Many readers approach The Lord of the Rings like any other fantasy novel. They view it as a shallow good-versus-evil story told in a world filled with magic and monsters. In most pop culture we are exposed to, like Star Wars, the story takes place in a “galaxy far far away”. But to read Tolkien in this way is to completely misunderstand the world in which he sets his epic. Middle-earth is not an analogy for our world. It is, in the framing of the legendarium, our world in its infancy.
This is important to keep in mind while reading, because only in this framework can we truly understand the actions of the characters presented in the story. In a secondary world, the history of characters is only backstory that we don’t need to worry about too much. However, in a primary world, our world, history is a great spiritual and genetic inheritance of the characters. Their perception of history is the driving force of their actions. This history is the faded echo of a more magical age of our world that, for us readers, is long forgotten. Tolkien uses this to showcase different approaches to one’s own history through the lenses of the four races.
Elves in Middle-earth are quite unique in that they are not just long-lived humans, but instead are completely immortal, which is an interesting factor to consider when examining how they confront their own history. Their perception of history is not just a campfire story or a poem recited through the ages, but instead a scar of past experiences. When Legolas describes the passage of time to the other members of the Fellowship, he describes it as follows: "For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow. Swift, because they themselves change little, and all else fleets by: it is a grief to them." This grief is the driving factor of the elves throughout the book. They have witnessed the corruption of paradise, the shattering of the lands of Beleriand, and the slow fading of their own power. They literally remember when the Earth was flat and the Valar walked among them. This is why the present feels dim to them as they reminisce over a greater age.
Men are similar but have a key distinction: they are mortal. Yes, they did fall out of glory with the fall of Númenor and are bound in exile, looking back at the former glory of their kin, but none of them lived it. This is why, unlike the elves, they fight harder to restore the glory to their kin. Consider Boromir, who tried to take the Ring from Frodo to restore the glory of Gondor. If elves are burdened by the length of their memory, then men are burdened by its height. Boromir wasn’t inherently bad or evil, but instead lusted for the Ring because of the generational pressure to restore the lost valor of Númenor. Men spend the story looking backward, hoping one day to fall back into glory.
Dwarf history is not written in books. It is written in the memory of the events of Khazad-dûm. Their perception of the past is explicit and gory. They do not look back at glory days of magic, but instead speak of a specific, named terror that drove them from their home (the Balrog). As Gandalf warns, "they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane." This history of loss makes the dwarves throughout the story look selfish, stubborn, and secretive. They all remember the betrayal at the hands of the elves, and their grudges last long. Gimli’s initial distrust of the elves is a testament to grudges long forgotten by most. But for the dwarves, they have learned to trust only their own kind.
With this in mind, how exactly are we supposed to approach The Lord of the Rings as a history book? Should we anguish like the elves, longing for a long-forgotten age of magic and wonder? Or maybe, like the men, should we live our lives looking backwards to this lost valor, fighting every day to restore it? Or should we live grudgingly like the dwarves? (I might, because I would be mad too if the ruins of Minas Tirith are never discovered.) But with these options that Tolkien presents, none of them look too appealing. That is why we look to the most relatable of the races: the hobbits.
Despite me already having a lot in common with the hobbits—considering that I love food, plants, and peace and quiet—Tolkien shows us how we should be approaching his story as a history.
The hobbits are the key to this entire riddle. In a world drowning in an epic tale, the hobbits are the ones who forgot. Their records, we are told, "began only after the settlement of the Shire." Their history consists of genealogy and local gossip. But this shortsightedness is not a weakness; it is a great strength. Often when reading The Lord of the Rings, I find in myself the same wonder and amazement as Frodo and the other hobbits discovering such an amazing world. The key to reading Tolkien as a history lies here. We should not anguish over a world lost, despair in the present, or hold a grudge. Instead, we should read this as a history.
-AMM
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