The Wisdom of Tolkien 5

When Frodo finally starts out from Hobbiton with the Ring, he is being followed by a couple of Black Riders. By chance, he meets up with Elves while still within the bounds of the Shire. Frodo has an interesting conversation with Gildor Inglorion.

[Gildor said,] "The Shire is no longer protection for you."

"I cannot imagine what information could be more terrifying than your hints and warnings," exclaimed Frodo. "I knew that danger lay ahead, of course; but I did not expect to meet it in our own Shire. Can't a hobbit walk from the Water to the River in peace?"

"But it is not your own Shire," said Gildor. Others dwelt here before Hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you; you can fence yourself in, but you cannot for ever fence it out."

I think in America we sometimes have the idea that all the trouble in the world, all the unsafe places are far away and no bother to us. We think we can fence ourselves in and avoid dealing with the barbarians in other parts of the world. But the world is always changing, and even today freedom wanes. Truly, freedom here is dependent on freedom "out there."

The Wisdom of Tolkien 4

One of my favorite dialogs in The Lord of the Rings is when Frodo wishes that Bilbo had killed Gollum when he had the chance, but to Gandalf (and Tolkien) it is Bilbo's pity that saves Middle Earth.

"But this is terrible!" cried Frodo. "Far worse than the worst that I imagined from your hints and warnings. O Gandalf, best of friends, what am I to do? For now I am really afraid. What am I to do? What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had the chance!"

"Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity."

"I am sorry," said Frodo. "But I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum."

"You have not seen him," Gandalf broke in.

"No, and I don't want to," said Frodo. "I can't understand you. Do you mean to say that you, and the Elves have let him live on after all those horrible deeds? Now at any rate he is as bad as an Orc, and just an enemy. He deserves death."

"Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many—yours not the least."

And as we see at the end of the book, the pity of Bilbo saves Middle Earth and Frodo himself.

Although I am a conservative, and I understand the death penalty and the arguments for it, I have always been slightly opposed to it, and a lot of that has to do with the ideas in this argument. We should not be too eager to deal out death in judgement, for even the very wise cannot see all ends.

The Wisdom of Tolkien 3

In telling Frodo the sad tale of Gollum, Gandalf says that Gollum went into the Misty Mountains, telling himself that "there must be great secrets buried there." But it turns out that that was not the case. Gandalf says of Gollum:

All the "great secrets" under the mountains had turned out to be just empty night: there was nothing more to find out, nothing worth doing, only nasty furtive eating and resentful remembering. He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all.

To me, this is one of the best descriptions of the emptiness that is at the root of secularism. There is the illusion of freedom, the illusion of discovery, but finally, it is nothing. Cut off from people, cut off from the light it is only "resentful remembering."

Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of people in Gollum's circumstance today.

Wisdom of Tolkien 2

I discover that in reading fiction, I like the parts of the book where information is dispensed. In the Harry Potter series, that's books 6 and 7. In The Lord of the Rings, it's the "Shadow of the Past" from Fellowship of the Ring.

In this chapter, Gandalf explains the one ring and brings Frodo (and the readers) up to speed on what's at stake. In their conversation, there are many interesting things said. Here is one:

"The rumors you have heard are true: [Sauron] has indeed arisen again and left his hold in Mirkwood and returned to his ancient fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor. That name even you hobbits have heard of, like a shadow on the borders of old stories. Always after a defeat and a respite, the Shadow takes another shape and grows again."

"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"And so do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

Peter Jackson included a version of this exchange in the film—it was one of the more effective scenes in the movie.

I think this idea was understood by people once upon a time. There are always big ideas in opposition to each other in every age: in our grandfather's time, it was freedom vs. national socialism, in our father's time, it was freedom vs. communism, in our day it is freedom vs. radical Islamism.



We cannot pretend that we can shirk the duties of our age. We must always remember that the generations before us made sacrifices for our sake, and we must be prepared to do the same for those generations who follow us.

The Wisdom of Tolkien

I haven't read Tolkien in several years, but when I read that Peter Jackson and company are in pre-production on The Hobbit, I decided to reread The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In reading them again, I am struck by the wisdom that is present in Tolkien's tales. Here is a paragraph from the prologue to Fellowship of the Ring:

The Hobbits named it the Shire, as the region of the authority of their Thain, and a district of well-ordered business; and there in that pleasant corner of the world they plied their well-ordered business of living, and they heeded less and less the world outside where dark things moved, until they came to think that peace and plenty were the rule in Middle-Earth and the right of all sensible folk. They forgot or ignored what little they had ever known of the Guardians, and of the labours of those that made possible the long peace of the Shire. They were, in fact, sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.

When discussing world politics with people, it is hard to make this point. So many people believe that it is our right to live at a time of no wars, sensible people, and a well-ordered life. They do not take into account the sacrifices of so many others so they can live in peace and prosperity. They begin not only to take their history for granted, but indeed, to even hate their history.

Tolkien, who fought in WWI, and lived in England during WWII (and had a son in the RAF), understood that we can't take peace, prosperity, or any of the good things we enjoy today for granted. The guardians are always guarding us, and the those who enjoy the fruits of the guardians labor would do well to be thankful.