Professor Fulton- Brown brought up
a point in class about Christ being everywhere in the story (of Lord of the
Rings) but not being literally apparent. I have often noted this about the story,
whenever someone tries to tell me that so-and-so character is an allegory for
Christ, I think of another one that is equally but differently demonstrative of
Christ’s role and attributes in what Tolkien views as the real story. Looking
especially at the fellowship of the ring, I believe that several of its members
reflect aspects of Christ throughout Tolkien’s story. This is not of course to
say that Tolkien placed these there as intended allegories, but rather a
natural tendency for Truth to be integrated in the creation of these characters
as they formed from his subconscious. Of course, the heroes of Tolkien’s work
would reflect the hero of the actual story, but it is important to note that no
one character is able to reflect all the attributes of the Christ. But that
does not stop the aspects from leaking into the story and expressing themselves
through several characters. For the sake of time, I am going to focus briefly,
mainly on three members of the fellowship which I think all display differing
aspects of the Christ story: Aragorn, Gandalf, and Frodo.
First of all, Aragorn. The chosen
King from a great lineage whose coming marks the beginning of a new era:
Aragorn is the most obvious messianic figure in the texts with his otherworldly
wisdom, goodness, and power. He even looks the part in Peter Jackson’s adaptations.
But is not quite that simple. Aragorn reflects the perfect anointed King, the
one who can and will defend his own and will uplift it but most importantly the
one who is king because he can heal. In the chapter “In the Houses of Healing”
Ioreth recognizes her future king, not by his great sword or his Kingly demeanor,
but by his power to heal and restore: “The hands of the king are the hands of a
healer, and so shall the rightful king be known” (Lord of the Rings Book V Ch. VIII).
Aragorn mirrors the kingly authority that Christ is said to have not only because
he is the great warrior but because, and more importantly, he is the great
healer.
He also has the genealogy that reaches back to great men of the past
such as Elendil and beyond to Numenor and then to the Elves themselves. This
is a standard trope of the great Romantic hero, but Tolkien would point out that
the trope itself reflects a Truth of our reality, namely that the greatest
romantic hero ever has his own great genealogy with great kings and sires. Jeremiah
23:5 speaks of a branch of David being raised up to Kingship just as Aragorn,
Isildur’s heir is foretold to come and restore the kingdom. This epic story of
the great hero winning his kingdom and his bride reminds of the victory of Christ
as he gains his everlasting kingdom and is own spotless bride (the Church) as a
result of his deeds: “And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom” (Daniel
7:14). Aragorn reflects the King facet of Christ: the victorious conqueror and
the steadfast protector and King but also the healer and provider.
Gandalf also reflects a different aspect
of Christ, one that Tolkien is very aware of and places great importance in.
Tolkien speaks of the Eucatastrophe, the moment of incarnation of divine spirit
into a mortal body, as the crucial moment in the true story, the one around which
all other things must revolve to make sense. This great mystery is also present
in the character of Gandalf who is a great and powerful spirit somehow confined
and made vulnerable by a mortal frame. He too must endure the mortal experience
while still being a thing alien to the restraints it brings. Echoes of Christ
as the Risen savior can be found in Gandalf as well when he returns greater
than ever as Gandalf the White after a great sacrifice and struggle. Jesus is
described in Revelation 3:5 as “he who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white
garments” which only strengthens this notion of Gandalf also reflecting that sacrificial
overcoming of evil only to emerge greater than before. Also, Gandalf’s nickname
as the white rider has incredible significance. Look at the passage from Helm’s
deep (or recall that epic scene from the end of the Two Towers movie) where he
appears with the dawn to save the day: “There suddenly appeared upon a ridge a
rider, clad in white, shining in the rising sun” (The Lord of the Rings Book
III Ch. VII). Revelation paints the same image of Christ: “And I saw heaven
opened and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and
True” (Rev. 19:11). This beautiful and terrible description of both shows how
Gandalf reflects not only the hidden glory of the incarnate Christ but also the
terror and splendor of the fully revealed Christ.
Frodo is an altogether different reflection of Christ. The best way to show this is to look at these two pictures: the first Sam holding a weary and nearly spent Frodo and the second: Mary holding her dead son in her arms.
Professor Fulton-Brown was right
Christ is everywhere in the story. But it
is not in an allegorical sense in that this part of the story stands for this,
or this character represents Christ because of this, but in the most organic, and
in my opinion beautiful, way possible. Tolkien, in setting out to make a mythology
that would be able to convey Truth, naturally included the deepest truths of
what he believed was the great True story. He strives for realism in his story because
he wants that believability and that also applies to his themes and attributes.
He creates his characters with Christ-like traits not because they are allegories
for him but because these traits are fundamental truths of what constitutes a
great aspirational character.
—Abe West
3 comments:
I share the same feeling with you about the point that the presence of Christ in Tolkien’s novel is very organic and convincing. In fact, I think that you point out a very important characteristic of Tolkien’s Legendarium, which is its integration of realism and Christianity. In one way, although Tolkien did not create a character who perfectly resemble the Christ archetype in all aspects, he skillfully created multiple characters who represent certain aspects of Christ’s quality. As you mentioned, this strategy allows Tolkien to illustrate the presence of Christ in a very convincing and subtle way, since people who have some knowledge of Christianity who view a Christ-like figure as divine and unnatural.
Meanwhile, by using multiple characters to each contain certain aspects of the qualities of Christ, Tolkien also showed the realistic nature of Christianity. He demonstrated to us that although it is difficult to find a human who entirely resembles Christ, we can more easily conceive an imaginary story in which multiple figures with certain Christ-like characteristics work together to heal the world. Through the LotR, Tolkien essentially used characters like Frodo, Aragorn and Gandalf to test against the Christianity’s characterization of Jesus. As you also would believe, I think Tolkien certainly succeeded. His story proves to us that the qualities of Christ indeed can organically and convincingly be present in our world as these qualities can be distributed among multiple figures.
Lovely. You show beautifully how Tolkien makes the image of Christ far more complex than simply giving us a one-to-one allegory. Christ cannot be represented in only one character—this is the great mystery of Christ as depicted in the medieval tradition. Not just as the Jesus of history, but as the whole of history, refracted through every Christian soul. RLFB
Good examples—these three characters are arguably the most like Christ. Tolkien certainly had a very powerful subconscious for all of these close parallels to exist! To add to your list--Gandalf descends into “Hell” and “resurrects,” and is unrecognizable in his new form at first to his old friends. Aragorn does something similar to the Harrowing of Hell as well, when he releases the Dead Men of Dunharrow from their curse. Frodo too, could be considered to go to a kind of Hell and back. Each one brings about hope and salvation to the despairing and doomed, showing a different aspect of Christ shining through. The potential parallels to Christian themes and images seem endless. Is Tolkien actively trying to say something about Christianity? Or is it secondary, background realism? If Christ-like traits are “fundamental truths of what constitutes a great aspirational character,” do we see the same Christ-like traits in all heroes? Nice job! -LB
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