tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post1528862226787605711..comments2023-11-07T06:20:12.181-08:00Comments on Tolkien: Medieval and Modern: Estel"Tolkien: Medieval and Modern"http://www.blogger.com/profile/04348913969813157482noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5746173806126403959.post-34681376930472381922017-05-21T19:55:53.678-07:002017-05-21T19:55:53.678-07:00I agree: other than Aragorn and maybe Sam, Tolkien...I agree: other than Aragorn and maybe Sam, Tolkien's characters talk quite despairingly of hope. I don't quite know what to make of this. On the one hand, Tolkien is being theologically rigorous, in that his characters could not have what he would consider the true hope that comes with the Incarnation of Christ. But on the other, their hopelessness sometimes seems to express much of his own, almost as if he wanted to convince himself of the hope he ought to have in Christ but didn't. But he is constant in his letters about his faith, which makes this latter reading hard to accept as well. Perhaps he means to show the absolute hopelessness without Christ--but then why give Aragorn such a peaceful death? RLFB"Tolkien: Medieval and Modern"https://www.blogger.com/profile/04348913969813157482noreply@blogger.com