The Notion of God in the Lord of the Rings Essay

Lord Acton once said, "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely." He was probably referring to the powerful kings and queens who held power over many people. But, we could see how power is something many of the characters in Tolkien's story are trying to have and hold onto in some form or another. In The Fellowship of the Ring J.R.R. Tolkien tells us a story about Frodo Baggins who is ordered by Gandalf to destroy the powerful ring discovered accidentally by his older cousin, Bilbo. Like the rest of the hobbits, Frodo has lived quite peacefully and well, not having to worry about how dark and dreary the rest of Middle Earth was becoming under Sauron's growing power. Now, Frodo,

The twenty-first chapter of the book says “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There won’t be death anymore. There won’t be any grief, crying, or pain, because the first things have disappeared.” In the context of the book, this is the author referring to a new heaven and earth, as well as marveling at the city of Jerusalem. God is still there regardless, stopping grief and pain from people. This is something those who are suffering can remember. Whether the book of Revelation is meant as a book of the apocalypse or just meant as an allegory, God will always be there helping end the pain and grief people feel from living

It is logical to argue that, by nature, an omnipotent and omnibenevelont god, would be able to and would want to eradicate all evil completely. Once one concludes that there is observable evil in the world,

When you think of a hero, is the first character to pop in your head a little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins? In most cases, people think of Superman or Hercules, but in The Hobbit, an unexpected hero emerges and changes the name for all heroes to come. The Hobbit is a novel about Bilbo Baggins and his journey, with thirteen dwarves and a wizard, seeking the treasure stolen by the dragon, Smaug. While on this unexpected journey, Bilbo and his companions overcome many obstacles to eventually get to the treasure and retrieve it. Throughout the story, Bilbo develops into a courageous man, who indeed, is a hero. Richard Tyre wrote an article, “You Can’t Teach Tolkien,” and he explains his theory in which he connects multiple story’s plot with six elements. The Hobbit, is assuredly a prime example of Tyre’s theory because it follows all six steps throughout the story simultaneously. The six elements are; “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected” (Tyre 19). These elements are steps in which a character must take to emerge into a hero in the end. Bilbo Baggins is the hero in The Hobbit, but he doesn’t start off as the hero. He has always had heroic traits but throughout the novel, he pursues those six steps and in the resolution, he is transformed into an actual hero.

How can an author write a story which appeals to a present day audience? Richard H. Tyre published an article in 1978 that gives an answer to this very question. Tyre explains how most kids today choose to read books like the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings series, and even The Wizard of Oz. An existing theory that Tyre came up with explains that each of these books, along with many others, have one thing in common: 6 plot elements. Not only do these stories contain the same 6 elements but those elements are in the same order! Tyre states that “(1) those who hunt for treasure, (2) must go alone, (3) at night, (4) and when they find it, (5) they must leave some of their blood behind, (6) and the treasure is never what they expected.” (Tyre 2). J.R.R. Tolkien is the author of The Hobbit. The Hobbit revolves around one hobbit in particular named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo embarks on a journey with 14 others to recover a treasure that is guarded by a dragon. Along the way Bilbo faces many challenges that range from running into huge trolls, to taking part in fierce battles. Due to it’s main character hunting for treasure, facing most of the dangers alone, battling during the wee hours of the night, eventually finding the treasure, after sweating/crying/and enduring injuries, just to have the treasure revealed to him as not what he expected, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is undoubtedly a perfect example of Tyre’s 6 plot elements.

Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, Inferno, and the Book of Revelation as told by John in the Bible each regale the natural curiosity of humans involving manifestations of endings and possibilities of new beginnings in the afterlife. The purpose of informing God’s people of these manifestations and possibilities is mutual and key to the preparedness of humans for life after death. Still, justice is surely delivered appropriately in Inferno and Revelation, due to God’s brilliant arrangements. Divergence between minutiae is outshone by appreciation of seemingly incredulous similarities between God’s plans in the texts. Analysis reveals that Inferno and the Book of Revelation share countless themes, concepts, and scenes, though they differ slightly in the specific details surrounding the unfolding events.

Chapter one is a survey of modern scholarly literature related to the theme of worship in the Apocalypse. It is divides into four subtopics; A) The theme of worship as a whole, B) The hymns in the Apocalypse, C) Revelation 4-5, D) Additional worship scenes.

“Through their myths of the apocalypse human societies express a sense that the higher powers of the universe must intervene definitively to put an end to the failure of humanity” (69 Leeming). In the myth “The Savior Saoshyant” this intervention is depicted. The tale follows the Eastern style of apocalypse myth, suggesting a cleansed re-birth of the world. “...through ceremonies presided over by the savior, Saoshyant, the resurrection of the bodies of the good will take place and a new Golden Age will follow” (74 Leeming). Without the savior presiding over the ceremonies, they would likely be lost in the destruction and confusion of the apocalypse. The intervention suggests that we aren’t the ones in control. There will come a time that we cannot reverse the damage done and we won’t survive the consequences of our failure without the intervention of a higher

“The murder of Déagol haunted Gollum, and he had made up a defense, repeating it to his ‘precious’ over and over” (The Fellowship of the Ring 62). This quote gives a look into the strongest moment of shock that impacted young Sméagol’s life forever. Gollum is a fictional character unlike any other in The Lord of the Rings series, as he is portrayed as having undiagnosed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are six recurring symptoms that must happen in conjunction with traumatic factors in order for someone to be diagnosed with PTSD, and unfortunately for Sméagol his actions and history sync perfectly into the diagnosis. Due to the fact that Gollum is a fictional character out of a book, it seems that the author, J.R.R. Tolkien, may have purposely given these attributes to Gollum to display PTSD. Though Tolkien may argue that his time in the war did not highly influence his books, subconsciously Tolkien, like many who were in the war, could have had undiagnosed PTSD or known someone who did. As a combat veteran, Tolkien and his friends were more likely to develop PTSD. This may have resulted in portraying these symptoms on to one specific character, Gollum. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder “is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event” (NIMH), just as Gollum had and continues to be put through. He has had a rough past of loss and exile, as well as continuously trudges through horrific events and torture in which he must

The influence of the Christian-Catholic faith Tolkien was thrust into by his mother’s (and by extension, his) conversion; along with Tolkien’s friendship with CS Lewis would have most certainly thrusted his faith to a prominent part of his life. Especially when we consider the nature of Tolkien’s writings as, in a way, of the fairy-tale genre. Of the fairy tale genre, it’s most important that despite through the sorrows of story a happy ending is matched. The “happy endings” of Tolkien’s works would have been bathed in an earnest hope and attempt to capture what the Christian believes to await them in heaven. “Giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief. It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher

It is very clear that The Fellowship of the Ring is about good and evil and how power affects and causes evil acts. This has been explained in your writings, where you have stated and I quote “You can make the Ring into an allegory of our own time, if you like: and allegory of the inevitable fate that waits for all attempts to defeat evil power by power” (Tolkien and Tolkien 121) as well as “Power is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales” (152). By reading the Fellowship of the Ring and watching the movie, I can see that you have

The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, in an apocalyptic literature style. It consists of a series of prophecies about the end times, when Jesus will return and triumph over all the evil residing in the world. Its purpose is to bring hope and encouragement to Christians so that they will continue watching for the return and victory of Jesus Christ, but it is also a warning of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure. The depiction of the cosmic battle that takes place both in heaven and on earth, symbolic language, and introduction of surreal

Dark, imposing, devious, powerful beyond measure, Sauron is evil personified in the Lord of the Rings universe. He is the be all and end all when it comes to villiany in the Lord of the Rings tale. He is a major reason that the Lord of the Rings is regarded as a pinnacle of epic fantasy story telling. But he is not an overly complex villain, with morally gray motivations that some may say are required if an evil character, especially the central one, is to be regarded as important and beneficial to the plot. But the genius of Sauron's villaint is his absence of complex reasoning or motives that could be seen as not entirely evil. His one goal is to destroy the world of men. He can't be reasoned with or sympathized with, and this is

Theist: Yes, God thinks that since there is evil in this world, we will face many

I would like to conclude by saying that this novel The Lord of the Rings has inspired many spin off works, including several games as well.The enormous popularity of Tolkien’s epic saga has greatly expanded the demand for fantay novels, largely thanks to the Lord of the Rings. It is an an extraordinary work, grandly conceived, brilliantly executed and wildly entertaining novel of Tolkien .In the whole novel we see that it 's a hobbit 's dream, a wizard 's delight. And, of course, it 's only the beginning.The language used in this novel is very simple and easy to understand by people. In short this novel has won the hearts of many .This novel is a must read. I see this novel as a near perfect: It 's one of the best fantasy novel ever written. The story just revolves around the Ring which is created by a Dark lord, Sauron.It has brought the supernaturalism in such a way that we could clearly make out where is the supernaturalism used.