Luck and fate in Middle-earth
The lives of the characters in
Context
Higher powers
The
There was more than one power at work, Frodo. The Ring was trying to get back to its master ... Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. [Tolkien's italics][T 3]
Rutledge writes that in this way, Tolkien repeatedly hints at a higher power "that controls even the Ring itself, even the maker of the Ring himself [her italics]", and asks who or what that power might be. Her reply is that at the surface level, it means the Valar, "a race of created beings (analogous to the late-biblical angels)". At a deeper level, as both Rutledge and the Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft write, it means "the One", Eru Ilúvatar, or in Christian terms, divine Providence.[4][5]
Level | Power | Action |
---|---|---|
In Middle-earth | The Ring The Dark Lord Sauron |
tries to "get back to its master"[T 3] tries to command the Ring to return to him |
In Ea's cosmology, surface level | The angelic Valar |
guide events in Middle-earth |
In Ea's cosmology, deeper level | "The One", Eru Ilúvatar |
has a plan for everything |
In Christian terms | Divine Providence | intervenes in the universe |
Luck, courage, and providence
And suddenly he felt
the Eye ... that did not sleep. He knew that it had become aware of his gaze. A fierce eager will was there. It leaped towards him; almost like a finger he felt it, searching for him. ... He heard himself crying out: Never, never! Or was it: Verily I come, I come to you? He could not tell. Then as a flash from some other point of power there came to his mind another thought: Take it off! Take it off! Fool, take it off! Take off the Ring! The two powers strove in him ... Suddenly he was aware of himself again. Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant in which to do so. He took the Ring off his finger.
The Lord of the Rings, book 2, ch. 10 "The Breaking of the Fellowship"[T 4]
The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey discusses the connection between the Valar and "luck" on Middle-earth, writing that as in real life, "People ... do in sober reality recognise a strongly patterning force in the world around them" but that while this may be due to "Providence or the Valar", the force "does not affect free will and cannot be distinguished from the ordinary operations of nature" nor reduce the necessity of "heroic endeavour". He states that this exactly matches the Old English view of luck and personal courage, as Beowulf's "wyrd often spares the man who isn't doomed, as long as his courage holds."[6]
'Yes', said Gandalf... The Ring now has passed beyond my help... Very nearly it was revealed to the Enemy, but it escaped. I had some part in that: for I sat in a high place, and I strove with the Dark Tower; and the Shadow passed. Then I was weary, very weary; and I walked long in dark thought.'
The Lord of the Rings, book 3, ch. 5 "The White Rider"[T 5]
In addition, the leapfrogging of the timeline by the multiple
The scholar of humanities Paul H. Kocher similarly discusses the role of providence, in the form of the intentions of the Valar or of the creator, in Bilbo's finding of the One Ring and Frodo's bearing of it; as Gandalf says, they were "meant" to have it, though it remained their choice to co-operate with this purpose.[10]
Free will and fate
The medievalist
Perceived event/chain of causation | Superficial explanation | Deeper explanation |
---|---|---|
Gollum slipped | Accident, luck | ————— |
Frodo spared Gollum's life |
————— | Free will and fate |
The Tolkien scholar Helen Lasseter Freeh notes that the longer version of the tale of
Proverbs and providence
Shippey writes that the numerous
References
Primary
- ^ Carpenter 2023, letter 142 to Robert Murray, 2 December 1953
- ^ Carpenter 2023, letter 154 to Naomi Mitchison, September 1954
- ^ a b Tolkien 1954a, book 1, ch. 2 "The Shadow of the Past"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 10 "The Breaking of the Fellowship"
- ^ Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 5 "The White Rider"
- ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 10 "The Breaking of the Fellowship"
- ^ Tolkien 1954, book 3, ch. 5 "The White Rider"
- Narn i Hîn Húrin
Secondary
- ^ a b Wood 2003, p. 13.
- ^ a b Dickerson 2013, pp. 689–690.
- ^ Carpenter 1977, pp. 111, 200, 266.
- ^ a b c Rutledge 2004, pp. 62–63
- ^ Kreeft 2005.
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 173–174, 262.
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 181–190.
- ^ West 1975, p. 89.
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 170–174.
- ^ Kocher 1974, p. 37.
- ^ a b c Solopova 2009, p. 49.
- ^ Spacks 2005, pp. 58–64.
- ^ Wood 2015, pp. 65–75.
- ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 296–304
- ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 188–190.
- ^ Helms 1971, article 2.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-04-928037-3.
- ISBN 978-0-35-865298-4.
- ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.
- Helms, Randel (1971). "The Structure and Aesthetic of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings". Mythcon Proceedings. 1 (2). Article 2.
- ISBN 0140038779.
- Kreeft, Peter J. (November 2005). "The Presence of Christ in The Lord of the Rings". Ignatius Insight. Archived from the original on 24 November 2005.
- ISBN 978-0-80282-497-4.
- ISBN 978-0261102750.
- ISBN 978-0-9816607-1-4.
- ISBN 978-0-618-42253-1.
- OCLC 9552942.
- OCLC 1042159111.
- ISBN 978-0-395-29917-3.
- ISBN 0-87548-303-8.
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- ISBN 978-0-268-09674-8.