by Diane Speed
I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations " I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse "applicability' with "allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author. (1)
Scholars might want to argue with Tolkien about his specific understanding of the term "allegory'"” but it's certain that we can't talk about precise correspondences between characters and events in LOTR and in the Christian story as set out in the Bible. But we can consider some ways in which we may find our reading of LOTR enriched by certain resonances with the Bible, especially in relation to the biblical world view.
Salvation History
The central theme of the Bible, its world view, has been described as Salvation History (Redemption/Redemptive History). In other words, the narrative overall is seen as the tracing of God's relationship with his creation, particularly humankind"”from (1) the beginning, in which that relationship was good and life on earth was good, to (2) the spoiling of both through the disobedience of the human beings, to (3) the salvation of both human beings and the fallen world through Christ"”in Tolkienian terms, recovery of what was lost.
The part of this pattern I'd like us to consider is what humanity and the world have fallen away from. If there's loss and an impulse for recovery in LOTR, what is it that has been lost, and why will it be desirable to regain it? A precise answer is difficult to formulate, not least because I don't think Tolkien himself is finally clear on the subject. I would, however, like to suggest some areas of LOTR in which we can find traces of a pristine past that still exists in Frodo's present, a reminder that there has been, and can be/should be, a better world than the present, which will be in some measure at least due to the efforts of the "good guys'.
One issue in attempting to read LOTRwith reference to the Bible is that there's no explicit Christian machinery at all in this book"”no mention of the Christian God or the individual persons of the Trinity, no explicit mention of heaven or hell. Arguably, however, this absence is what allows us to
bring our own awareness of the Christian story to bear on the literary text without prior limitation.
Without the explicit presence of God himself, the dimension of eternity is missing from LOTR. Reference to The Silmarillion would alert us to the original and originating figure of Eru, "the One', (2) an approximation to God, but Eru is not mentioned in LOTR. Classical philosophy would have spoken of the created world's nearest approximation to eternity"”its imitation or mimesis"”as infinity. I'd suggest that LOTR offers two of its own pale imitations of eternity: recurrence and longevity.
Recurrence
Recurrence is present in LOTR not only in replays of individual incidents, like Bilbo's and Frodo's birthday parties, but in the larger patterns of the ages. LOTR itself is situated, we're told, in the third age of Middle-earth. One age comes along, has its crises, ends; and another age begins. But there's no clear, ultimate sense of an ending.
In an Apocalyptic view of the Bible, looking back at the history of the world from the vision of its end in the Book of Revelation, we see the ending of one world and the beginning of another; but the biblical new world has a status completely different from that of the old world. Even if, as some might argue, we should read Revelation and its patterns of sevens as suggesting the recurrence of evil in the world rather than a steadily downhill progress on the part of the world, Christians have generally understood this book as, in some way, pointing ultimately to an end of this world and the beginning of another of a completely different kind, free of evil; and this is almost certainly the assumption most of Tolkien's readers bring to the text. LOTR, on the other hand, emphasizes the ongoing struggle between good and evil. Gandalf, for instance, comments that behind Sauron lies other evil that will recur, and this is what LOTR leaves with us. There is brief reference to "the end of the world' (two.II.281), but just what this may mean is left open. In The Silmarillion, although Morgoth, the bringer of evil and mentor of Sauron, is cast into the outer Void and cannot return to the world, the evil he has set in train continues; it does so "unto the latest days'"”but even here it is not made clear what this means.(3) Recurrence, then, is suggestive of eternity, but falls short of it.
Longevity
The subject of longevity arises in relation to various figures and groups in LOTR. We know from The Silmarillion that wizards and Elves appeared from the far west late in the second millennium, as messengers sent to contest the power of Sauron and to unite the Elves and others to resist him. (4) If we regard them as messengers"”though this is not found in LOTR "”they might be likened to angels. The Fall of Saruman, which does feature in LOTR, certainly seems to draw on the fall of the angels through the pride of Lucifer (Luke 10:8; Revelation 12:9; Isaiah 14:12); both falls involve transition from light to dark. In The Silmarillion, Melkor himself has such a fall. Sauron, the source of all evil, is a fallen member of the very race from which the five wizards came. As a selfstyled ruler of the world, he parallels the Devil, especially as presented in Revelation 12, which interprets the serpent of Genesis 3 (cf. the "Saur' in "Sauron'). Structurally, Saruman is the weaker double of Sauron"” just as medieval drama has two devil figures, Lucifer and his offsider Lightborn. Gandalf may perhaps be likened to the archangel Michael, but there are also some clear parallels with Christ himself, if not in his apparent preparedness to give life for others, at least in his depiction as the White Rider of Revelation 19:11 (three.V.509ff.). This illustrates the difficulty of attempting to make absolute identifications.
So much for wizards. As for Elves, not many now remain in the Middle-earth, east of the Great Sea (one.III.93). We might compare the early understanding of the earthly paradise as a place in the far east, as distinct from heaven itself. Their ancient origins are merely hinted at in LOTR. They were the first speaking beings, the inventors of speech (three.IV.486; cf. Quenta Silmarillion III.49). They are immortal"”
created, but not subject to ordinary death from old age, only destruction by external forces. As well as longevity, the Elves are possessed of something approaching agelessness: remember that Galadriel is Arwen's grandmother. The human Aragorn, in contrast, appears to age slowly, but he will eventually die of old age. Their places of refuge hint at this longevity: Rivendell is a "deep valley where many of the fair folk dwelt in peace" (one.III.79); Lothlorien is a place of peace and safety. But neither is guaranteed to stand against Mordor.
Two other kinds of creature are important to our understanding of longevity and eternity in LOTR.
The Ents are the oldest of all races, from when the world was young, predating the awakening of the Elves in Middle-earth, though they learnt to speak from the Elves (three.IV.489). They were created to be the Shepherds of the Trees, to protect them. They have aged slowly, and along the way lost their Entwives, so that there are no Entings to carry on. They have become rather neutral to the world outside, but regroup to take sides for
the right"”principally because of destruction being wrought on the trees they are supposed to be protecting. They are extremely strong physically. Treebeard/Fangorn is master of the ancient forest of Fangorn. He is the oldest of the Ents, "the oldest living thing that still walks beneath the sun upon this Middle-earth" (three.V.520). The Ents show some loss of activeness and clear moral fibre, but these things are recoverable. Their quality has something of the pristine about it, but they are not quite pristine, since they are not unaltered.
Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are perhaps the most fascinating characters in relation to eternity. Surely they are a key to understanding Tolkien's notion of the world that could/should have been.
Tom is neither hobbit nor man (one.VI.135). He has power over other created things, such as Old Man Willow and the barrow-wights, and power to help Frodo. Goldberry says of him that he is "Master of wood, water and hill" (one.III.139). He is under no law but his own (two.II.283). Putting the Ring of Power on doesn't affect him; in this he is superior to both Gandalf and Galadriel, both of whom fear their own corruption. Tom is not a figure of power to defeat evil, rather to withstand it. Although the Ring has no power over him, "power to defy our enemy is not in him, unless it is in the earth itself " (two.II.283).
Tom says his name is Eldest. He has been in the world before the river and the trees (hence before the Ents), before the Elves or Sauron arrived, he is older than the first rain (one.VII.146). Goldberry's own voice is both young and ancient (one.III.137). Both of them have agelessness as well as having existed a long time; and we hear nothing about their going through any change in themselves. Tom is the oldest of the old, long forgotten by Elrond, who notes that he is the very oldest of all speaking peoples and fatherless, older than the Elves (two.II.282).
There are certain "first man' activities Tom undertakes. Tom's domain since the beginning has been the primaeval Old Forest, and he has stayed on in it as it shrank. Their home area is neatly tended, the lawn cut: Adam tilling Eden. It is a cleared spot in the midst of the wilderness: Eden in relation to the world outside it. Tom gives the ponies the names they have for the rest of their lives (one.VIII.157): Adam naming animals. Tom uses a languageunknown to the hobbits, sounding like nonsense (one.VIII.162): perhaps, by inversion, a reference to language before Babel, which was another stage in the fall of humanity (Genesis 11).
There is harmony in his clothing: blue, yellow, and green. There is harmony between the sexes, and a hospitable home. The table of Tom and Goldberry has cream (milk) and honey: perhaps suggestive of the Promised Land, itself a kind of recapitulation of Eden.
Goldberry is unexplained, she seems just to be some kind of extension of Tom: Eve. Both Tom and Treebeard are called "Eldest', presumably in relation to different constituencies. Perhaps Treebeard is a figure for Nature itself, Tom for the social world"” both reminders of the unfallen world, the world that might have been.
E N D N O T E S
1 References to the text are to J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, London: Allen and Unwin, 1968. Subsequent references are to book, chapter, and page of this edition.
2 See J. R. R. Tolkien, Ainulindalë, in The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien, London: Allen and Unwin, Boston and Sydney, 1977.
3 J. R. R. Tolkien, Quenta Silmarillion, XXIV, in The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien, London: Allen and Unwin, 1977, p. 255. Subsequent references are to chapter and page of this edition.
4 J. R. R. Tolkien, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, in The Silmarillion, ed. Christopher Tolkien, London: Allen and Unwin, 1977, pp. 299"300.
Diane Speed is a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Sydney.
