Gandalf
- Gandalf and Pippin immediately after that encounter when the wizard rouses that fool of a Took with tender care, holding his cheek and hand.
- Legolas touching Aragorn’s shoulder in compassionate support as the man falls to his knees in near despair after they leave the Paths of the Dead and see the black ships
- The hand Aragorn extends to help the traitorous Wormtongue up after preventing Théoden from killing him
- “Be at peace” softly spoken as Aragorn releases the Dead
- Théoden’s words to Wormtongue at Isengard, tenderly showing compassion and mercy so in contrast to his murderous rage before
- Faramir and Pippin in the Citadel, providing a basis for the bond they must have formed, deep enough that the hobbit would name his son after the man. Book-Faramir is essentially a hobbit in a man’s skin in his gentle nature, something that film-Faramir at last displays here which Pippin notices and is shown in his embrace of the shieldmaiden who comes so unexpectedly into his life and heart. Love the tween’s words that Faramir has a strength different than the warrior spirit Boromir and Denethor has. Indeed he has and it is correctly portrayed in ROTK.
- I ache for Faramir as he endures Denethor’s brutal emotional abuse of him, so true to the books.
- The embraces at the Grey Havens. There is so much love, grief and torment there that words cannot express the depth of them, only arms and eyes can in long, tight, silent embraces and final looks into beloved eyes. Frodo enters into the hugs with Merry and Pippin gently and slowly, but with Sam, it is so forcefully and quickly you can actually hear the embrace come together. I always felt bad that Sam was still holding onto the Red Book so couldn’t hold that half of his heart as tightly as he would have otherwise. This is the largest loss, and the only one that has hope for reunion. When Sam’s expression changes during this last embrace (at least last for a long while), it must have been then that Frodo gives his Sam hope of that reunion, something he would not have wanted Merry and Pippin to hear since he could not extend the same hope. Then there’s Frodo’s reverent farewell kiss to his most beloved friend and brother, part of his own heart and soul, even deeper than Merry and Pippin are. It’s more powerful that only Sam is kissed instead of all three as in the book. There is much is that loving touch that words could never say, ‘I love you, I’m so sorry, Thank you for everything you ever did for me.’ As Annie Lennox signs in “Use Well the Days”: ‘The love you gave is all I take with me.’ Pippin is grinning through his tears in response to Frodo’s smile, true to his cheerful nature. Merry is trying hard to smile but can’t quite manage it since he is in too much pain. Sam softly smiles in love and hope that he will see his treasure again one day. It is he who lingers longest at the shore.
- the joyful, innocent and love-soaked romp on the bed as Frodo and his cousins reunite in the Houses of Healing and if I didn't mention it, in Rivendell and hugging Bilbo
- Arwen giggling as she hugs Aragorn at his coronation
- Elrond’s agonized joy at the same as he finally lets her go
- The expressions on Gimli’s face after Aragorn says “Don’t look down” as they go through the Paths of Dead. This, of course, gives the dwarf an irresistible urge to look down which he struggles to overcome and when he fails, results in his very gingerly walk upon the myriad skulls that little the place.
- Pippin flinching in Moria at the terrible noise made when all that skeleton and stuff falls down the well
- Frodo trying to wake Aragorn after he’s fallen during the battle with the cave troll and orcs
- Aragorn’s refusal to take the Ring which Frodo plainly shows him after Boromir has tried to take it from him. Instead he gently closes the hobbit’s fingers around it and brings that hand against Frodo’s heart, saying he would have gone with the Ring-bearer to the very end. Love the soft and tender way that action and words are used.
- The wonder, joy and hope so long denied that shines in Hama’s eyes as he gives his beloved, restored king the sword that belongs to him.
- Frodo crawling on his belly with the very last bit of his strength. “We are not at our best perched at the summit. We are at our best climbing, even when the way is steep.”- Anonymous. This is the best example of Frodo offering his “living body as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God” (Rom 12:1).
- The expression in Frodo’s eyes when Sam speaks at the beginning of ROTK about the journey home. He is silent, but this is another look that speaks volumes without saying a word, words that at the moment the Ring-bearer does not dare speak and does not want Sam to even see. You know he is thinking, ‘Oh Sam, don’t you know there won’t be one?’ He has long lost hope but Sam speaks as though no other alternative but coming home has occurred to him. Frodo doesn’t want to say anything because he doesn’t want to ruin his beloved guardian’s hope and without that hope he cannot go on himself. He needs to hold onto something that has not been ruined by the Ring amid all the devastation in and around him, some piece of light that is still free. That something is his Sam.
- Sméagol being tormented by Gollum and commanding Gollum to go away and his astonished wonder and joy when it actually happens and his wild joy as he prances about celebrating his newfound freedom.
- Galadriel’s kiss to Frodo’s brow as they part
- “Shall I describe it to you? Or would you like me to find you a box?” “Hehehehe.”
- The expression of Legolas triumphantly sliding down the trunk of the oliphant and landing in front of Gimli. “That still only counts as one!”
- The terrible seductive and corruptive power of the Ring is so well shown here as it tears Frodo and Sméagol apart within and from each other. Frodo stroking the Ring at night like a moth attracted and fascinated by a flame that is consuming him, a most obvious sign of the addict he is becoming, something that Sam notes more than once when he tells Frodo that it hasn’t escaped his notice that his beloved is hardly sleeping or eating.
- Sméagol appearing upside down at the beginning of ROTK
- Frodo clutching Bilbo’s shoulder in silent support, love and forgiveness after being freaked out by the old hobbit’s continuing Ring-lust, Bilbo putting his hand over Frodo’s and Frodo’s tightening his grip - again so much love shown without a word being said
- Frodo’s dream of Gandalf falling into the abyss of Moria with the Balrog, showing in a different way that hobbit’s unusual gift for having such dreams and visions. As I watched that this time, I thought of the demon originally being a brother angel of Gandalf’s, now separated by malice, hatred, rage and choice. Did they recognize each other as once being kin in spirit? How would that have felt to fight such a one?
- Éomer’s howls of grief as he rushes to and holds his stricken sister on the battlefield. His worried looks as Aragorn tends her.
- Sam seeing his star and telling Frodo to look and aching that Frodo opens his eyes for a moment, looking straight ahead, so exhausted and unable to raise his head due to the terrible burden around his neck, the weight of the sins of a fallen angel
- Sam watching over him then
- Even with their heads touching as they await their deaths at Mount Doom, Sam still watches over his beloved
- The very deliberate but brittle calm and control Frodo has over himself in the Tower when he asks for the Ring back. He’s must have in the forefront of his mind his other betrayals of Sam’s love and he’s very determined not to do that again. One marvels at the strength it takes for him to hold back all the Ring-lust that he could not in the book or radio, but he’s not about to give them both another deep wound
- Frodo adjusting himself to again having that terrible physical and spiritual weight of the Ring around his neck, but also being relieved or grateful in some ways that it is there, telling Sam it would destroy him if he carried it. He is speaking from the horrific tears he feels in his own soul and does not wish to inflict them on his beloved friend and brother.
- Éowyn singing at her cousin’s burial.
- “You and what army?” “This army.”
- Aragorn’s blade meeting that of the King of the Dead
- Merry and Pippin greeting their friends at Isengard and Pippin making a deliberate show of smoking
- The love that inspires the great journey of the Three Hunters
- Gollum and Sméagol talking about giving the hobbits to Shelob for dinner and getting the Ring back that way. “And take it for meeee!” “For us” “Yes, we meant for us.”
- Sméagol saying he wouldn’t a fly and then looking at his hand and screaming that he has done so
- “What has Sméagol ever done to him?”
- “Looks like meat is back on the menu, boys!” - Don’t ask me why I found that amusing, I just do.
- Aragorn looking at the entrance to the Paths of the Dead and all that ominous music and then Gimli coming up oblivious and saying, “Let’s find some food.”
- “Courage, Merry. Courage for our friends.”
- I want to cry out “Death!” with the Rohirrim but I ache that Merry does, a gentle, innocent hobbit now filled with lust for battle.
- The charge of the Rohirrim at Pelennor Fields - how rousing and inspiring is that
- “Reform the line!” - same celebration of the hardy courage of the fighting men that is so well done here.
- Frodo and Bilbo on the way to the Grey Havens, that haunted expression in the younger Ring-bearer’s eyes and voice and then the two sleep sleeping head to head. Truly Frodo is one of God’s most beautiful creations.
- Frodo being aware of the coming of the Black Rider in the Shire as the air shimmers around him
- The entrance of the Nazgûl into Bree, seeing only their long ancient swords and that marvelous music which accompanies it - great stuff!
- Frodo comforting Sam at The Prancing Pony that Gandalf will come. For the Quest, Sam is hope-bearer for the Ring-bearer, but here Frodo gives hope and comfort.
- “What about second breakfast?”
- Sam’s frightened look at Frodo as the Ring-bearer and king to be are the last to make it across the crumbling bridge in Moria
- Aragorn’s expression when Gimli tells him to toss him at Helm’s Deep
- “My brother, my captain, my king.”
- Boromir’s valiant defense of Merry and Pippin and his incredible pain tolerance and brave death
- “If you want, come and claim him.”
- “Real Elvish rope” and that amused smile.
- “I think I’ve found the bottom” - the only time I can recall that Elijah speaks with an adorable British accent.
- “I’m here, Sam.”
- “We be nice to them if they be nice to us.” Sméagol swearing by the Precious, Frodo removing the rope and the wonder in Sméagol’s face as that happens. Expressing his disgust of Mordor, “pits, pits, pits and orcses, thousands of orcses”, disappearing and then reappearing. “This way, hobbits! Follow me!”
- The two children of Rohan fleeing by horse and the girl saying in tears that she doesn’t want to and the mother promising she will find them later. The telling of these little love stories of ordinary people caught up in grief and fear, also shown in the women and children in the caverns at Helm’s Deep or watching the men leave Gondor for their futile mission to retake Osgiliath, is again one of the great strengths of the films. Everyone lives and are real, even if only on the screen for a few moments.
- The search for Théodred and the marvel that he is found alive. It’s even a greater marvel that he survived the trip back home with all that bouncing he did on his cousin’s horse. I feel bad for him just watching it.
- The Rohirrim as they surround the Three Hunters
- “Don’t talk to it, Merry. Don’t encourage it.”
- “Horrid, dark, dank... I mean charming, quite charming forest.”
- Aragorn’s joy and loving smile and tease of Gandalf after they reunite when he says, “You still speak in riddles.”
- “This new Gandalf is more grumpy than the old one.”
- Frodo and Sam hiding under the Elven cloak as the two Easterlings search for them. Their eyes have always struck me as female which is intriguing.
- Ache for Éowyn after she flees from Wormtongue after her cousin’s death. She runs out but there is so little space she can distance herself, tethered to home.
- Legolas and Gandalf praying over the dead
- “The defenses have to hold.” “They will hold.”
- Aragorn gallantly lying to Éowyn when he says her soup is good and then burning his hand when he stops himself from throwing the rest out when she turns back to him and he has to eat the rest in front of him, all to keep from hurting her feelings.
- Ache that Hama is killed by the warg.
- Sméagol at the Forbidden Pool, singing and whacking the fish
- Aragorn and Haleth
- Gimli and his chain mail: “It’s a little tight across the chest.”
- Aragorn’s hug of the startled Haldir
- Haldir’s death - the expression so well done there
- “Let’s hope it lasts the night. ... Let’s hope they last the night.”
- Gimli calling Aragorn ‘laddie’
- The charge of the king and his knights at Helm’s Deep and the charge of Gandalf and the Rohirrim. Gimli blowing the horn of Helm.
- It’s interesting that even though the book and film of TTT end at two very different points, the ending is still the same: Frodo is in the hands of the enemy
- Love the songs at the end of each film, especially “Into the West” a great love song celebrating the love of friends. Love also the one Liv Tyler sings.
- “You’re late.” “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins...” - The contest to see who will laugh first and Frodo leaping into Gandalf’s arms for that happy hug.
- Bilbo telling his story to the hobbit children at the birthday party, especially love the girl with the wide beautiful eyes, one of Peter Jackson’s children if I remember correctly.
- Looking over Frodo’s shoulder at Bag End as Bilbo frantically searches for the Ring. You feel you are standing right with him, so close.
- Gandalf bumping his head on the ceiling, Bilbo scurrying around to find something for his friend to eat and talking with his own mouth full and their hug as the frightened and sorrowful hobbit flees into the safety of his friend’s arms after he has gotten mad at Gandalf about the Ring.
- “What must I do?” Frodo’s expression of vulnerability, terrible fear, but also determination, accepting that is up to him to responsibility for the Ring. I love the way he says this and you ache because you know this is the beginning of the end for him as a carefree, innocent hobbit but there is also admiration as he bravely embraces what will become a very heavy cross which will tear him inside out. It is far from only (book) Faramir that Frodo has “pity and honour.”
- Smiling up at Gandalf - “Hobbits really are amazing creatures.” Indeed!
- Sam holding Frodo’s hand at Weathertop after the wounding and Frodo’s fearful look and words - “Oh, Sam” and his cries out to Gandalf in pain and fear as Aragorn carries him away. He is so afraid, and now terribly, perhaps mortally, wounded and he longs to have Gandalf with hin, someone he loves and trusts and can reassure him that he will be all right. His slide into the wraith world is well shown in the choked cries he gives. As he comes closer to that, he can see Arwen as she truly is.
- “They have a cave troll” said so nonchantlantly.
- Gandalf closing his eyes in grief at the Council as Frodo announces he will take the Ring
- That brave announcement itself
- The music as the Company leaves the Golden Wood and think of the gifts the Lady gave them, especially Frodo’s thoughtful expression. This whole expedition stopped being fun a long time ago, but still he goes on because he must. He is such an inspiration. Also the music as Frodo looks back at Aragorn after they leave Moria and grieve for Gandalf. The emotions that are there, expressed without a word, something that Frolijah excels in.
- Frodo looking fearfully at Merry and Pippin as they hide from Orcs at Parth Galen. Again, so much anguish, sorrow and love expressed there, goodbyes silently said to beloved cousins through those eyes and shake of the head. Merry and Pippin’s brave diversion to make sure Frodo gets away safely.
- Frodo crying on the river bank as he struggles with overcoming his terror of going off by himself, then hearing Gandalf’s words and being inspired to push off the shore.
- Sam’s grief over Frodo’s apparent death. Coming to challenge Shelob - imagine fighting a spider taller than you and not only that but a demonic spirit in spider form
- “Such a weight.”
- Frodo telling Sam to start a fight to keep them from being discovered after they are captured and forced to march with the Orcs.
- “Release us.” “Bad idea.”
- “There’s still hope for Frodo. He needs time and safe passage across the Plains of Gorgoroth. We can give him that.”
- “Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?”
- Merry and Pippin being the first to run toward the enemy at the Black Gate and everyone else following.
- “Riders of Rohan, oaths you have taken! Now, fulfill them all. To Lord and Land!” Such a stirring moment
- Pippin searching all day for Merry on the fields of the Pelennor
- Frodo’s words as he realizes he is too wounded to get back to his old life - interesting that he is shown alone in shadows, showing what his life was like now
- Merry, Pippin and Sam trying to protect Frodo from the wraiths on Weathertop
- Watching Mount Doom explode from afar and celebrating because Frodo is there and succeeded, then mourning because Frodo's there and how could he have survived? They have essentially for they know witnessed their cousins' death and that of Sam.
- Love the music as Gandalf and Pippin ride up the levels in Minas Tirith
- Frodo's voice about the Fellowship being forever bound by friendship and love

Then there are the changes/additions, some of which are truly outrageous and the complete opposite of what really happened and some I just don’t understand:

- The complete change of personality of Faramir in Two Towers until he sees with his own eyes what the Ring is capable of doing. What happened to the gentleman who in the book is wise enough to know he must flee the peril of the Ring and who is a gracious host to the two strangers he comes upon in the woods? Instead we get this ungentleman who treats the hobbits as prisoners of war; holds his sword at Frodo’s throat as he lifts the Ring with it, freaking out the already stressed-out Ring-bearer; and is completely intent he is on bringing the Ring to Gondor which causes more stress. He only becomes his true self again after Frodo/the Ring attacks Sam, an abrupt conversion that is certainly welcome but strange that he is suddenly willing to forfeit his own life in deciding to free his prisoners and who threatens and nearly throttles Gollum, saying he hopes death finds him quickly if the wicked creature betrays the hobbits. The real Faramir would not have done threatened Gollum in such a way and it is rather ridiculous to all of a sudden be this way so shortly after he has just been doing the same thing himself in his rough treatment and intention to bring the Ring-bearer and Sam to Minas Tirith.
- The complete change in Aragorn not wanting to be king and trying to break up with Arwen. He has only wanted these things all his adult life and here he doesn’t. Give me a break.
- His sigh at his coronation, like he’s thinking, ‘Well, I’m stuck now, great, just great.’
- Even making Merry silly in the beginning instead of the responsible organizer of the conspiracy to keep Frodo from leaving the Shire is dumb.
- The Ents first deciding against getting involved in the war, again the opposite of what they choose from the onset to do. Treebeard has to be ‘tricked’ by Pippin into doing so. I love the music as the March of the Ents begin though.
- Gandalf being afraid to enter the Mines of Moria when it was he who advocated for that very thing in the book when no one else but Gimli wanted to go there
- Gandalf blaming himself for sending Frodo to his death. The real Gandalf knows Who sent the Ring-bearer on his way. Gandalf had nothing to do with it really.
- Gandalf being sure that Sauron won’t take the bait Aragorn says they should offer at the Black Gate when the wizard was actually the one that strongly counseled for that very thing in the book. He didn’t have to be convinced by Aragorn. He was the one leading the argument that Aragorn and the others agreed to.
- Gandalf being in near despair about the coming battle at Minas Tirith. The real one knew Who was in charge and so Pippin could detect barely repressed mirth, not the negativity he encounters in the film.
- Elrond’s terrible manipulation of Arwen to convince her to leave for the West and abandon Aragorn
- Frodo sending Sam away - how ridiculous is that, and how ridiculous that Sam obeyed!
- Frodo telling Aragorn at Parth Galen to particularly watch over Sam who would not understand why Frodo had to leave, when in the book, the Ring-bearer is sure that his loyal servant would the one that would most understand.
- What was the point of Legolas shooting Wormtongue?
- And why in the world were there still women in harms way while the battle of Minas Tirith raged around them?
- Never understood why Sam says “You can’t go walking through Mordor in naught but your skin.” Of course this makes perfect sense in the book where it’s from, but not in the movie since Frodo is still wearing something on his legs, so why is it said?
- Why wasn’t the trek through Mordor filmed in the dark as it should have been?
- What was the point of Sam saying, “It’s six days to Rivendell. He’ll never make it.” It’s much farther than that and Frodo certainly didn’t need to hear that his Sam has already given hope. Why did they choose the number six? If they were going to mention distance at all, why not the real one?
- It’s annoying to hear Sam say he doesn’t know why he’s sad that the Elves are leaving. He’s sad because he has loved Elves since he was a child and they are leaving Middle-earth forever. Duh!
- The Council degrading into a huge argument
- Elrond saying Arwen's life is bound to the Ring. Give me a break.
- Get rid of that 'helicopter landing pad' at the top level of the Citadel
- Thank you to one of my reviewers, Paul, for pointing out a scene I forgot Gandalf and the Witch-king. Why does Gandalf the White shrink before a mere wraith when the Grey boldly defied a Balrog and why does the Witch-king having his enemy in his grasp, do nothing about it? I know he leaves because the Rohirrim, but he could have taken a couple more minutes to kill Gandalf off (not that I would have wanted that, of course, just talking from the enemy's POV). The only thing good was the flaming sword.
- Gollum saying Sméagol lied when he made the promise to serve Frodo. No, he didn't. Gollum had no intention of keeping the promise, but Sméagol did. However, Sméagol was already dead at this point. He died before Gollum did.

I wish one day someone would film the story totally loyal to the books so I can see everything as it should be. Some parts I most want to see, again in no particular order:

- Pippin saying, “Good heavens! At breakfast?” when Frodo says on the way to Crickhollow he wants some time to think
- Frodo saying, “I don’t keep water in my pockets.” Don’t why I like that, I just do as I imagine him saying it.
- Tom and Goldberry and the interesting dreams/visions Frodo has there
- The Hall of Fire and more of Frodo’s dreams/visions
- Frodo’s anniversary illnesses
- Living with Sam
- Sam watching Frodo sleep in Ithilien and thinking of how much he loves him.
- Amon Hen better done, hearing Gandalf’s voice and all that
- Frodo defying the Black Riders at the Ford and calling upon Elbereth and Lúthien.
- Sam kissing Frodo’s hand near the Fire when Frodo is tempted to put on the Ring and asks for Sam to hold his hand.
- Sam’s struggle to decide what to do after Frodo had apparently been struck down by Shelob, talking to him as though he was still alive, realizing he’s put forward, asking for forgiveness, kissing him goodbye, that wonderful pledge to return if he can, looking back at him and seeing his light, his doubts whether he has made the right decision to leave.
- Meeting Gildor and Frodo asking Sam the next morning if he plans to continue since it’s likely to cost him his life if he does and Sam’s response
- Sam holding and weeping over Frodo’s hand in the Dead Marshes - “my dearest hobbit, friend of friends”
- Frodo seeing Arwen for the first time
- Frodo receiving from the queen those two tremendous blessings and his use of the gem to combat his memories
- Gollum finding Frodo and Sam asleep in each other’s arms and reaching out to Frodo, almost repenting.
- The reunion in the Tower. It would be a marvel to pull off the innocence and purity of that loving union in our sex-obsessed society, but it could be done. Certainly Elijah and Sean portray such innocence so others could.
- Sam’s visions of Frodo
- Frodo’s lament and breakdown in the Tower, so marvelously done in the BBC adaptation.
- Sam conquering the power of the Watchers and saying, “Now I’ve rung the front door bell!”
- His whole journey through the Tower to reach his treasure, calling himself “miserable sluggard”, hearing the shriek that may or may not have been Frodo, singing and thinking he’s been answered, coming upon Frodo as he is being whipped, Frodo waiting for his Sam to return, Sam calling his costumed master, a “perfect little orc” and their escape from the Tower and the privations they suffer afterwards, drinking the muddy water at the end
- Sam praying for water and light and being answered and saying he wants to drink first if it’s poisoned but Frodo saying they should drink together because it could be their blessing instead
- Frodo asking Sam to tell him what happened while Sam searched for him and silently pressing his hand in gratitude and love too deep for words
- Holding hands or each other as they sleep
- Both hearing the voice to get up after they have made it part way up the Mountain.
- Sam’s unquenchable hope, even at the Fire
- The pity of Sam for Gollum. If the pity of Bilbo ruled the fate of many, it was the pity of Sam that ruled the fate of all
- The exposing of the conspiracy to make sure Frodo does not leave the Shire alone – Frodo being so dumbfounded etc. “We are your friends, Frodo.”
- Frodo cooperating with the Will that presents his vocation at the Council
- Elrond and everyone else who drops hints that God is in charge here
- Frodo’s forgiveness and mercy to Saruman
- Frodo’s forgiveness of Gollum
- Frodo realizing that the lembas bread may help Sméagol in time.
- Frodo with Elanor
- Faramir, Aragorn, Gandalf, Elrond and the Ents are they truly are
- Sam’s temptation to use the Ring
- The fog the hobbits get lost in and the temptation Frodo has to flee within the barrow
- Sam’s argument with the voice
- The dancing around in excitement at Crickhollow and Sam’s dance when Frodo is awake in Rivendell
- Sam holding the hand of his gravely ill master in Rivendell
- Elrond healing Frodo - what exactly did that entail? It would be interesting for that to be explored since the book does not, rather understandably.
- Hobbity songs
- “Why was I chosen?” and Gandalf's response, both aware there is a Chooser.
- Frodo watching his hand move seemingly on its own toward the Ring, brushing against the phial - more of his struggle against it
- Sam offering to carry the Ring once more and Frodo freaking out then apologizing
- Sam holding Frodo’s maimed hand, celebrating his joy that his master is free, wishing he had something to bind the wound with
- Frodo and Sam sleeping together in Ithilien after the eagles bring them back
- The moment the eagles return with them and Aragorn tending them - that would be neat to see even if it's not in the book
- Frodo saying he won’t budge in the Tower until Sam has something to eat
- The interrogation of Frodo by the orcs and I’m intrigued with what his horrible dreams were
- The veil Frodo feels over his sight after Weathertop as he struggles against his wound and being glad when night comes because he can’t see the veil then
- More of the Emyn Muil when Frodo is temporarily blinded while climbing down the rope
- Frodo wanting nothing more to do but sit down and eat right on landing since there is no dining room in Moria after he’s barely escaped with his life after being attacked by the Watcher in the Water
- Holding his face up to the sun after so long in cloudy weather after they leave Rivendell
- Shelob’s Lair as it should be and Frodo going down with the phial to challenge Shelob and afterwards running to the exit but getting stung first
- The coming of Frodo to the West, hearing the music, seeing the white shores just as he had in his dreams
- Gandalf being able to see Frodo’s light in Rivendell and musing about what end he will come to
- Frodo’s transfiguration at the Fire and then again being seen as the spent creature he is
- Being clear that Frodo is being compelled to put on the Ring at Weathertop, calling upon Elbereth, stabbing at the Witch-king
- Riding Asfaloth himself
- It’s Frodo’s birthday not just Bilbo’s
- Frodo walking under starlight, meeting with Elves – I can see imagine his light softly shining, a bit of moonlight on the ground, an Elven hobbit in all his beautiful glory
- Muttering about whether he’s ever going to see a particular place again as he walks about with Merry and Pippin
- "Where is the pale king?"
- Bilbo volunteering to destroy the Ring even though it will probably ruin the happy ending he wants for his book
- More of the voyage to the Grey Havens - what was it like for Frodo? Hardly any of that time is noted.
- More of what the weight of the Ring really felt like, except for "Such a weight" which I love, you don't get much of that idea of the horrible burden.
- The fell beast that Legolas shoots down and the way Frodo's wounds responds
- Sam telling Frodo that he saw or thinks he saw Gollum behind them on the river and Frodo saying Sam should be their lookout - "Luggage with eyes"
- The awe and fear Frodo feels upon seeing the Argonath
- Sam and Frodo arguing whether Sam should come along after he has nearly drowned and Sam saying it would be the death of him if he doesn't go with Frodo and that he couldn't bear being without him and Frodo saying it would be the death of Sam if he comes and Frodo couldn't bear that and then Frodo laughing when Sam says he'll punch holes in all the boats if he's not allowed go and Frodo saying how glad he is that Sam is coming with him and that is clearly meant to be
- Sam telling the Elves that he will follow his master even if he goes to the Moon and his knowing the way is going to lead into darkness but he knows he must go
- Frodo's response to Sam that he is not convinced they are lost in the Emyn Muil - that a way will be found to Mordor since it is his doom to go there - his trust in the One Who chose him who he is only dimly aware of
- Sam's excitement that he'll be going with his master after he's been caught eavesdropping
- Their whole talk on the Stairs about the power of tales and Frodo laughing
- Frodo and Sam walking hand-in-hand in Shelob's Lair so they don't lose each other
- Frodo talking out loud to Gandalf upon meeting Gollum for the first time
- Pippin splashing around in the bath at Crickhollow and Merry's reaction to the mess he makes
- Frodo's song at The Prancing Pony

What would you like to see? Which were your favorite parts in the masterpieces we have now? What parts did you despise?

Beautiful words about Frodo and Sam

2011-02-12T16:14:00.003-06:00

Well, I did say you should expect me at unlikely times! That would include a week after I told you I was going to disappear a while, but I must share this with you:

I just finished a book called Chesterton and Tolkien as Theologians: The Fantasy of the Real by Alison Milbank and it contains what has to be the most beautiful description of the deep bond between Frodo and Sam I have ever read. It’s a rather long quote, but it’s very much worth giving, regarding the sundering of the two hobbits at the Grey Havens: “The main problem for the reader is how to separate in his or her mind two characters who have been a pair all through the novel, and who belong together. Despite his marriage, parenthood and obvious delight in Shire life, Sam is incomplete without Frodo, and Frodo an attenuated presence without Sam’s earthliness. It is partly a problem of analogy, with Sam the ‘answer’ or common feature that unites Blessed Realm and Shire.”

She then speaks of the resurrection of the dead: “Tolkien in his essay ‘On Fairy-Stories’ refers to this as the ‘Great Eucatastrophe’, when all our bodiliness shall share in some sense with our spirit - our Sam with our Frodo side. For Frodo hardly seems to have a body at all in the later parts of The Lord of the Rings, and even his pains back home in the Shire have a spiritual basis. Sam, on the contrary, is not just a reassuring physical presence but an active agent in the rebuilding of his community, and in forming human relationships. The true happy ending of the novel lies beyond the pages of the book, and yet is anticipated in moments such as Sam and Frodo’s descent from Mount Doom, when Sam, a true Bunyanesque ‘Hopeful’, leads the lost and broken Frodo to safety, just as he had borne Frodo and the Ring up to the summit, and found the burden surprisingly light. Sam is not to be reduced to an allegory of the body, for he is much more than that, but the separation of the two at the Grey Havens is emblematic of the sorrow of the separation of the soul and body at death, while their solidarity gives a taste of the ecstatic reunion of soul and body at the Resurrection” (p. 111).

I have never heard the pure love these two hobbits share explained so profoundly. I love what she says about the pain of separation of body and soul and the joy of the reunion that would come. The lovely image that arises is that Sam is the body encasing the soul and the light that shines softly from Frodo is the light of the soul shining from within the body. This surpasses what had been my favorite way of expressing their bond, that they are knitted souls as David and Jonathan were, as Ralph C. Wood in one of my very favorite books points out: “Their mutual regard is ...akin to the friendship of Jonathan and David: ‘the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul’ (1 Sam. 18:1)” (Gospel According to Tolkien, p. 136). They are actually closer than that, one soul within one body. One of my favorite fanfic authors, shirebound, says her favorite is “FrodoandSam” - one word, one person. I wonder if my dear Artisan of the Shire could do anything with these beautiful words? *hint, hint, prods with furry foot* :)

What do you all think of these words?

Letter 246

2011-02-05T15:21:00.001-06:00

This is another of my favorites, again focused on Frodo. The professor does not think Frodo’s inability to destroy the Ring to mean that he failed morally, but that he collapsed at last under the weight of months of demonic assault and torment. “Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) and had produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved ... Frodo undertook his quest out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could; and also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task. His real contract was only to do what he could, to try to find a way, and to go as far on the road as his strength of mind and body allowed. He did that.” Doesn’t sound like a failure to me! How about you?

Frodo, however, looked at it exactly that way. Tolkien notes that, at first, he does not appear to feel guilty for claiming the Ring, but as time went on, he suffered from “unreasoning self-reproach: he saw himself and all that he done as a broken failure.” The professor interprets Frodo’s words on the way home, “Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same, for I shall not be the same” to be “actually a temptation out of the Dark, a last flicker of pride: desire to have returned as a ‘hero’, not content with being a mere instrument of good. And it was mixed with another temptation, blacker and yet (in a sense) more merited, for however that may be explained, he had not in fact cast away the Ring by a voluntary act: he was tempted to regret its destruction, and still to desire it. ‘It is gone for ever, and now all is dark and empty,’ he said as he wakened from his sickness in 1420.” It is clear, however, that Aragorn, Gandalf and others considered him a hero, which is, of course, the right way of looking at things!

The great grace of the trip West was to give Frodo an opportunity to find that out himself, to find healing and peace “if that could be done” and to gain “a truer understanding of his position in littleness and in greatness” before he died. There are interesting insights on how the thought process of the tormented Ring-bearer may have evolved regarding the tremendous blessing Arwen had given him. It had all been arranged ahead of time for Arwen had seen Frodo’s hidden wounds, and gone to Gandalf and/or Galadriel to plead for him to be able to take her place since she would not be leaving for the Undying Lands herself. “She could not of course just transfer her ticket on a boat like that! ... Her renunciation and suffering were related to and enmeshed with Frodo’s ... Her prayer might therefore be specially effective, and her plan have a certain equity of exchange.” I think that’s a beautiful way of stating that, don’t you think? Gandalf then approached the Valar and received boon which Arwen presented to Frodo as a free will choice of his to make. What it all meant wouldn’t have sunk in all at once, but “the implications would slowly be understood on reflection. Such a journey would at first seem something not necessarily to be feared, even as something to look forward to so long as undated and postponable. His real desire was hobbitlike (and humanlike) just ‘to be himself’ again and get back to the old familiar life that had been interrupted. Already on the journey back from Rivendell he suddenly saw that was not for him possible. Hence his cry ‘Where shall I find rest?’ He knew the answer, and Gandalf did not reply. ... From the onset of his first sickness (Oct. 5, 3019) Frodo must have been thinking about ‘sailing’, though still resisting a final decision to go with Bilbo, or to go at all. It was no doubt after his grievous illness in March 3020 that his mind was made up.”

Also briefly mentioned is Frodo’s spiritual growth in regard to his treatment of Gollum in which he received “his gradual education to the nobility of service to the unlovable and of perception of damaged good in the corrupt.” Another beautiful quote about this beautiful, grace-filled hobbit.

Mentioned as well is how events may have been different if Sam had understood that Gollum was not “pawing at master”on the Stairs of Cirith Ungol, but reaching out in a loving caress, and. of “the battle that would have gone on between [Gollum’s] repentance and his new love on one side and the Ring. Though the love would have been strengthened daily it could not have wrested the mastery from the Ring.” I think this is so sad, considering that love is the most powerful thing in the universe, that something could have an even greater hold on someone than that, but this is also why Frodo left, because even Sam’s tremendous love was not enough to heal the wounds of the Ring-lust that lingered. Only Divine Love could have done that which is what I hope Frodo discovered to be true in the West.

Tolkien thinks that Gollum would have still claimed the Ring but then voluntarily sacrificed himself in order to save Frodo, and also to keep the Ring from Sauron and keep it himself, knowing he could not let Sauron have it. This is the same route the professor thinks Frodo would have taken if he had had the time to gain the same insight as Gollum: that he couldn’t keep it from Sauron or use it himself, that it had to be destroyed and since he couldn’t let it go anymore than Gollum could, he would have cast himself into the Fire to save Sauron from getting it. Thank God it didn’t come to that!

Tolkien gives another frightening ‘might have been’ in the possibility of Frodo truly failing if he hadn’t destroyed the Ring and instead given time for the Ringwraiths to come to the Fire. Confrontation with them “might be compared to that of a small brave man armed with a devastating weapon, faced by eight savage warriors with great strength and agility armed with poisonous blades. The man’s weakness was that he did not know how to use his weapon yet; and he was by temperament and training adverse to violence. Their weakness was that man’s weapon was a thing that filled them with fear as an object of terror in their religious cult, by which they had been conditioned to treat one who wielded it with servility.” He thinks the Nazgul would have pretended to serve Frodo. They wouldn’t have attacked him or captured him. They would got him out of the Sammath Naur and then destroyed the entrance so the Ring would be saved from destruction itself. Frodo would not have noticed, distracted by grand visions of what he would do as Lord of the Rings, visions “like but far greater and wider than the vision that tempted Sam.” For a long while, even though he was being corrupted and claimed more and more by the Ring, he would still have a need to see his acts and commands as good even though they were in truth evil.

But if Frodo had retained enough sanity to resist the visions and refused to go with the wraiths to the Dark Tower, they would have just waited for their master to come and claim the Ring himself. Had there been a direct confrontation between Sauron and Ring bearer, “Frodo would have been utterly overthrown: crushed to dust, or preserved in torment as a gibbering slave.”

Only Gandalf could possibly be strong enough to defeat Sauron in direct conflict. “If Gandalf proved the victor, the result would have been for Sauron the same as the destruction of the Ring; for him it would have been destroyed, taken from him for ever. But the Ring and all its works would have endured. It would have been the master in the end.

“Gandalf as Ring lord would have been far worse than Sauron. He would have remained ‘righteous’, but self righteous. ... Gandalf would have made good detestable and seem evil.” Isn’t that a chilling thought!

No one could have withstood a face to face confrontation with Sauron except Gandalf. Aragorn barely won the battle with the Dark Lord through the seeing stone of Orthanc, and that was because “Aragorn was the rightful owner. Also the contest took place at a distance” which lessened the strength of the assault against the hidden king. If Sauron had been physically present in all his demonic power, no mortal could have withstood him. Still that victory was enough to freak Sauron out and so he attacked Gondor sooner than he planned.

___
Well, my dear followers, I must announce that I need to take an extended break from posting. As some of you know, this blog is based on a book I am writing on the spirituality of Middle-earth, and I really need to get more focused on that, if it’s to come out when the first Hobbit movie does! It has been an honor to receive your very kind reviews which are so appreciated. Never fear, I will return, but it may not be until the summer. I may be posting a few essays I have done in the mean time, so look for me, “especially at unlikely times.” :) And please pray for me and for the book!! Le hannon and many hobbity hugs. Namárië, God bless, Anne Marie :)

Letter 214

2011-01-29T17:01:00.003-06:00

In celebration of Elijah Wood’s 30th birthday yesterday and thanksgiving to him, the Professor and Peter Jackson et al. for the grace-filled presence of Frodo and Sam and so many others in my life, this post will be about a draft of a letter written about hobbit birthdays and other events of hobbit life.

But first, a snippet from the previous letter, Number 213, written to Deborah Webster in which the Professor said, “I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories) and in fact a Roman Catholic.” He also noted that one admirer had seen the Virgin Mary in Galadriel through direct descriptions of her “or through the words of Gimli and Sam” and that another recognized the properties of the lembas bread feeding the will and “being more potent when fasting” to be related to the Eucharist. This letter is also where Tolkien says “I am in fact a Hobbit (in all but size).”

Letter number 214 is the one that gives a very detailed explanation of hobbit birthdays and the giving and receiving of presents. Parents did not give their children presents (unless they were adopted and this was rare). Children from the age of three, however, gave their parents presents on the child’s birthday, beginning with wildflowers and continuing on to be things made, grown or found by the birthday lass or lad. Second cousins or nearer kin and living no farther than 12 miles from the ribadyan or byrding (as the birthday lass or lad was called) were the only ones to give presents on the day before or by latest by lunch on the day itself. Close friends could give but were not expected to. Nothing was given at the party itself. Wedding presents were not given except for flowers.

The giving of presents by the ribadyan varied. If they were heads of households they would “give gifts to all under their roof, or in their service, and usually also to near neighbors.” They also gave to anyone else they wanted to. In contrast, to withhold a gift “was taken as a rebuke and mark of severe displeasure.” Those who did not have a house of their own were not required to give as much but “usually gave presents according to their means or affections.” All those who came to a party received presents, no one gave any.

This letter also says that “as far as I know, Hobbits were universally monogamous” and very rarely remarried, even if still young when widowed. It also details how being ‘head’ of a family worked, and though such was descended through the male line, households were ruled jointly by husband and wife, and a wife could become head if her husband died before her. There were two female heads of the Baggins family mentioned. Bilbo became head after the death of his mother.

There is also mention of a passing of a rule when Sam became Mayor in 1427 S.R. which was put into effect after Bilbo and Frodo’s departure in 1421. This stated “‘if any inhabitant of the Shire shall pass over Sea in the presence of a reliable witness, with the expressed intention not to return, or in circumstances plainly implying such an intention, he or she shall be deemed to have relinquished all titles rights or properties held or occupied, and the heir or heirs thereof shall forthwith enter into possession of these titles, rights, or properties....” This was put into effect since even after Sam announced the departure of his two masters, “it was still held impossible to presume death” which was in reaction to the memory that after “the legal fiasco of 1342 (when Bilbo returned alive after being ‘presumed dead’) no one dared to presume his death again.”

The letter also addresses what could happen if the family head died without a son. “...there was an opinion that adoption of a close relative of the same name before he was of age entitled him to all the privileges of a son. This opinion (held by Bilbo) was naturally contested by Otho” since it could be used by Bilbo as justification for making Frodo heir and head of the Baggins family when the elder hobbit left the Shire on his 111th birthday and dashed the hopes of the Sackville-Bagginses ever to be likely to inherit Bag End and the headship of the family.

Letter 211

2011-01-22T15:44:00.003-06:00

This letter is to Rhona Beare who wanted to know, among other things, how was Ar-Pharazôn able to defeat Sauron when Sauron had the Ring and what happened to the Blue Wizards. He admits he does not know all the answers, but he does give some detailed information.

He said Ar-Pharazôn conquered those under Sauron, not the Dark Lord himself. “Sauron’s personal ‘surrender’ was voluntary and cunning: he got free transport to Númenor! He naturally had the One Ring, and so very soon dominated the minds and will of most of the Númenóreans.”

Tolkien does not think the king knew anything about the Ring’s existence since it was a closely held secret by the Elves and the man was not in communication with them. However, the terrible effect of the Lord of that Ring had already begun to be felt in the Land of Gift almost 1500 years previously. Evidence of that is seen through the switch of Elven names for kings to strictly Númenórean ones. “After Tar Atanamir (an Elvish name), the next name is Ar-Adûnakhôr an Númenórean name...

"The change of names went with a complete rejection of the Elf friendship, and of the ‘theological’ teaching the Númenórean had received from them.”

When Númenor is destroyed as a result of Sauron’s seduction of Ar-Pharazôn which culminated in the king’s invasion of the Undying Lands, “Sauron was first defeated by a ‘miracle’: a direct action of God the Creator, changing the fashion of the world, when appealed to by Manwë... Though reduced to ‘a spirit of hatred borne on a dark wind’” the Dark Lord is still able to carry off the Ring. When he is again defeated by Gil-galad and Elendil, he had not yet completed his re domination over men or finished fashioning a new body for himself after his other was destroyed in the cataclysm that was the downfall of Númenor.

Regarding the Blue Wizards, the Professor says he does not know for sure, but gives a frightening hypothesis: “I think they went as emissaries to distant regions, East and South, far out of Númenórean range: missionaries to ‘enemy occupied’ lands, as it were. What success they had I do not know; but I fear that they failed, as Saruman did, though doubtless in different ways; and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and ‘magic’ traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron.” This is another example of why I love Tolkien as a kindred spirit, because even he doesn’t know the truth of all the mysteries contained within Middle-earth. Any writer knows that they are only showing, in most cases, a slice of the lives of the people they write of. Those people had lives before they were discovered by the author and they had lives that continued on afterwards that are not known.

Tolkien also makes note of the Standing Silence, or ‘Grace before Meat’ as he calls it here: “This is indeed mainly as it were a commemoration of the Departed, and theology is reduced to ‘that which is beyond Elvenhome and ever will be’, sc. is beyond the mortal lands, beyond the memory of unfallen Bliss, beyond the physical world.”

It is also in this letter that Tolkien is clear that Middle-earth is our earth and notes that the gap of time between the War of the Ring and our own age is about 6000 years. He guesses that we are either now at the end of the Sixth Age, or at the beginning of the Seventh.

In a separate draft to Beare that he did not send, he returns to speaking of the Valar, the creation of the world, the love of the Valar for Elves and Men, mortality as the ‘Gift of Ilúvatar’, Aulë’s sub creation of the dwarves, God finding out about it and Aule asking for pardon but God giving the dwarves independent life instead. Also that once the Valar fashioned scenes/melodies from the Music that they could watch as one would a movie, God gave it true reality that they could actually step into and become part of. What they had sung into sub existence using the blueprint that God had shown them would be akin to when an author/artist/filmmaker/composer sub creates a work that is real to him, and if he does it right, also to others who experience it but in which everyone still remains physically outside. The Valar actually entered into their sub creation once it was given independent reality, just as Niggle sees his tree given true life after his death. This would happen to us also if we could enter truly into the Shire or Lothlórien or wherever we wanted to go, with our mind, body and soul, not just with the heart.

The good Valar loved the Children of God: the Elves and Men who were independent from their own thought and sub creation, coming directly from God, just as they had themselves but with lesser power. The evil Ainur hated and envied the Children and saw them only as “ideal material for subjects and slaves, to whom they could become masters and ‘gods’...”

Also covered is that Elves could be slain by having their bodies destroyed or so mutilated that they could not sustain life. “But this did not lead naturally to ‘death’: they were rehabilitated and reborn and eventually recovered memory of all their past: they remained ‘identical’. But Miriel [Feanor’s mum] wished to abandon being, and refused rebirth.” This led to the Fall of the High Elves.

“It was also the Elvish (and uncorrupted Númenórean) view that a ‘good’ Man would or should die voluntarily by surrender with trust before being compelled (as did Aragorn). This may have been the nature of unfallen Man; though compulsion would not threaten him: he would desire and ask to be allowed to ‘go on’ to a higher state. The Assumption of Mary, the only unfallen person, may be regarded as in some ways a simple regaining of unfallen grace and liberty: she asked to be received, and was, having no further function on Earth.”

Letter 200

2011-01-08T16:07:00.003-06:00

Tolkien wrote this letter to Major R. Bowen in 1957. It is concerned with the creation of the world and the desire of those angelic “artists” who helped bring it about to enter into the world they had sub-created once God gave it a reality outside their own imaginative efforts. Manwë, the Elder King, had the broadest knowledge of his Creator’s plans, while some of the lesser angels concerned themselves with only what interested them personally. An interesting note is made about the choice of some Maiar to associate themselves with a particular Vala: “Some had attached themselves to such major artists and knew things chiefly indirectly through their knowledge of the minds of these masters. Sauron had been attached to the greatest, Melkor, who ultimately became the inevitable Rebel and self worshipper of mythologies that begin with a transcendent unique Creator. Olórin...had been attached to Manwë.” The Silmarillion states that was Olórin was “[w]isest of the Maiar” and also frequently visited the Vala Nienna (p. 18 of the 2004 hardcover illustrated by my favorite Tolkien artist, Ted Nasmith).

This letter also speaks of Elves and Men being the Children of God, conceived entirely by God. “Being other than the Spirits, of less ‘stature’, and yet of the same order [both being created by God], they were the object of hope and desire to the greater spirits... But they also realized that the Children of God must not be ‘dominated’, though they would be specially susceptible to it.

“It was because of this pre-occupation with the Children of God that the spirits so often took the form and likeness of the Children, especially after their appearance. It was thus that Sauron appeared in this shape.”

Tolkien goes on to assume that this shape was physically real which meant it could be destroyed and would take some time to build into actuality, as opposed to a vision sent into the mind of someone in which the sender could appear to look like someone other than he truly was. That the latter was done by the angelic spirits is borne out by Gandalf’s reply when Gimli tells him at Isengard, “I wish to see him [Saruman] and learn if he really looks like you” and the hidden Maia says, “And how will you learn that ... Saruman could look like me in your eyes, if it suited his purpose with you” (Two Towers 562).

Tolkien also says Sauron was “always de-bodied” when defeated and the more times the Dark Lord had to re build himself the longer it took. He is unable to do it ever again once the Ring is destroyed, but his spirit lives on.

Letters 191 and 192

2011-01-01T17:22:00.004-06:00

These two letters are also among my favorites since they again address the question of whether Frodo failed in his Quest when he could not destroy the Ring. The first letter says he had done everything he possibly could, but had reached a point that was beyond his power to resist in which it was “quite impossible for him [Frodo] to surrender the Ring, in act or will, especially at its point of maximum power...”

Yet despite this, Frodo was given honor because he had accepted the burden out of humility and done everything within his power to succeed. It was, however, outside his own personal power to destroy the Ring using his own free will. The letter also addresses that part of St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in which the apostle says God does not bring us a temptation that we can fall to without giving us a way out of it. Though certainly Frodo was given many ways out during earlier temptations, Tolkien doesn’t think that really applies to the Ring-bearer’s case at the Fire. He thinks the part of the Lord’s Prayer that says “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” fits better, pointing to the fact that we can have times in our lives when we are under the direct power of evil: “There exists the possibility of being placed in positions beyond one’s power. In which case...salvation from ruin will depend on...the general sanctity (and humility and
mercy) of the sacrificial person.”

Frodo is broken at last, but Tolkien argues, as in the case of others broken by torture, neither Frodo nor any other should be judged by their brokenness and what they did because of it, but “by the will and intentions with (which?) they entered the Sammath Naur; and not demand impossible feats of will, which could only happen in stories unconcerned with real moral and mental probability.”

This is also when the professor notes, “It is possible that once the ring was destroyed he [Frodo] had little recollection of the last scene. But one must face the fact: the power of Evil in the world is not finally resistible by incarnate creatures, however ‘good’; and the Writer of the Story is not one of us.”

Both letters speak of Frodo and the Quest being saved by Mercy and “forgiveness of injury.”

The second letter says “Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), ‘that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named’ (as one critic has said).”

Happy New Year everyone! God bless. :)

Letter 183

2010-12-18T15:51:00.001-06:00

This letter is one Tolkien wrote out for himself in response to W.H. Auden’s review of Return of the King for the New York Times in 1956. This first excerpt I am taking from it gives any admirer of Frodo another reason to love him.

“It seems clear to me that Frodo’s duty was ‘humane’ not political. He naturally thought first of the Shire, since his roots were there, but the quest had as its object not the preserving of this or that polity..., but the liberation from an evil tyranny of all the ‘humane’ including those, such as ‘easterlings’ and Haradrim, that were still servants of the tyranny.”

I know Frodo did what he did out of love of all Middle earth, but I hadn’t thought before that this would have included the former servants/slaves of Sauron. The Ring-bearer would have indeed wanted this as is evidenced by his desire to free the souls of Sméagol, Saruman and Wormtongue from evil. I love that he wanted to not only destroy the Ring “for both our sakes” as he tells Sméagol in the King movie after almost strangling him while under the influence of the Ring, but also for the sake of those souls enslaved to the Dark Lord that he is giving every last drop of his strength to defeat.

On the opposite side is the Steward of Gondor who “was tainted with mere politics: hence his failure, and his mistrust of Faramir.” His opposition to Sauron was simply as to a strong rival to his power. If Denethor had won the war, Tolkien notes that he could well have become a tyrant himself and given “cruel and vengeful” treatment to the “deluded peoples of east and south...” This shows also how opposite he is to Aragorn who treats mercifully with those who opposed Gondor.

This letter also has much to say about the nature of Sauron’s evil and that the fallen Maia was “as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible. He had gone the way of all tyrants: beginning well, at least on the level that while desiring to order all things according to his wisdom he still at first considered the (economic) well being of other inhabitants of the Earth. But he went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination, being in origin an immortal
(angelic) spirit.”

“In The Lord of the Rings, the conflict is....about God and His sole right to divine honour. The Eldar and the Númenóreans believed in The One, the true God, and held worship of any other person an abomination. Sauron desired to be a God King, and was held to be thus by his servants; if he had been victorious he would have demanded divine honour from all rational creatures and absolute temporal power over the whole world.” A footnote speaks of how by a “triple treachery” Sauron was held to be so, out of his allegiance to Morgoth and pride.

Letter 181

2010-12-11T15:21:00.004-06:00

This wide-ranging letter is one of my favorites since it contains a long discourse on Frodo’s will collapsing at last at the Fire under the horrific assault of the Ring that he had borne for months. It is one of the most important sources to answer the question as to whether he indeed failed in his mission or not. It and another letter explore the theme of “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” It speaks of Frodo being placed in a position in which the salvation of the world is in his hands and dependent on his actions, yet he is unable to follow through due to the demonic pressure he is being crushed under.

Frodo “‘apostatized’” when he was broken by the torment he had been enduring just as “honest men of good will” in WWII were through “techniques of torture and disruption of personality [that] would rival that of Mordor and the Ring...” This parallel was not planned by Tolkien as he had already conceived of Frodo’s fall in 1936, and only after someone wrote that the Ring-bearer should have been hung for what he did at the Fire, did the Professor see the similarities.

The seemingly imprudent but in the end tremendously important fact of Frodo’s pity for Gollum is also spoken of: “To ‘pity’ him, to forbear to kill him, was a piece of folly, or a mystical belief in the ultimate value-in-itself of pity and generosity even if disastrous in the world of time.” The same could be said of Bilbo’s which enabled Frodo’s and all those who came afterwards with Sam’s being especially important. If the pity of Bilbo ruled “the fate of many,” as Gandalf said to Frodo at Bag End, Sam’s ruled the fate of all. It is through that pity that Gollum is there at the Fire and the instrument through which grace reaches Frodo and so all Middle-earth is saved. The Ring-bearer loses his finger but not his soul. This betrayal and injury is “at the precise juncture when the final evil was the most beneficial thing any one cd. have done for Frodo! By a situation created by his ‘forgiveness’ he was saved himself, and relieved of his burden. He was very justly accorded the highest honours - since it is clear that he & Sam never concealed the precise course of events.”

Tolkien says he does not wish to speculate on Gollum’s final fate (“This would be to investigate ‘Goddes privitee’”), but he does not hold out much hope (yet doesn’t completely abandon it either). “[W]e have to face the fact that there are persons who yield to temptation, reject their chances of nobility or salvation, and appear to be ‘damnable.’ . . . The domination of the Ring was much too strong for the mean soul of Sméagol. But he would have never had to endure it if he had not become a mean sort of thief before it crossed his path. Need it ever have crossed his path? Need anything dangerous ever cross any of our paths? A kind of answer cd. be found in trying to imagine Gollum overcoming temptation. The story would have been quite different! By temporizing, not fixing the still not wholly corrupt Sméagol-will towards good in the debate in the slag hole, he weakened himself for the final chance when dawning love of Frodo was too easily withered by the jealousy of Sam before Shelob’s lair. After that he was lost.”

This letter also speaks of the Valar making things like one would make a work of art or literature and then those sub-creations given reality by God. It mentions once more the Children of God, who are, like the Valar, created by God, “though of far smaller spiritual and intellectual power and status.”

It also talks about the burden of immortality for the Elves: “they do not escape from time, but remain in the world, either discarnate, or re-born. This becomes a great burden as the ages lengthen, especially in a world where there is malice and destruction...” It also mentions their desire to create things, and of the Three Rings and how Sauron was able to corrupt them to some degree through their desire to arrest change and preserve things. They came to be “unwilling to face change: as if a man were to hate a very long book still going on, and wished to settle down in a favourite chapter.” That became a weakness Sauron was able to exploit.

It also mentions Gandalf being an angel sent by the Valar “to assist the rational creatures of Middle-earth to resist Sauron, a power too great for them unaided.” It also says that in the incarnate form of wizards, the Istari would face the temptation to sin. “The chief form this would take with them would be impatience, leading to the desire to force others to their own good ends, and so inevitably at last to mere desire to make their own wills effective by any means. To this evil Saruman succumbed. Gandalf did not. But the situation became so much worse by the fall of Saruman, that the ‘good’ were obliged to greater effort and sacrifice. Thus Gandalf faced and suffered death; and came back or was sent back, as he says, with enhanced power.”

That because one angel fell, another in his incarnate form had to die is very interesting and shows the difference between those who are humbly serving God and others and those who seek only their own power and advancement. Gandalf accepted death because now not only Sauron had to be defeated but Saruman as well and only a White wizard could do that, so Gandalf was sent back as such, the only one of the Istari who did not fail in his mission.

The letter ends with saying The Lord of the Rings is “‘hobbito-centric’, that is, primarily a study of the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble.”

Letter 163

2010-12-04T16:24:00.001-06:00

This letter is to W.H. Auden, a friend and great admirer of the tale contained in the Red Book. The parts of this letter I like the most are those that many writers can read and appreciate with an understanding nod, knowing they are the words of a kindred spirit. The professor speaks of not “consciously” inventing the Ents at all, even though he admits he wanted to “devise a setting in which the trees might really march to war” to counter the disgust he felt at Shakespeare’s “shabby” use of trees. He also mentions the “feeling throughout, especially when stuck, that I was not inventing but reporting (imperfectly) and had at times to wait till ‘what really happened’ came through.”

He also speaks of that fateful moment while correcting exam papers, when he wrote on a blank page those famous first words of The Hobbit and that “I did not and do not know why.” Thank God he did though! Sometimes it is only after we have done something, not before, that we realize we have been the instruments of the One.

Other examples of a kindred spirit quote are that while writing the tale, “...I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlórien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horse lords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fangorn Forest was an unforseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystified as Frodo at Gandalf’s failure to appear on September 22. I knew nothing of the Palantíri, though the moment the Orthanc stone was cast from the window, I recognized it, and knew the meaning of the ‘rhyme of lore’ that had been running in my mind: seven stars and seven stones and one white tree. These rhymes and names will crop up; but they do not always explain themselves. I have yet to discover anything about the cats of Queen Beruthiel.”

Letter 156

2010-11-20T16:06:00.003-06:00

This is a wide-ranging draft to Fr. Robert Murray, S.J. It speaks of Gandalf humbly accepting his death in “abnegation of himself in conformity to ‘the Rules’...” He was an incarnate angel, and as with all the Istari, subject to fear, pain and weariness and temptation in his physical form. One of the temptations the Istari were to resist was the using of their powers to force other wills. They had no complete knowledge of the future and none at all “where other wills are concerned.” Gandalf passes the moral tests that no one else does and was sent back with greater powers which had become necessary in the deepening crisis with Sauron. He was still forbidden to use those powers except in circumstances of absolute necessity such as twice rescuing Faramir and opposing the Lord of the Nazgûl from entering the Citadel of Minas Tirith. His advanced powers were also the way Théoden was healed and Saruman stripped of powers. He was not “sent back” by the Valar though he was originally sent by them: “He was sent by a mere prudent plan of the angelic Valar or governors; but Authority had taken up this plan and enlarged it, at the moment of its failure. ‘Naked I was sent back...’ Sent back by whom, and whence? Not by the ‘gods’ whose business is only with this embodied world and its time; for he passed ‘out of thought and time’.” The moment of failure is the Bridge of Khazad dûm when the Valar’s plan had come to the farthest point it could and God then took over. “He [Gandalf] was handing over to the Authority that ordained the Rules, and giving up personal hope of success.

“That I should say is what the Authority wished, as a set off to Saruman. The ‘wizards’, as such, had failed; or if you like: the crisis had become too grave and needed an enhancement of power. So Gandalf sacrificed himself, was accepted, and enhanced, and returned.”

The letter also speaks of the creation of Elves and Men being totally outside the power of the Valar. “...hence Elves and Men were called the Children of God; and hence the gods either loved (or hated) them specially: as having a relation to the Creator equal to their own, if of different stature.”

“Men have ‘fallen’... But the peoples of the West, the good side are Re formed...descendants of Men that tried to repent and fled Westward from the domination of the Prime Dark Lord [Morgoth], and his false worship, and by contrast with the Elves received (and enlarged) their knowledge of the truth and the nature of the World. They thus escaped from ‘religion’ in a pagan sense, into a pure monotheist world, in which all things and beings and powers that might seem worshipful were not to be worshiped, not even the gods (the Valar), being only creatures of the One. And He was immensely remote.

“The High Elves were exiles from the Blessed Realm... (after their own particular Elvish fall) and they had no ‘religion’ (or religious practices rather) for those had been in the hands of the gods, praising and adoring Eru, ‘the one’, Ilúvatar the Father of All on the Mt. of Aman.”

Covered also is the founding of Númenor, the Pillar of Heaven, the ban against sailing West and the longing to do so to achieve immortality and invade the Blessed Realm which was almost but not quite within sight of Westernesse. After Sauron is captured and taken to the land of gift as a prisoner, he seduces the king to finally break the ban and claim the immortality that Sauron said awaited all who came to the Undying Lands. “This was a delusion of course, a Satanic lie.” No land or even the Valar themselves could bestow immortality on a body meant to be mortal. Mortality was a natural part of men and not a punishment.

“A good Númenórean died of free will when he felt it to be time to do so.” That they were so close to the Blessed Realm, loved life, and had such a long span of it (triple that of other men) is what made them begin to “hanker after immortality” and this is what Sauron excited and also the fear of death in the king, which caused the invasion of the Undying Lands and the destruction of Númenor.

Sauron also corrupted other men, saying God was just made up by the Valar and established instead the temple and worship of Morgoth. Of those Faithful who resisted, many were sacrificed at that temple, but the remnant that survived the destruction of Westernesse and made it to Middle earth earned “the hatred of Sauron, the friendship of the Elves, the knowledge of the True God...”

It goes on to say that God was not openly worshiped or prayed to and had no place of worship except the ‘hallow’ on Mindolluin used in ancient days but forgotten. The men were too scarred by the abomination of Morgoth’s temple to build a temple to anyone else and that held while their influence lasted, even until Aragorn’s time. However “[i]t is to be presumed that with the re emergence of the lineal priest kings...the worship of God would be renewed and His Name (or title) be again more often heard.” (pg 206 207). Also mentioned is that Elbereth was the “especial friend” of the Elves and called upon in times of peril, as Frodo did.

This is the last time that evil will be “incarnate as a physical enemy” as Sauron was, but he will still be around to direct men. But while Evil was incarnate in him, Tolkien notes “...physical resistance to it is a major act of loyalty to God...” I would add the same is true today.

Letter 153

2010-11-13T11:36:00.005-06:00

This is a long letter that was never sent to a reader of the LOTR, yet preserved for our education. It has much to say, of which only a little is reported here about mortality and immortality, the nature of worship and the possible origin of the Orcs. These topics are returned to in other letters or writings.

Mortality is “represented as a special gift of God to the Second Race of the Children (the Eruhíni, the Children of the One God) and not a punishment for a Fall...”

“Immortality and Mortality being the special gifts of God....it must be assumed that no alteration of their fundamental kind could be effected by the Valar even in one case: the cases of Lúthien (and Tuor) and the position of their descendants was a direct act of God. The entering into Men of the Elven strain is indeed represented as part of a Divine Plan for the ennoblement of the Human Race, from the beginning destined to replace the Elves.”

There were no churches or formalized worship of God as we know it in Middle-earth, yet He was believed in. The Númenóreans and the Rohirrim were monotheists. The former had the Meneltarma or Pillar of Heaven on top of a mountain which was “dedicated to Eru, the One, and there at any time privately, and at certain times publicly, God was invoked, praised, and adored...” They also prayed for help to the Valar as Catholics pray to the saints. The hobbits did not practice any form of prayer or worship “unless through exceptional contact with Elves...”

“In the legends of the Elder Days it is suggested that the Diabolus [Morgoth] subjugated and corrupted some of the earliest Elves, before they had ever heard of the ‘gods’ [Valar], let alone of God.” This ‘sub-creation’ of the Orcs is the worst of the abuses of the powers Melkor/Morgoth had been given, but the Orcs themselves would not necessarily be outside redemption. “...that would be going too far. Because by accepting or tolerating their making necessary to their actual existence even Orcs would become part of the World, which is God’s and ultimately good... I have represented at least the Orcs as pre-existing real beings on whom the Dark Lord [Morgoth] has exerted the fullness of his power in remodelling and corrupting them, not making them.

That God would ‘tolerate’ that, seems no worse theology than the toleration of the calculated dehumanizing of Men by tyrants that goes on today.”

Letters 142 and 144

2010-11-06T16:17:00.002-05:00

Letter 142 is written to his great friend, Fr. Robert Murray, S.J. who had read drafts of the tale before it was published and had praised it by saying he had sensed “a positive compatibility with the order of Grace” throughout. The professor replies that “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.”

Such ‘footprints’ are seen throughout the text which is what moves so many people and in fact so greatly in some, they become Christians because of the tale’s power and the Presence of the One Who is behind it all: the Writer of the Story as Tolkien calls Him in a later letter.

The professor also thanks his friend for revealing more clearly to him some things about his own work which is an interesting comment. The more I read the tale myself and the more I talk with others about it, the more is revealed to me as well and I hope I am seeing clearly. That is the depth of this tale for it can be enjoyed multiple times and always something new can be seen and appreciated. The whole can be in some ways new even after many return trips, especially if read repeatedly over many years and the intervening time and experiences had can shed new light on various passages.

Letter 144 was written to Naomi Mitchison who had also read the tale before it was made public. It goes into a little detail about the languages of the various people of Middle-earth. In the case of Westron, which was derived from the Adunaic tongue of the Númenóreans, the professor had translated that speech into English. He also speaks of how intertwined the Elvish tongue was with the Mannish since the former was spoken by the Númenórean nobility and many of the names in Gondor are of Elvish origin. It is interesting to note the Dwarven language is more or less a secret one and that personal names are not revealed to anyone outside their race, so the names we know are not their true ones. The Elven languages are spoken of in the most detail. The Black Speech is mentioned but even there the place names are Elvish or Westron since none outside the realm of Sauron willingly spoke the language of Mordor. The Hobbit names are also translations into English.

Tom Bombadil is mentioned as well, as one who had taken, as far as renouncing power, “‘a vow of poverty’” and simply delighted in things for their own sake and not for anything he could do to gain control over them. The grasping of others in their lust for power was meaningless to him. He had a “natural pacifist view” of the world and while that could be admired, Tolkien knew it was not sustainable on its own in a world in which the threat of evil had to be countered. It was those who fought in wars that made Tom’s freedom to live detached from everything possible: “Ultimately only the victory of the West will allow Bombadil to continue, or even to survive. Nothing would be left for him in the world of Sauron.”

Dragons, Orcs, the Istari and the Entwives are also briefly mentioned. The professor does not know whether any of the latter survived the War of the Last Alliance during which Sauron had burned their lands. He hopes that some may have, but he fears they did not. Some history of Shelob is also mentioned, mentioning the immense age of that terrible adversary, near to that of Galadriel. It also mentions Aragorn’s descent from Beren and Luthien and how he was the foe of Sauron, just as Gandalf was.

Letter 131

2010-10-30T11:22:00.004-05:00

This is a very long letter written to Milton Waldman going into detail about the mythology he wanted to sub-create that he could dedicate to his beloved country and also that would leave room for others to dabble in, adding their own touches. But he did much more than that for he devised a tale that touches souls around the world and radically transforms them if they are open to it.

The letter has much to say about the Elves and their use of ‘magic’ as Art and how that was much more perfect than anything men could have done. They used their magic to better their world, not to dominate it as Melkor wanted to. The Elven approach and use of power made them his special enemy and object of his hatred, but it also made them open to desires that the Enemy could prey upon and twist, and so they had their own fall.

Tolkien speaks of the angelic Valar who existed before the making of the world and are shown by God as part of the Story that is creation, first in the manner that one would in perceiving a tale from another hand or mind, then later as a reality outside it. They are not shown everything, most importantly who the Children of God would be, just that those would come when they are meant to come. The Valar had no part in their creation, but the First-born and the Followers were especially loved by them.

The separate fates of the Elves and men are discussed, the former doomed to remain in the world while it lasts, returning to it even after death; the latter given the doom (or the gift) of mortality and freedom to leave the world. It was the fate of the Elves to teach those who followed them and in time to fade away to make way for the dominion of men. The First-born do not know where men go after death, and they are not only grieved for that loss, but envious of their freedom to leave.

The fall of man has already taken place by the time the two races meet. It is not known what the manner of it was, only “...there is a rumor that for a while they fell under the domination of the Enemy and that some repented.”

The relationship between the power of Sauron and the Ring is explained as well as the reason that it was created in the first place. There were two mistakes the Dark Lord made in forging the object that would prove to be his downfall. If lost, another could claim it and come to challenge him using his own power against him, if that other was strong enough in will to do so. The other was that if the Ring was destroyed, Sauron would be so greatly reduced in power, that he would be “diminished to vanishing point,” reduced to a “mere memory of malicious will.” But he did not fear such a fate for he could not even conceive of such a thing as being possible. The Ring could not be destroyed but by heat of the fire that had created it and that was in the heart of his own domain, unapproachable by any enemy. He also counted on the incredible lust that the Ring produced in any of its bearers to make it impossible for anyone to wish to harm it, let alone destroy it. He was as consumed by that lust as any bearer who followed, yet all his assumptions proved wrong in the end.

The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes, is written from the POV of hobbits, “...to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in ‘world politics’ of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, forgotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil).” He considers the love of Sam and Rosie to be essential in the study of Sam’s character (whom he considers the “chief hero”), and it is through him that the relationship between ordinary, everyday life and grand, sacrificial quests is shown.

Letters 91, 92, 96 and 114

2010-10-23T14:43:00.003-05:00

Letter 91 speaks of the end of Book IV, telling Christopher that C.S. Lewis was moved to tears by the last chapter and that Frodo is now in such a tight spot that it was going to be difficult to extricate him.

The professor also gives his son a glimpse of what he thinks will happen for the rest of the tale, including the intriguing idea of Frodo and Sam fighting a Nazgûl as Mount Doom erupts around them. The fanfic part of myself would love to explore that! The man then admits that it will probably turn out much different once he really sits down for the words then flow on their own and the tale writes itself, “as if the truth comes out then, only imperfectly glimpsed in the preliminary sketch...”

Letter 92 speaks of all the ideas he and C.S. Lewis have about fiction books they want to write and a nonfiction one they want to collaborate on about language. He then laments to Christopher, “Would there were time for all these projects!” This is something anyone with so many ideas, so little time can understand and sympathize with. I know I can with all I want to read and write!

Letter 96 tells Christopher of one of those ways he was prevented from doing what he wanted, courtesy of the “minor imp of Slubgob’s brood” whose speciality was to prevent the professor and Lewis from meeting.

This time he had to deal with a leaky faucet and plugged up sink before he could get out. Such things do have a tendency to take priority, much as we wish it were otherwise. I know how entangled I’ve gotten by this imp or one of his brothers in an even worse way for I feel compelled to do, not what is necessary at the time, but completely unnecessary at that particular moment, such as gathering dustbunnies from the floor or whatever before I can sit down and write. I am training myself to pick them up later and whatever else distracts me from writing.

This letter also speaks of the professor’s own favorite parts of the story up to that point (the end of Book IV). He found Sam’s meditation on the “seamless web of story” to be most moving, as well as the scenes that immediately follow: Frodo falling asleep in Sam’s arms and the tragedy of Gollum “who at that moment came within a hair of repentance - but for one rough word from Sam.” But he tells his son that he is even more moved by the tales that are not told.

That speaks to all creative spirits, who see and long to express so much more than they can accomplish in their short lifetimes, the “mountains seen far away, never to be climbed, distant trees...never to be approached...” For myself, I would love to know what Frodo’s life in the West was like and his reunion with Sam and their life there together. Many people, including myself, have imagined it but what was it really like? As R.D. Cumming has said, “A good book has no ending” or as Sam and Frodo said, “Why to think of it, we’re in the same tale still! It’s going on. Don't the great tales never end?” “No, they never end...”

Letter 114 is written to Stanley Unwin and expresses the longing that Niggle had: the time to paint his tree and not have to always worry about other errands and work that took him away from his heart’s desire. All Niggle wanted to do is paint, all Tolkien wanted to do is write and instead he had to deal with so much else, something we can all understand. Sam was not the only one “torn in two”! We are torn in three and four and five and so was the Professor, yet he went on, and so must we. We all have “so much to enjoy and to be, and to do.” If you have not yet read Leaf by Niggle, it is a delight!

Frodo's Ring and Our ring

2010-10-18T17:34:00.002-05:00

This is a great post from another traveler in Middle-earth that I just had to post here as well (hope you don't mind, my dear!): Frodo's Ring? Our ring?

Letters 87 and 89

2010-10-16T14:51:00.002-05:00

Letter 87 - In another letter to Christopher he gave an excerpt from a letter received in 1944 from a 12-year old boy in Pennsylvania who had read The Hobbit 11 times - “I think it is the most wonderful book I have read. It is beyond description...” The professor says he is pleased by the praise but also “rather sad” that such a simple book would be so appreciated: “What thousands of grains of good human corn must fall on barren stony ground, if such a very small drop of water should be so intoxicating! But I suppose one should be grateful for the grace and fortune that have allowed me to provide even the drop. ... Do you think ‘the Ring’ will come off, and reach the thirsty?”

Indeed it did and continues to do so, praise God!

Letter 89 - This note to Christopher has the fascinating vision Tolkien had while before the Blessed Sacrament: “I perceived or thought of the Light of God and in it was suspended one small mote...glittering white because of the individual ray from the Light which both held and lit it. ... And the ray was the Guardian Angel of the mote: not a thing interposed between God and the creature, but God’s very attention itself, personalized. ... As the love of the Father and Son...is a Person, so the love and attention of the Light to the Mote is a person (that is both with us and in Heaven): finite but divine, i.e. angelic.”

He speaks of the “great sense of joy” and comfort he received from this vision and how he imagines his son “poised and shining in the Light - though your face (as all our faces) is turned from it. But we might see the glimmer in the faces...of others.”

It made me think of those who could perceive Frodo’s inner light which was the grace of God shining forth as it did from the Elves, but fainter. What a beautiful image for all of us to think of when we think of our loved ones.

This letter also has something very interesting to say about how intimately connected Sam’s hope was to Frodo’s ability to go on. After Sam has discovered that Shelob had bound up his master, the professor notes, “...Frodo’s face goes livid and convinces Sam that he’s dead, just when Sam gives up hope.”

I’ve read this before somewhere also, but it struck me more powerfully this time, how even unconscious Frodo may have been aware and able to hear his Sam. The loss of that hope would have been devastating to the Ring-bearer and contributed to Frodo’s despair in the Tower of Cirith Ungol. It is very clear in the tale that if Sam had truly given up hope (instead of the moments that it wavered before almost immediately strengthening again), then the Quest would have failed. Frodo wouldn’t have been able to continue without it since he relied so heavily on it as he tells Sam himself as they struggle through Mordor: “Lead me! As long as you’ve got any hope left. Mine is gone” (LOTR 907). Frodo’s own stubborn will held him on his Road also, but it was continually under the demonic assault of the Ring. It would not have held until the end without Sam’s constant support and devotion feeding it. Such was Sam’s vocation: to be Hope-bearer for the Ring-bearer. It was only shortly before entering the Sammath Naur that Frodo had a final, desperate burst of strength when he overthrew Gollum. The finish line was in sight and he expended the very last of his strength to get to the Cracks of Doom. But he only got there through the grace of Sam’s hope and unwavering love.

Letters 43, 54, 55, and 66

2010-10-09T15:44:00.005-05:00

Now we begin our look at the Professor’s letters. This is not going to be a look at every one, but as they strike me to comment on, whether briefly or in detail. Some will have their own post, some like those below will be bunched together. I will mark them by Letter Number as we won’t necessarily all have the same edition, but hopefully you will be encouraged or intrigued enough to delve deeper yourself!

Letter 43 is written to his son Michael and speaks of marriage, sexual morality and the relationship between the sexes. Written in 1941, it is still very relevant today and is one of his longest letters.

Letter 54 speaks beautifully to his son Christopher, and to us, about our guardian angels.

Letter 55 speaks of meeting a Jewish historian and speaking with him until after midnight, who came back in the morning to make sure Tolkien made it in time for weekday Mass. “It seemed like a fleeting glimpse of an unfallen world.” The professor was up already and had already almost convinced himself not to bother going. “But the incursion of this gentle Jew, and his sombre glance at my rosary by my bed, settled it.” Truly that was, as Tolkien recognized, a moment of grace for him.

Letter 66 was written to Christopher who was in South Africa in 1944. It is similar in the beginning to Sam and Frodo’s talk about stories on the Stairs of Cirith Ungol and that they are stuck in the worst parts of the story: “...think that all stories feel like that when you are in them. You are inside a very great story!” This letter also speaks of his inspiration and motive for writing, to sort out his own feelings about beauty, goodness and evil, and that it may help relieve the pain Christopher was feeling also if he (Christopher) could do that as well.

It is also within this letter that there is a part that should be posted in full view of every writer, or anyone at all who thinks they don’t have time to do what they truly want to do. We do have that time! We just convince ourselves we don’t with a myriad of excuses, but the professor shows that’s all they are: excuses. Much of his early writing of what would become The Silmarillion was done “in grimy canteens, at lectures in cold fogs, in huts full of blasphemy and smut, or by candle light in bell-tents, even some down in dugouts under shell fire.” Now, if he can write even while under fire, then no one has any excuse to say they don’t have the opportunity to pursue their dreams!

This letter also has another gem: that the appearance of Faramir was just as much of a surprise to Tolkien as he was to the hobbits and the professor’s certainty that the Ranger Captain was not his own invention. As a fellow scribe, I love this and the other thoughts sprinkled throughout these many letters that make him a true kindred spirit to me. God bless him and all those who struggle to bring beauty into our lives!

Tolkien Journal Silver Leaves

2010-10-07T13:25:00.004-05:00

This is an Canadian journal put out by the White Tree Fund. I was in Issue 3 (which had an awesome essay on The Lord of the Rings musical and the first two issues were just marvelous) and now they are looking for contributors for Issue 4. The deadline is below but they are flexible on that some. Here is info from their site.

Call for Submissions to Silver Leaves #4
We are now calling for submissions to the fourth issue. The theme of this upcoming issue will be focused on Dragons, keeping the upcoming Hobbit films in mind. Your artwork submissions, and all academic, journalistic, reflective, and creative submissions related to the fascinating subject of Dragons are most welcome. We do have limited room for creative and non-fiction submissions relating to Tolkien’s work or other highly regarded fantasy works that may fall outside of the theme of Issue 4.

The deadline for all submissions is October 15, 2010. Publication is set for spring, 2011.

Submission guidelines
General
Silver Leaves is intended for all audiences. We will not accept material containing explicit violence or sexual references. Articles, essays and creative submissions may be up to 2,500 words in length. An author who wishes to submit more than 2,500 words is welcome to contact the Publication Manager about a possible accommodation in this matter. Please submit your file in Word format (.doc) or Rich Text Format (.rtf). You may submit a text file (.txt) but you will lose any formatting you have applied to the document.

We will send you a confirmation once your submission has been received. We will notify you if your work has been selected for publication. Please note that we may request amendments during the editing process. We will forward you a Publishing Agreement and it is necessary for you to sign it before your work is published in Silver Leaves.

Non-fiction
Please follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) referencing style (www.mla.org/style)

Fiction
Creative writing must not contain any material protected by copyright. This includes character and place names from the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, including, but not limited to, names in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

Artwork
Silver Leaves can accommodate artwork up to 8”x10”. The cover will be full colour. Artwork for the cover will be selected by the Publications Committee. Fantasy- and mythology-inspired images will be accepted, including those from various fan communities.

You may submit your artwork as a colour (CMYK) file but please note that we may contact you to request a black/white version for publication. Please submit image files in a JPEG (.jpg) or GIF (.gif) format, no larger than 130dpi for viewing.

If your work is accepted for publication we will require a print resolution image of 230dpi to 300dpi in either colour (CMYK) or black/white format. The following file formats will be acceptable for print: JPEG (.jpg), GIF (.gif), EPS (.eps), Illustrator (.ai), TIFF (.tif/.tiff) or PNG (.png).

For more info and how to order back issues, go to The White Fund.

The Fiat of Ilúvatar’s Children During the War of the Ring

2010-09-25T10:45:00.004-05:00

This paper was originally written (in somewhat modified format) for the 2008 Seminar of the Tolkien Society, “Freedom, Fate and Choice in Middle-earth.” It was also presented at the 2010 Mythcon 41 Conference “War in Heaven.” It is an extract from the introduction of the forthcoming book, Moments of Grace: The Spirituality of The Lord of the Rings, to be published at the time of the first Hobbit movie.

. . . I offer You, Lord, my sufferings:
to be endured for Your greater glory.
I want to do what You ask of me:
in the way You ask,
for as long as You ask,
because You ask it.
I pray, Lord, that You enlighten my mind,
inflame my will,
purify my heart,
and sanctify my soul. (Pope Clement XI)

Teach us, Good Lord,
to serve You as You deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not to ask for any reward,
except that of knowing that we do Your Will.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. (St. Ignatius Loyola)

Even though these words are from millennia after the War of the Ring was fought, they could have also been spoken by those in it, and actually were, through their actions. The most important battles during that time and the years before were fought in souls, not on fields, especially in those of Bilbo and Frodo and all others who fought against the temptation of the power of the Ring. There is much we can learn from them as to how to conduct our own lives.

Instead of claiming that power for themselves, the myriad heroes of Middle-earth all show the virtue of docility, of being pliable in the Hands of God, “that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named . . . ” (Tolkien, Letters 253). Nothing is random, nothing happens without a reason, without somehow advancing the ability to defeat Sauron and destroy the Ring. In fact, many of the events during the War of the Ring that seem like disasters to those involved are actually examples of the Will of Ilúvatar guiding things as they should be, using the free will of His children, whether that will is being used for good or for evil. As Tolkien wrote, “. . . evil labours with vast power and perpetual success - in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to sprout in” (76). To name just three ways: the fall of Gandalf in Moria that allowed him to return with greater power as Gandalf the White; the capture of Merry and Pippin by Orcs that got them to Fangorn Forest which roused the Ents who then destroyed Isengard; and the capture of Frodo and Sam by Orcs and the forced march that got them much closer to Mount Doom than they would have on their own, making it there in time to save the Army of the West from being destroyed at the Black Gate. When one looks at the whole story, one sees how deeply involved God is in all of this, even though He had not yet revealed Himself as fully as He would later through the Incarnation and Resurrection. Still there are those who are aware – among them, Aragorn, Elrond, Gandalf and Galadriel – who embrace their identities as His children and servants. Frodo becomes aware, though he belonged to a people who, as St. Paul says, do not have the law, but keep it as if by instinct, having it written in their hearts (Rom 2:14-15).

Frodo at first struggled with his vocation and his fear of it, but he accepted he had been chosen and submitted himself to that. Even after Gandalf told him of the dangers of the Ring, of how it possessed and devoured its bearers, Frodo agreed to guard it “whatever it may do to me” (LotR I:2, 60). He was terrified by his friend’s words, but as he did not want anyone else to be harmed by the malevolence of the Ring, he was willing to try to contain it within himself if he could until someone better, wiser and stronger than he could take it. The dying words of G. K. Chesterton resound here: “The issue is now clear. It is between light and darkness, and everyone must choose his side.” Frodo did so, without knowing what the terrible cost of his vow would be. Throughout his terrible journey to Mount Doom, he showed, as Dorothy Day said, “By our suffering and...our acceptance of the cross, we unleash forces that help us to overcome evil in the world.”

“Greatness is not about bending others to your will,” says Sarah Arthur, “. . . but bending your will toward others. Servanthood is the true test of character, the mark of royalty on those who belong to the King. . . . Servanthood begins with those closest to you” (Walking 145-46). Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam spent decades in service to others, and they were content, they were free. As long as Frodo served Ilúvatar, he was free, though he was bound tighter and tighter by the cords of the Enemy. Sam freely surrendered his will, heart, and strength to Frodo out of love, and in such heroic service also served Ilúvatar. He was free and bound at the same time, but he chose to be bound, and therein lay his freedom. Trying to part Frodo from Sam would be like trying to part him from his own shadow or his own soul.

It is said that the more important the task, the more the angels assigned to guard the one charged with fulfilling that task. “You are not alone,” Aragorn told Frodo on the way to Weathertop (LotR I:11, 185); and indeed Frodo had many visible and invisible guardians assigned to protect him. The Valar, and Elbereth in particular, watched over him. Gildor, Tom Bombadil, Aragorn, and Faramir all had “chance” meetings with him and the other hobbits when they were in peril and would have been devoured if their rescuers had not come. Sam was prompted by some deep inner voice to take off the Ring when he was searching for his master in the Tower of Cirith Ungol. When they were close to the Fire, he and Frodo both responded to a voice that called them to hurry. They were both inspired to call upon the aid of Elbereth, and she readily answered their prayers. It did not matter that the hobbits did not know how to pray. They still did so very powerfully, and in languages they did not even know. “The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness,” St. Paul says. “For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit Himself expresses our pleas in a way that could never be put into words, and God Who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what He means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God” (Rom 8:26). Such was the intimate relationship Ilúvatar had woven between Himself and His beloved children that they responded to Him in the depths of their souls, even without conscious knowledge of Him.

Frodo could have said no when the Secret Fire, the Holy Spirit, presented him his vocation at the Council. The Voice was heard within his own heart and soul. He could have remained still, but he did not. His fiat, his “Let it be done” was full of dread, fear, and longing to refuse, but still it was there. In speaking of this and the choices that confront us all, Cheryl Forbes wrote “. . . we choose to be chosen” (“Frodo” 12). Ilúvatar had prepared His child well. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you . . . ” (Jer 1:5). He knew Frodo would say “yes,” even though he had the freedom to say “no.” That beloved soul had been molded in such a way for this one moment. “[W]hat you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you” (Mt 10:19-20). Frodo did indeed feel very much like “some other will was using his small voice” (LotR II:2, 263); but it was still his choice to let that Will speak. The choice he made then, he made again and again with nearly every breath and step he took toward Mordor, even as they became harder and harder to take. But as his mortal strength was poured out, immortal grace was poured in. As he drowned in the darkness and hate of the Ring, Sam saw in his master increasing light.

Ilúvatar called all Nine Walkers for the purposes He had set aside for them. “You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last . . . ” (Jn 15:16). He filled Frodo with His grace, that “elvish beauty” (LotR IV:10, 716) Sam saw and nurtured Sam’s love for Frodo over decades so that it would ever be faithful on their dark road. The One placed Merry and Pippin in the Company to allow for the salvation of Boromir, who thought he was only at Rivendell to seek an answer to a troubling dream; to save Faramir’s life; and to defeat the Witch-king, who believed his own publicity too much. Gimli thought he had only come with his father to receive advice on how to answer the dark messenger who had come to them seeking information about the thief who had stolen “the trifle that Sauron fancies” (LotR II:2, 236). Legolas thought he was only there to report the escape of Gollum. Elrond said, however, that it was “so ordered” (II:2, 236) that the entire Council and those then chosen to be the guardians of the Ring-bearer, and no others, had been “called hither” (II: 2, 236) to decide the fate of the Ring and of their entire world.

It was among the most humble of those gathered that Ilúvatar chose His Ring-bearer: a small, mortal vessel with a quaking heart, but with a strong will and determination who allowed himself to be offered up “out of love - to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could; and also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task” (Letters 327). “[I]t was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that He chose what is weak by human reckoning; that whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen - those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything” (I Cor 1:27-29).

Once Frodo gave his fiat and said “I will take the Ring,” (LotR II:2, 264) – “[t]he sacramental, operative words that set in motion the only power that can conquer Sauron . . . ” as Peter Kreeft says (“Wartime Wisdom” 39) – he did not falter in his charge, even as his heart was filled with fear and despair and his body and soul endured the torment of the terrible physical and spiritual weight of the Ring.

Frodo did not know how to get to where he was going, but he trusted that he would be led and shown the way. He did not know Who he trusted, but he trusted anyway, and in those Ilúvatar had placed by his side. Sam had no idea Who put his master forward as he struggled to decide what to do after Frodo’s apparent death, but he recognized that Someone had, and not Frodo himself. When he saw his star in Mordor, he saw a tangible, visible sign of goodness beyond the reach of evil, and he trusted in it enough to know that he was not the only one watching over Frodo. On the strength of that grace-filled sign, he was able to sleep deeply and without concern, even though deep in enemy territory. “Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20:29). That is what makes their trust and faith so beautiful and inspiring. Ilúvatar looks after His own, even those who do not know Him, but reach out to hold onto Him anyway.

Aragorn did know his steps were being guided by Ilúvatar. He did not always see the Path right away, but when he did, he followed it without hesitation. He spent his entire adult life in service: as a Ranger, helping Gandalf track down Gollum, guiding four frightened hobbits to Rivendell, placing himself in the service of Frodo, then of Théoden and Gondor. One is certain that he would continue to be a servant even as king, because he was aware of Whose servant he was. It was because of this knowledge of the invisible world and his service to his Creator that he said his fiat and did not allow Éowyn to dissuade him from walking the Paths of the Dead, for he knew he went “on a path appointed,” (LotR V:2, 766) just as Frodo and all the others did. Neither he nor Frodo would have willingly walked such physically and spiritually desolate Roads, but both did in obedience and trust as they embraced the Will of Another. None of them walked alone.

As Verlyn Flieger says, the hobbits and men in the story “illustrate, with the consequent pain and loss of all that seems most precious, the absolute necessity of letting go, of trusting in the unknown future, of having faith in God” (Question 114). When Frodo and Sam were lost in the Emyn Muil and Sam wondered if they would ever find a way out, Frodo was confident that they would. In the depths of his soul, he trusted the One Who was leading him to Mordor. The barely concealed mirth Pippin saw in Gandalf in Minas Tirith is also evidence of deep faith and trust. Gandalf knew his Creator was stronger than any foe out in the field.

But this still did not make walking the right Path an easy task for any of them. It is more painful for a soul to commit evil, but it is not painless to choose the good. Redemptive suffering has great value, and no one suffered more in mind, body, and soul than did Frodo. Clyde Kilby quoted an Australian professor, Barry Gordon who wrote a paper called “Kingship, Priesthood and Prophecy in The Lord of the Rings” in which Frodo was noted to be “the Lamb whose only real strength is his capacity to make an offering of himself” (Tolkien and Silmarillion 56). As he, Aragorn and Gandalf responded to their callings, Kilby notes each grew “in power and grace” (56).

Gandalf’s fiat came at great cost. “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). As Richard Purtill says, “Gandalf . . . is a free creature who freely answers the call to imitate Christ. He and Frodo, who walks his own Way of the Cross, are thus closest to Tolkien’s deepest moral ideals” (Myth 118). Michael Martinez observes:

. . . it’s not that Gandalf was weighed in the balance and found wanting, so much, as that he was being asked to make a hard choice. And Gandalf made the correct choice, but in doing so he had to abandon the Valar’s plan. . . . Ilúvatar needed to make some changes. Gandalf therefore went willingly to the sacrifice, as he had been forewarned (“Count” 439).

The idea that “he was being asked to make a hard choice” again illustrates free will and surrender. Gandalf could have chosen not to accept death by refusing to enter Moria, as Frodo could have chosen not to accept the Ring, but the will of the Maia was so conformed to that of his Creator that he even trustfully surrendered his life.

The reason for the entire Quest can be summed up by Aragorn based on this sacrifice: “The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or for others. . . . There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark” (LotR III:2, 430). Treebeard said much the same thing to Merry and Pippin after the Entmoot had concluded and the Ents had decided to march upon Isengard: “Of course, it is likely enough . . . that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed at home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later” (III:4, 475). Théoden would have rather died in battle than to hide in illusive safety and not even attempt to save his land, for he knew defeat and death might come in any case, and it would be better if it found him defending his people. The hope behind the Quest lay in trusting to Ilúvatar that all would work out as it was meant to be as long as everyone did his part, that “what should be shall be” as Galadriel said to Frodo (II:7, 356).

When Galadriel tested the hearts of the Company, they were all confronted with the choice of giving into their deepest desires or to continue on the hard road they were treading. Sam was asked what he would do if he could go home and have a garden of his own, but his heart was firmly in his master’s keeping. He would “go home by the long road with Mr. Frodo, or not at all . . .” (II:7, 354). None of them turned back. They knew they had much more than their own wills and desires to be concerned about.

At the time of own her terrible test, Galadriel was sorely tempted to claim the Ring which Frodo freely offered her, for she had long dreamed of possessing it. But instead of surrendering to that desire, she had the strength of will and the grace given to the Firstborn to withstand her trial and shrink back to “a slender elf-woman” (II:7, 356) instead of the dark queen Frodo beheld in his vision. She recognized that the heights of power the Ring would give her would actually plunge her and all Middle-earth into the depths. She chose humility instead: to “diminish . . . and remain Galadriel” (II:7, 357).

Galadriel’s words to Frodo after she passed the test – “for now we have chosen” (II:7, 357) – underscore the fact that personal choice and free will were involved here. The temptation on both their parts to turn back, or to become something they were not meant to be, was resisted. Frodo and Galadriel both realized that, whether he succeeded or failed in the Quest, the power that kept the Elven lands safe would fail. Lothlórien, Rivendell, and Mirkwood would be swept away either by Sauron or by Time. That hurt both of them, but Galadriel realized that she’d rather submit to Ilúvatar’s plan than her own wishes. She surrendered her own will to that of His and was no longer tempted to follow anything else. She would remain His child, not a terrible queen. Her fiat had been spoken and she would not turn back, any more than Frodo would.

The reality of the spiritual warfare waged inside every soul is clearly shown during Galadriel’s test and even more clearly inside Frodo on Amon Hen as he wore the Ring and felt the Eye and the “fierce eager will... [that] leaped towards him...” (II:10, 392). Frodo is torn in his response to that evil presence seeking him: “He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell” (II:10, 392). In that very focused and painfully amplified attack, it is shown that our greatest enemies are not those we meet on the physical battlefield, but the spiritual one: “For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the Sovereignties and the Powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens” (Eph 6:12). But our greatest allies are found there also.

Frodo’s own mortal will would not have been enough to contest with Sauron, but Ilúvatar protected His child on the Hill of Sight with angelic aid as He had all along, when Frodo heard a voice commanding him to take off the Ring. The crushing power of his Enemy wished to compel him to keep the Ring on and so reveal his location. But neither force coerced a decision from him. It was his own will, shored up by Gandalf who “. . . sat in a high place, and . . . strove with the Dark Tower . . . ,” (LotR III:5, 484) that decided to remove the Ring at the last possible instant.

Ilúvatar allowed Frodo to be tested in this way to bolster his will for the challenges that lay ahead, just as it had been in the barrow. The Ring intended this for evil, but Ilúvatar used it for good. After that horrible struggle and the realization that with Boromir’s fall, “the evil of the Ring is already at work even in the Company,” (II:10, 392) Frodo’s will was able to throw off the shackles of the terror that had previously paralyzed it. He was still terrified and in despair, yet “his heart [was] lighter” (II:10, 392) after he made the decision to leave the Company and continue onto Mordor alone.

While Frodo was off wrestling with the idea of how to proceed, the Company held their own debate. Sam said Frodo already knew what to do, he was just trying to gather up enough courage to overcome his terror and actually do it. Probably more than anyone, Sam would have wanted his beloved master to be spared, but he did not advocate that at all. He just knew that he needed to be there to help Frodo carry his cross by whatever means he could. Even more than Galadriel’s phial, Sam was Frodo’s “light . . . in dark places” (II:8, 367), a shining, visible beacon of the invisible Love that surrounded them both. Merry and Pippin were all for stopping him, saying it would be “mad and cruel” (II:10, 394) to send Frodo to Mordor, but as Aragorn pointed out, it was not the place for any one of them to do that, and they should not even try; for they would not succeed. “There are other powers at work far stronger,” he says (II:10, 394), another hint that he is fully aware of the Powers watching over Frodo and protecting him.

Ilúvatar had not acted foolishly when He presented to Frodo his part in the Great Music. How lovely that melody must have sounded to Him as it was played out, as more and more Frodo gave himself to his task in obedience and love. Of course, Ilúvatar knew the burden would overcome His child in the end, that a terribly discordant note would threaten to overwhelm the entire symphony that had, up to then, absorbed all the other miscues that had tried to impose themselves. When the Ring-bearer was claimed fully at last and could no longer say “Yes” to the Divine Will, it was Ilúvatar Himself Who said “Yes” for him through the one He had chosen to be Ring-destroyer.

It was while Frodo walked his via dolorosa, his way of sorrows, poured out as “a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God” (Rom 12:1), and all but crushed by the terrible menace toward which he walked, staggered and crawled, that Joseph Pearce observes,

[t]he parallels with Christ’s carrying of the Cross are obvious. Furthermore, such is the potency of the prose and the nature of Tolkien’s mysticism that the parable of Frodo’s burden may even lead the reader to a greater understanding of Christ’s burden. All of a sudden one sees that it was not so much the weight of the Cross that caused Christ to stumble, but the weight of evil . . . ” (Man 112).

In the crucible of suffering that was the Quest, everything was burned away. Frodo was increasingly buried under the despair of seemingly certain doom, but he refused to surrender to it. He actively fought his spiritual battle, though he was torn apart by it, unlike Denethor, who destroyed himself. Sam wrestled with despair as well, and came out victorious. The Ring-bearer was stripped down to naked will and endurance and clothed in grace. The Enemy chipped away bit by bit at that will and at Frodo’s very identity until he was robbed even of his memories. He became a shell, a sacred vessel emptied in service, but increasingly filled with light. At the Mountain, Sam beheld a vision of Frodo’s shining soul, shorn of the veils of flesh that surrounded it, and after that transfiguration, saw his beloved master as a spent figure, gasping for breath, consumed by both Light and Dark. Both sights were true. Frodo had given everything he possibly could, filled with all the grace he needed to accomplish his task. When that was done, there was no strength left in him to withstand the greatest assault of Sauron upon his heart, will and soul.

But, thankfully, as Fleming Rutledge says, “[t]he plan of salvation does not depend on the vulnerable will of the players. The Writer of the Story has the greater will” (Battle 340). Frodo had nothing left to give, but he could still receive. Ilúvatar returned to him the same mercy and compassion Frodo had originally extended to Gollum.

Frodo traveled very far in his journeys, not only physically, but spiritually. He had indeed “grown very much” (VI:8, 996) as Saruman noted. Hopefully after the Ring-bearer passed West and was able to reflect upon the events in his life and their true meaning, he would realize:

"The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you,
Where the arms of God cannot support you,
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs,
Where the power of God cannot endow you.

"The will of God will never take you,
Where the spirit of God cannot work through you,
Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you,
Where the army of God cannot protect you,
Where the hands of God cannot mold you.

"The will of God will never take you,
Where the love of God cannot enfold you,
Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you,
Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears,
Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you.

"The will of God will never take you,
Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears,
Where the Word of God cannot feed you,
Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you,
Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you." (Author Unknown)

Works Cited

Arthur, Sarah. Walking with Frodo. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 2003. Print.

Forbes, Cheryl. “Frodo Decides - Or Does He?” Christianity Today 19 Dec 1975: 10-13. Print.

Flieger, Verlyn. A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien’s Road to Faërie. Kent, OH: Kent State UP, 1997. Print.

The Jerusalem Bible Reader’s Edition. Gen. ed. Alexander Jones. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. Print.

Kilby, Clyde. Tolkien and the Silmarillion. Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw, 1976. Print. (Kilby does not identify the professor, but Bradley J. Birzer does in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-earth. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2003: 69).

Kreeft, Peter. “Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights About Evil in The Lord of the Rings.” Ed. John G. West, Jr. Celebrating Middle-earth: The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization. Seattle: Inkling Books, 2002. Print.

Martinez, Michael. Understanding Middle-earth. Poughkeepsie: ViviSphere Publishing, 2003. Print.

Pearce, Joseph. Tolkien: Man and Myth. San Francisco: Ignatius, 1998. Print.

Purtill, Richard. J. R. R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality & Religion. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2003. Print.

Rutledge, Fleming. The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in The Lord of the Rings. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004. Print.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

---. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965-66. Print.

(c) 2008-2010 Anne Marie Gazzolo

Lessons In Life Taught by Hobbits

2010-09-22T13:57:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to Frodo and Bilbo!

Welcome to my latest follower, Carlos! Glad you are here!

I thought this would be an appropriate day to post this essay. I orginally wrote it years ago when I knew that I loved Frodo, but if anyone has asked me why, I realized I couldn't have told them and I wrote this to find out! I have another one in progress that is much more detailed, but here is the first one to celebrate this most marvelous day! :) And the second anniversary of this blog as well.

There are many different journeys the souls of hobbits, elves, men and dwarves take during the War of the Ring, but none deeper, darker and more illuminating than Frodo’s and Sam’s. I wish to focus on the journeys of those two souls in this essay.

We are all put on this planet for a specific purpose. It was in Frodo’s humble acceptance of becoming a vessel through which a higher Power could work that he and we learn why he was created. He did not know Who that Power was, but he belonged to a people who though, as St. Paul says, did not have the law, still kept it as if by instinct, having it written in their hearts (Rom 2:14-15). As can happen to us if we are open to it, Frodo’s mind may not have understood why he responded the way he did, but his heart and soul understood; for love and grace spoke there in a language that the mind does not always comprehend, but the heart and soul always do. Frodo became the suffering servant, a sacrificial lamb. It took great courage to offer himself up, to continue being the Ring-bearer, after it had already nearly killed him; to endure and fight against the rape of his mind and soul; to suffer those demonic assaults for months so that no one else would have to; to carry his cross all the way to Mount Doom. He was given extra grace through his life to strengthen and prepare him to endure it all, and given the greatest grace of all in having Sam at his side. He also showed mercy and compassion and true caring for Sméagol; for he knew what that tormented creature was suffering since he was growing addicted to the same thing and was being torn apart by the same desires. He was every bit a hero, and as the story unfolds there is no doubt that he will succeed in his Quest.

It is surprising, then, that he was crushed in the end. He was the hero, wasn’t he? Heroes don’t fail. But this is more than a fairy tale with a happy ending. This is closer to reality than those tales. And there is more than one hero. The ever-faithful Sam is revealed to be an even greater one, something he would never have considered himself to be, but whom everyone, especially Frodo, recognized as such. And Frodo was still very much one himself, even though he was overcome at last by his burden, heavier than anyone should have ever had to bear - and he bore it for months, with little complaint. He did it because he chose to, because he loved Middle-earth and its people, and if he could save them, he would do anything to do so. But in the end - or what appeared to be the end - he could not save himself, and had it not been for Gollum, all Middle-earth could have perished. Salvation came from a surprising, unlooked-for source.

That is the true power of Professor Tolkien’s sub-creation of the War of the Ring and its many heroes which makes it resound more than pat, happily-ever-after, the hero-never-shows-any-weakness fairy tales. In reality, even heroes have moments of frailty, doubts and fears. Frodo and Sam and every other hero had all those, but they also did what they needed to do, despite them. Sam had no idea how to proceed after Frodo had apparently been killed, but he went on because he knew the Quest was too important to be allowed to fail. He was terrified to enter the Tower of Cirith Ungol, but he did so out of love for his master. Frodo was so frightened that his will was nearly paralyzed, but he knew what he had to do, and he did it. He was tired, cold, and hungry, but he went on out of love. He was twisted inside out by the Ring, but he fought against it, and when he failed, he got up and fought again. He was intent on saving everyone else even as he came to understand more and more that it would come at the cost of himself. He was spent bit by bit on that journey, poured out like a sacrifice. His body seemed too small for all he had to endure, but not his heart. He gave and gave and gave. He sacrificed everything so that those he loved and so many others whom he did not even know, but still wished to save, would not have to sacrifice anything. The Ring did not spare Frodo’s heart any more than it did his body, tearing it to shreds as it weakened his frame in its quest to dominate him. Still he went on, holding onto those shreds, pushing past his tears, doubts, terror and despair; holding on because his Sam still had hope; going on despite starvation and dehydration; knowing all along that he would not be able to give up the Ring, but still completely set on destroying it, even if it meant dying with it; struggling to the point of crawling when he was too weakened by his suffering and the weight of the Ring to do anything else.

We can and must do the same. Frodo’s journey is our own. Like the vast majority of us, he did not fight in combat as did the soldiers of Rohan and Gondor. Like all of us, his battlefield was in his own mind, heart and soul. He was, and we are, continually engaged in spiritual warfare, and it is not a battleground we can leave until death takes us from it. This is not to discourage us or cause us to despair, but to give us patience and strength to endure the battle and win the war. We are all Ring-bearers of one kind or another, struggling with our own fears, troubles and addictions. We all do hateful, hurtful things to those we do or should love the most. We all sometimes give into the seductive call of temptation, hate or anger. We all sometimes desire things that we know are bad for us, things that can or have hurt us or others and will continue to do so; things that perhaps we try to pull away from, but still want and cannot part from without great strength of will and humble asking for God’s assistance. Tolkien, the master storyteller, was inspired by the Master Himself, to have his tale resound with such truth.

Watching Frodo’s struggle, we see that sometimes we can overcome our temptations and sometimes they overcome us, but like him, each time we can get back up when we fall and start the struggle anew. We can walk away from the drinking, the drugs, the slot machines, the toxic relationships, whatever is poisoning us. We can say no to hate and anger and the hurt and violence it causes. We can choose another path. We may fail many times; we may fail in the end, or we may succeed, depending on how open we are to receiving and responding to the grace that is available to us. Even if we fail, mercy can be given to us, if that is our part in the Music.

If we are fortunate, we will have a Sam with us, supporting us; for this struggle is not one we can win alone, but it can be won. It must be won if we are not to be totally lost. We can learn as much or even more from Samwise the stouthearted, Samwise the loving, as we can from Frodo, a shining light in the Ring-bearer’s darkening world and our own. Both hobbits show that we must stay the course even when it becomes difficult and seemingly impossible to finish or even survive.

Perhaps our part in the Music is to be a Sam for someone, to love as fiercely and unconditionally as he did, perhaps also to suffer as he did as he watched his beloved master’s torment, but kept loving all the same; to stand by our Frodo through every hardship; to be their light and their strength and hope; to be willing even to die for them or with them. Imagine what the world would be like if we could all love and be loved as deeply and purely as Sam loved his Frodo and his Rosie. Beautiful, isn’t it? Or perhaps we shall be saved through totally unexpected means or persons, to mercies we gave and receive back.

Another part of the story that deviates from the fairy tale to reality is that not all veterans of war who come back home come back whole. Frodo sacrificed everything to destroy the Ring, including his mental health. He was broken by “knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden” (LotR VI:7, 967), and there would be no rest or healing for him within Middle-earth. He and everyone else assumed to be Ring-bearer also meant to be Ring-destroyer, and he suffered from the guilt and shame of giving in at the last after all he had endured to get to the Fire. But to destroy the Ring was not his part in the Music. It was merely to get the Ring to where it could be destroyed. The One Who had chosen him knew it would in the end be too much for him, but knew also that he would fulfill what he had been created to do, having fully corresponded with the grace he had been given, being truly named Bronwe athan Harthad - Endurance beyond Hope (Sauron Defeated 62). The Music continued to play out, though parts of it were heartbreaking.

Frodo came back, slowly shattering, to an already shattered Shire. It was a terrible shock and he had to have wondered, for what did I leave? After all the soul-lacerating pain he had willingly endured for months just so his beloved land would remain safe, he returned to find it just as violated as he had been. But even then, he showed mercy and forgiveness to Saruman who attacked and tried to kill him; just as he had forgiven Sméagol for the betrayal to Shelob. These two acts are among the most powerful lessons he had learned from Sam who forgave him and in learning, he was able to teach us.

But though the Shire healed of its wounds, Frodo did not. He never truly dealt with the trauma of being the victim of brutal and repeated rape; and worse, he still desired his assailant. In this lesson we learn how not to behave. After the initial joy of surviving, something of which he had long despaired, Frodo suffered from an “unreasoning self-reproach: he saw himself and all that he done as a broken failure” (Letters 328). The Ring-bearer spoke and later wrote of the despair he felt on the journey, but little of the torment that filled him afterwards, not wishing to burden anyone, especially not his Sam, and therein lay his mistake. “We fear to say too much,” Merry told Aragorn after being pulled back from the Black Breath (LotR V:8, 852). Frodo may have also remembered Sam twice telling him that he would never forget his torment, if he kept talking about it. So he kept his pain quiet, except when it surfaced during his anniversary illnesses. These were the most obvious signs of his post-traumatic stress disorder, but not the only ones. That he “dropped quietly out of all the doings of the Shire” (VI:9, 1002) is another sign of his increasing depression and isolation. It would have been humiliating for him to admit to anyone that he still wanted the Ring; perhaps pride prevented him from confessing that, perhaps shame did. Shame is something anyone of a good and sensitive nature, such as his, would have felt. How many times has that happened to us as well in one form or another and we have denied ourselves the opportunities to heal? Perhaps also the poison of Saruman’s parting words, that he would not have health or long life, infected his already wounded soul and prevented it from healing.

In the end Frodo believed that to heal, or at least to have the hope of healing, he must make the heartbreaking decision to accept Arwen’s gift of her place on the ship West and leave all but one of those for whom he endured such bitter suffering. Such a blessing had already been foreseen and prayed for by Galadriel as far back as Lothlórien when the rents in the Ring-bearer’s soul were not as deep as they became later. Gandalf saw the necessity of it when Frodo’s first anniversary illness manifested itself on the way back home. Another sacrifice was called for and it was to be the greatest of them all. Our hearts break for him and with him, but we also understand that his heart was already broken, and he felt it could not be mended in any other way. The tremendous grace he is given is a reward for his labor; an opportunity for the peace and rest he could not find in the Shire; a means to fully understand why he was chosen among all the Children of Ilúvatar to bear the Ring; and a way to discover that he was not only the beloved child of Primula and Drogo, but a very deeply loved one of his Creator Whose vessel he had agreed to be and Who had already sent him dreams of his future home that he would remember on seeing the shores upon which he would make his new life. There he would gain, we hope, “a truer understanding of his position in littleness and in greatness” (Letters 328) and come to understand that the Ring had claimed him, he hadn’t claimed it; that no one could have endured when he couldn’t in the end and that he had endured longer than anyone dared hope, longer than anyone else could have. He would have understood it was not an evil with which only his own soul was afflicted to continue to desire the Ring, but that it was a burden that all Ring-bearers carried. He would have understood that he did not suffer from some terrible weakness that no one else did as we perhaps feel when we surrender to temptation and then think that no one else would have.

We can do the same as he did. We cannot go to ‘Arda Unmarred,’ but if we are strong enough and humble enough, we can go to that person through whom God will choose to work, to whom we can offer the pieces of our broken hearts and have them molded back together and returned to us whole. Yes, it is humiliating, but it is healing and releasing. Pain shared is pain halved. Pain held in is pain doubled. Through admitting our faults and having sincere sorrow for them, we can also come to understand how greatly loved we are by our Creator.

Another lesson we sorely need in our era of broken promises and betrayal of friends and spouses, is the shining example of love, faithfulness and devotion of Sam and Rosie, who were open to the gift of life and celebrated their golden anniversary and far beyond, surrounded by their many children. It is a shame that such selflessness is not at all understood and is indeed criticized by our ‘Me and only me’ society. Ask anyone who dares to have more than two children. But Sam and Rosie show that where there is great and true love, many miracles can happen.

It is also through Merry and Pippin, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and every soldier of Rohan and Gondor that we see bright examples of perseverance, loyalty and dedication to completing seemingly impossible tasks. They discovered they were braver than they ever thought they could be and did what they needed to do because others they loved depended on them. They learned as we have that evil is alive and well in the world, but such powers “cannot conquer for ever!” (LotR VI:7, 687) as Frodo boldly proclaimed at the Cross-roads. This tale and the stories of the saints and heroes throughout the ages show that “. . . evil labours with vast power and perpetual success - in vain: preparing always only the soil for unexpected good to sprout in” (Letters 76); for out of the darkness and because of the darkness, many heroic acts of love, faith, humility and self-sacrifice abound. This is the greatest lesson, the same one Sam perceives upon seeing the Star of High Hope in Mordor: the Shadow will not endure for ever; Love and Light will.

May the light of all the myriad heroes whose stories Professor Tolkien retold “in this very nick of time” (LotR II:2, 236) be a beacon for us as well to draw strength and inspiration from when we must make our own journeys to Mordor or confront the Shadow in other ways and places.

Works Cited

The Jerusalem Bible Reader’s Edition. Gen. ed. Alexander Jones. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966. Print.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. Print.

---. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1965-66. Print.

---. Sauron Defeated: The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IX. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992. Print.

(c) 2005, 2010 Anne Marie Gazzolo

Return of the King at Wolf Trap

2010-09-14T12:44:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday, I went with one of my sisters, my brother-in-law and many of my nieces and nephews and saw ROTK set to a live orchestra at Wolf Trap in Virginia. It was cool! And a very appropriate day, September 11, to see a victory of good over evil. Everyone had a great time. Even the three year old went, though she fell sleep during the second half at some point. Her favorite character is Gollum, go figure that out! I've nicknamed her Rosie and she really looks like her too. I had my second youngest niece, my Pipsqueak, on my lap for the movie and I was sitting next to my Sam, my youngest nephew, and holding hands with him much of the time during the second part. I am Frodo (of course) and was dressed in my Frodo costume. We had a picnic there too where I offered a toast to Elijah, Dominic, Sean, Billy, Peter, Howard, the Professor etc. Didn't get home until after midnight! It would be fabulous to have it done each year and this time with the extended editions. I would love to see FOTR this way and the kids would love it. I enjoyed all the audience participation, the clapping at favorite scenes, laughing at Gimli's humor and all that. I was calling out "Death!" each time they did on the screen. It was great and everyone loved it so much. Definitely worth it and would love to do it again!

Unfinished Tales: The Palantíri

2010-09-04T16:42:00.004-05:00

The Seeing-stones as used during the War of the Ring and years before give a detailed look as to their use by Sauron to corrupt the minds and wills of users of other Stones, as he did with Saruman and Denethor. However, they were not originally created to dominate other wills and spread deceit and despair, but to communicate with allies.

That all changed when the Stone at Minas Ithil was lost in 2002 T.A. when the Tower of the Moon was occupied by the Nazgûl and became Minas Morgul. What happened to the Stone there was unknown for a long time, but it is clear from what happened centuries later that it had come into Sauron’s possession. Such a possibility was considered by some of the Wise, but they did not think it to be a cause of concern since the other two Stones that existed were both thought to be safely under Gondorian control.

One was in the custody of the Stewards at the Citadel of Minas Tirith and apparently not used until Denethor II was reached by Sauron through it. The other was locked away in the Tower of Orthanc, which was under the control of the Stewards, but had been unoccupied for some centuries before Saruman was given the keys to it in 2759. “If Beren the Steward considered the Stone at all when he gave these to Saruman, he probably thought it could be in no safer hands than those of the head of the Council opposed to Sauron.” It would be more than two centuries before the truth of those words is proved. Even though we know with hindsight how very unsafe the Stone was in such custody, since it was how Saruman was ensnared by Sauron, it is also through it that Aragorn is able to ensnare Sauron into thinking the Ring is in the man’s possession.

There are signs that Saruman had fallen, but they are not understood to be what they are since he was so adept at hiding his true intentions. After some time, he cuts all ties with Gondor and makes Isengard his own dominion. Doubtless the White Council did not approve of this, but they did not suspect their head of the treachery that was growing within him. They did nothing to stop him since “...Saruman was a free agent, and had the right, if he wished, to act independently according to his own policy in the resistance to Sauron.” So the Council was deceived and manipulated by its leader. They also did not imagine that the Seeing-stones could be used for evil for they had never been so used before. “It must be remembered that the Stones were originally ‘innocent’, serving no evil purpose. It was Sauron who made them sinister, and instruments of domination and deceit.”

It is only after Pippin has his terrifying brush with Sauron in the Orthanc-stone that it is revealed that the Dark Lord was in possession of another one and that was how he had been able to corrupt Saruman. It is also this revelation that causes Gandalf to wonder if Denethor had used the Anor-stone and been similarly deceived.

It is interesting to note that jealousy played a part both in the fall of Saruman and Denethor: the fallen Maia’s of Gandalf and the Steward’s of Thorongil who had served under his father when Ecthelion II had been Steward. Both wizard and man had known of the palantíri and kept such use of them secret. The start of Denethor’s fall is clearly stated to be out of jealousy of Thorongil, and hostility to Gandalf, both of whom were high in his father’s favor, and due to a wish to gain more knowledge than they had and also to keep track of their whereabouts.

Sauron is thus able to trap and defeat two who could have been very strong enemies, yet Denethor does not surrender to the Dark Lord in the same way as Saruman does. The Steward remained to his death still very opposed to his enemy, but considers Sauron’s victory to be inevitable.

He is so paralyzed by the despair that has infected his soul and will that he does not mount any personal fight against Sauron and refuses to lead those who do. Saruman considers Sauron’s victory to be nigh also and either desired it or at the least stopped resisting it, which was a complete forsaking of his mission and the vocation given by the One and the Valar.

All this seems so much in Sauron’s favor but it is brought to naught when Wormtongue throws down the Orthanc-stone and Pippin is ensnared into looking into it. The hobbit just happens ‘by chance’ to put the Stone in the very position that makes it possible to contact Sauron and also to be sitting on the right side of the Stone for that to happen.

Once again one of the littlest of God’s children has a part to play in the defeat of one of His mightiest. Aragorn’s subsequent use of the Stone distracts the servant of Morgoth from where his true peril lay as three others of those little children make their way to Mount Doom and Sauron’s downfall.

Well, that finishes our look at the Unfinished Tales for the time being. The next book we will be delving into is The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Of course, we can’t quote them extensively, but it will still be a thorough investigation of the wealth contained there. For those who are eagerly awaiting some treatment of the age of The Silmarillion, that will be covered as it is spoken of in these letters. The events at the end of the Third Age, as well as those in our own, will not be neglected either. I will give you a little time to get a copy if you don’t have one since you can dive deeper than we can here and get the full extent of the Professor’s wisdom. In the meantime, I will be posting some essays I have written which I hope you enjoy. Le hannon for continuing on this journey with me! God bless, Anne Marie. :)

Unfinished Tales: The Istari

2010-08-21T15:08:00.001-05:00

This tale tells of the angelic Maiar who came to Middle-earth and were seen as wizards or even thought to be of elven-kind due to their long life. Their true nature was known to very few. Círdan the Shipwright, the elven master of the Grey Havens, saw them arrive from the West, sent by God and the Valar to contest the growing power of Sauron. They were forbidden to use their full powers against their adversary or reveal their true being to anyone. They came in the guises of old men to give counsel and guide the hearts and wills of the Free Peoples to resist the might of the Dark Lord.

It is not known how many came, but five are mentioned as coming to the North. The Blue Wizards, of which so little is known, are mentioned in passing. They disappeared into the East and South, “missionaries in enemy-occupied lands” but what success they had, if they had any, is not known. The professor mentions his fear that they failed in their mission. Radagast the Brown is also mentioned, but he too failed, though he did not fall to evil, as his superior did.

The main emphasis, however, is placed on the one who appears at first to be the least of the five. It is this one in whom Círdan from their first meeting divined “the greatest spirit and the wisest; and he welcomed him with reverence, and he gave to his keeping the Third Ring, Narya the Red.” It is this one who was the only one known to have remained faithful to the charge he had been given to keep. He used his veiled power to kindle light, hope and endurance in the hearts of men, elves and hobbits. He went by many names but was most commonly known as Gandalf or Mithrandir. His ‘birth’ name was Olórin. “Warm and eager was his spirit (and it was enhanced by Narya) for he was the Enemy of Sauron, opposing the fire that devours and wastes with the fire that kindles, and succours in wanhope and distress...” Only those closest to him “glimpsed the fire that was within.” Pippin glimpses this in Gondor.

It is interesting to note that when the Valar gathered under Manwë and the One that Olórin first protested his choosing by the Elder King for the mission against Sauron. He thought himself not equal to the task and even admitted to being afraid of his fallen brother Maia. “Manwë said that that was all the more reason why he should go...” These sentiments echo two thousand years later in the voice and heart of a hobbit who also feels too weak and afraid to take upon himself the task for which he had been chosen. But as Olórin accepts his charge, so does Frodo. These two unlikely kindred spirits discover that though they suffer much under their burden, they also succeed in fulfilling their vocations.

It is also interesting to observe that the Vala who chose Curumo (as Saruman was first known) was Aulë whom Sauron had also served before he fell into darkness.

Unfinished Tales: The Battles for the Fords of Isen

2010-08-07T15:44:00.003-05:00

The terrible lust Saruman had to destroy Rohan is shown first by his corruption of Gríma Wormtongue which had already taken place and who was possibly poisoning the king he feigned to serve. In any case, whether from natural causes or more evil ones, Théoden slipped into illness some years before the War of the Ring and was controlled by his counselor. He was duped into thinking that his loyal and loving nephew, Éomer was actually becoming an adversary.

Such manipulation was, however, nothing compared to the outright murder of the king’s son, Théodred while in the midst of battle. Saruman had given strict orders that the young man should be slain at all costs. And so it proved, the final cost being higher than the fallen Maia in his lust-blackened sight could have foreseen. When the evil object is achieved, Saruman’s commander withdrew from the field and did not press his attack, which would have been to his superior’s advantage. Instead, the host that came later from Edoras to ride forth to the aid of Helm’s Deep was able to reach that fortress, instead of being surrounded and overwhelmed by enemy forces on the way. It’s even possible that Edoras itself could have been captured before Gandalf arrived the first time after escaping from Orthanc.

However, though the king’s son falls, Rohan itself is saved from almost certain destruction, mainly due to Saruman’s unbridled hatred and single-minded determination to kill a single man to the exclusion of all else. It is also due to the great valour of the Rohirrim, especially that of Grimbold and Elfhelm, who were very hard pressed and could have been overwhelmed if not for the unexpected retreat of Saruman’s forces.

The Second Battle of Isen is lost but Rohan is not as Gandalf is able to rouse Théoden from the grip of Wormtongue and that ruined man’s master. The king is once more able to lead his men into battle which helps not only save his own land but that of Gondor. The Battle of Pelennor Fields would have been much different if Saruman’s army had not withdrawn upon Théodred’s death.

Saruman’s lust for power ruins him in another way as his wanton destruction of the trees around Isengard rouses the hatred of the Ents which overwhelm him there and also come to the aid of Helm’s Deep. That smoldering hatred was kindled into flame by the arrival of Merry and Pippin after they had escaped from the Orcs which Saruman had sent out in the hopes of ensnaring the Ring-bearer. All the good that came out of the ruined Maia’s hatred are further signs that God does not allow evil without some good coming from it, nor does He forbid us to use our free will, for even our wicked choices serve Him in some way.

Unfinished Tales: The Hunt for the Ring

2010-07-24T17:06:00.004-05:00

When Gollum is captured in Mordor in 3017, there is a veiled mention of the grace that protected him. This was the reason that even after almost 500 years of being consumed by the Ring, there was still enough hobbit nature left in him to withstand Sauron. Even under hideous torture, the Dark Lord perceives in his prisoner "something indomitable” which he does not quite understand. His own lust for the Ring blinds him to the One Who is protecting and strengthening the ruined hobbit.

When Gollum is set free in the hopes of his showing Sauron the location of the Ring, grace protects the creature once more when he is captured by Aragorn and sent to be watched over by the Elves of Mirkwood. Sauron learns of this but little else due to the vigilance of his enemies, both the Dúnedain and Saruman. The Dark Lord decides that no one else will be able to bring him news of the Ring but his most enslaved and fell servants. The Nazgûl are his greatest weapons and at the time his greatest liabilities and for the same reason: the terror they inspire cannot be hid from his enemies, even when the wraiths are themselves invisible.

The Nazgûl learn that Gollum had been recaptured by the Orcs and released from his Elven captivity but had escaped both. Having no knowledge of the Shire after learning that Gollum had lied to Sauron as to its location, the Witch-king leads his men North in the hope of finding it and Gollum as well, but to no avail.

The news of the prophecy that sends Boromir to Rivendell reaches Sauron who is even more terrified now that the Wise will discover the Ring before he does. He orders the Nazgûl to interrogate Saruman at Isengard. When the wraiths arrive at Orthanc, the fallen Maia is in a very precarious position for he has exposed himself to Gandalf as a traitor to the One, the Valar and the order of the Istari, and he knows that Sauron is aware of his treachery against him as well. He is utterly alone, having betrayed both his Creator and the new master he had feigned to serve, but he still has the power of his voice and convinces the Witch-king that Mithrandir, just lately escaped, may have the information that the Nazgûl are seeking. The wraiths
leave and come upon Wormtongue who was hastening to tell his true master that Gandalf had told the king of Rohan of Saruman’s treachery. The terrified man betrays Saruman by stating that his master knows indeed where the Shire lies, though the fallen Maia had not said so, and gives the Witch-king the knowledge he needs. The wraith spares Wormtongue’s life, partly out of the intuition that the evil creature would later bring harm to Saruman, which proves true.

The Nazgûl capture two spies of Saruman on the way to the Shire and one of them has maps of the land. He is then informed that he is now in the service of Mordor. Using the maps, the wraiths come upon the southernmost borders of the Shire on Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday. After a valiant but ultimately futile resistance by the Rangers, the Black Riders enter the Shire and reach Hobbiton just as the Ring-bearer and his companions are setting out for Crickhollow. As the Red Book shows, the timing of this is perilously close. Hunter and hunted are within hearing distance of each other, but neither know it.

Gandalf is privately amused when he learns that Saruman has spied out the Shire and grown enamored of the very pipeweed that the White wizard has openly scoffed at the Grey one for liking, but he has no desire to publicly expose Saruman which is what the latter greatly feared would happen, showing how little he understands the heart of the one he hated and imitated. But even Gandalf’s foresight fails to see that Saruman's seemingly harmless knowledge of the Shire “would prove perilous and of the greatest service to the Enemy, bringing victory to within a nail’s breadth of his grasp.”

But such victory is not granted for even though it is through Saruman’s spies that the Black Riders learn exactly where the Shire is, its very size is so large it forces them to split up in their search. The Witch-king goes to stir up the barrow-wights who later capture and nearly sacrifice the Ring-bearer and his friends, but the Lord of the Nazgûl also unknowingly dooms himself. It is Khamûl, second in command, who comes calling at Number 3 looking for ‘Baggins’. That it was he and no one else is another sign of the One and the Valar who were watching over the Ring-bearer and his companions, for even though that wraith is second-most sensitive to the Ring’s presence, he is also the ‘least’ dangerous for his power “was most confused and diminished by daylight” which is when he comes upon the hobbits on the way to Buckland.

An alternate version of the tale says that Sauron had no idea that Gollum knew where Baggins lived and assumed it was near where Gollum himself had lived long ago. This “very small and natural error [was] possibly the most important mistake that Sauron made in the whole affair.” Because of it the Nazgûl waste precious time searching the area around the Anduin when they could have reached the Shire much sooner if the information had been tortured out of Gollum. But instead God’s perfect timing prevails.

This alternate version continues, stating that after Gollum’s release from Mordor, he enters the Dead Marshes where Sauron’s spies “could not or would not follow him.” It is interesting that such a place would be enough to deter men who must have been aware that their master’s wrath would fall upon them if they failed, yet they do, whether they directly willed it or not themselves. Such a failure allows Gollum to be captured and at length brought to the Elves in Mirkwood for his safekeeping. That news comes to the attention of one of the chief Nazgûl who is occupying Dol Goldur where Sauron had once dwelt, but not for a long while does the Dark Lord himself know of it.

Another moment of grace that protects Gollum for the role he is to play later at Mount Doom is the “piece of singular good fortune” that is the appearance of the Nine Walkers in Moria on the Quest to destroy the Ring. The creature is lost and desperately hungry and could very well have perished in the dark halls had not the Company come when they did and unknowingly aid him - and all of Middle-earth - when he is able to escape and follow them.

An alternate version of Saruman’s meeting with the Nazgûl has him suddenly realize “the full horror of service to Mordor” and he resolves then to go to the imprisoned Gandalf and beg for forgiveness and aid. But instead he finds that the “strange ‘good fortune’” that accompanies the Grey wizard has aided Gandalf to escape. Saruman sees nothing but an eagle flying away in the distance. In a rage of pride and jealousy, Saruman returns to his fallen state and pretends to the Ringwraiths to be still a servant of Sauron. One wonders what his fate would have been had he continued in his resolution to return to the light.

Another mention of grace is that Gandalf’s interest in the Shire may have started simply out of love for its inhabitants or it may have been that “his heart had some deep premonition beyond his waking thought.” This is very true for us too for we may not always know why we like particular things, places or people, but as time progresses we perceive the reason that God placed such interests and desires in our hearts so we are enabled to sing our part in the Music, learning the notes as we go along.

Unfinished Tales: The Quest for Erebor

2010-07-03T14:47:00.004-05:00

Welcome to my latest follower, Amanda! I am glad you are here!

Gandalf had the dragon Smaug much on his mind and the growing threat of the Shadow that was looming ever larger over Middle earth and how the two could wreck the most grievous destruction if not defeated. But how could that defeat come about? That was the question that the wizard asked himself over and over in his mind as he traveled along the road to Bree in March 2941, having decided that a long overdue trip to the peaceful Shire might help settle his overburdened heart and help him come to the answer to his perplexing question.

Part of that answer comes before he even reaches the Shire in the moment of grace that was his “chance-meeting” with Thorin Oakenshield. Dwarf and wizard are both aware of the providential timing that brings them together that particular evening and readily obey the Will behind it. As Thorin said to the wizard, he had been thinking much upon him, “as if I were bidden to seek you” (LOTR, Appendix A 1052). The hidden Maia marvels at such words and replies that the dwarf had been in his thoughts as well and he had felt a similar stirring in his heart. They agree to meet at the dwarf’s home, but Gandalf is not entirely pleased by what he hears there and leaves again for the Shire.

He does not meet Bilbo as he wished, having been impressed with the lad during his last visit, when the hobbit had not yet come of age and was full of questions and curiosity about the outside world. According to others, he apparently still was, for Gandalf is told that he has gone off again, this time in the hopes of seeing Elves for it is the time of their New Year. This seems to the wizard wonderful news and a plan begins to form in his mind. He knew, or thought he knew, that Bilbo, though a Baggins, a family known to be very respectable, conventional and practical, also had a strong Tookish streak in him, and they were known for their unrespectable taste for things quite out of the ordinary. The wizard also knows how brave even timid hobbits could be when put to the test, as had been shown by their stoutheartedness and compassion during the terrible Long Winter years before. From the reports and Gandalf’s own memories, Bilbo seems to be anything but timid, and more and more, sounds like the ideal candidate to help defeat the Dragon. Gandalf leaves the Shire to seek out Thorin once more, quite convinced of his good fortune, his heavy heart lighter.

In his retelling of this part of the tale, the wizard admits he thought it a mistake not to check with Bilbo first, but actually the fact that the hobbit just happened to be away when Gandalf first sought him, is another sign of grace, for it could have been discouraging for the wizard to have known that his “chosen and selected” (Hobbit 21) burglar was not actually the one that memory and rumor made him out to be. The wizard could have sought elsewhere and that could very well have been ruinous for indeed Bilbo had been chosen and by the Writer of the Story. Gandalf is shielded from the fact that the hobbit had changed, until he has already convinced Thorin to take Bilbo along.

When it all seems hopeless that Gandalf would be able to convince Thorin of that, the wizard remembers the “strange chance” that he happened to have in his possession a map and key that had been given to him almost a century earlier by a dwarf found imprisoned within Sauron’s fortress of Dol Guldur. Gandalf had not known who the dwarf was, who the son was that the dying creature told the wizard to give the items to, or what use they were. Still he took them and heeding “some warning of [his] heart” kept them secret for 91 years, until he realized what Providence had put into his hands, who the dwarf had been and exactly why he had been given the treasures which he had kept safe, “though without any design of my own, until the moment when they would prove most useful.” It is a marvel to ponder how much the success of any venture is done ‘behind the scenes’ and only afterward do we ‘connect the dots.’

Gandalf does not know the future, but he does have a deeper intuition than most. He senses somehow that Bilbo must be included in the Quest for Smaug or “the far more important events by the way would not come to pass.” He does not know what those events are, but he argues most strenuously with the stubborn Thorin to take the hobbit along. It is interesting that the words that finally convince the proud and contemptuous dwarf to take such an unwanted companion are those that speak of Gandalf’s love for Bilbo and the promise that the wizard would be Thorin’s friend if the dwarf treated the hobbit well. Gandalf said he spoke such words “without hope of persuading him; but I could have said nothing better.” Such inspiration will also come to Bilbo during the riddle-game with Gollum and when Frodo and Sam are inspired to invoke Elbereth: “...what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you” (Mt 10:19 20).

It is interesting to note that it was Thorin’s “haughty disregard of the Hobbits” that first inspired Gandalf to think of the idea of using such a creature in the quest to begin with. The very type of hobbit that Gandalf decided he wanted - “a dash of the Took...and...a good foundation of the stolider sort, a Baggins perhaps”- happened to fit Bilbo exactly. “I daresay he was ‘chosen’ and I was the only chosen to choose him,” the wizard says. He realizes he is not the one making the choice of either Bilbo or later Frodo, but merely the visible instrument of the invisible Chooser.

Evil defeats itself continually throughout this long tale. One way is that if it had not been for the materialistic passion of the dwarves, inflamed by the seven Rings Sauron had given them, there would have been no Quest of Erebor and no finding of the Ring, at least not by Bilbo, had Gandalf not “chanced” to meet Thorin while that dwarf was returning from one of his journeys. If there had been no finding of the Ring by Bilbo, then there would have been no bearing of it by that other specially chosen one, and no defeat of Sauron, due in great part to the remarkable stoutheartedness and free will of those who fought the Dark Lord, especially Frodo and Sam, but also due to Sauron himself. The only thing that fallen Maia wanted from his dwarven prisoner was his Ring and once he had gotten that he did not care to
take any of Thráin’s other possessions. This “small oversight” is what enabled Gandalf to be given the map and key that was the clincher to get Thorin to agree to the (seemingly) hopeless task of defeating Smaug. Among the Dark Lord’s other oversights is the ignoring, decades later, of the report of spies in his land, which also help doom him. Indeed, it is sometimes the little things that are overlooked that are the key.

Gimli marvels after the War of the Ring is over how everything is interconnected and how he desires to visit the Shire to see the land where such astonishing victories over the Shadow began. “Did not the recovery of the Kingship under the Mountain, and the fall of Smaug, begin there? Not to mention the end of Barad-dûr, though both were strangely woven together. ... But who wove the web? ... Did you plan all this then, Gandalf?” ...

“[Gandalf replies,] “I do not know the answer. ... In that far distant time I said to a small and frightened hobbit: Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker, and you [Frodo] therefore were meant to bear it. And I might have added: and I was meant to guide you to both of those points.”

This is the deep significance of the tale. Even Tolkien did not know when he wrote The Hobbit everything that was going on. Bilbo’s adventure is going to become much more important to the history and future of Middle-earth than anyone but the One Who sent His angelic servant to that unassuming, unadventurous hobbit, could have guessed.

The One Who wove the web is none other than the “Writer of the Story ... that ‘one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named’...” as one early admirer named the Presence that permeates Middle-earth (Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien 253). God was preparing everything, even if His servants, mortal scribe and immortal Maia, did not see it all.

This tale also brings up why Bilbo remained unmarried, which was quite unusual for a hobbit (and it would also explain by extension why Frodo remained so). Gandalf’s musings were based on his impression of a young Bilbo who had yet to come of age: “...I guessed that he wanted to remain ‘unattached’ for some reason deep down which he did not understand himself - or would not acknowledge, for it alarmed him. He wanted, all the same, to be free to go when the chance came, or he had made up his courage.” This captures in a nutshell how Bilbo and Frodo were both prepared for their vocations, the cost of which would ultimately mean leaving nearly all they loved behind.

Unfinished Tales: Cirion and Eorl

2010-06-26T15:03:00.005-05:00

Some of the notes of the melody that will culminate in Aragorn’s song at his crowning are woven into the threads of history more than a thousand years before in the alliance between Calimehtar, king of Gondor, and Marhwini of the Éothéod, those people who will become the Rohirrim. Together upon the battle plain of Dagorlad, which had seen the defeat of Sauron in the previous age, the two are victorious over their enemies, the Wainriders. The defeat of their adversaries is not complete, but for a while that land had peace before the next assault which “would have come sooner and in greater force, and the realm of Gondor might have been destroyed” had not that first victory been won.

Later historians were convinced that the hatred the Wainriders and other enemies of Gondor had for that realm and their concerted action against it was actually engendered by Sauron. The alliance of Calimehtar and Marhwini foreshadows that of Eorl the Young coming to the aid of Gondor at the Field of Celebrant and Théoden to the Pelennor Fields. Aragorn has a throne to sit upon partly due to the coming to fruition of the seeds that were planted so long before.

When Cirion, Steward of Gondor, was in desperate need of aid in 2489, he recalled the ancient bond of friendship between his people and the Éothéod and six stouthearted riders were sent to that kingdom in three separate groups. Only one of the first group “by fortune and the speed of his horse” survives to make it, but that is enough. Eorl, leader of the Éothéod, rides forth with a great muster of men and horses, leaving behind only a skeleton force to guard his own lands and people. The huge number helps prevent any enemies attacking them on the way and “other powers also were at work.”

What aid those “other powers” gave is made clear when the army is near Dol Guldur, much later discovered by Gandalf to be Sauron’s stronghold in Mirkwood. Eorl and his men turn away from the dark shadow there and ride within sight of the Anduin where they encounter a strange white mist. “As they drew nearer they saw that the white mist was driving back the gloom of Dol Guldur, and soon they passed into it, riding slowly at first and warily; but under its canopy all things were lit with a clear and shadowless light, while to left and right they were guarded as it were by white walls of secrecy.” Borondir, the rider from Gondor, speculates that “The Lady of the Golden Wood is on our side...”

Eorl is not so sure, trusting more to the reaction of his horse whose “heart is high.” That this is no ordinary mist is augmented also by the fact that the great host, more than 7000, made no sound as they galloped through the land with energy as fresh and strong as the day they had first set out. The mist lasts for two days and they find they have come far with “a speed beyond hope.”

With the aid of the Éothéod the battle upon the Field of Celebrant is won and sometime after that, Cirion and Eorl meet at Amon Anwar, the Hill of Awe, or as the Rohirrim will later call it, Halifirien, the Holy Mount, where one of the beacons that are lit during the War of the Ring is. To Eorl, it is revealed as it had been to no one else but the Kings and Stewards of Gondor and their heirs, why the hill was named so: it was here that Elendil was buried by Isildur who called upon the Valar to protect the place and commanded those with him to keep the location a secret to be revealed only to each succeeding King who was encouraged to come to the place when seeking guidance. At this tomb, Cirion and Eorl make solemn vows of perpetual loyalty and friendship out of their love for each other. As Eorl says, “...their enemies shall be our enemies, their need shall be our need” and that the Éothéod will defend the people of Gondor “to the utmost end of our strength.” Cirion had already said the same pledge of aid would apply to Gondor aiding those who had aided them in their direst need. He gives his vow into the keeping of God and the Valar. He then gives much land to Eorl’s people to settle in which will become known as the Mark or Rohan.

As the two men part, Cirion makes it clear that he was inspired to give his oath. Just as centuries later, Frodo will feel as “some other will was using his small voice,” the Steward also believes “that the words of my oath, which I had no forethought ere I spoke them, were not put into my mouth in vain. We will part then in hope.” These two instances so far apart, yet at the same time intertwined, for Aragorn could not have come to his throne without either of them, show “[W]hat you are to say will be given to you when the time comes; because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you” (Mt 10:19-20).

Unfinished Tales: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

2010-06-19T15:45:00.003-05:00

Well, I’m back. :) And it’s good to be back too! We are now going to look at Unfinished Tales, but right now only those chapters that bear upon the matters contained in the Red Book.

The first is “The Disaster of the Gladden Fields” which is set at the beginning of the Third Age and deals with the manner of Isildur’s death while he is on the way to Imladris with his men with the intent of seeing his wife and youngest son and also to gain the counsel of Elrond. Yet before they can reach it they are attacked by Orcs. They are able to repel the first assault relatively unharmed while their adversaries suffer many casualties. Such a horrible defeat would normally be enough to scatter the Orcs but Isildur has the Ring with him and it is thought that it called out to Sauron’s servants for aid.

Isildur’s son, Elendur, suggests using the Ring against their foes, but the king refuses, recognizing it to be folly. He has grown in wisdom since he cut that fell object from Sauron’s hand and claimed it for his own, and now knows it is beyond his strength to wield. He dreads even to touch it for the pain it brings him and is ready to surrender it to the Elves. Sometimes it is only through error and falls that we can gain the wisdom we were blind to before and realize that the advice of others is indeed wiser than we deemed at the time, just as when Isildur first refuses the counsel of Elrond and Círdan to destroy the Ring and now realizes that this should have been done. Isildur blames his pride for that error, fed no doubt by the overwhelming power of the Ring at that time. As Gandalf tells Pippin so much later on their way to Minas Tirith about the hobbit’s own brush with the power of temptation, “...the burned hand teaches best.” Isildur’s hand literally was burned by the fierce heat of the Ring and the man has not been free of that torture since.

When the Orcs attack again with fresh fury and all seems lost, Elendur commands his father to leave the battle with the Ring ere he is captured or killed as well. The king begs his son for forgiveness, again blaming his pride in claiming the Ring. He receives what he asks for and flees while wearing the Ring though it pains him greatly. One of his sons is already dead, another mortally wounded and Elendur and the rest of the king’s men fall in battle also, all save one squire who escaped and two others who had been already sent away with the shards of Narsil.

During his flight, Isildur plunges into the Anduin close to midnight. “By chance or chance well used” the Ring slips from his finger and in the black night the king has no hope of finding it again. At first he is so overcome by his loss that he is tempted to suicide by drowning, but that thought passes as quickly as it came. The man then feels a great sense of relief and freedom that he is no longer burdened by the Ring. This release from pain and the well used ‘chance’ of the evil thing falling off his finger are two indications of God once again working through history and bringing good out of Isildur’s original choice to keep the Ring to himself.

Underwater is now the safest place for the thing to be and there it will lie until over two millennia later, two hobbits will be fishing along that River and become ensnared by it. Even then the Ring is safe for almost another 500 years until it is ready to be found through the will of God by another hobbit, lost in a dark tunnel, who just ‘happens’ to put his hand down upon it and who then wills it to his heir who will bear it to Mount Doom.

Isildur makes it across the water, only to be slain by the poisoned arrows of the Orcs hunting him. He is given away by the piercing light of the Elendilmir gem that he wears on his brow as a sign of his kingship. He falls back into the water and his body is never recovered. The Elendilmir is, however, discovered 3000 years later in one of Saruman’s storerooms at Orthanc, with the case of gold attached to a chain that Isildur had worn in which to carry the Ring. It is speculated that perhaps this secret room was meant to house the Ring itself.

The disaster referred to in the title at first seems only to point back to Isildur’s death, but there is another meaning that could be taken in the hint that the Ring “still heavy with [Sauron’s] evil will” was responsible for the extraordinary ferocity of the second assault of the Orcs. This is another example of evil defeating itself and good being brought out of it. If the Orcs had not attacked again, Isildur and his sons and many of his men would have survived, yet the Ring would not have been lost in the River. If it had made it to Rivendell, much of the history of Middle-earth could have changed for the worse.

No, everything worked out the way it was supposed to for the greater good of all the world. The Ring lies buried deep until those who have been destined from all time to be part of its destruction can be born and sing those parts of the Song that the Writer of the Story has seen from eternity. Only He knows that though the War of the Ring won’t be fought for another 3000 years, Sauron has already lost it.

Appendices B-F

2010-04-10T15:43:00.004-05:00

Appendix B contains the Tale of Years which has something significant to say about evil. “After the fall of the Dark Tower and the passing of Sauron the Shadow was lifted from the hearts of all who opposed him, but fear and despair fell upon his servants and allies.” This is what happened at the Black Gate after the Ring is destroyed. The slaves of Sauron were suddenly without his will commanding them and either fled or fought on as they could alone. Those that do evil do not expect any compassion from their enemies. They don’t realize that they could very well receive it if given the opportunity. Those that serve the Light may be sore beset by the oppression of evil, but once released from it, feel as joyful and hopeful as Faramir did in Minas Tirith, even though he did not immediately know why.

Appendix C includes the family tree of the Gamgee family with that wonderful testimony to life and true love in that Sam and Rosie were the proud parents of 13 children! Somehow Frodo must have been aware of them all, being the proud and loving uncle of the children of the brother of his heart.

Appendix D has the professor continuing in his role of scholar-historian in which he explains the various calendars and reckoning of the year by men, hobbits and elves.

Appendix E “Writing and Spelling” allows him to delve more into the history of the world he discovered and sub-created.

Appendix F includes “On Translation” in which the professor explains the changes he, as translator of an ancient tale, made to the story as Frodo had originally written it, in order to make the names and languages more accessible to modern readers.

All the appendices are of great value to any historian of Middle-earth.

And now we are done at last with the Red Book! But hardly done with the wealth of discovery that still awaits any scholar of the Third Age or the ones before it. I will be continuing after a short break.

Until we meet again, “May the stars shine upon your faces!” and “may the hair on [your] toes never fall out!”

Namarie, God bless, Anne Marie :)

Appendix A: Durin's Folk

2010-03-27T17:48:00.004-05:00

It is mentioned that Thorin Oakenshield’s grandfather, Thrór, bequeathed to his son, Thráin, the last of the seven Rings of Power that Sauron had given the dwarves. Thrór then left his family to return to Moria where long before the Balrog had risen and Moria was abandoned after many long years of glory. The reason for this return is given as the dwarf’s “Ring, it may be, was turning to evil now that its master was awake, driving him [Thrór] to folly and destruction.” But whether that or simply brooding over long over the splendour that had once been, the aged dwarf and one companion returned to their former home. The door is open and Thrór enters, but his comrade does not, which saves his life. He remains outside to see some days later the body of Thrór tossed out by the Orcs now living there. That murder instigates the terrible wars between Orcs and dwarves with evil done by both sides. At last, Thrór’s murderer is killed himself at the very threshold of Moria in a battle that had such horrific losses that “Orcs still shudder and the Dwarves weep.”

A little more about the Ring that Thrór had given his son is recounted. Sauron had, of course, given the Rings to the dwarves, elves and men in the hopes of dominating all the races of Middle-earth, but he failed to subdue the dwarves or the elves, exciting only in the former, the lust for gold and other precious things. Sauron did not give any rings of power to the elves, though he did teach them the craft of making them. Celebrimbor made the Three and Sauron never touched them.

They were otherwise unaffected, for they had been made “from their beginning of a kind to resist most steadfastly any domination” and “they could not be reduced to shadows enslaved to another will.” But the gold-lust the Rings caused was fatal enough to its bearers for Thráin was captured by Sauron, tormented and the Ring taken from him. At last he dies, shortly after Gandalf comes upon him in the dungeons of Dol Guldur, though the wizard does not know who the prisoner is until later. It is entirely possible that the unreasoning lust and greed that Thorin Oakenshield, Thráin’s son, exhibited in The Hobbit was caused or aggravated by the close presence of the Ring his grandfather and father possessed.

The “chance-meeting” of Thorin and Gandalf on the way to Bree is retold and it is plain that Providence brought them together in that particular place at that particular time for a particular purpose. Dwarf and wizard both tell each other that they had been thinking of the other “as if I were bidden to seek you” as Thorin says and Gandalf echoes similar feelings. They were both being instructed and guided and both obeyed to the great good of Middle-earth.

This section ends with the sweet note that Galadriel may have been the intercessor for the great grace given to Gimli that he should be allowed to travel West for no other reason than his great love for Legolas and the Lady of the Wood. I have not seen Galadriel as a prefiguring of the Virgin Mary as others have (except for the wonderful little scene in the Return of the King movie when she appears in a vision to Frodo in Shelob’s Lair and she is
so bright, beautiful and loving and helps him up – now that’s Mary!) but this instance of intercession, as well as the one made on behalf of Frodo, does show her Marian qualities. Frodo had the greater need but I wonder if in some ways, Gimli had the greater blessing because the boon was not given out of need for healing, but simply because he loved so deeply.

Have a happy Holy Week and see you after Easter! Christ is Risen! He is truly Risen!

Appendix A: The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen

2010-03-20T11:39:00.002-05:00

When Aragorn and Arwen plight their troth on Cerin Amroth, the Elven lady foretells that her beloved will be among those who will defeat the Shadow. When Aragorn admits that he cannot see such himself, he says, “Yet with your hope I will hope.” This is another connection between that man and the two hobbits who will also “be among the great” in their joint struggle against their adversary. Frodo had no hope of his own, yet with Sam’s hope, he is able to continue on. Aragorn continues on with his hope bolstered by Arwen’s.

This hope he tries to impart to his despairing mother at their last meeting. Gilraen tells him that she cannot bear to face the darkness that is rising as Sauron’s power waxes. Aragorn tells her in response, “Yet there may be a light beyond the darkness, and if so, I would have you see it and be glad.” But she is too grieved by the loss of her beloved husband and weighed down by too many cares since then to see that possibility and so does not live to see the part her son will play in the great victory over the Shadow. Her last words to him speak of his hidden identity while a child in Rivendell, when he was called Estel, or Hope: “I gave Hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself.”

In the fullness of time, Aragorn and Arwen come to their parting after many long years together. Unlike his Númenórean ancestors who grew to fear death so greatly that they did anything they could to prevent the inevitable, Aragorn embraces the Gift of mortality. As he tells his beloved wife, “...to me has been given not only a span thrice that of Men of Middle-earth, but also the grace to go at my will, and give back the gift.”

Arwen had told Frodo when she gave him her gem and the mercy of the passage West that she embraced, as had Lúthien before her, “both the sweet and the bitter” in her choice to become mortal. And now she had the bitterest of those parts in losing her beloved husband.

In his last words, Aragorn speaks some of the most inspiring and faith-filled words in the entire tale: “But let us not be overthrown at the final test, who of old renounced the Shadow and the Ring. In sorrow, we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell!” This trustful surrender to the hope of what lies beyond death is an incredibly powerful testimony that we should all take to heart.

It is unfortunate but understandable that Arwen finds no comfort from his hope, having no foundation upon which to base it due to the Elves’ lack of knowledge as to where Men go after they pass from the Halls of Mandos. But we can find encouragement in his faith and seek to emulate it.

Appendix A: The Númenórean Kings and Their Descendants

2010-03-13T16:06:00.004-06:00

We are very much indebted to the other scholars who provided the information in these appendices! As is said much of the history of the Elves and the Númenórean kings is covered in The Silmarillion which was known in previous ages as Translations from the Elvish that Bilbo had gathered in Rivendell and given to Frodo when they reunited after the Ring had been destroyed and which the younger hobbit took back with him to the Shire. Such tales are only summarized here. Still the tragedies brought about by pride, spiritual decay and the lust for immortality are powerfully portrayed, even in their brevity.

The fall of Fëanor and the fall of the Númenóreans through the deceits of Sauron haunted the history of Elves and Men for a very long time. Yet there were bright heroes also, among them the Faithful and Eärendil who sailed the earthly seas and afterward the skies. With a Silmaril lighting the way, he is able to give hope to those in Middle-earth during their long struggle against the Shadow, including a hobbit looking up from the darkness of Mordor and seeing that very special light. The line of the Faithful continued into the Fourth Age and the crowning of King Elessar and beyond. So always there was light amid the darkness and renewed joy amid the sorrows that plagued Elves and Men.

It is interesting in recounting the tales and woes of the kings of Gondor that "at last they perceived that some single power and will was directing the assault from many quarters upon the survivors of Númenór." This, of course, was Sauron, through his many slaves, the greatest of which being the Witch-king of Angmar who slays the last king in TA 2050. Seven years previously, Glorfindel had made his prophecy that "not by hand of man" would the Lord of the Nazgûl fall as was proven true nearly a thousand years later.

The tale of the Stewards is told and Faramir is mentioned, giving more depth to what a great man he was and why I love him: "He read the hearts of men as shrewdly as his father, but what he read moved him sooner to pity than to scorn. He was gentle in bearing, and a lover of lore and of music, and therefore by many in those days his courage was judged less than his brother's. But it was not so, except that he did not seek glory in danger without a purpose. He welcomed Gandalf at such times as he came to the City, and he learned what he could from his wisdom..."

The Grey Havens

2010-03-06T11:39:00.006-06:00

The last lesson in pity and compassion Frodo learned and taught was rescuing Lobelia from the lockholes. The bad blood between them could not have healed had not Frodo gone on the Quest and learned so much. Much good came out of that mended relationship as Bag End was restored to Frodo and Lobelia left money for homeless hobbits in her will.

The Shire has its own “baby boom” from 1420 onward as its inhabitants celebrate their freedom from the ruffians and treasure all the more the peace and blessings they had always had but had taken for granted. Such gifts are sweeter now for being lost and then regained. In this glorious year, Sam marries Rose and they accept Frodo’s invitation to live with him. With both sides of Sam's heart with him for caring and cherishing, our gardener has another wish come true.

When Sam and Rose’s first child is born, Frodo is the one who suggests the name Elanor. She is the only child he is there to welcome, for he has been too traumatized by the horrific ordeal of the Quest. It has left indelible marks on his soul and there is no peace for him. When Elanor is born on the second anniversary of the destruction of the Ring - a fitting reward for the sacrifices made by both Ring-bearers’ - the elder one has only six months left before he sails West. Frodo is given another blessing and consolation as he sees several more of Sam’s children with the eyes of his heart and knows that his beloved guardian will be happy and fulfilled.

The last sacrifice Frodo makes - and Sam also - is accepting the decision to go West. This is a free will choice on both their parts as all the others had been. Arwen had given Frodo the rarest of all graces: the blessing of the Valar to travel to the Undying Lands. But it was still his choice to accept that gift or not. This would not have been easier to make than any of the other sacrifices he had, but as the damage done to his heart and soul had been inflicted by one who had come from beyond Middle-earth, his cure, if it could be found, had to also come from beyond it. He had suffered more than anyone, so he was given the greatest reward, including the hope of seeing his Sam again. Bilbo was given the same gift for the same reason.

Sam freely makes a similar sacrifice in letting his beloved treasure go. He too was given a great reward, a full life in the Shire and the hope of reunion with his master. This was another great good that came out of the grief of Frodo’s apparent death and Sam’s short time as a Ring-bearer.

So ends the Third Age and this part of the tale, but not the Story. That, as Sam realized on the Stairs of Cirth Ungol, is still going on...

The Scouring of the Shire

2010-02-27T11:44:00.009-06:00

As the hobbits return home, the three younger hobbits are openly outraged at what has happened to their beloved Shire, but Frodo remains thoughtful. He has endured terrible privations on the Quest, but the one thought in his mind that has made all the agony, hunger, thirst and despair worth suffering is that he was taking the danger to his dear land farther and farther away. He is already deeply traumatized by his journey and to come to the end of it, or what he thinks or hopes is the end, only to find that the Shire has been as violated as he has been, is just another wound that bleeds inside him.

How much he has grown in grace because of the wounds he acquired on his terrible Road is shown once more in his desire to rescue even his despised cousin, Lotho, from the ruffians. This scandalizes Pippin to no end, who is all for destroying “Pimple” instead. But he hasn’t been violated as Frodo has been. The tween’s terrifying brush with Sauron in the palantír was soon over and forgotten. Frodo felt his soul torn apart by months of demonic assault which has given him a viewpoint that no other untouched hobbit could possibly imagine or understand, and as with Sméagol before, it gives the Ring-bearer a pity and compassion for Lotho that he could not have imagined earlier himself. He grieves for the damage done to his cousin. The intimate knowledge of what evil can do to one is what motivates his command, twice expressed, that no one, whether hobbit or ruffian be killed in freeing the Shire from its evil invaders, if such could be avoided. How he must have grieved that there were losses, each a separate blow to his already lacerated heart.

It is good that Frodo does not take Merry’s advice not to be “too gentle” with the Chief, and so is able to teach his most powerful lesson on pity, compassion and mercy when he is murderously attacked by Saruman, and instead of reacting violently in kind, he forgives. How very true are Frodo’s words that “It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.” It would just leave other bleeding wounds. Instead he responds with the same pity we should all have for one so bound up in evil and offers the only way out for Saruman, who sees the terrible wounds in Frodo’s soul and understands that instead of having such agony embitter the hobbit and turn him to darkness, it has caused a growth in grace and light that he himself has long abandoned. Frodo in turn exhibits once more the spiritual discernment of souls that he has been gifted with and shows that he can still see the grace and light that had once been in the wizard, but that darkness had overwhelmed. He shows the same pity and desire for the opportunity to be given for the wizard to find a “cure” for his afflicted soul that he had tried to bring about in Sméagol, but instead of such being acted upon, it enrages the fallen Maia who once more refuses the antidote and responds with the bitterest hatred he has yet shown. Those who do evil do not like to be reminded that they are no longer who they should be, or that what they are doing is wrong. They would rather dwell in their darkness and not have the light shine upon their deeds and so be able to see them for what they are and themselves for what they have become.

The most powerful testimony that Frodo gives against what the poison of malice and vengeance would do to one’s soul is his words that “in any case” he does not wish revenge to be taken against Saruman. One knows that even if the attack on him had been successful and his lifeblood poured out of him, his last words would have been the same forgiveness and forbidding retribution of his murder. Only grace could have given him such a gift and the strength to extend it. This was the same forgiveness he had asked Sam to give Gollum at the Fire. He knows what terrible wounds are visited upon the soul by hatred and revenge and doesn’t want anyone else to feel that, especially his beloved Sam, when he commands that Saruman not be touched. The gardener had already learned this lesson in Shelob’s Lair when he had discarded the idea of going after Gollum in order to avenge the betrayal by that wretched creature and he practiced such wisdom again in sparing Gollum’s life near the Fire, but he had to be reminded of it again here. It is Wormtongue who delivers the fatal blow to his master and they both die violently, despite all Frodo’s words.

In a way, Sam’s Ring-induced fantasy of being a gardener of a realm does come true when he takes advantage of the dust Galadriel had given him from her orchard and planted some of it throughout the Shire to replace the damage done by Saruman and his ruffians. But then he returns to be the gardener just of Bag-End, and the nurturer of his master and his wife.

Homeward Bound

2010-02-20T14:54:00.004-06:00

The first of Frodo’s anniversary illnesses comes on the way home as they come to the Ford where the Black Riders had almost seized the Ring-bearer. Frodo admits to Gandalf that his shoulder wound is hurting and it is obvious, from his actions and words, that he is having vivid flashbacks to that terrifying time. He is very reluctant to cross the river and when they come upon Weathertop, Frodo cannot bear to look upon it. He recovers easily enough but it is clear that he is suffering from what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder. It was Arwen who noticed that and gifted him with the two blessings shortly before the hobbits had left Minas Tirith. As far back as Lothlórien, Galadriel noticed it as is evident in her lament as the Company left that even Frodo might come to see the West.

More gifts continue to be given as the travelers come to Bree and are able to set Barliman Butterbur’s mind at ease about the strange happenings that have been going on and Sam is reunited with his beloved pony, Bill. As they depart, the great light that is held within Gandalf is seen by the Breelanders.

After the hobbits part with their wizard friend, Merry remarks that everything that has happened seems “almost like a dream” they have all now woken from. Frodo disagrees, saying that to him, the wakeful time has passed and now “it feels more like falling asleep again.” They have all had such incredibly intense experiences, but Frodo has felt them the most, in the most beautiful and most terrible ways. For him, returning to the sleepy Shire will be as unreal as a dream. It is also a wish for the peace of soul that he is increasingly lacking.

Many Partings

2010-02-13T15:32:00.006-06:00

It is for the fears that Frodo spoke of but did not name when he first saw Arwen approach the City that prompts her to give him the gem to aid him in combating the terrifying memories of his nightmare journey. She also gives him a far greater gift that is his to claim if he wills, but that he keeps secret from his hobbit companions. He dwells upon it instead in the depths of his own torn heart and in the breadth of his growing pain. The queen sees in Frodo’s silent agony, the tears in his soul that were similar perhaps to those of her mother who centuries earlier had been so deeply hurt by the servants of the same Enemy who had tormented him that she had fled West to seek healing there. Arwen gives the Ring-bearer, a mortal being, the rarest of all possible gifts: the same opportunity and hope.

Gifts are given to and by many others as well. All the races that dwelt in the light grace and bless the funeral of Théoden. Éowyn’s hand is given to Faramir, which is in fact a gift from his brother, whose death moved Pippin to offer his service to Denethor and so the hobbit was in place to help save Faramir. Éowyn gifts Merry with the horn of Eorl the Young that he will later put to good use in rousing the hobbits of the Shire.

On the way back to Rivendell, more gifts are given when the remaining company come upon Saruman and Wormtongue. Gandalf and Galadriel offer their aid, but the fallen wizard utterly rejects both gifts in very rude fashion, having “withered altogether” as Gandalf remarks. Gríma is also offered a way out of the abusive relationship he is trapped in with his master, but instead of accepting that, he is terrified of it, and like a victim of domestic violence afraid to leave an abuser, he continues along with Saruman.

The last gifts in this chapter are given by the joyous reunion with Bilbo in Rivendell which is a spiritual solace and also material gifts are given when Frodo decides it’s time to return home with his companions and separate once more from his beloved uncle.

The Steward and The King

2010-02-06T21:29:00.007-06:00

We see in this chapter that Pippin’s fulfillment of his vocation in saving Faramir’s life also frees Éowyn from the despair that still held her prisoner and allows her to have a joy-filled life at last. She had desired death in battle, thinking that was the only way she could gain the peace she desired, but Faramir’s gentle courting shows her another way.

The chapter also shows that Faramir, with Sam, is Hope Unquenchable, the very opposite of his father who had proved to be filled with unquenchable despair. Faramir tells Éowyn that “it may be” that doom is about to fall upon their world and if so, he hopes to meet his end “steadily” (again in contrast to his father), but his words also make it clear that he still hopes in the possibility that the almost certain doom will not fall.

As the days stretch slowly by after the men had left for the Black Gate and no word came back of their virtually certain doom, the suspense of those left behind waiting gets more and more intolerable. At the same time Éowyn speaks of feeling like she stands upon the edge of an abyss, Frodo truly is, both unable to turn back to see the light behind them, both waiting upon “some stroke of doom.” Then suddenly the man and woman witness in the far distance what could be the end of their world. Here is the greatest manifestation of Faramir’s hope when the world seems poised upon utter ruin: “The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light, and a hope and joy are come to me that no reason can deny. Éowyn...in this hour I do not believe that any darkness will endure!”

At the same time, Sam has only “joy, great joy” as he and Frodo are in the very midst of “ruin and downfall.” Frodo’s reason tells him that they are “at the end of all things” just as Faramir’s does, but Sam’s heart, just as Faramir’s, “says nay.” When Faramir said all that, he did not know why exactly, and it is certain that Frodo did not understand why his Sam still held to his hope, but hope both man and hobbit did and expressed it to the beloved one near them.

When Aragorn and all those who survived the battle at the Black Gate come back to Minas Tirith, we learn from the wise woman Ioreth that the tale of Frodo of the Nine Fingers has already grown into a legend, though it is more true than that old woman will ever know. She tells her kinswoman, “They are small, but they are valiant. Why...one of them went with only his esquire into the Black Country and fought with the Dark Lord all by himself, and set fire to his Tower...” Frodo had, indeed, fought a long battle with his Enemy but not the way Ioreth means and not all by himself. The scars he holds from such a bitter struggle are the invisible ones that Arwen will see very clearly.

Again, the very opposite of reactions between Denethor and Faramir are seen when the new Steward kneels to surrender his office to the returned king. Such humility had long deserted Denethor who had killed himself so he would not have to kneel to anyone. But Aragorn retains the Steward in his office and promises that the line of Stewards would continue beyond his own reign. He shows his own humility when he does not crown himself, but asks that Frodo and Gandalf take part in it, for he well knows he could not be sitting upon his throne without their valiant efforts.

Still his heart is not yet at rest for he still looks for a sign that his reign shall be blessed and he yearns still for the fulfillment of his long-held desire to wed the Elven lady he has loved all his adult life. Gandalf takes him away from the City and shows him the new tree growing that Aragorn brings back to replace the dead tree in the Court of the Fountain. Arwen and her father soon follow from Rivendell for the long-awaited wedding. Frodo is struck anew by her loveliness and gives also one of the first hints that all is not well with him: “Now not day only shall be beloved, but night shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!” These words are from a hobbit who had once loved to travel at night, but who is now deeply scarred, physically and psychologically, by events that occurred in the dark.

The Field of Cormallen

2010-01-30T15:24:00.004-06:00

Sam proves himself once more to be Harthad Uluithiad, Hope Unquenchable, when he says, even as hot ash rains down upon him and Frodo, and rivers of volcanic fire spread out toward them, that he doesn’t want to give up even now. Frodo gently tells his beloved guardian that there is no more need for such hope, but Sam keeps on hoping anyway and coaxes his master away. Frodo has always been docile to the guidance of others during the entire Quest, whether from his visible or invisible guardians. He is once more as he lets Sam take his hand and guide him a bit away from the epicenter of the destruction that their sacrifices made possible. It is this grace-filled hope and ability to see beyond the present moment that Sam has been so amply blessed with that is rewarded when the eagles come to rescue them and not a moment too soon. Need we ever doubt that God will always, always take care of us?

Frodo and Sam wake in Ithilien, their wounds tended, their bodies cleaned, their souls refreshed by joy, their hunger and thirst satisfied. Sam has one wish after another come true. He wakes to see his treasure alive beside him, then hears the tale of their journey sung. No wonder that he is laughing and crying more than once during such emotional times.

Mount Doom

2010-01-23T11:24:00.012-06:00

It is within the Black Land that Sam struggles most with maintaining his hope which withers and seems to die at times but is always born anew. Even when he wonders whether the job he has to do involves dying beside his master after their task is done, he is not frightened, but accepting of it. Immediately on the heels of this is his undying wish to see his home, family and the Cottons again. He knows he may not, but instead of feeling despair, he feels “through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue.”

In addition to the grace-filled assistance Frodo and Sam are continually given, and the steadfast companionship of each other, it is their own fixed wills to continue to the very last drop of their strength that gets them to the Fire. In Frodo, this is even more admirable than in Sam, for the Ring-bearer is not only beleaguered by the same hunger, thirst and exhaustion, but by the crushing weight of the Ring on his body, heart and soul.

When Sam decides, in an effort to conserve his master's rapidly dwindling strength, to take the Orc road as opposed to crawling and stooping around, he does not know the risk he is taking. This again shows that it is not always good to know the future for it could paralyze us from doing what we must. Children are fearless because they have not been taught to fear. Some lessons in that must be taught, of course, but many others that are are not necessary and could even cripple us from moving forward. Sam’s ignorance of the dangers of this road allows him to make the very necessary decision of taking it or else their water supply would have failed. They would not have otherwise found along that perilous path a muddy cistern that helps sustain them.

It is on this dark road that the hobbits feel, worse than any physical enemy they could have met, “the ever approaching threat that beat upon them as they went: the dreadful menace of the Power that waited... Nearer and nearer it drew...like the oncoming of a wall of night at the last end of the world.”

This spiritual assault upon their hearts and souls is felt physically as well by the Ring-bearer, for Sam notes how Frodo raises his hand to “ward off a blow, or to screen his shrinking eyes from a dreadful Eye that sought to look in them.” Other times he sees Frodo’s hand creep toward the Ring and slowly “as the will recovered mastery,” it would move away.

It is also here that Sam’s greatest spiritual growth takes place as has already been shown by the grace-filled moment of seeing his star. In his meditation on the virtue of the lembas bread, he realizes that, though it does not fill the belly, it does feed the soul and will, exactly the qualities of the Eucharist it prefigures.

As the hobbits continue on their way, the Ring continues to be an increasingly unbearable burden for its bearer. When Sam offers to carry it again, he is nearly attacked by a furious Frodo, demonstrating once more the terrible power the Ring has over him.

The depth of the torment of this time for Frodo is described beautifully and movingly in the most mystical speech in the tale, as he tries to tell Sam what he is feeling: “No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire.” Frodo is facing the ultimate spiritual vulnerability. He is intimately aware of the horrible violation happening within as he is consumed by the dark power, yet he is still fighting not to be wholly overcome, sustained from such surrender by the grace that is continually filling him. Sam notices this after they have got rid of all the gear they could and observes that the new strength that Frodo has was “more than could be explained by the small lightening of the load that he had to carry.” Frodo has become a burning candle, set afire by both Light and Dark, a figure “clothed in flame” as Sam saw in the red light of the Tower room where he had rescued his beloved master.

Only the Nazgûl could have warned Sauron “of the peril that crept, small but indomitable, into the very heart of his guarded realm,” but they had been sent away to where their dark master thought the Ring to be.

It is near to the last stage of their journey to the Fire that the demonic makes one last attempt to seduce Sam into despair, using his own voice, but the humble gardener recognizes it for what it truly is. He tells it in no uncertain terms that he will have nothing to do with it.

Sam is now so parched he cannot eat and undoubtedly Frodo is also. They are dizzy from dehydration and the terrible air they must breathe. They stagger and fall often. “And yet their wills did not yield, and they struggled on.” The idea of free cooperation with God’s will and grace amid terrible suffering is highlighted here as elsewhere by the repeated mention of the use of the will to keep going. Sam is actually spiritually refreshed by the exercise of his: “No more debates disturbed his mind. He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set, and only death would break it.” He takes his sleeping master into his arms and they sleep away the last night of their Quest, again at the same time which Sam only did accidentally before the revelation he had received upon his seeing his star. This time they are even closer to the heart of their enemy’s realm.

In the morning, the free use of will is again emphasized as Sam takes his master onto his back and carries him half way up the Mountain before his will and strength can carry them no farther. He is crawling himself by the end. When they stop, Sam sees the Road that Sauron had made sure to keep in good repair that went from his Tower to the Sammath Naur where he had forged the Ring. Again, evil defeats itself for it is this very Road that will be used to carry Sauron’s doom to him. One of the invisible guardians protecting the hobbits calls out to them in their hearts to rise and obediently they start back up the Mountain.

Once they reach the Road, Frodo obeys a compulsion to face the East and for a moment he sees the Tower of Barad-dûr and “the flicker of a piercing Eye...” This time he feels unable to resist the call to put on the Ring and whispers to Sam to hold his hand. The will to resist is still there, but it is not strong enough for Frodo to command on his own. Sam takes his hands and gently holds them as one would in prayer and blesses them with a kiss. The compulsion is stopped completely by the greater force of love.

Even though Sam now fears they’ve been spotted and will soon be captured, he does not despair for even a moment. Instead, he takes his master onto his back once more and they continue ever closer to the black heart of Sauron’s realm, the very last place the Dark Lord would ever suspect any to go. He is not aware of how extremely thin the thread is on which his doom now hangs, having thrown all his power to the lion roaring at his Black Gate and paying no heed to report of insects crawling across his land.

Before they enter the nefarious birthplace of the Ring, Gollum reappears to attack Frodo and the two struggle for possession of their shared treasure. Frodo breaks free with fresh strength and declares with prophetic words the manner in which Gollum will meet his death. The Ring-bearer then walks “slowly but erect” toward the fulfillment of his vocation.

Sam has then the opportunity he had wished for all along: a chance to kill the utterly ruined creature who has dogged their trail and been their guide and betrayer, but who is now so completely consumed by lust for the Ring that there is nothing left but that burning. Destroying such a wretched, evil thing would have “seemed the only safe thing to do,” just as it seemed so for Bilbo in the tunnel, but what “seemed” to be the right thing to do would have been utterly disastrous. Sméagol is dead, but just at the time that Frodo no longer feels any pity for him, Sam does. He spares him out of that pity and freely wills to let the creature live. This is a tremendous turning point for Sam for it will ensure the success of the Quest, the salvation of his beloved master and that of all Middle-earth. Yet Sam does not act from any of this, just as Bilbo did not in his equally momentous decision, for only the Writer of the Story knows all the consequences of both acts and all the others that had come between. He acts simply because his heart is stirred to do so and we see the culmination of the great good that came out of Gollum’s betrayal of the two hobbits to Shelob and Sam’s decision to take the Ring as he endured the terrible grief of Frodo’s apparent death.

Now we come to the very brink literally and spiritually and here, at last, Frodo’s will and strength crumble under the demonic assault it has endured for months. Sam hears those terrible words that will haunt the Ring-bearer after his Quest is achieved: “I have come. But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!” However this is not the freely willed act which it appears to be and which Frodo later thinks it was. Every word in this tale has been very deliberately chosen to mean very deliberate things. Some of the most respected Tolkien scholars, including Tom Shippey and Verlyn Flieger, not to mention the Professor himself, consider the words “I do not choose” to mean literally that: Frodo
did not choose; the choice was made for him. He did not claim the Ring; he was claimed by it. God knew, of course, that the Ring-bearer’s mortal strength would not be enough to endure the final assault upon it, so He made sure that there was another way for the Quest to be fulfilled. Frodo did not fail in his vocation; he fulfilled it perfectly, for he was not meant to be Ring-destroyer but Ring-bearer. His failure to surrender the Ring comes after he has completed his task. He had nothing left to give, only to receive and so he receives back the compassion and mercy that he had given to Gollum. There is an essay called Frodo and Grace that speaks beautifully of this. I recommend also: 'I do not choose...'. All powers imbued with light were indeed subdued in the Sammath Naur, all but the power of the One Who is Power.

The growth in grace that came from Frodo’s fearful but willing embrace of his calling is shown once more in his saying to Sam that Gollum should be forgiven. The Ring-bearer does that from his heart, knowing to what lengths evil will twist one. He has peace. Peace for Sam comes with the great joy he feels to see his master free from the Ring’s possession, a joy that not even imminent death can quash.

The Land of Shadow

2010-01-16T11:44:00.005-06:00

Sam prays to Galadriel for light and water, knowing no higher power to pray to, or even aware that he is praying. Both petitions are readily granted, likely by the Valar. It is not just evil that is keeping watch over the Black Land. When the hobbits miraculously come across water, Sam says he wants to go first, reasoning that if it’s poisoned that it would be better that he die than Frodo, but Frodo says they should drink together, as the water could be “our blessing” instead. This is another sign that he is aware that he is being watched over and being taken care of.

Just as Frodo’s spiritual batteries were recharged by pleasant dreams, Sam’s are upon seeing Gil-Estel, the Star of High Hope, that Elbereth had set into the sky to give hope to those struggling in Middle-earth against Morgoth. Watching it shining far above him, Sam realizes that “in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: that there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.” What a profound thing for him to realize and to know that somehow everything was going to be all right in the end, that he was being watched over himself and that he wasn’t the only one watching over his treasured master. He is able to sleep under the light and shelter of that star, even while Frodo is also able to do, although deep in enemy territory. Sam's enduring hope and love is how he fights his spiritual warfare.

What a profound thing for us to realize also. We can see and have the same consolation ourselves while we are being driven earthward by the weight of our burdens. If we can find the strength to lift our heads and look up at the tremendous gifts of God, small but great lights twinkling in the vast darkness, we can know that not all is black. If we are living right, we can realize this is how others perceive us, as God sees us: lights shining in the darkness. That has the power to completely change our outlook. There is indeed beauty that evil will never touch, mar or destroy. Darkness is necessary to see the light of the heavens. Sometimes it is necessary for our own light to shine at its best also, to light the way for others and give them hope in their trials.

When the two hobbits see the torches of the Orc host coming right toward them, Frodo is convinced they are trapped. It “seems so,” Sam allows, but he also leaves the door open to the possibility that it is not the unmitigated disaster it appears. He is right, though he does not know it, for by no other means than the forced march they suffer through could the hobbits have traveled safely through the most difficult and occupied parts of the enemy land, being taken through by the enemy themselves, just as earlier Frodo had been taken into the Tower of Cirith Ungol, literally in the arms of his enemies. They could not have reached the Fire in time and save the army of the West at the Black Gate without the unwitting cooperation of their adversaries.

This capture, and the other apparent disasters that have occurred in the tale, should convince us that we should never, ever fear that even if God brings us to the point where we can see no way forward without calamity, that such is the only fate that could possibly befall us. Frodo could see nothing but the torments of the Tower being repeated upon him, if not something worse, and he has no choice but to continue toward that doom. Sam can see and hope farther, and so when they come to a crossroads, just in time to meet up with another Orc company, he takes advantage of the mutual animosity among the companies and gets himself and his master away when a fight breaks out, just when Frodo’s faltering strength is about to fail altogether. Everything is timed down to the second for our blessing and redemption. We just need to be aware of that and trust in it, as Sam is without even knowing it, and be ready to act.

The Tower of Cirith Ungol

2010-01-09T19:25:00.007-06:00

Book VI! My very favorite scene in this chapter. :)

Sam continues to be an inspiration for all of us journeying along hard roads. He must now attempt the seemingly impossible task of rescuing his beloved master from a tower bristling with Orcs. He retraces his steps from where he had knocked himself out storming the gate through which Frodo had been taken. He is terrified but he masters his “unwilling feet” and keeps moving until he comes to the point where he first saw Shagrat and his company. There his will fails for a moment. He realizes that if he takes one step more, he’ll pass the point of no return and enter Mordor.

Then something very interesting happens: “Without any clear purpose he drew out the Ring and put it on again.” It could only be the Ring’s inspiration and will that Sam obeys without question or thought, but again God uses it to allow evil to defeat itself. Sam once more immediately senses the Eye searching for him, but he also hears the clash of metal. Even though at first he fears the sounds signal Frodo being hacked to bits, that fear does not last long enough for his heart to even respond to it. Instead, it is this sound, which he could not have heard without the Ring sharpening his hearing, that restores his courage and hope. “His love for Frodo rose above all other thoughts, and forgetting his peril he cried aloud: ‘I’m coming, Mr. Frodo!’” He plunges down the path and crosses into Mordor.

Immediately, “moved it may be by some deep premonition of danger,” Sam removes the Ring. He is not completely conscious of the divine or demonic inspirations he automatically obeys, but he is protected by the former from the latter. When Sam is again confronted with the terrible power of the Ring, “gnawing at his reason and his will,” and has his own fantasy vision of what he could do with it, he is able to resist, due to the fact that just as Galadriel “will [...] remain Galadriel,” Sam will remain Sam: his heart full of love at his master’s side. The gardener is as much saved by that love as Frodo himself is. It is that, coupled with “plain hobbit-sense” and humility, which allows Sam to see through the delusions of the Ring. He knows his place in the world and he has no desire to be any place or anyone else. He wants to have someone over him, to cherish and nurture, not people under him. The Ring has nothing with which to tempt him.

Yet another way evil defeats itself is the order from Barad-dûr that any prisoner is to be kept from harm so that Sauron may torment the captive himself. This is what kept Frodo from being killed in the Tower which could very well have doomed the Quest. Though the intent behind the orders is evil, the actual effect of them is great good, helping to doom the Dark Lord through his own lusts, just as he had let go of Pippin in the palantír in the expectation of devouring him slowly later.

At the end of Sam’s long and terrifying search for his beloved master, he reaches his lowest point when he comes up against an apparent dead-end. But that was not the end of hope or the Story. I recently read a wonderful book called Believe That You Can! about pursuing our God-given dreams with tenacity, instead of being discouraged by the obstacles in our way. Our Enemy doesn’t wish us to make any forward progress and so seeks any way he can to throw us off the Path we have embraced to do God’s Will. The author says instead of being discouraged by such obstacles, we should be encouraged because we are on the verge of a breakthrough, though we do not know it. Our Adversary knows it which is why he is so anxious to stop us. If we refuse to give into his tactics and instead praise God for it, we will throw our Foe into utter confusion for he will have no idea how to react to our reaction.

Sam didn’t know, as he sat on the steps, “finally defeated” and fearing his master forever lost, that he was just beneath him and moments away from his greatest happiness. It is here that grace reaches out to touch him once more to reward his loyalty and courage: “And then softly, to his own surprise, there at the vain end of his long journey and his grief, moved by what thought in his heart he could not tell, Sam began to sing.” He thinks he hears an answer. Snaga also hears it and inadvertently leads the hobbit to the treasure he seeks. The same could be true of us, so let us press on. Let us sing out even if we don’t know why or how we can, even if our voice is just as small and forlorn at first as Sam’s was, but which then grew in strength.

Because of Sam’s docility to the workings of the Holy Spirit, we come to the most beautiful scene in the whole tale as Frodo “lay back in Sam’s gentle arms, closing his eyes, like a child at rest” and Sam feels like “he could sit like that in endless happiness...” I love, love, love that scene! It is such a wonderful, tender, loving one that shows the purity and beauty of their love so well and again shows that the naked body is not automatically something to be viewed in a sexual way.

It is only shortly afterwards that the Ring’s influence, temporarily suspended by such joy and tender love, returns with a vengeance when Frodo lashes out at his beloved guardian and accuses him of being a thief when he sees Sam with the Ring. This is my favorite scene from the BBC Radio adaptation of the tale, simply because it is so powerfully done. Frodo begs forgiveness when the madness passes and Sam instantly gives it. How his love for his master can not only be sustained through such trials, but grow ever deeper is reflected well in the words of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen who said of Jesus loving even great sinners: “He saw that a jewel had fallen into the mud and though encrusted with foulness that it was still a jewel” (Fulton J. Sheen’s Guide to Contentment 155). “Love is not blind,” Rabbi Julius Gordon said. “It sees more, not less but because it sees more, it is willing to see less.”

Frodo gives an insightful answer to Sam when the younger hobbit asks whether Orcs drink and eat. The Ring-bearer recognizes that evil cannot make things with its own will and power. It can only mock, twist and ruin things already created. He would have felt the same happening within himself. He and Sam have traveled with Gollum who once was Sméagol. The Orcs were once Elves. Such twisting would explain the hatred of both of anything Elven, including the lembas crumbs that Frodo is able to gather from the floor to feed the famished Sam.

When they encounter the terrible malice of the Watchers guarding the Tower, Sam is again inspired to use Galadriel’s phial and to call upon Elbereth. Frodo cries out in Quenya and the spell of the malevolent power is broken and they are able to escape.

The Black Gate Opens

2010-01-02T16:05:00.005-06:00

Just as a hobbit was able to give words of hope to Beregond upon arriving at Minas Tirith, the son of that soldier is able to offer such words to another hobbit after Merry watches everyone leave for what he feels is certain doom. So must we comfort each other in days of leavetaking and loss.

Aragorn gives mercy and pity to those unmanned by the horror of approaching the Black Gate. He pardons those who do not wish to continue and allows them to retain their dignity and not leave in cowardice and shame, but free to choose something else to still help the cause that is more up to their strength. This emboldens some to continue on their hard Road, their fear overwhelmed by the gift of compassionate understanding and replaced with love and courage. Others leave, glad they can do something elsewhere and not worry that they are cowards because their hearts did not have enough strength to follow Aragorn.

The Mouth of Sauron tries to trick Gandalf and the others into thinking that the imprisoned Frodo’s fate lies with them, but the wizard rejects that lie utterly. Though they did not know it, Frodo and Sam have already escaped, and while, it is indeed true that Frodo was “changed and broken” by his ordeal, it can be hoped that out of such brokenness came a beautiful new being that Sam would have seen when he came to the Undying Lands.

Pippin comes to the point Denethor had as the hopelessly outnumbered army of the West is surrounded by the incredible host that pours out of the Black Gate and the surrounding area. But the tween has the completely opposite reaction. He is not crippled or driven mad by despair so that he does nothing. Even as he acknowledges that, as far as he knows, his death is but moments away, Frodo is doomed to unspeakable torment and Merry will soon be dead also, he responds instead with compassionate insight into the heart and soul of the one who had been overcome, and resolves himself to fight to his last breath: “‘Well, well, now at any rate I understand poor Denethor a little better. .. But now I must do my best.’” So he does, killing the troll that would have killed Beregond. When he is felled by the corpse of that troll, he is calmly accepting of the death that is near.

End of Book V and what an ending!

The Last Debate

2009-12-26T19:26:00.007-06:00

When Aragorn, Éomer, Gandalf and others gather to discuss what is next to be done against Sauron, Gandalf’s advice that “I do not counsel prudence” may seem surprising at first, but it is not. The entire Quest was founded on the seemingly imprudent decision to send a “witless halfling” (as Denethor previously called Frodo) into the heart of their enemy’s realm with the very object that would ensure his victory if he recovered it. Even Gandalf himself does not know whether that was “wisdom or great folly,” but he also knows what seems folly to men is actually the wisdom of God as is shown many times throughout the Bible and in this tale, and it is this 'imprudent' God Gandalf serves and trusts. He knows that such battles as we must fight against the Enemy and his myriad slaves are not always physical ones, but are at all times spiritual ones. The wizard acknowledges that military victory is not possible against the Dark Lord, but that victory as a whole still is, if the Ring-bearer is able to continue to struggle toward the ruin of Sauron. To the military minds of Denethor and his elder son, the strategy agreed to at the Council of Elrond seemed the greatest folly, but to minds attuned to the wisdom of God and the reality of the spiritual battlefield, it was deemed the only possible hope of victory, with the clear knowledge of how very thin the thread was upon which that hope hung.

With the idea of strengthening that hope, Gandalf gives his 'imprudent' counsel that the army of the West come to the Black Gate to challenge Sauron, walking wide-eyed into an ambush of their own making, and realizing how very small was the possibility that they would survive. The rationale Gandalf has for this is the same as that of Treebeard and Théoden who said they would rather fight and die, than hide from the enemy and still be overwhelmed. Even the near certainty of death does not cause the commanders to quail at such counsel, but embrace it, in the hope that it will give Frodo and Sam the time they need to accomplish their task. They are willing to sacrifice their lives for the hobbits, just as the hobbits are willing to sacrifice theirs for them. Such willing gifts of their lives would help a new age come, even if they never saw it, or their cowardice would help ensure that they would die, knowing that age would never come for them or anyone. Everything is so very interconnected in this tale. God is behind it all, but it very much depends on the free will decisions of the children He is guiding.

The very same applies to all of us, for none of us are alone in the world. What we say and do impacts others, for good or ill. Our choices have consequences that ripple out and we cannot know at all times what will happen to others based on decisions we make. As Gandalf says, we have no responsibility to influence everything in the world, but only to do what we can in our own little plot of time and space, and try to leave the world better for our efforts so that other generations can build upon them. What they will have to contend with is not our concern, but only that we have done our part to make it easier for them.

The choice to storm the Black Gate is also founded partly on love and regard for Aragorn, just as the choice to tread the Paths of the Dead was. Faramir has already given instant fealty to his king and Éomer and Prince Imrahil here speak of theirs. That Aragorn is a pre-figuring of Christ is often pointed out in his role as healer-king, but here, as with Jesus, it is evident that there must have also been a force to his personality and presence that caused others to acknowledge him as their lord and willingly offer their lives to him in service, even to the point of death.

The Houses of Healing

2009-12-19T16:58:00.006-06:00

Gandalf acknowledges the fulfillment of both Pippin's and Merry's vocations when the wizard comes to find them after the battle. The losses would indeed have been far worse if the hobbits weren't there. Perhaps Théoden's life could have been saved if Gandalf had been there, but perhaps not. Certainly Faramir's would have been lost.

Aragorn shows his humility by refusing to enter the City as a conquering king, but only as a healer. It is in this guise that he is recognized nonetheless for who he truly is, a king who cares deeply for his people. The first he heals is Faramir, whose reaction to Aragorn is diametrically opposed to that of his father. Immediately upon waking, while still very weak from his wounds and fever, the new Steward of Gondor gives love and fealty to his healer and king. Denethor fled into death so he wouldn't have to say such words; Faramir returns from near-death so he can. Éowyn is healed next and a wind from the West accompanies the healing.

Merry is the third to be healed, and it is to him that Aragorn gives the wise words to remember Théoden gladly, instead of avoiding the beloved pastime of smoking because the reminder of the king's death would bring grief. We should remember such words when the need is upon us for there is much to celebrate in the memory of a loved one who has passed beyond us, not just reasons to grieve. Just as Aragorn tells Merry to "smoke and think of him," there are things we can do also to remember our dear ones: going to a favorite restaurant, park, theatre, bookstore, or just sitting in the living room across from the chair where the beloved once sat so often. Go there and absorb the presence of the one who is gone, not just their absence. The loss will be too keen at first to do this, but it will bring so much healing and peace, once we are able to do so. I would think that there were many times Sam, Merry and Pippin did this after Frodo left for the West.

Aragorn is also wise in that he wishes the full news of Denethor's death to be kept from Faramir until he is stronger and has duties to distract him from dwelling upon it too deeply. The yet-to-be-crowned king is not only concerned for his people's physical well-being, but their spiritual wellness also, which is another mark of his true identity.

The Pyre of Denethor

2009-12-12T16:15:00.005-06:00

As Gandalf and Pippin meet Denethor in the Houses of the Dead, the wizard tells the Steward he has no authority to command the hour of his death or to rob Faramir of his choice whether to live or not. Only "the heathen kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus," Gandalf says. For a moment, as Denethor watches his son being taken away, the Steward's soul stood on the knife's edge, like Saruman's and Sméagol's had before, and Frodo's would later, and like them, Denethor's wavered, then fell into darkness. Due to the mercy and pity Frodo had already given and so received, the Ring-bearer returned to the light. The others didn't have that to fall back on so when they lost their balance, they fell further into darkness.

Denethor reveals the truth of Gandalf's words when he reveals that he is indeed under dark domination when he brings out the palantír he had been using. He declares Gandalf's hope for victory to be naught but his ignorance of the black fleet of the Corsairs that the Steward has seen coming up the Anduin. He has given up without a fight. Aragorn saw the same thing and had the opposite reaction. So did Éomer. They had not been poisoned by Sauron as had Denethor.

But to the Steward it would not have mattered, even if he had known, whether the fleet was manned by Umbar pirates or by Aragorn. Either way his days were over. Denethor states his case against Aragorn and why he does not wish to step down for him. He says if he can't have things his own way, then he'll have no way. Despair and pride had completely unbalanced his mind. All the grief in this chapter and Théoden's death in the previous one is caused by the madness Sauron induced in Denethor by the Steward's foolish use of the Seeing Stone.

After Denethor's death, Gandalf looks abroad and sees all the things "of great sorrow and renown" that had happened upon the field of the Pelennor. He grieves greatly for the loss of Théoden that perhaps he could have prevented had it not been for Denethor's mad desire to kill Faramir. But he is also aware of the fall of the Witch-king.

The Ride of the Rohirrim

2009-12-05T12:26:00.000-06:00

As Éomer observes, there are several ways that the contriving of evil defeats itself. The dark gloom that presses down on all their hearts also cloaks the passage of the Rohirrim. The wanton destruction of the out-wall also serves to aid the warriors for now they can ride swiftly to the aid of the beleaguered Citadel instead of having to waste time and spend many lives to win through. Their enemy has done the work for them.

Merry thinks more than once upon his folly of disobeying the king’s orders to stay behind. The romantic glory of being in battle has yielded to reality and he wonders what good at all he will be able to do. He thinks he will be nothing but a nuisance as he remembers Théoden’s words: “....in such a battle what would you do, Meriadoc?” We shall see, shan’t we? Gandalf has already alluded to the fall of the Witch-king, but no one yet knows how it will come about.

When the king and his warriors come before Minas Tirith and see the devastation already wrought, it is enough for anyone to have despaired. But Théoden has the opposite reaction to that of Denethor, who has already despaired and is preparing to take his own life and murder his son. Théoden and his knights refuse to surrender to such, and so are able to help aid the City that its Steward already considers lost.

The Siege of Gondor

2009-11-28T12:44:00.008-06:00

Pippin may not think that his silly hobbit songs are fit for the grand hall of Denethor, but the Steward is quite right to challenge that claim for indeed such cheer from a people untouched by the Shadow would be welcome in such a dark time, and enough to make the Rangers’ unknown job of keeping them that way seem worth it.

Denethor says he would have kept the Ring “...hidden dark and deep. Not used, I say, unless at the uttermost end of need.” But the Steward has already reached that point. Gandalf tells him that he doesn’t trust him or even himself to keep the Ring unused, for he knows the terrible power of that object to overthrow any will, no matter how strong in resistance: “Were it buried beneath the roots of Mindolluin, still it would burn your mind away...” Denethor doesn’t believe the greater wisdom and knowledge of Gandalf. He believes he would be strong enough to resist, and with the surety of victory that the Ring would bring, they “should not then shake with dread under this gloom, fearing the worst...” Yes, that fear would have been removed, but not in the way Denethor believes. The Steward does not have the wisdom and prudence of his younger son either. Faramir has the strength and love for his land that Denethor only thinks he has. The Ring would have been impossible for the older man to resist. His test would have been similar to Galadriel’s who had long mused over what she would do with the Ring, but unlike that lady Elf, the Steward would have failed his test.

Gandalf is, at first, quite startled and afraid to hear from Faramir that Frodo and Sam have gone with Gollum to Cirith Ungol. Such would be the reaction of any of us since we do not know all that is ahead. But as he later tells Pippin, he also sees hope which comes from his faith and trust in the One he serves with his whole mind, heart and soul. This ability to go quickly from fear to hope comes only from one Source and Sam’s soul draws on it ever more as well, as do Pippin, Aragorn and Faramir. Gandalf knows he cannot control everything and be everywhere he would like to be. Instead, he places his faith in the One Who is everywhere and sees all things and trusts that all things shall work out as they should. Perhaps even his fall in Moria and surrender to the One Whose will it was, was brought about to strengthen that faith and trust so that when it was tested again, it would not fail, but be there to strengthen Pippin and the men of Gondor. Through Gandalf’s return with greater power, it had been revealed that apparent disasters - either Moria or Faramir’s news of the hobbits’ path - were really the ways through which God chose to bring great good.

This point of view is the opposite of what Denethor has. He has been corrupted by Sauron through the palantír and so is in despair, but it is interesting that what brought him to his final madness was something he saw that Sauron was not even aware of. Like we do all too often, we jump to a worst-case scenario with no in-between. The fact that we do not know what is ahead causes us much fear and anxiety that could be diminished or eliminated all together if we had the same faith Gandalf does and the same hope Sam does. The only way Denethor sees that his anguish could be relieved is if he has the Ring in his possession, but what he sees in the Seeing Stone on March 13th, the day Faramir is injured, breaks him completely. It is not clearly stated in the text, but it is obvious from the hints there, from the date that a pale light is seen in the Steward's chambers, that Denethor has seen Frodo, captured in the Tower and the Ring nowhere to be seen. The man has placed his hope for victory in the wrong place and so collapses altogether when that hope dies. Gandalf has not. Such faith and trust that God knows and sees all things, and will take care of us through the worst storms, is the only thing that we should rely on, for it is the only thing that will not fail.

The Muster of Rohan

2009-11-21T16:08:00.006-06:00

As Éomer observes, there are several ways that the contriving of evil
defeats itself. The dark gloom that presses down on all their hearts also
cloaks the passage of the Rohirrim. The wanton destruction of the out-wall
also serves to aid the warriors for now they can ride swiftly to the aid of
the beleaguered Citadel instead of having to waste time and spend many lives to win through. Their enemy has done the work for them.

Merry thinks more than once upon his folly of disobeying the king’s orders
to stay behind. The romantic glory of being in battle has yielded to reality
and he wonders what good at all he will be able to do. He thinks he will be
nothing but a nuisance as he remembers Théoden’s words: “....in such a
battle what would you do, Meriadoc?” We shall see, shan’t we?
Gandalf has already alluded to the fall of the Witch-king, but no one yet
knows how it will come about.

When the king and his warriors come before Minas Tirith and see the
devastation already wrought, it is enough for anyone to have despaired. But
Théoden has the opposite reaction to that of Denethor, who has already
despaired and is preparing to take his own life and murder his son. Théoden
and his knights refuse to surrender to such, and so are able to help aid the
City that its Steward already considers lost.

The Passing of the Grey Company

2009-11-14T10:59:00.007-06:00

Aragorn is aware that an hour "long prepared approaches," but he is not sure
how he will come to that time. Such is the way of all men (and hobbits). We
may see or think we see a future, but we are not sure which Road will get us
there, how far we will have to travel or how many perils we will have to
overcome to reach our goal. If we have been graced with a glimpse, though,
of that future and know what our vocation is, we need to trust that if God
has shown us that time He has "long prepared" for us, then He will also make
sure we get there, as long as we continue to do His Will. Aragorn has no
personal desire to go on the Paths of the Dead, but once it is revealed to
him that is indeed the Road that God wishes him to take, he does not
question it, but completely embraces it. When Éomer speaks of his fear that
he will not see his friend again, the king-to-be assures him that with the
hope that they still may even "though all the hosts of Mordor should stand
between." So it is proved when they are reunited on the fields of the
Pelennor.

I love Aragorn's words to Halbarad as they watch Merry leave with Théoden
and the king's men: "He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he
still would go on." Such words would fit Frodo and Sam equally well. Frodo
already fears it is to his death that he is going, yet he continues on. Sam
will come to the point when he thinks the same, but that does not stop him.
We all need to have the same stoutheartedness and fortitude of these so
small in body, so great in heart.

Aragorn's words to Éowyn that he goes "on a path appointed" is one of the
clearest signs in the tale, equal to all those about Frodo's vocation, of
the guidance given by God to His Children. He tells her if he obeyed his own
desires, he would be in Rivendell, but he is not. He is walking into grave
peril with the trust and faith that the One leading him into it will lead
him out again. He is a wonderful example of servanthood and docility to the
Holy Spirit, as are Gandalf, Frodo and Sam.

Éowyn is the opposite. She is frustrated and angry that her servant's role
in the tending of her ailing uncle, which she thought would have ended now
that he ails no longer, has just changed in direction and she still has to
stay behind just because she is a woman. She wants out in the worst way,
having just as fiery a warrior spirit as her brother but no outlet for it.
Aragorn refuses her plea to ride with him, saying she has no errand with him
and he would not throw her life away needlessly. In the end, she follows her
own will when she rides into battle with the Rohirrim and it is there on the
Pelennor Fields that it is shown to her and to everyone why she was made
both a woman and a warrior. It also shows that God will even use our
discontented rebellion at times to advance His plans.

Sometimes when I get frustrated myself and want to do what I want, Aragorn's
words "Few may do that with honour" pull me up short. It is better indeed to
be docile and follow God's will, even if it seems frustrating and pointless,
or leads down dark Roads that we would have never traveled on our own.

I love the way Legolas describes the Dead who follow Aragorn and his
company: "I see shapes of Men and horses, and pale banners like shreds of
clouds, and spears like winter-thickets on a misty night."

Minas Tirith

2009-10-24T16:08:00.010-05:00

Book V!

Because of the scorn and suspicion Pippin hears in Denethor's voice, "pride stirred strangely" within the tween and he offers his service to the Steward in payment for his life being saved by Boromir. Much good will come out of that strange stirring for it will save Faramir's life and ultimately heal Éowyn's heart since the Steward's younger son will be alive to be healed. Denethor actively sought his son's death, but God just as actively sought his life, and through the bruising of a hobbit's pride, succeeded.

Pippin displays a bit of the spiritual discernment that his elder cousin, Frodo, is graced with when he is able to see "by a sense other than sight" the veiled, angelic majesty that Gandalf truly embodies but holds strictly in check. The hobbit also detects the great joy that is beneath the care and sorrow of the wizard, the "fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth." Gandalf can be joyful because, though the Shadow looms large over Minas Tirith and the battle is soon to begin in earnest, he has faith in his Creator Who looms even larger. It is a wonderful example of trust and hope, surpassed only by Sam's at the Fire. It is the same we must have as darkness spreads in our own Age.

Beregond reveals to Pippin that it is rumored that Denethor at times searches "even the mind of the Enemy, wrestling with him." Do not do that! Tolkien was horrified when C.S. Lewis dedicated The Screwtape Letters to him because he did not think it wise to delve too deeply into the darkness, lest one be caught as Saruman and Denethor were. I have nothing against that masterpiece, but it is true that we should not confront our Foe directly for we cannot win, using only our own will and strength.

Saruman and Denethor both fell under the sway of the Dark Power, but they had opposite reactions. The fallen Maia fancies that he can overthrow the new master he feigns to serve, not realizing that it is he who is overthrown. Denethor does not in any way, open or secret, serve Sauron or wish to supplant him, but he does nothing to hinder his Enemy's victory that he fears is nigh. Sauron is able to defeat both his foes without a single physical stroke. He makes Saruman serve him and Denethor, who would have fought him, is defeated and destroyed through the spiritual weapon of despair. Such a weapon strikes at the heart of many, but the Steward is the only one undone by it.

When Beregond asks Pippin if there is any hope that Minas Tirith will not fall, the hobbit does not answer at first. He thinks of the great amount of evil that Sauron has already unleashed, and he is frightened by the cry of the Nazgûl flying above. "Then suddenly Pippin looked up and saw that the sun was still shining and the banners still streaming in the breeze." Frodo had felt something similar in Bag End when Gandalf told him about the Ring, and he imagined the terrible fires of Mount Doom only to come back to himself to see his own small fire and that the darkness had not fallen. This is what we need to see. Too often we live not in the present, but the past or a feared future. If our eyes are truly open, we will see that our world is not as dark as we think it to be. The sun does still shine. Pippin's next words are some of the most heartening and inspiring in the whole tale and in them, he exhibits the naturally cheerful and hopeful hobbit nature that he shares with Sam: "No, my heart will not yet despair. Gandalf fell and has returned and is with us. We may stand, if only on one leg, or at least be left still upon our knees." "Rightly said!" indeed as Beregond said, his spirits and hope now renewed by this moment of grace, provided by a hobbit who refuses to be defeated by adversity, real or feared. When Gandalf fell in Moria, there was no way any of them could have imagined that he would come back. It all seemed a terrible disaster, but Pippin now uses that example as a reason to hope. All seems dark and terrible for Minas Tirith, but Pippin is refusing to believe in the worst. If Gandalf could come back, then anything is possible. What a marvelous attitude to have!

The Choices of Master Samwise

2009-10-10T22:25:00.006-05:00

This chapter contains another of my favorite sentences when Sam fights Shelob: "No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts, where some desperate small creature armed with little teeth, alone, will spring upon a tower of horn and hide that stands above its fallen mate.” He is inspired to call upon Elbereth, and so is able to defeat his monstrous enemy.

It is after this great victory that Sam is plunged into the worst agony of his life when he believes his beloved master dead. Despair, rage and grief fill him to overflowing, while a black night in which he sits long swallows his shattered heart. He holds Frodo’s hand as he holds court with himself as to how to continue, or if to continue at all now that the light which had sustained his life and hope has been quenched. His choices were easy when Frodo was alive because all he had to do was follow him and that overcame his own fears: “[H]e had stuck to his master all the way; that was what he had chiefly come for, and he would still stick to him’”(Book IV, Chapter 3, 624). But now Sam is alone and has to make up his own mind. He’s afraid that he’ll make a mistake, but he has grown much since the Quest began, and is now a hobbit with “a deep capacity for discernment and reflection” SparkNotes: The Lord of the Rings, 245). He considers pursuing Gollum out of vengeance, and even thinks of suicide, but dismisses both. He doesn’t want to become the Ring-bearer because he doesn’t consider that to be his place. Then he hears an inner voice say,”But you haven’t put yourself forward; you’ve been put forward. As for not being the right and proper person, why, Mr. Frodo wasn’t, as you might say, nor Mr. Bilbo. They didn’t choose themselves.” This is the same thought process we should have when we have a crucial decision to make. We should carefully weigh all our options and pray for the discernment to make the best choice. Sam was not alone in his deliberations and neither are we. We are all being ‘put forward’ for some great purpose. We have only to discover it.

It is still “altogether against the grain of his nature” to take on a leadership role and leave his master’s side, but as Sam realizes that he’s a vessel of Another, this sits better with him, because it will allow him to continue in his role as servant. It is touching that he asks Frodo if he understands what he must do. That he spoke to his master as though he were still alive is further evidence of Faramir’s remark that the hobbit’s heart was “shrewd as well as faithful, and saw clearer than [his] eyes.”

One of the most beautiful professions of love and hope in the tale comes after Sam has kissed his master’s brow in farewell and taken the Ring: "Good-bye, master, my dear… Forgive your Sam. He’ll come back to this spot when the job’s done - if he manages it. And then he’ll not leave you again. Rest you quiet till I come; and may no foul creature come anigh you. And if the Lady could hear me and give me one wish, I would wish to come back and find you again."

When speaking of that wish/plea/prayer to Galadriel, Judith Klinger says that Sam’s enduring hope comes here in the form of his “ability to reinterpret ultimate separation as a hope for reunion’” (Tolkien and Modernity 2, 207). Instead of being an “empty fall into nothingness” as Sam thought death when tempted to suicide, “death is now envisioned as a ‘quiet rest’ that Sam can eventually share with Frodo, and a reunion that affirms an irrevocable bond” (188). Grace filled the younger hobbit in a different way than it did his master, and gave him the ability throughout the Quest, to have hope that is so alive that it can even see past death to life again. This is the hope that Aragorn tries to convey in his last words to his beloved Arwen. That Sam can see with the same eyes of faith and not even know his Creator is an astonishing gift from God.

He looks upon his beloved master by the light of the Phial, and is gifted with another vision in which he sees ahead, this time to the time after Frodo has left for the West. The Ring-bearer’s face was “fair of hue again, pale but beautiful with an elvish beauty, as of one who has long passed the shadows.” When Sam at last finds the strength and courage to leave the terrible lair, ”‘where all his life had fallen in ruin,” he “begins his rise to supremely heroic stature,” as Tolkien wrote to Milton Waldman. “He fights the Spider, rescues his master’s body, assumes the ghastly burden of the Ring, and is preparing to stagger on alone in an attempt to carry out the impossible errand” (The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, 746).

Sam continues to doubt the wisdom of his decision to leave Frodo, just as we tell ourselves that we have made up our minds to follow a particular course, but in reality we are awash in self-doubt and not at all sure we have chosen correctly. Sam’s questions “Have I got it wrong?” and ‘What ought I to have done?” are the same ones that echo through us. They are very natural and to be expected, even after the most carefully thought out deliberations. There was no rashness in the hobbit’s choice and we should not act in that manner either. We are never going to have all our questions answered, be presented with all the knowledge we need or foresee all the consequences of our actions, in order to make the most perfect choice. We can only act upon the knowledge we do have, and trust that God will either lead us in the direction we have chosen or point out an alternate route for us to follow. Sam made the best choice he could in the circumstances, and it was the hardest one also, but that is sometimes the one that must be made.

When Sam sees Orcs coming right at him after he has left Shelob’s Lair, he puts on the Ring to escape them. This is an absolutely vital moment in the history of the Quest, and for Frodo’s salvation, and of all Middle-earth, though only the Writer of the Story knows that. Who or what inspired Sam’s decision is not made clear which is often the case in real life. We don’t always know what is driving our choices. It is not Sam’s own will choosing, but his obedience to an unspoken command that he complies with without thought. It could have been the Ring in yet another effort to be discovered or it could have been God allowing that evil intention to defeat itself. Much good came of Sam wearing the Ring, as well as grave peril which he was
sheltered from.

When, however, Sam learns that the Orcs have discovered Frodo’s body, he throws aside his decision to continue the Quest, and starts to return to defend his master. This could have been disastrous but again in God’s perfect timing, he does not reach Frodo until the Orcs have taken him away. The young hobbit then receives a tremendous shock when he learns that his master is not dead after all, something he realizes his heart knew all along. He thinks he made a terrible mistake by leaving Frodo’s body, but he had been inspired to do exactly the right thing. It was crucial to the success of the Quest and Frodo’s salvation that Sam be allowed to believe what his eyes saw and blind at first to what his heart knew. Otherwise he would have stayed with Frodo, not taken the Ring, and the Orcs would have captured them, and the Ring would have been found. Sometimes it is a very good thing that we don’t have all the answers, even though such uncertainty causes anxiety.

Sam had struggled with his decision to leave his master since he had made it, but now there is no longer any doubt in his mind what he must do: rescue Frodo or die attempting that seemingly impossible task. His vocation is clear to him once more. So it may happen to us. It may not all unfold at one time, but gradually, as we walk further down the Road. We can pray for that glorious day when we are suddenly free of doubts and fears and know with clearer vision than ever that this particular path we have chosen is the one we are meant to be on. There will be further struggles, for the Enemy hates when we make any forward progress, and will throw more roadblocks in our way, but with grace, we can continue on, just as the hobbits and all those who fought in the War of the Ring.

End of Book IV!

Shelob's Lair

2009-10-03T22:09:00.005-05:00

Sam is inspired to recall the phial that Galadriel gave to his master. Frodo is in turn inspired to cry out in Quenya, a language he doesn’t even know, which helps activate the light that shines out in the terrible darkness of Shelob’s Lair and saves them for the moment. We need not fear our own dark roads for we will be given, just as they were, all we need to triumph over the darkness, even if we are also wounded by our enemies.

The slow-kindled courage of hobbits is shown here again in one of my favorite sentences in the whole tale: “Then holding the star aloft and the bright sword advanced, Frodo, hobbit of the Shire, walked steadily down to meet the eyes.” Evil does not expect to be resisted or fought. It may tarry a bit in devouring us so we can “run a little while in vain panic, for the amusement of the eyes,” but it presumes, through its overwhelming presence, that it holds the whole advantage over us. But we can completely turn the tables on it, if we, like the hobbits, turn and fight it instead. We can be almost crushed by the overwhelming malice that is very personally directed toward us, but also then discover the incredible power we have to conquer such an adversary, for we will never fight alone. What seems to be a breath from death or worse can instead be victory snatched into our own hands, and our seemingly unstoppable Foe vanquished for that time. Instead of exulting or gloating over our cowering under the assault, the Enemy will discover our strength instead and that of the One Who is giving it. Our Foe is like a schoolyard bully who does not expect the object of his torment to stand up to him or some bigger boy to come to defend the one he's tormenting. Shelob certainly did not expect the treatment she got!

We should try to cultivate and pray for Frodo’s grace-filled courage to fill our own souls, for as his victory over Shelob was temporary, so is ours over our Foe, and we will need such grace to continue the struggle. Our victory will not be complete until we surrender our souls to God at the acceptance of the Gift He gave to His children and pass forever beyond the grasp of the Adversary. Until then, the “hatred of the Watcher” will lurk behind and before us as it did for the hobbits and our Foe is stronger and more evil than theirs. We already know that his defeat is certain at the end of time, but until then he will strive mightily to claim all the souls he can, “still bent on death.” Just as Frodo more than once felt “a great malice bent upon him and a deadly regard considering him,” we may also feel the very personal, very unwelcome regard of bestial eyes and thought “filled with purpose and with hideous delight, gloating, over...prey trapped beyond all hope of escape.” Let us remember, however, to never abandon hope for we cannot see ahead even for a second with any certainty, and what may seem to be unstoppable, unbeatable doom can turn around in an instant. We may feel eyes “looking at [us], or thinking about [us], making another plan,” but we can never be so trapped that we cannot be rescued by God, through whatever manner He wishes to use. There is no place on earth that He cannot reach and pull us out from the Enemy’s grasping clutches. Even if our escape is only through death, we will defeat our Adversary, if we have remained true to the end. When the darkness and despair lift, let us look upon our own “morning of sudden hope” as Frodo did when he thought he and Sam had escaped the eyes, as Blessed Mother Teresa did when her darkness lifted for a few weeks. We may return to the night as the hobbits did, as she did who then traveled for decades in the dark, but nothing is allowed without good purpose; even great pain and anguish can bear great fruit. There is so much good that came out of Shelob’s sting, Frodo’s apparent death and that nun’s torment. God would not have allowed it otherwise.

Another thing we should cultivate in our hearts is Sam’s remarkable ability to recover so quickly from the “blackness of despair” that had come over him in the Lair before Frodo’s defeat of the eyes to celebrating his master’s great victory over them and wishing he could hear the Elves sing of it.

The Stairs of Cirith Ungol

2009-09-19T22:28:00.007-05:00

Just passed the first anniversary of this blog! Let’s celebrate! :)

Just as “[r]eluctantly Frodo turned his back on the West and followed as his guide led him, out into the darkness of the East,” we may feel at times that we are leaving light, life, and hope behind to enter a place of blackness, death and despair. It may not be necessarily a physical location, but a place our souls must travel through. Or perhaps, it will be, like for the hobbits, a combination, for physical journeys are often accompanied by spiritual ones. May we travel safely through such lands and learn what we need to, for we would have not been brought to such desolate parts, if there wasn’t a way we could grow.

Being so close to the presence of evil at Minas Morgul temporarily blinds Frodo, as it had in the Emyn Muil, or at least so it seems, when he staggers toward the tower. May we have, like he did, a Sam to guide us away when we become fascinated by a path that would be ill for us to follow. It is important to note that not only Sam’s presence and words allow Frodo to resist the urge to run toward that terrible place, but his own will restored once more to fight against the overwhelming power of the Ring. Such an intense spiritual struggle has a physical effect on them both, just as it had on Gandalf when he strove against the dark power in Moria and against Sauron in the struggle for Frodo’s soul on Amon Hen.

There is another great struggle when Frodo feels the terrible power beating against him, but at first has no desire to yield to it. His will is then entirely circumvented and he watches his hand move toward the Ring without any guidance from him. It only pulls back when his own will stirs from sleep and he brushes against Galadriel’s phial instead, breaking the compulsion. This is so like our own struggles against the horrible powers arrayed against us.

But, as before, Frodo is given a way out. This shows how easily evil can be defeated, for all its terrible, seemingly irresistible power. If we focus all our strength and will on resistance, we can break the power of what seemed so impossible to resist a moment before. Frodo gives his hand something else to focus on instead and the terrible power is broken. But he is not out of danger and neither are we when we defeat our Enemy once for he will come back again and again and again. We can defeat him one way and he will come in another. If we close a door, he’ll rattle a window.
It is not long after Frodo defeats his adversary’s latest assault, that another is launched and the most chilling words of the tale come to be. Frodo did not feel himself strong enough to fight the Ringwraiths. “Not yet.” He is already imagining a time when he will be.

He is almost overwhelmed once more by despair, and by pride, when he sees the great army leave Minas Morgul and realizes he is too late and no one will ever know of his deed, even if he can perform it. But then his head clears almost right away, though his despair does not leave. He knows what he must do, whether anyone knows of it or not, and that is what he will continue to do. That is what we must continue to do as well. The only One Who truly needs to know all we do is the One Who gave us the task to complete to the best of our ability, whether we receive human recognition or not. Frodo did not start on his journey out of a desire for renown, but pride is beginning to eat away at him, though he conquers it for the moment.

His hope that maybe his task could be accomplished after all is renewed when he sees the Tower of Cirith Ungol in the distance. He thinks if he could just get past that, he could make it the rest of the way. Even though in one moment he is considering that impossible, he immediately can see a way past that into the possible. We may think things are impossible, but with trust and faith that ‘nothing is impossible with God’ we can break down the barriers that the seemingly impossible raise up against us. Surviving for 17 days with the shard of a Morgul-blade within him should have been impossible, but Frodo did it. Rescuing him from the Tower should have been also, but it wasn’t. As Sam points out, Beren retrieving a Silmaril from the Iron Crown on the head of Morgoth should have been impossible, but that was accomplished also. Let us remember that when we face our own seemingly impenetrable barriers, only to push past them and see them from the other side, broken and smashed.

Sam’s talk about the stories he and Frodo loved as lads in which the folks in them “had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t” is a powerful meditation on the inspiration of such tales. He is astonished when he realizes that he and Frodo are themselves part of the same Story. When Sam wonders whether their own tale will have a good or bad ending, Frodo says it is better not to know and he’s right.

When Gollum slinks back after arranging the betrayal of the hobbits to Shelob, he finds Frodo and Sam asleep in each other's arms and almost repents. He reaches out to caress Frodo’s knee, but at that very moment, the Ring-bearer cries out from a nightmare and wakes Sam. The goodness that was growing becomes a blighted stillbirth instead when it is strangled, though not willfully or knowingly, by Sam. Because he’s never borne Gollum any good will, he completely misunderstands the tender gesture, and wonders instead why the creature is ‘pawing at master.’ He calls Gollum a villain and in the blaze of that anger, the tender shoots that Frodo had so carefully cultivated in the hope they would bloom, wither and die. This is not only a tragedy for Sméagol, but also for Sam. He only sees ‘Slinker,’ not the tormented hobbit who was painfully crawling back toward the light, but as Professor Tolkien acknowledges, “[...] Sam could hardly have acted differently” (Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 330). Sam hasn’t yet borne the Ring so hasn’t had the glimpse into Sméagol’s soul that Frodo has. Neither hobbit recognize that this is the moment of Sméagol’s death, though Sam notices the return of Gollum by the wicked green light in his eyes, which he has noticed at various other times. The betrayal goes forward.

Journey to the Crossroads

2009-09-12T15:04:00.004-05:00

Frodo's defiant cry, "They cannot conquer for ever!" is from the faith and hope that is stirred within him by the ray of sunlight highlighting the flower-crowned king. Moments before he had been filled with dread, but the sun shines for a little bit and lifts his spirits. Fleming Rutledge states it beautifully when she says, that Frodo's response to this gift is "...that of the faithful disciple whose only hope is the promise he has been given...the Power that sent Gandalf has vouchsafed a sign to give them heart in their loneliness" (Battle 226). She continues, "The sign given to Frodo at the Cross-roads was profoundly significant for him, because he had been resting in the bosom of the eucharistic community [Henneth Annûn, a pocket of resistance and circle of believers like Rivendell and Lothlórien were, and I would add Mirkwood, outposts of faith in territory occupied by the Enemy as all Arda is to one extent or another] and now has been wrenched away, a deprivation that greatly increases the pull of the Ring. While he was in Henneth Annûn, its weight was lighter, but now he is in the orbit of the Enemy once more. [And growing closer and closer all the time. One thinks of that frightening vision in The Fellowship of the Ring movie when Frodo is lifted up to the Eye.] Resisting temptation is infinitely more difficult for the Christian when he or she is not securely lodged in the community of faith..." (Battle 227). This is, of course, why Sam was placed at his master's side for we know, from the Ring-bearer's own lips, "Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam." God gave Frodo a very special, unique vocation, but He also made sure His child would have companions "so the errand would not fail" as Sam says later as he tries to sort out what to do after his master's apparent death. Had God not arranged this, Frodo or Sméagol would have given in to the temptation of the Ring at one point or another, fought and possibly killed the other, been found by the forces of the Enemy and the Ring would have returned to its maker.

The Forbidden Pool

2009-09-05T21:30:00.005-05:00

When Frodo begs Faramir to save Gollum’s life at the pool, there are strong echoes back to when Bilbo spared the same creature. Even the exact same words could be used: "’The creature is wretched and hungry,’ said Frodo, "and unaware of his danger.’" Both times Gollum is in grave peril of being killed, and the possibility of his continued existence could bring danger to those who spare him, but both times mercy is given because the wicked creature is defenseless and does not even know that his death could be moments away. Frodo tells the Ranger, "keep your bows bent, and shoot me at least, if I fail." He is so essential to the Quest. No one else has been appointed and ordained Ring-bearer, but he’s also willing to put his own life in danger to save another who as it turns out is equally essential to the Quest, as is Sam.

Even after this passionate plea, Frodo is still tempted to tell Anborn to shoot when he hears Gollum and Sméagol talking. He thinks with longing that he could be rid of that voice forever, but he fights against the desire and instead goes on to save Sméagol’s life, though he also knows the ruined hobbit’s mind will not be able to understand what happened and will consider it a betrayal instead. In listening to the "prayer of Frodo," Faramir shows the restraint we must all have if there is even a remote possibility of either escaping an adversary or sparing a life without bloodshed, even if such mercy could cause harm to us. Bilbo and Frodo have both glimpsed Gollum’s soul and taken the action they did because of it. Faramir is an equally adept discerner of souls and gives mercy, even though he also recognizes the evil that dwells with Gollum.

Frodo feels "wretched" about the idea that Gollum would think himself betrayed because he knows how close to reality that really was, not only in outward appearance but in the inward desire that he had quashed just as Bilbo had decades before. "He came to me, because he trust me, I’m afraid," Frodo tells Sam. It grieves him to have dealt such a bitter blow to the heart which had been making such tentative steps back to goodness and light due to Frodo’s previous care, but what else could he have done’ As Ralph C. Wood says, "He despises using treachery even against the treacherous...Even the faithless should be shown faith" (Gospel 133). It is interesting that in the movie that it is Sam who, though he absolutely cannot abide Gollum, tries to heal the wound their master gave, by saying that Frodo didn’t mean the creature any harm and asks him to forgive him.

When Faramir and the hobbits are ready to part, the importance of keeping a promise even if there’s a possibility it will bring harm to oneself is brought home. Frodo promised to look after Sméagol and doesn’t want to go back on that even when Faramir warns him that Gollum may betray him. But Faramir still doesn’t counsel that Frodo be false to Sméagol. He and Frodo both value being morally upright over physical safety, in keeping their word even when they could be harmed by it. They value their souls over their bodies; their spiritual life over their physical life. Frodo knows that he still can’t completely trust Gollum, but as Professor Wood says, "Even so, Frodo has a strange respect for Gollum. He discerns in a deeply intuitive way that Gollum is divinely destined to play his crucial role... Far more importantly, Frodo believes that Gollum is not fixed in evil, but that he had the capacity to overcome the addictive effects of the Ring. He wants, therefore, to extend at least minimal friendship to this miserable fellow hobbit. There is a tiny ray of light peeking into the prison cell of Gollum’s life, making him long to leave his wretched isolation and to find companionship with another creature of his own kind" (Gospel 131). Frodo once more accepts Gollum as guide, against Sam’s liking and Faramir’s counsel.

Faramir’s hope that perhaps there would come a day of light beyond the darkness that he fears will consume Frodo at Cirith Ungol is akin to that of Aragorn, Gandalf and Sam. None of them know the future with any certainty but instead of despairing at the growing shadows, they opt for the possibility of hope beyond the darkness, when they can be, as Faramir says, "sitting by a wall in the sun, laughing at old grief." They all have the ability to acknowledge that the end may soon come, and then immediately to have hope in the possibility that it may not. We need to have the same hope, trust and faith, that there is light to come, even after what appears to be a terrible darkness falling. Too often, too easily do we jump right to the worst-case scenario without thinking that something else may be possible. We all fear the future in one way or another because we do not know it, but our fears would be lessened or disappear all together, if we could but turn them around and tell ourselves that since we don’t know, we are not going to automatically assume the worst and believe our fears represent the only possible reality or outcome. God already knows what is ahead and He is going to give us enough strength to get through whatever storms appear to be or are on the horizon.

The Window on the West

2009-08-29T16:32:00.009-05:00

Sam’s anger is roused when he hears Faramir giving his master what he would have called ‘sauce’ and he gives it right back when he tells the Ranger how he feels about being delayed on their journey: "But it’s a pity that folk as talk about fighting the Enemy can’t let others do their bit in their own way without interfering. He’d be mighty pleased, if he could see you now. Think he’d got a new friend, he would." This is similar to what Haldir spoke of when he said division among allies only helped their adversary and when Gandalf said, "We are all friends here. Or should be..." when he and the others were delayed from entering Théoden's hall. Indeed, "the laughter of Mordor will be our only reward, if we quarrel." But such tensions do arise when we meet strangers on the Road, especially in a time of war when suspicions are higher and it is right that no one should be trusted outright. That does not negate, however, the truth of all these various speakers about the value of allies not quarreling, once it is established that some strangers are merely friends we haven't yet met and now have.

Faramir has already shown the same wisdom as Aragorn did in the Old Forest when he does not shoot his potential enemies on sight, but seeks to find out whether they are indeed foes first. Éomer did the same thing when he encountered the Three Hunters. Both Ranger and Marshal were under orders to take any and all strangers to their lord, but both refuse, trusting to their own wisdom that those they came upon were worthy of being set free. This is what we need to discern also about strangers that come across our path. It takes the hobbits some time before they can trust Faramir, and he them, but they do indeed recognize each other’s quality.

Faramir resists the temptation of the Ring when Sam ‘accidentally’ lets out the fact that Frodo has it. He has already said he wouldn’t pick it up by the side of the road or even use it if that was the only way to save Minas Tirith. He recognizes the utter evil of the Ring, that it cannot be used since it would destroy him and the land he loves. He has only to look as far as his beloved brother, Boromir, to know the Ring can corrupt the hearts of men. However, he is able to resist for he knows his own potential weakness: "I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee." Heed Faramir’s words! If we do not give in initially, that will strengthen us not to give in another time, though it is no guarantee that the strength will remain. We will still fall at some point, but the more actively we resist, the harder time the Enemy will have sinking his talons into us. He won’t stop trying, but we must not make it easy for him. We must also be aware of our own strengths and weaknesses to know which are the perils we must flee. Perhaps we will not discover them until we are tested. We should never presume or assume we will be strong enough to withstand anything or that if we pass one test, we will pass all others, that our strength will last. Faramir knows the Ring is beyond his strength to control and he has no desire to use it, but he also wishes it to be away from him. "I do not wish to see it, or touch it, or know more of it than I know (which is enough), lest peril perchance waylay me and I fall lower in the test than Frodo son of Drogo."

Faramir’s resolve is strengthened by the vow he had taken not to touch it even before he knew exactly what it was, but he knows just because a temptation is resisted once, doesn’t mean it will be resisted again when the same or another comes. There is no doubt it called to him, but he is able to resist what Boromir and Frodo tried to resist but ultimately could not do. The same resolve strengthened all the Company that spent months in the Ring’s orbit, but did not give into the temptation that must have clawed at them all.

Faramir is aware of the invisible spiritual world around him and his connection to it. The Rangers observe the Standing Silence. The man comforts Sam when the hobbit lets slip the fact that Frodo is carrying the Ring, saying it was "fated to be so" and that it would work for good if that could be managed. Faramir tells Frodo, "In the morning we must go swiftly on the ways appointed to us." He, too, is aware, as the Ring-bearer and Aragorn are, that his steps and Frodo’s are being guided.

Interview with Benjamin Harff, upcoming Tolkien illustrator and creator of the Edel-Silmarillion

2009-08-23T11:45:00.001-05:00

Check this out! Magnificent!

Interview with Benjamin Harff, upcoming Tolkien illustrator and creator of the Edel-Silmarillion

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Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit

2009-08-15T16:34:00.008-05:00

Fleming Rutledge says gladness in the tale is "a sign of salvation and hope" (Battle 161). Gandalf smiles when he hears that Sam is with Frodo. He’s full of mirth shortly before Minas Tirith is assailed because he knows Who is in charge. Sam laughs in Ithilien "for heart’s ease." It is also in this land that Sam’s hope for their return journey blooms again and where Frodo is gifted with "another gentle, unrecoverable dream of peace." Frodo will laugh later at Sam’s wondering on the Stairs about what story they are in. That was for heart’s ease also, for the Road was ever growing darker, but that is why Sam was placed at Frodo’s side, for his heart’s ease. We all need such oasises of refuge and release from the toil of fulfilling our vocations in a broken world.

My favorite scene in all of Book IV is when Sam watches his beloved master sleep: "He was reminded suddenly of Frodo as he had lain, asleep in the house of Elrond, after his deadly wound. Then as he had kept watch Sam had noticed at times a light seemed to be shining faintly within; but now the light was even clearer and stronger. Frodo’s face was peaceful, the marks of fear and care had left it; but it looked old, old and beautiful...[Sam] shook his head...and murmured: ‘I love him. He’s like that, and sometimes it shines through, somehow. But I love him, whether or no.’"

Rutledge says Sam will have need to remember that he loves Frodo, no matter what, "as we all do when we commit ourselves to the love of another" (Battle 111-112). Sam’s love for Frodo is a spiritual love, for the beautiful soul he sees shining through, whether he can see that light or not. Only such a love could have been strong enough not only to endure, but also to grow, through their terrible trials. Ralph C. Wood speaks wonderfully of this when he says "... he [Tolkien] depicts Sam and Frodo’s friendship as a thing of exquisite beauty, even holiness. The most poignant account of their philia [brotherly love] is found in the fair land of Ithilien...Sam beholds the sleeping Frodo as a friend whose worth is beyond all estimate" (Gospel 135-36).

The smoke from Sam’s cookfire that is discovered is another seeming disaster that is actually a great good. It gives them away to Faramir who helps them and saves their lives by guiding them through dangerous lands where they could very well have been captured by the evil forces massing to serve Mordor and by giving them food and rest and rations that allows them to stretch the lembas bread out to the point they can make it to Mount Doom. He is a friend that Elrond said may be found when least looked for. The timing of this meeting once again shows the hand of Providence guiding events along.

Sam’s first view of a battle comes from the Ranger ambush of the Southrons in Ithilien and he sees up close one of the bodies of the enemy soldiers. "He wondered what the man’s name was and where he was from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace" With that double vision that he was sometimes granted, Sam saw not just an enemy soldier, but a fellow human being.

The words of Damrod and Mablung as they discuss the doom that threatens Gondor struck me in contrast to what the Steward of that land feels. Damrod says, "I doubt not that the days of Gondor are numbered, and the walls of Minas Tirith are doomed, so great is [Sauron's] strength and malice." So Denethor believes as well. But then Mablung speaks, "But still we will not sit idle and let [Sauron] do all as he would." This is the exact opposite of Denethor who plots only to end his own life and that of his son's. Mablung also speaks not only for all of Gondor but for all Free Peoples with such words. They are not going to stop fighting the Enemy simply because they think their efforts are doomed to failure because their adversary is stronger than they are. They are going to fight to the last breath and so must we.

The Black Gate is Closed

2009-08-08T16:47:00.008-05:00

There are several moments of grace in this chapter. At the Black Gate, Frodo makes the decision to continue to rely on Sméagol’s guidance. "I will trust you once more. Indeed it seems that I must do so, and that it is my fate to receive help from you, where I least looked for it, and your fate to help me whom you long pursued with evil purpose." Frodo has found his answer to how he would get into Mordor and indeed it is in the most unlikely of guides. Gollum could be one of those that Elrond spoke of when he told of those the Company may meet on the Road.

More evidence of Frodo’s growth in the grace and wisdom his soul drank in is the concern he shows for Sméagol’s soul when he tells his fellow hobbit, "...I warn you, Sméagol, you are in danger." Gollum acknowledges the "dreadful danger" but Frodo continues, "I did not mean the danger that we all share. ... I mean a danger to yourself alone." He goes on to warn Sméagol of the choke hold the Ring has on the ruined hobbit’s soul and that "the Precious" will hold him to his promise. He has already called the Ring, "more treacherous than you are" and there and here he warns that it will hold Sméagol to his word but it may twist those words to the wretched creature’s harm and that "...the desire of it may betray you to a bitter end." And indeed that is true. The exact nature of Smeagol’s death is foretold here, though, of course, neither are aware of it. There is also in play perhaps the element of possessive jealousy as Frodo twice says "You will never get it back." He is growing more spiritually attune to the Ring itself at the same time as he is to its dangers to the soul. He is warning Sméagol of those dangers while he is being slowly consumed by them himself.

As Frodo struggles to decide between the two terrible choices before him, either to try to enter the Black Gate or to go the alternate way Sméagol suggested, it is said, even as "the palantír crashed in fire upon the steps of Orthanc, [Gandalf’s] thought was ever upon Frodo and Samwise, over the long leagues his mind sought for them in hope and pity." Frodo felt this on some level, just as he had on Amon Hen and when he and Sam first met Gollum in the Emyn Muil, even though he knows Gandalf is dead. At the times the Ring-bearer needed grace the most to make critical decisions, he was given it, and it was given through Gandalf. This time it was also wonderfully given through Sam whose recitation of the Oliphaunt poem causes Frodo to laugh and release for a moment the tension inside him which in turn allows him to make his decision. Indeed, since both choices sounded evil and death or worse awaited them, certainly at the Black Gate, and possibly at the end of the other route as well, what was the point of choosing, but choose he does and so must we when we face such choices ourselves. It may be just as difficult for us, but we need to remember, that we, too, are individually loved and sought after as well by our Shepherd and those He places in our lives to guide us. In many ways, Sam was a guardian angel to Frodo, but in other ways, they were protected by others who literally were angels.

The Passage of the Marshes

2009-07-25T21:49:00.006-05:00

This chapter contains what has to be the most fascinating thing said in the entire tale when Frodo tells Sméagol after the ruined hobbit is offered the lembas bread and chokes on it: "I think this food would do you good, if you would try. But perhaps you can’t even try, not yet anyway." It is fascinating because it’s said by someone who doesn’t know his Creator or things spiritual on a conscious level but on a deeply intuitive one, enabled by his growth in grace. It is another indication of the grace and discernment of souls that fills Frodo that he is aware of something higher and deeper than himself. He understands that the lembas is food for the soul, and that Sméagol’s soul, trapped for centuries in sin, is incapable of receiving the Eucharistic wafer. In the BBC Radio adaptation, there is a sadness in Frodo’s voice when he says this, but also hope that one day Sméagol will be liberated and be able to partake of the blessed bread. Sméagol’s rejection also shows how much those that live in darkness hate the light and anything else to do with God.

That the meeting of the hobbits with Gollum was providential is made clear at the border of the Dead Marshes when Frodo asks Sméagol, "Must we cross these evil-smelling fens?" Gollum says no, not if they want to reach Sauron very quickly which would likely have happened had Frodo and Sam been more aware of the lie of the land. They would have bypassed the Marshes all together and chosen instead the hard battle plain of Dagorlad. It would have been indeed a quicker route, and seemingly far easier, but far less safe since "[n]ot even the cloaks of Lórien would have concealed them there." Even if they had for some reason decided to pass through the Marshes, they could have easily lost their way and accidentally drowned in one of the many pools without their guide. Another indication that hobbits were God’s instruments for the Ring’s destruction is that only such small creatures due to their lighter weight could have made the passage and only another hobbit could have been their guide through the "nice thick mists" that allow them to travel concealed, even from the wraiths that are flying above. This passage is certainly not without its own perils, especially to Frodo, but it is a much safer route than the hobbits would have found on their own.

The terrible physical and spiritual weight of the Ring is vividly described here and how horribly vulnerable and exposed Frodo felt to the Eye. "So thin, so frail and thin, the veils were become that still warded it off. Frodo knew just where the present habitation and heart of that will now was... He was facing it, and its potency beat upon his brow." It has been pointed out by others that this is how Jesus felt on the way to the Cross. It was not so much the physical burden that made Him stumble, but the knowledge that He was freely walking into the power of the most terrible evil and He could feel its malice focused on Him, just as Frodo had been able to feel Sauron's.

But God and grace were also there in both places. It is providential that Sam woke, thinking he heard Frodo call out to him, only to overhear Gollum and Sméagol have their little tête à tête about wanting the Ring. Here we see the terrible warfare going on within Sméagol's soul and if you haven't heard the same demonic attack as the musical portrayed it, it is incredible! The same war is going to be getting more and more intense within Frodo's soul also.

Another moment of grace and consolation is the "fair vision" Frodo does not remember but wakes from refreshed and able to better carry on. One wonders if he had been gifted with another sight of his future home in the West that would be the reward for all his labours. Such an oasis in the desert can come to us also in our struggles through the bleak and blasted landscapes our bodies and souls sometimes travel through and give to us a visible sign that God is still loving and watching over us.

The Taming of Sméagol

2009-07-11T21:30:00.004-05:00

At Book IV at last!

Frodo and Sam are "seemingly" lost in the Emyn Muil and the Ring-bearer is torn between doubts and confidence about his path. He is drawn to stare at the flickering red in the far distance and wishes he could just get to Mordor and get it all over with. He feels terribly exposed to the Eye and delayed in his Quest and wonders, "Is it the will of the Dark Tower that steers us? All my choices have proved ill." Sam is increasingly convinced they are lost, but Frodo expresses hope and confidence that they will not remain so, and even wonders if they are. "It’s my doom, I think, to go to that Shadow yonder, so that a way will be found. But will good or evil show it to me?"

They will soon discover it is both. Such is the way with us. We aren’t always sure who is steering us and it may seem we are lost and going in circles, just like the hobbits were. It may be indeed that the Enemy will seek to trap and delay us, especially when he sees the forward progress we are truly making. We should be encouraged then when we discover obstacles and seek a way around them. They could be placed there also by God, or used by Him, as a test of our faith and trust and an opportunity to grow in both. We can be impatient to get things over with, either out of zeal, the labouring under a heavy cross, or simply out of boredom and a wish to do something more exciting, but we must move at the speed that we are meant to, and sometimes that means waiting until the time is right. There are also going to be times when we should truly be moving fast, but we are distracted by all the pretty flowers that grow along the Path we are to take, and we slow down to admire them or take detours that we are not meant to take. We must stay focused on what is ahead, and move at the proper speed.

The hobbits continue to travel, hearing or imagining footsteps behind them. They also hear the sharp intake of breath, or is it just the wind? They come to the point where they must climb down a cliff. Sam twice counsels that they wait until morning because it is growing dark and a storm is coming. Frodo is anxious to press on so he is not so exposed to "the eyes of the Dark Country looking over the marshes." Such is the vivid imagery of this tale that you can easily see those eyes as vividly as Frodo could feel them in his mind and soul. He knows he’s in a race against the Ring to see whose will fails first and he can feel the damage being done to his soul. While he is climbing down the cliff, and Sam waits above, they hear once more the dreaded shriek of a Nazgûl, which "pierced them with cold blades of horror and despair, stopping heart and breath." The sound causes Frodo to lose his grip and slip. There is a lightning strike and that "or something else worse" temporarily blinds Frodo until he sees the shimmering Elven rope that Sam lowers down to him. If the presence of evil blinded Frodo, his sight is restored by the light and goodness that shine in the Elves. This ambiguity as to what actually caused Frodo’s loss of sight is another thing that adds reality to this tale. Since Frodo doesn’t know for sure, he can’t write it for sure and such is often the way with us. A may have caused B, but C could have just as easily, and so it goes.

The section about the Elven rope is one of my favorite parts, primarily because of the friendly argument Frodo and Sam have after they’ve used it to escape the bleak Emyn Muil and it comes down on top of Sam. Sam’s complete faith in the Lady Galadriel and all things Elven leaves him convinced that the rope came undone when he called upon the Lady’s name. Frodo disagrees, but I believe Sam. This is a moment of grace for them both, though only Sam is truly aware of it. Even the stars are Elven to him and the sight of them comforts both hobbits.

They stop for the night when Frodo is tired enough to give into Sam’s third attempt at suggesting they have some rest. He wishes though that "there was a clear path in front of us: then I’d go on till my legs gave way." We may feel at times that we are making no progress in what we think is the way we should go, scrambling about the rocks and our end not clearly in sight. But it will be that way for a long time, perhaps. Our energy is less when we can’t see our goal. How much more would it energize us if we could just run straight toward it on a wide open Road, instead of dealing with all the bogs, ditches, gullies, cliffs and marshes we must travel through. Still we need to continually walk toward what we can’t see clearly, if even at all, trusting in the One Who can and Who has called us to walk this particular Path. The long journey we take is necessary for our growth in trust and faith in God’s plan for us, and that we develop the strength to carry out that plan. We would not have any of that if the Path was too smooth or easy.

Frodo’s earlier wondering whether good or ill would show him the next part of the way is answered when they spot Gollum slinking his way down the cliff. When he slips, Sam jumps on him and Frodo has to draw Sting on their spy to save his friend’s life. Sam is all for leaving him tied up with the Elven rope, to die a slow death, but Frodo refuses to kill him just because they feared that the wretched creature would do harm to them. He remembers Gandalf’s and his own words about pity and he answers Gandalf out loud, as though he thinks his friend could somehow hear him, even though for all Frodo knows the wizard is dead. This is a tremendous turning point for Frodo and he wants to make sure Gandalf knows that his formerly hard heart toward Gollum has softened. He has gone from "I do not feel any pity for Gollum" to "For now that I see him, I do pity him." His fear of the creature remains, but he vows not to harm him, as Gandalf would have liked. This is the meeting that will ensure the success of the Quest as Frodo’s pity builds on that of Bilbo’s, Gandalf’s and the Elves, and will make possible the pity given by Faramir and Sam.

Gollum also has a talk with a person who is not there when he begs not to be looked at by Sauron, just as Sam later begs favors from Galadriel in Shelob’s Lair and in Mordor. They all have connections on a soul deep level to those they have already connected with in another way.

Frodo is careful to call Gollum by his given name of Sméagol. Someone told me once that names are given by God and so, though neither of them know Him, Frodo is connecting the wretched hobbit once more to his Creator. To Sam’s surprise, he tells the tricksy creature of their intent to enter Mordor and asks for aid in doing so. An interesting little bit of dialogue takes place toward the end of that conversation: "Poor, poor Sméagol, he went away long ago. They took his Precious, and he’s lost now." "Perhaps, we’ll find him again, if you come with us," Frodo says. Indeed this is true for through Frodo’s care, Sméagol does begin to re-emerge from Gollum. The Ring-bearer’s search for a ‘cure’ for Gollum that Gandalf had spoken of in Bag End begins straightaway upon meeting the tormented creature, and he dedicates himself to achieving that just as Sam undermines it. The first part of that effort is releasing Gollum from the Elven rope that is truly causing him physical pain. He warns Sméagol of the danger to his soul when the ruined hobbit insists on swearing on the Ring to be very good and not let Sauron have it. By now, Frodo is aware of the treacherous nature of the Ring, and tells Sméagol of the dangers of swearing by such a thing. When the twisted hobbit still insists on actually touching the Ring to validate his promise, Frodo refuses and it is out of concern for Sméagol’s soul that he does so, aware that it would cause even more damage than it already has. This is the same thing that any addict would suffer if they came back into contact with the person or thing that had so hurt them before. Frodo is becoming addicted himself and he knows the dangers of being in physical contact with the Ring, held against his heart these many months.

Sam has one of the visions he is sometimes gifted with and sees Frodo as "a tall stern shadow, a mighty lord who hid his brightness in grey cloud" and he sees Gollum as a "little whining dog" at their joint master’s feet. But despite their differences, he also sees that the creature he despises and the master he loves above all else are somehow akin to each other. When Frodo tells him to take the rope off Gollum, the creature is transformed and prances about happily. He is still completely mad, ruined by lust for the Ring and the torments of Sauron’s torture chambers, but a creature who comes so close, so very close to being redeemed.

My new blog!

2009-07-11T12:03:00.003-05:00

My dear readers and followers, I've just started another blog! This isn't LOTR, though I will quote from there, but something to provide inspiration, hope and cheer in these tough times. I will be updating it often, every day if I can manage it. You can reach it here: http://choosethelight.blogspot.com. I hope you enjoy and follow this one too!

Namarie, God bless, Anne Marie :)

Pippin and the Palantír

2009-07-04T21:53:00.007-05:00

"Driven by some impulse that he did not understand..." Pippin takes a peek in the palantír. He tried to resist the temptation, but "[a]t last he could stand it no longer." The same thing happened to Frodo on Weathertop when he struggled against the overwhelming compulsion to put on the Ring, then reached a point when "resistance became unbearable" (FOTR 191). Pippin crept forward "half against his will" to Gandalf. "With a strange sense of relief" he first thought he did not have to stare into the globe after all, but then he did, even as he tried to talk himself out of it. These two encounters with compulsion should show us that innocence will not save us from being tempted. It will lend us greater strength, but it will not completely save us or shield us. Gandalf is tempted as well, and credits Pippin from saving him from the "grave blunder" that looking in the stone would have been, if he had given in to the temptation himself. Even the most pure of heart among us can be tempted and seduced into evil. We can’t always stop ourselves from reaching for the forbidden fruit, even when we know that it is not right to do so. Frodo and Pippin both show this. Even Sam is very briefly tempted by the delusions of the Ring. The wisdom of all the Wise (and that would include small ‘w’ also) that keeps them from reaching for the Ring is knowing that innocence is not a complete shield against temptation. Those so blessed are not tempted less; they have stronger resistance to it, but they know no one is completely resistant. "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so" as Elrond said at the Council.

Pippin’s horrifying brush with evil provides another very good description of how the Enemy tempts, just as the attempts to seduce Frodo were: first subtly by planting a suggestion, idea or thought that we know is wrong or may be wrong. We are tempted by it and we try to resist but sometimes we are still drawn. Besides that seductive voice, there is another, that of our conscience which, if properly formed by Light and Truth, will try to warn us off, but still we sometimes move forward "half against [our] will." Our wills alone are not always strong enough to withstand the demonic assaults that are put upon them. We are mortal flesh and we are struggling against immortal spirit. Our Enemy is very deliberately after each one of us, spreading his nets far and wide and trapping anyone he can. But he can only trap us if we give in. We know at times we are doing wrong but we don’t pay attention to the voice of conscience warning us away and keep going. Still even if we walk away from God, He’s going to keep walking toward us and calling to us. We have but to answer. He will come to us and free us. But we must call out first. Our wills are already bent toward darkness and it is easier to follow the path which are feet are already facing than to turn back, but with an effort, with light and grace we can do that.

We must always be on guard against the Enemy’s attacks for his snares are very subtle at times, but if we carry the "shield of faith...[we] can use it to put out the burning arrows of the evil one" (Eph 6:16). We will be battered, bruised and bleeding and wondering why we chose such a hard path when the wide path next to us looks so inviting and the dark under the trees so unwelcoming. But it is under the trees, on the narrow path, that we must go, for in the end there is great light. Better some darkness and trial now and peace and reward at the end, then some false light now and darkness at the end. This spiritual battle Aragorn has been fighting all along too and Gandalf warns him not to let down his guard and take a misstep at this time.

When we are tempted, we have many chances to turn around. We can feel the same relief as Pippin that even as we are ready to surrender ourselves utterly that we can still be saved from ourselves and the Enemy who is directing our wills, or we can fall and give in to that malevolent will. We sometimes allow ourselves to be drawn in, falling for the lie that is whispered in our soul: "You’ve gone this far; you might as well go all the way. God is not going to forgive you anyway." We wander lost, falling deeper and deeper into darkness, the chains around us binding us ever tighter and tighter. That is the terrible grip all addicts feel. Like Gollum, many of them reach a point where they have "no will left in the matter" (FOTR 54). They can’t break free without some superhuman effort, without God’s help. They must ask for help as Gandalf tells Pippin he must do in case he gets itchy fingers and just has to look at the palantír again. Even in the deepest darkness of evil choices made, there will always be a Voice calling us back and Arms waiting and wanting to hold us again.

Pippin was saved mainly by "good fortune, as it is called" (another veiled hint at the invisible guardians that protected the Company) and so was the Quest at that point because Sauron was too eager to torture the hobbit's body and soul in person to question him at length when he first snared him. Again evil defeats itself as it does over and over again. This is another point in the tale that could have ended in disaster but actually brings great good as we shall see.

The Voice of Saruman

2009-06-20T15:13:00.005-05:00

This chapter contains a refrain of one of the more important lessons that run through the tale. Gandalf has already counseled Frodo and Théoden about the importance of giving mercy to their enemies, namely Gollum and Wormtongue. The king of Rohan has already done so and we shall see that Frodo becomes a very apt pupil as well when he takes such words into his formerly hostile heart and extends the same mercy and opportunities for redemption, not only to Gollum, but also to Saruman and Wormtongue as well. Now Gandalf goes to the fallen master of his order to give the same chance to be ‘cured.’ He knows also that it’s "[d]angerous, and probably useless; but it must be done." We need to heed both parts of Gandalf’s words: even if we think there’s not much point in trying to save someone, we still need to make the attempt, to provide the ways and means and held out hand to our erring brethren so they can perhaps find their way out of the darkness. If they do not choose to take hold of the hand or the rope that is held out to save them from drowning, then that is their failure, not ours. Saruman is given that rope by no less than three different people and he grows more hateful of the attempts and the person making it as each possibility of salvation is offered and scornfully rejected. His hardness of heart dooms him, though only when it is too late, does he realize that.

The terrible, hypnotic power of Saruman’s voice is shown in its full force here and some of the Rohirrim are temporarily swayed by it. The history of such power is recounted and it is interesting that for some, the influence of it lasted only as long as the wizard was focused on them personally and as soon as he wasn’t, his voice no longer had any hold on them and they watched amused as the next person was beguiled. For others, the spell lasted much longer and they came under the control of the demonic if they were not wary, obeying its silent commands. Wormtongue was held so, and Saruman himself by Sauron. We must be wary of any who speak to us, out loud or in our hearts and souls and seek out its source before we too are bespelled. A prompting from the Holy Spirit will bring peace even if toil is involved; a prompting from the Enemy will bring confusion and worse. Let us carefully watch and ponder our reactions to such voices and also our responses to others not under the spell who seek to guide us out if we have fallen into the dark. If we believed in the wisdom and guidance of others before we were beguiled, we should continue to believe in it and not be angered as the Enemy would have us be when he is in danger of having his hold over us thwarted.

The fact that Saruman is not the only voice in the tale with considerable power over wills is made clear over and over. Frodo hears the promptings of the Nazgûl in the Shire when he is tempted to put on the Ring and suddenly all of Gandalf’s warnings not to do so seem to be nonsense, just as the Riders at Isengard listening to Saruman’s voice think Gandalf’s words are not so wise anymore. Frodo hears the voices even more strongly at Weathertop. Sam is momentarily tempted by the voice of the Ring and also hears a voice in Mordor that attempts to seduce him into despair, but he firmly rejects both.

It is interesting that Saruman’s voice had no great effect on Gimli and Éomer who recognize straightaway the poisonous barb that Saruman conceals beneath his velvety voice. The king proves to be one also when he tells the wizard in no uncertain terms what he thinks of him and his offer of ‘peace.’ His men remained beguiled though until the mask of seeming gentleness is ripped away by Saruman himself in his hatred and anger at being revealed as who he truly is: "a liar...and a corrupter of men’s hearts," just as his master, Sauron, is.

Even though he exerts all his power on Gandalf in a last attempt to seize control of the situation, Gandalf breaks the spell completely merely by laughing. How the Enemy or his servants hate to be mocked and have their power dismissed by something as simple as laughter, a sound not heard in Hell and so terrible to their ears. It is then that the wiser wizard extends the hand and rope we are all bound to extend when our fellow creatures have fallen away. Saruman has a moment of doubt and anguish, a flash of realization of the folly of serving Sauron and he is truly troubled by it. His soul, as Sméagol’s would later and Frodo’s already had and would continue to do, stood on the edge of a knife. On one side was redemption and light which would require humility and repentance to take advantage of; on the other was the dark abyss. Pride and hatred prevent Saruman from seizing that doubt and using it to return to the light. Instead, he will continue to spiral down into the void that awaits, sealing his own doom with the hateful abuse he heaps upon Wormtongue and the scornful rejections of the aid Gandalf offers and later that of Galadriel and Frodo.

Gandalf has done his duty well. It is Saruman who failed and any influence the formerly great and wise wizard had on those who came to his door is shattered when Gandalf soundly defeats him by stripping him of his staff and standing in the order of the Istari and that of the White Council. Only the power of his voice remains, and that we shall see, is power enough to advance his mean purposes.

A Merry Meeting

2009-06-13T17:00:00.004-05:00

The most interesting comment in this chapter is from Aragorn when he tells Pippin that he did right to let the Elven brooch drop: "One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters." How very true that is and how it echoes through the entire tale, as far back as when Isildur was unable to destroy the Ring when he had a chance, to Frodo standing at the same place, millennia later, unable to do the same thing. It is the fettered Gollum who frees the latter from physical possession and, one would hope, it was in the West, that Frodo and Bilbo both found freedom from the spiritual possession the Ring still had on their souls.

This is overall a charming chapter of hobbitness in the midst of the growing dark. One can easily imagine this is just how Merry and Pippin dictated that part of the Red Book to their scholarly cousin so he could transcribe all the events he had not been part of himself. I love the easy companionship the reunited friends have together as the Three Hunters "sit on the edge of ruin" and listen to Merry and Pippin regale them in typical hobbit fashion about what had happened since they had been separated. They are all concerned with eating first, even the hobbits who have already eaten, but are happy to eat again since "[w]e must keep our guests company."

Pippin speculates that Saruman is at heart a coward when he does not have all his Orcs and fancy machinery around to back him up, like a bully who flees if he is not surrounded by his cronies. Aragorn corrects him by telling him that the wizard was once a great being and even now still had the power of his voice which made him dangerous to be alone with. We should be wise also to stay away from those who may talk a good game, but who reek underneath of foulness that we may not even be completely aware of.

The Road to Isengard

2009-06-06T22:23:00.004-05:00

After Théoden and the Rohirrim reunite with Gandalf at daybreak, the king admits that in the darkness, he had doubted the wizard’s counsel was as wise as it seemed. Indeed it is darkest before the dawn, but now everyone realizes that Gandalf had spoken the truth and that he would return. Why do we doubt so easily? Why do we believe the lies that the Enemy and his servants whisper in our ears rather than the words of angels and of God? We know that our guardian angel is ever with us and so is God and that we will be always taken care of, even in the darkest night, but how deeply do we truly believe that? Do we believe and trust in it at all when the dark presses so close, ready to drown us and suffocate our faith and hope? As with the Nazgûl whose powers are mightiest in the black night, our Foe and his servants are most powerful in the dark, whether it be physical, mental and/or spiritual. But we don’t have to listen to such whispers as they love to give. The darkness does not have to be where only the power of our Adversary is greatest. There is another Power greater than he. We cannot see the beauty of the stars or planets without the night surrounding us or see the Milky Way stretched out before us. God is in the darkness as well, sending us hope, light and strength. This is what Sam discerns in Mordor. This is what we need to discover and remember ourselves.

I love the dialogue between Gimli and Legolas as they travel amid the wonder of the forest that had sprung up literally overnight at Helm’s Deep. The Elf longs to stay among the trees and learn their thought and language while Gimli is dying to leave them behind. The Dwarf waxes poetic about the marvels in the caverns below the Hornburg while Legolas says he would pay gold to avoid going into them. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder! But then there’s the promise made between them that is even more beautiful as it testifies to the strength of their bond of friendship which will grow ever stronger. Gimli agrees to go to Fangorn Forest (the last place the Dwarf wants to be) if Legolas will promise to be shown the Glittering Caves (the last place the Elf wants to be). They do so swear out of their love for each other. Once that promise is fulfilled, one knows that each would gain new appreciation for what the other considers lovely because they would be seeing it through the other’s eyes.

There are many instances in this tale when "[d]reams and legends spring to life" as Éomer said when he first met Aragorn and was shown the Sword that was Broken. This chapter brings two others when the men of Rohan and their king discover that Ents truly exist and soon they will come to know that hobbits are not any more legendary than Ents. The old fairy tales told to children are actually true as Sam discovers when he sees an oliphaunt and Faramir encounters two hobbits walking in the woods.

How far Saruman has fallen is further revealed in the history of Isengard and Orthanc. The ‘improvements’ that the wizard thought he had made from his own cunning imagination are revealed to be naught but direction from Mordor. Without even realizing it, the fallen Istar has been guided in all his actions by Sauron who is pleased to suffer his false servant for a while before coming to crush him for planning to usurp him. Saruman has left the light and freed himself from the chains of obedience and service, or so he thinks, and he considers himself a free agent, no longer answerable to God or the Valar, or to anyone but himself. He does not realize that the chains he is now bound with are much tighter and restrictive than the others ever were. He does not even realize they exist at all. Let us not become the same way. We are constantly bombarded with many ideas, thoughts and desires, but they do not come from ourselves. We are under the influence of the divine and the demonic and it is up to us to discern the difference and to obey what comes from the light. Saruman had abandoned this wisdom. We should pray not to make the same mistake. The chains of love with which God asks us to bind ourselves to Him are not, as the Enemy would have us believe, horribly heavy, restrictive coils that suffocate the free expression of ourselves. They are actually light and full of light. Our Adversary knows though what he is talking about because the chains he speaks of are actually the ones with which he wishes to bind our hearts, minds and souls, so we ape him instead of aspiring to be more like God. Just as Sauron laughed at Saruman’s imitation, our Foe will laugh at us, even as he moves our weak wills along the paths he wishes us to take. Let us strive instead for the smile of God, Who is, as any proud Papa would be, happy to see us imitate Him.

When Gandalf and the others arrive at Isengard, they are greeted by the doorwardens assigned by Treebeard, who had as Merry puts it, "taken over management" of the place. I love this whole scene: Merry’s faux formal introduction of himself and Pippin, his nudge to his sleeping cousin, etc etc. I can so clearly hear from the BBC Radio adaptation Gimli’s words: "And where did you come by the weed, you villains’ Hammer and tongs! I am so torn between rage and joy, that if I do not burst, it will be a marvel!" I love that all the arguing between hobbits, dwarf and elf leads Théoden to the inescapable conclusion "that we witness the meeting of dear friends." I love also Pippin’s words about the king: "A fine old fellow. Very polite" and the exchange between Merry and Gandalf. Indeed only dear friends could speak to each other thus and give everyone, including us readers, a joyful moment of light in the growing darkness.

Helm's Deep

2009-05-25T16:26:00.008-05:00

Well, I’m back. :)

Again Aragorn is shown to be the bearer of hope, this time for those who fight the bitter battle of the Hornburg. The old warrior Gamling speaks of the hatred and fierceness of the wild men and the terrible creatures that Saruman has bred, neither of which will quail before the sun that is soon to rise. Aragorn refuses to despair of victory for he does not know the outcome and while he does not, he will continue to hope for the best. In this, he is Sam’s spiritual twin, offering encouragement to those around him, just as Sam is hope-bearer for the Ring-bearer. This is something we all need to do for those around us who are lost in darkness and fear. Another part of this tale that is real is that both Aragorn and Sam need to have their hope recharged at times by others. Legolas does it for his friend as the Star seen in Mordor does it for Sam.

Another one that Aragorn heartens is Théoden who, during the fierce onslaught of Helm’s Deep, begins to doubt the wisdom of following Gandalf’s counsel that Saruman had to be fought. He too fears and wonders how "such numbers and such reckless hate" can be withstood. It had seemed the right thing to do before the king realized how terrible the strength of his enemy was. Aragorn counsels him to lay aside his doubts until it is known who is truly the stronger. This is important for us to remember when the dark presses hard upon us and we seem about to be overwhelmed. We may quail before the Enemy who is so strong, but we do not fight alone. God is with us and "If God is on our side, who can be against us?" (Rm 8:31). Instead of hiding in fear from the Enemy’s assaults, let us go out to meet them with the same eagerness of that soldier in Afghanistan who rushed into sudden battle the other day, half in armor and half in pink boxer shorts! We may never need to fight in physical combat with the soldiers of the Enemy, but we are all engaged every day in spiritual combat. We all must fight against the fears that threaten to overwhelm us by overwhelming them. We may not ever conquer them completely, but like the soldiers at Helm’s Deep and the Pelennor Fields to come, and those two hobbits struggling to reach Mordor, we can move through our fears so we can do the task at hand.

In Aragorn’s merciful parley with the Orcs, his royalty is again revealed. His overtures are mocked and rejected, but it is to his credit that they were made and a sign of what a great king he would be, that he would warn his enemies of the grave peril they are in and give them a chance to escape with their lives. His words appear to be nonsense to the Orcs, who for all appearances have the upper hand and believe their victory is imminent, but indeed it is true that "None knows what the new day shall bring him." Aragorn strongly believed and hoped that Gandalf would bring them the victory the beleaguered forces defending the fortress desperately needed, and that is the warning he wished to impart to his enemies, but he did not know such victory would come and certainly the Orcs had no such knowledge. This is what is inspiring about those with faith in the unknown and the unseen. We do not know the future anymore than Aragorn or anyone else, but we can share his faith, hope and trust, that all will work out as it is supposed to.

Happy Memorial Day to all my American readers and followers! I'm glad to be able to post this particular chapter on a day celebrating the service of the military. May God bless all allied soldiers from the First Age to this present.

Taking a little break

2009-04-24T12:56:00.003-05:00

My dear followers, I am going to take a little break from posting but I have a very good excuse! For the second year, I have had an abstract for a paper accepted by the Tolkien Society for their Seminar in June! This year's topic is Journeys and Destinations and I have decided to write about Sam's so will be crazy busy for the next 2-3 weeks working on that.

Namarie, God bless, Anne Marie :)