Good and Evil in the Imaginary World of J. R. R. Tolkien

Masaryk Univerzity Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies

Good and Evil in the Imaginary World of J. R. R. Tolkien B.A. Major Thesis

By Jan Kovář Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Milada Franková, CSc., M.A.

Brno 2006

Acknowledgement: I would like to thank my supervisor, doc. M. Franková for her time and her advice.

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the materials listed in the bibliography. 2

Outline: 1. Introduction 2. Body: 2.1 Tolkien’s life 2.2 From The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings – from fairy tale to mythology 2.3 How and why Tolkien’s world developed 2.4 Christianity 2.4.1 Created good and twisted evil in The Silmarillion

2.4.2 Eternity and its substitutes in The Lord of the Rings 2.4.2.1 Recurrence and endlessness 2.4.2.2 Longevity

2.5 Elves and Orcs 2.6 Light and darkness 2.7 The One Ring 3. Conclusion

3

1. Introduction The Hobbit, first published in 1937, was a book so successful that its author, J. R. R. Tolkien, was asked to write a sequel to it. He did so, but it was not until 1955 when The Lord of the Rings, published in three independent volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring (FOTR), The Two Towers (TTT), and The Return of the King (ROTK) came to print. For many critics The Hobbit represented an immature book – just a mere description of the journey there and back again seemed to be an unsophisticated piece of literature. LOTR, by contrast, brought new elements to the story and expanded to an epic pilgrimage with psychologically welldeveloped characters and subtle plot. Nevertheless, these four books represent only a fragment of the far more elaborate project Tolkien was working upon – the world of Middleearth. The Silmarillion, summarized and edited in 1977 by Tolkien’s son Christopher (four years after death of his father), offers an insight into the detailed mythology and history of Tolkien’s imaginary world. It consists of five parts, but it was Tolkien’s wish to be published as one single work. Because J. R. R. Tolkien had died before he could complete a full rewrite of the various legends, Christopher Tolkien had to collect materials from his father’s older writings to fill out the book. The Silmarillion presents a sequence of tales, where mythology merges with early history of the young world. The Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth from 1980 is a completely different work. Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments are modified to connect into a consistent and coherent work, the Unfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with no fundamental changes. Thus some of the tales are incomplete stories, while others are collections of information about Middle-earth. For the sake of accuracy, each tale is followed

4

by a long series of notes explaining inconsistencies and obscure points – surely at the expense of belletristic beauty of the whole work. The admirable skills and knowledge of English professor J. R. R. Tolkien, as well as events and desires of his life, were the leading forces to create his world of fantasy called Middle-earth, which partly resembles the real one, but in many other respects stands for a typical fairy-tale realm, where the powers of good and evil battle for hegemony. In my thesis I want to give an account of factors which are reflected in Tolkien’s work, including his private life and academic activities. I also want to show how, to what extent, and in which particular forms good struggles with evil within his fantastic world. In the opening section, I try to trace key events of Tolkien’s life, in order to get a better insight into the very essence of his creative mind. After that, in the chapter devoted to Tolkien’s most well-known books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I examine the transformation in his style of writing between these books, together with gradual revealing of the mythological and historical background of the Middle-earth itself. The next subchapter deals in brief with Tolkien’s three ultimate reasons for transferring his imaginary world into the literary form. The following section tries to explain Tolkien’s view of allegory, compares Tolkien’s The Silmarillion with the Bible in a certain way, and presents the first rivalry of good and evil in the earliest times of Tolkien’s newly rising world. In addition, in search for the hidden biblical eternity in LOTR, phenomena of recurrence and longevity are discussed in connection with different inhabitants of Middle-earth. There are both good and evil peoples in Middle-earth – the former are in the next chapter represented by the Elves, as by the race very significant for Tolkien himself; the latter by their evil counterparts – Orcs. The last but one subchapter opens the issue of colour specifications, and the final one presents the One Ring as a character coequal to others in the book as well as in the film adaptation of LOTR.

5

2. Body 2.1 Tolkien’s life Tolkien’s father Arthur died when Ronald was only four years old, and hence the boy came “to regard [him] as belonging to an almost legendary past” (Carpenter 1977: 17). Shortly after death of Arthur Tolkien, the rest of the family moved to the English countryside, where the first pictures, scenes and places began to deposit in memory of little Ronald – to be later recollected and used in forming of Middle-earth. Moreover, Ronald’s aunt used to tell him strange and romantic stories of his father and earlier ancestors of the Tolkien family. Tolkien was in the age when child’s imagination takes shape and fills up with various things. There were some buildings and names in particular, whose equivalents may be recognized in the Shire (a land where the Hobbits live in Middle-earth) – in The Hobbit and LOTR. It was Tolkien’s mother, who made the family convert to Christian belief. Although this lead to an alienation with the rest of the family members, Tolkien wrote of his mother nine years after her death, that “…dear mother was martyr indeed (…) who killed herself with labour and trouble to ensure us keeping the faith” (Carpenter 1977: 31). Therefore, Tolkien never gave up his belief, and results of the influence are noticeable in his earliest writings about Middle-earth. It was also Tolkien’s mother, who supported his education in reading, writing, art, but most importantly of all – in languages. Tolkien mastered many of them, including Latin, Greek, Gothic, Welsh, and later also Finnish; his love for languages resulted in creating his own one, and as suggested later, the emergence of that language was the ultimate reason for inventing his world. Tolkien lost both parents before thirteen years of age, and as Clarke states, “he held grief in one hand and imagination in the other” (1). That probably led to the compensation of his empty heart by imagination. Sudden deprivation of his closest relatives’ feelings and sad loss of his friends in WWI surely had to mean something for the young man’s view of the 6

world, but according to Carpenter (1977: 90), “No account of the external events of Tolkien’s life can provide more than superficial explanation of the origins of his mythology“. However, all the distressing and joyful events had at least minimal impact on Tolkien – he had to make a choice between virtues such as love, beauty or nobleness which were more and more repressed by rapidly developing English industrial society of early twentieth century. He sought for escape from the world he was forced to live in and he chose mythology and fantasy.

2.2 From The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings - from fairy tale to mythology The Hobbit was at first intended and regarded as an amusing story for Tolkien’s children. Tolkien originally viewed fantasy as limited to the smallest readers. In accordance with that, the notion of a classic fairy tale has to overcome each reader of The Hobbit regardless of age. The very presence of the narrator is typical for fairy tales and similar pieces of literature. What is more, the narrator sometimes turns to intrusive rhetorical questions such as: “what is a Hobbit?”(The Hobbit 1), or repetitions: “Out jumped the goblins, big goblins, great ugly-looking goblins, lots of goblins, before you could say rocks and blocks” (The Hobbit 44), which lessen the work’s intellectual quality. Many critics have later viewed this as the main weakness of the book. The writing of The Hobbit both influenced and was influenced by the intellectual change its author was undergoing, namely the development of myth-making. Although still in the same realm of Middle-earth, along with writing LOTR, a completely different angle of fantasy is presented. A fantasy with its own mythology, as Morrow points out (1). Thousands of years from the creation have passed in the three Ages of Arda (as the Elves call the world). LOTR describes the last months before the end of the Third Age, deeds accomplished during The War of the Ring, which meant end of dark lord Sauron 7

and the Third Age of the world. During the course of FOTR, events forgotten long ago begin to ascend to the surface. Tolkien begins to tie together the strings leading to very significant feats and affairs of the past. To some characters (except those, who are well acquainted with history - such as Elrond, Gandalf or Aragorn) the matters of the second Age are already matters of legend, receding into a mythic past. “Through the figure of Elrond, who has experienced the War of Wrath and the Last Alliance personally, these happenings suddenly gain an immediacy and relevance to the plot of LOTR” (Hiley 6). Unlike in The Hobbit, where only fragmental allusions remind the reader that the plot takes place in a world with its elaborated mythology and history, LOTR begins to reveal the real depth of the author’s world as well as his masterful creativity. Some argue that the specific turning point where The Hobbit first begins to transcend its modest beginnings when Bilbo discovers the Ring. However, the reader does not know, whether Bilbo discovers the Ring by coincidence or for any more significant purpose. The fact that something very important has just happened is (although a bit hazily) explained as follows: “It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it” (The Hobbit 50). The Ring is the link between The Hobbit and LOTR and also the means of transformation of children’s narrative to deeper, more mature story. Along with the second chapter of Book One of LOTR FOTR, the reader has to notice that the mood of the story gets darker and more serious and Tolkien actually starts playing the “big game with The Ring”. A sudden change is apparent and it is this very moment, when the reader is allowed to view the complexity of Tolkien’s whole intention for the first time. Those who had got acquainted with Middle-earth through reading Tolkien’s The Hobbit and were used to the style of this kind of prequel to LOTR, were now presented a world, which, though it was the very same one, meant something completely new, different, and for many also astonishing. LOTR no longer seems to be a story primarily created for

8

amusement of children, but a genre combining epic, mythology and a quest at the same time, all in a world of exquisite coherence and convincingness. Tolkien’s original kind of fantasy succeeds, because it is formed out of the primary world and refers the reader back to the primary world at the same time. Tolkien’s phenomenal craft resides in achieving and maintaining the delicate balance between fantasy and reality. The difficulty lies in not losing sight of the primary world, while partly escaping from it. Tolkien’s fantasy is both attractive and powerful not because of its fantasy, but because of its reality, because his world shows that things are not so much different in our own world. Although the author himself wrote to his son Christopher about his most famous literary work, that “This book has come to be more and more addressed to you, so that your opinion matters more than anyone else’s” (Carpenter 1995: 91), he probably did not expect LOTR to become so popular and to find so many supporters as well as fans among children and adults all over the world. However, there are many of those readers who did not get and who could not fully enjoy the depth of Tolkien’s intention, because of wrong reading (and later maybe also because of watching Peter Jackson’s films). They see Middle-earth only in colours of black and white, not taking any notice of various shades of grey, which are definitely present in Tolkien’s masterpiece. If the author had wanted to write LOTR in the same way as The Hobbit, then the readers would have received much of the same easy and childish piece of literature. But that was not the plan. By completing LOTR, Tolkien finally revealed to the world what he had been preparing for most of his life.

2.3 How and why Tolkien’s world developed The earliest concepts of Tolkien’s world – the fragmental work The Book of Lost Tales, which was years later going to be called The Silmarillion – have whirled in Tolkien’s head for more than fifty years, and he was working on them until his death in 1973. However, the 9

oldest legends of Middle-earth, dating back to 1917, meant the primary source for Tolkien’s profound reflections, and therefore these crucial mythological foundations underwent only slight changes during the course of Tolkien’s life (The Silmarillion: Foreword 8). The Silmarillion, published four years after the death of its author, is an account of the very existential beginnings of Tolkien’s world and it relates the events of a far earlier time than those of LOTR. Tolkien felt that The Silmarillion was indispensable for an understanding of LOTR and originally wanted both works to be published together (Carpenter 1995: 136-37). Only after reading both books can the reader fully appreciate the precision of interconnected events, almost entire cohesiveness of historic structure, and mastery of style. Mythology and detailed history of Arda from the Music of Ainur to the ring-bearers’ leaving Middle-earth, became one compact unit, with all gods, races, and individuals playing their roles in the large transcendent frame. Tolkien began to write LOTR with little hope and very modest assumptions. He thought of himself as of one writer among many others, who were actually better. Moreover, Tolkien was no genuine writer, he was a philologist. Creating the world of Middle-earth was only a means how to present new languages, which he invented. As a distinguished linguist, he mastered many of them – above all Finnish, which was crucial for the newly-rising fictive Elvish tongue, spoken in his imaginary world. As explain DuBois and Mellor, Quenya (the Elvish tongue) is no slavish copy of Finnish. Some grammatical features are drawn from sources like Latin, Old English, and Old Norse (4). There were, however, more reasons, why Tolkien had decided to transform his idea to fully developed literary tradition. Except from the wish to come up with the Elven language – situated in Elf-inhabited world, another of his passions played an important role in the whole world-creating process. Tolkien wrote The Book of Lost Tales in verses, “his desire to express his most profound feelings in poetry” (Carpenter 1977: 89) was one of the strongest forces which he shared with

10

his friends. His earlier poetic attempts were of no or only little success, and therefore he intended not to give up and began to work on his poem in prose, out of which grew the whole mythology. And there was a third element involved: after he had got acquainted with the Finnish national epic Kalevala, Tolkien exerted a desire for England’s own mythology, very much similar to the one of Finland’s. He recollected it years later as follows: I had a mind to make a body of more or less connected legend, ranging from the large and cosmogonic to the level of romantic fairy-story (…), which I could dedicate simply: to England; to my country (Carpenter 1977: 89-90). This daring idea and later its even more daring realization made Tolkien a founder of a modern fantasy genre. Tolkien called Middle-earth a secondary world, but he perceived it as our world. Speculations of some readers about placing Tolkien´s world onto different worlds on different planets are therefore worthless. The author “placed the action in a purely imaginary period of antiquity, in which the shape of the continent masses was different” (Carpenter 1977: 91). Although the world was different geographically, Tolkien felt that he was somehow writing about real events and dealing with the truth. Not with the truth presupposing that precisely such creatures as hobbits, dragons and the like were virtually alive long time ago, but with something that was given to him as “a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality of the truth” (Carpenter 1977: 92). Therefore, he does not speak of inventing, but rather of writing down things that already exist, that are there; but nobody has ever thought (or has not caught the glimpse) of them.

2.4 Christianity Much has been written about Tolkien’s relationship to Christianity as to a belief which he was deeply devoted to. So has been widely discussed the extent of “divine” similarity 11

between the real world and Tolkien´s imaginary one. Although the author was a pious Roman Catholic, there is no explicit parallel between LOTR and the Bible, as, for example, in the allegoric works of Tolkien’s friend and colleague C. S. Lewis. However, careful reading of The Silmarillion - especially Ainulidalë (The Music of the Ainur - description of “The Creation“) may reveal some implicit affinities. Carpenter claims that The Silmarillion is the work of a profoundly religious man; the book does not contradict the faith, it rather complements it (1977: 91). Tolkien himself strictly refused his works as Christian allegories. He disliked allegory as such (Speed 1). An allegory is a symbolical correspondence of elements in a story with truths in the primary world. Tolkien, however, applies the very opposite method than symbolism: he wants to make his secondary world familiar and to give it an air of authenticity. He did not want to write an allegory of any type, he rather wanted to “try to tell his hand at a really long story, that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them” (LOTR Foreword: xvi). Tolkien further explains perhaps the main mistake in conceiving the issue of allegory: “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” (LOTR Foreword: xvii). Tolkien built the world of his own and he made so in a similar way as the ultimate creator. As Wood implies, “Tolkien practiced the method of indirection, quietly imbuing his pre-Christian epic with concerns that are obliquely rather than overtly Christian (4). Speed presents a corresponding approach: “…we can consider some ways in which we may find our reading of LOTR enriched by certain resonances with the Bible” (1). To sum up, it was not the Bible that Tolkien tried to copy, but rather a hidden layer of reality resting on the same foundations as the world, which is in the Bible described as the real one.

12

2.4.1 Created good, twisted evil

A brief comparison of the opening of Genesis and the Ainulindalë should serve to

demonstrate the above mentioned semblances: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen. 1.1-3). Those are the very first lines of the Book, each of which Tolkien was undoubtedly familiar with; nevertheless, he begins The Silmarillion as follows: There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Ilúvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought and they were with him before aught else was made. (…) Therefore I say: Eä! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be… (The Silmarillion 15, 20). It is widely believed that by thinking of a world, where one God is not worshipped, Tolkien denied his faith, but it is not so. Although Eru is not explicitly regarded as god, he possesses very similar abilities, which he uses in a way comparable to those of Christian God’s. Eru, the One, approximates the Christian God among others by his ability to create the world only out of his thought. He is mentioned in the first instance, before anything or anyone else is mentioned. He is the only one entity existing at the beginning and everything else is his creation. Eru, probably out of loneliness or of some greater cause, creates the Ainur, the Holy Ones, whom he proposes themes to sing. They sing, one by one at first, all together in the end, for Ilúvatar’s pleasure. Ilúvatar had a vision in his mind, for the sake of which he “ordered the universe according to the Good “(Krivak 2), and it is in this moment, long before any Middleearth ever materialized from the whirling flux of substance, when first strings of evil come creeping to oppose the noble principle of good. The originator of first rudiments of wickedness is Melkor, the greatest of the Ainur. The seed of malice is sowed into his ill-conditioned and selfish mind. He introduces new themes

13

into the Music, originally prepared by his master, and he succeeds three times in transforming them to suit his will. But Ilúvatar scolds him by telling: “thou, Melkor, shell see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor any can alter the music in my despite” (The Silmarillion 17) – Eru shows that no disobedience will be tolerated, he is stern but just; moreover, Melkor deserves that kind of treatment. The greatest among the Holy Ones is disgraced right in front of the other Ainur. Shame and anger overcomes him. Eru then presents a Vision, in which the material World arises from the Music and begins to exist; he endows the World with being, that grows out of the previously performed harmonic song and Melkor’s intrusive cacophony. Eru then lets the Ainur descend to Eä, only those who want to, those who are ready to care about what they themselves created; so they take shape and become Valar – the Powers of the World. They should care about the Children of Ilúvatar, which are Firstborn (Elves) and Followers (Men). Valar are glad to guard them, but Melkor is not and when he realizes what Ilúvatar has planned (to bring to life beings upon Eä), he descends to the surface too – he is allowed to, because he shows humbleness and feigns good intentions in front of Ilúvatar. But Melkor’s visage upon Arda is distorted by his malicious mind - his appearance is dark and terrible and his eyes glaze with rage. He is jealous of Ilúvatar, because of the gift of creation and particularly of Elves and Men, who are to come. Envy burns Melkor from the inside, he wants to enslave the Children, subdue them to his will, since he knows of his own superiority. After Melkor’s change to one of the World’s Powers, a struggle between good and evil could begin upon Arda. The moment of Melkor’s arrival and transformation relates Speed with the falling of biblical angels, and along with turning from (feigned) good to (“genuine”) evil, it involves transition from light to dark, too (2). The major advantage residing in good as opposed to evil is the capability of creation. It is still in Ainulindalë when Tolkien makes the primary difference clear. He compares two of

14

the Valar (Aulë and Melkor) and leaves no doubt whose qualities are virtuous and whose are contemptible: …the delight and pride of Aulë is in the deed of making, and in the things made, and neither in possession nor in his own mastery; wherefore he gives and hoards not, and is free from care, passing ever on to some new work (The Silmarillion 19). While Melkor tries to thwart all the beneficial deeds of the Valar at the same time: …they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them (The Silmarillion 22). Melkor is soon excluded from the Valar. Gathering strength, he becomes very powerful – most powerful of his former order. In addition, he remains not alone to realize his dark purposes. Many of the lesser spirits – Maiar – are seduced by his triumphant entrance to Arda and decide to join him. Most famous of Melkor’s servants are the Balrogs, Maiar of demonic appearance and fiendish mind. Then, as a kind of revenge to Aulë for his noble creative facilities, Melkor seduces one of the most skilful Maiar of Aulë. His name is Sauron or Gorthaur the Cruel and he becomes Melkor’s highest captain and right hand. There are also many others corrupted by Melkor in the later days, all deceived by his “lies and treacherous gifts” (The Silmarillion 31). Lying and giving gifts prove to be perhaps the most effective method of temptation used by evil powers. Sauron, in particular, uses these very practices to spread bitterness, envy, and hatred among his enemies, whom he can not overrun by strength of arms only. Villainous indeed are these ways and many are those who can not resist them. And evil persists, sometimes apparent on sight, sometimes hidden in corrupted hearts, until the end of the Third Age. The Valar know about the Vision of the World, because they were its witnesses, but shortly before the end of it, darkness came and made the rest of it invisible. As a result, …the history was incomplete and the circles of time not full-wrought when the vision was taken away. (…) [Wherefore] Valar have not seen as with sight the Later Ages or the ending of the World (The Silmarillion 20).

15

evil deeds of the Third Age were beyond their sight. It was up to peoples and creatures of Middle-earth alone to face them.

2.4.2 Eternity and its substitutes in LOTR 2.4.2.1 Recurrence and endlessness

There are no apparent signs of gods’ existence in LOTR, but a few names of worshiped

powers are actually mentioned in songs and exclamations: “At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard himself crying loud: ‘O Elbereth! Gilthoniel’” (FOTR 191). Unlike for some Elves still dwelling in Middle-earth, these names only refer in the ears of Men and Hobbits refer only to the ancient history, neither do they signify relevance nor basis in real experience for them. Elbereth (Elvish word for Varda - the favourite Vala of the Elves) and all the other Valar seem to be more remote in the Third Age the age of men - than ever before. On the contrary, Wood does not leave the conception that the world of LOTR consists of interlocking realities – human and holy, demonic and natural (9). Within the former pair; in contrast to the latter, the only connection is based on distant memories or myths referring the reader to The Silmarillion for further details. As evidence for demonic reality in LOTR may surely serve the Balrog, whom the Fellowship meets in the former Dwarven kingdom of Moria. The task to fight powers like the Balrog is left entirely to the inhabitants of Middle-earth. There is no more Vala in the Third Age, who would function as the “deus ex machina” in Middle-earth. Speed points out that without the explicit presence of any god in LOTR an important dimension of eternity is missing. However, she presents two imitations of eternity from the book: recurrence and longevity (2). Tolkien offers the cyclically recurrent concept of time framed in a large form – the one of whole ages. An age passes, ends with a great battle, and another age can start. Hiley reflects it as follows: “We have (…) the happenings of paramount importance in the great

16

wars that end the First, Second, and Third Ages” (6). Interestingly enough, there is no clear evidence of any ultimate ending. As opposed to, for instance, the Norse mythology, where Ragnarok – the Doom of the Gods – comes, all gods are killed and the world is totally destroyed. But from the ashes of that final battle, a new, more beautiful world eventually rises (and that is the current world). The End of the World is similarly described in the Bible – in the Book of Revelation. There the Devil and his beasts are overthrown, just before God creates a new heaven and earth (Rev. 20:10, 21:1-2). In contrast to this biblical new world devoid of evil, Tolkien considered his world’s struggles never-ending. After the success of LOTR, he was thinking about writing a sequel to it, in order to let the powers of good and evil clash once again. He tried to, but did not get far. He called the unfinished book The New Shadow, which suggests returning to the “wellestablished” pattern of re-sprouting evil in Middle-earth. The story begins one hundred and five years after the fall of the Dark Tower and is set in Gondor. Tolkien managed to complete about seven pages of the text, hardly developing any complex plot. Interestingly enough, a completely different conception of evil appears there. It is men’s satiety with good which makes for birth of the new malice. Since Sauron is vanquished and no other great enemy appears to spread evil, people start to create it themselves by reviving the cult of Morgoth (Elvish name for Melkor). Tolkien eventually abandoned his new story as not worth doing, because it proved not to have the qualities of LOTR or any other of his successful works. However, he made a parallel between the Morgoth’s cult revered in Gondor and a Satanic cult – which confirms another of the biblical references.

17

2.4.2.2 Longevity

Longevity, as the second phenomenon mentioned by Speed, has many manifestations

within LOTR. Most notably, a glimpse of eternity may be spotted in the character of lighthearted Tom Bombadil. Although only one of the lesser Maiar, he obeys no laws but his own, he is his own master. The Ring, which can bring doom to all peoples of Middle-earth, seems to be just a worthless trinket for him. Gandalf admits that: “…the Ring has no power over him” (FOTR 259), Tom does not disappear when he takes it on and what is more, he is able to see Frodo too, who is invisible for everyone else at the same time. Speed compares Bombadil, a very strange figure met by the Hobbits during their journey to Rivendell, to biblical Adam (2). Tom resembles Adam in several aspects: he is perceived by Glorfindel from the generational point of view as “Last as he was the First” (FOTR 259); moreover, he names the Hobbits’ ponies by “names for the rest of their lives” (FOTR 141) much like Adam names the animals in Eden (Gen. 2:19-20). Tom’s wife Goldberry says about him: “He knew the dark under the stars when it was fearless – before the Dark Lord came from outside” (FOTR 129). He is without doubt the oldest creature in Middle-earth. Longevity in Bombadil’s character manifests itself by the fact, that neither he bothers with events of the outer world, which seem petty to him, nor have the evil powers any impact on him. He has no fear, because he remembers times when there was nothing evil in Middle-earth, realm of shadow does not evoke anything evil in his mind – and he is convinced that he would resist anything. Bombadil is always merry, he keeps singing and talks in verses, he wears clothes of blue and yellow and masters his own forest, where he is virtually almighty. Bombadil and Goldberry are according to Speed the most fascinating characters in relation to eternity. Surely they are a key to understanding Tolkien’s notion of the world that could or should have been (2). Another instance of longevity is represented by the Wizards. Wizards (Istari) are the Maiar, who took material shape and were sent to re-establish balance between light and

18

darkness in Middle-earth. They should do good and stand against the dark lord Sauron and his servants. They are carefully chosen from the lesser spirits and have to work in secret, wherefore they are disguised like old men. There were originally five of them, who came to Middle-earth from the West around year 1050 of the Third Age, but Tolkien only further develops tales of three of them. Those are Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, and Radagast the Brown. All of them act in LOTR, which mostly takes place in the year 3017 – almost two thousand years after their arrival. Each of them carries a staff, and can perform magic to some extent. But their powers are restricted in Middle-earth – they are not allowed to use their abilities in full strength. In the land of Middle-earth (land of mortals), wizards may not reveal the real substance of their immortal spirits, they resemble mortal men instead. Grabner suggests that they …function as mediators between the various races and their lands. Moreover, they embody a bridge between the worlds of good and evil, the realms of mortality and eternity (58-59). They visit all folks of Middle-earth except the evil ones, have different names according to the peoples’ languages and possess special abilities such as talking to animals. They are not growing old and their bodies look the same all the time, although Frodo realizes, that when Gandalf returns to Bag End to reveal the existence of the One Ring, he looks “older and more careworn” (FOTR 45). It was probably caused by alarming events of the past months and Gandalf’s anxiety about the fate of Middle-earth. Time has little impact on their bodies, so that their secret longevity is never exposed; nevertheless, they can be wounded or even killed just like other mortals. Completely disregarding his quest, the wisest of the three wizards and the head of the White Council – Saruman the White – is corrupted during the course of the Third Age and yields to the ruling Ring’s attraction. His fall, as Speed conveys, “…certainly seems to draw on the fall of the angels through the pride of Lucifer” (2). His betrayal means one more army

19

for the allied races to conquer during the War of the Ring. Saruman’s Orcs are eventually defeated, and the foul wizard is murdered by one of his servants. Gandalf, the character of central importance in LOTR, is often compared to an angel or Jesus Christ. He is always unselfish, never desires power, and refuses to take the ruling Ring, when Frodo offers it to him: “Will you not take the Ring? (…) “I dare not take it.” (…) “The wish to wield it would be too great for my strength” (FOTR 60). Moreover, after the rebirth of his spirit in Moria, he changes his colour and name from Grey to White, suggesting a kind of divine transformation (TTT 484). He is involved in many crucial events of the Third Age especially in the War of the Ring, where he helps to win battles, carries important messages or persuades hesitant leaders. After the destroying of the One Ring, he is allowed to sail to Undying Lands together with other ring-bearers. His work in Middle-earth ends and it has not been worthless at all. Some of his deeds are heroic, some are not, but they all aim to the spreading of good among people and resisting evil. Gandalf has to be regarded as embodiment of pure goodness in LOTR. Tolkien thus introduces a balance even among the three Wizards: two of them are active and fight on the opposite sides of the conflict, whereas the remaining one (Radagast) is only their passive tool of almost none importance. That balance is finally broken and good prevails just like in the whole War of the Ring.

2.5 Elves and Orcs 2.5.1 Elves

It was the hour of Varda’s kindling of the stars, when the Firstborn awoke on the shores

of lake Cuiviénen in Middle-earth. The first thing they looked upon was the dim light of the young stars, and since that time it is said that starlight shines from the eyes of each of their kin. They dwelled long near the lake, learned a language (the one which was Tolkien’s reason 20

for making up the whole world) and began to name animals, plants, and other things around them. Unfortunately, they were unnoticed by the Valar for a long time. It was Melkor who revealed their existence, because he considered Middle-earth to be his domain. The Valar could not protect the Elves, because they themselves lived in the remote land of Aman (Elvish word for Undying Lands) and had no information of the awakening of the Firstborn. Quenta Silmarillion (The history of the Silmarils) presents, that those Elves who were captured by the Enemy were then corrupted and enslaved by slow arts of cruelty, and thus Melkor bred the race of hideous and egregious Orcs (Silm. 50). The Elves and the Orcs thus became most hateful enemies. Elves do not possess Ilúvatar’s gift of mortality, instead they are given immensely long life. Their fate is to dwell within Arda until the End, and their spirits cannot leave Eä. Ilúvatar made them his favourites and they can join the Valar in the remote Undying Lands, when Middle-earth seems too unpleasant for them or when their bodies are broken beyond healing. However, there were many who decided to dwell in Middle-earth from the beginning. From those Elves who got to Aman, many stayed with the Valar until the End of Days, but many returned back to Middle-earth in hunt for Morgoth and stolen jewels – Silmarils. As three great Jewels [the Silmarils] were in form. But (…) not until the Sun passes and he Moon falls, shall it be known of what substance they were made. Like the crystal of diamonds it appeared, and yet was more strong than adamant, so that no violence could mar it or break it within the Kingdom of Arda. Yet that crystal was to the Silmarils but as is the body to the Children of Ilúvatar: the house of its inner fire, that is within it and yet in all parts of it, and is its life. And the inner fire of the Silmarils Fëanor made of the blended light of the Trees of Valinor, which lives in them yet, though the Trees have long withered and shine no more. Therefore even in the darkness of the deepest treasury the Silmarils of their own radiance shone like the stars of Varda… (The Silmarillion 67). The First and The Second Age of Middle-earth definitely belonged to the Elven race, although they had to spend many desperate years fighting with dark lords Morgoth and Sauron. For Tolkien, the Elves embody all the delights of virtuous life. He gave them beauty,

21

nobleness and grace, as well as love for spiritually exalting activities, such as singing, storytelling or poetry-writing. Those were Tolkien’s favourite pursuits too – the Elves were very close to him. After Samwise Gamgee (Hobbit of the Shire) spends a few days in the Last Homely House of Rivendell, he excitedly reports to his master Frodo: “Elves here, and Elves there! Some like kings, terrible and splendid; and some as merry as children. And the music and the singing…” (FOTR 219). Not to make them too remote in their visage, Tolkien let them reside in human-like bodies, which were fair and, as pointed above, ageless. Although the Elves are very dignified, their behaviour (at least in LOTR) is rarely snobbish, even when dealing with other races, to whom are they willing to show respect. Grabner adds, that “their goals are not material, but spiritual. They are goodness incarnate” (58). As for the former, perhaps the most important values they care for are beauty and harmony with nature. Neither greed nor hoarding is of interest to them. The only material artefacts important for the Elves are Silmarils in the First Age and the Rings in the Second and Third Ages. The Silmarils – most beautiful jewels Arda has ever seen – reflected the light of the Trees of Valinor, which Morgoth poisoned to death. It is therefore a mistake to consider their importance as residing in the material of which they were made. The ultimate reason was the memory of the perished Trees. Elvish creative tendencies resulted from the fact that they saw many beautiful things destroyed and lost by the hurts of evil. The Rings of Power were primarily made to slow the passage of time and preserve creations of beauty. The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay, the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance – this is more or less an Elvish motive” (Carpenter 1995: 131). Grabner writes about Elves, that “whenever they appear, they are surrounded by halo of light” (59). This demonstration, however, seems a bit exaggerated, but in a good intention. To compare all the Elves to saints may prove to be well-founded from a certain point of view. It 22

is true that the Elves have very rarely participated in dark deeds of any kind. The immense Elvish aversion for evil is given to them congenitally. It was Ilúvatar himself, who wished that “the Quendi shell be the fairest of all earthly creatures, and they shell have and shell conceive and bring forth more beauty than all my Children; and they shell have the greater bliss in this world” (The Silmarillion 41). For many of the Quendi this prophecy remained unfortunately unfulfilled, but all the same – to join the evil side was beneath the dignity of any of them. The Third Age, in which LOTR takes place, is the age of men and even though „Men multiply and the Firstborn decrease, and the two kindreds are estranged” (FOTR 238), evil in Arda would hardly be beaten if it were not for the Elves.

2.5.2 Orcs

Some of the beings occupying Tolkien’s world are heavily influenced by Norse

mythology. The elves, trolls, and dwarves are Nordic creations. However, Tolkien transformed their pre-images into his own specific shapes, by which he afterwards endowed creatures in Arda. Although very much different in physical constitution and mental dispositions, all the various races not serving Sauron are able to unite under one banner of freedom. On the contrary, the Orcs (the race entirely invented by Tolkien) serve only as minions of evil. There is a strange relationship between them and the race of Elves: of all thinkable enmities was the one between the Orcs and Elves the worst. They have lived in the deep-rooted hostility from the very beginning. Orcs and goblins are supposedly one and the same thing in Tolkien’s world, but he describes them quite differently in The Hobbit and in LOTR. However, by both expressions he refers to the same kind of foul creatures. In The Hobbit, Tolkien gives a brief account of their appearance, but since the overall tune of the book has to be easily comprehensible by

23

children, he does not go into detail (which could probably prove to be too scary). “…armed goblins (…) carrying the axes and the bent swords that they use. Now goblins are cruel, wicked, and bad-hearted” (45). More than the dreadful forces of darkness, within The Hobbit Orcs represent a kind of “amusing baddies”. In LOTR, on the contrary, there are at least two different types of Orcs, each of which seems to look more dangerous and has to be taken more seriously (together with the whole story) than in The Hobbit. In Moria, the Fellowship encounters a great host of Mordor Orcs, Tolkien describes one of them as follows: “...a huge orc-chieftain, almost man-high, clad in black mail from head to foot, leaped into the chamber (…) His broad flat face was swart, his eyes were like coals, and his tongue was red; he wielded a great spear” (FOTR 317). The second type are the Uruk-hai of Isengard, whom some may perceive as half-Orcs, an improved breed of Orcish warriors who were still mostly Orc-like in appearance. The Silmarillion contains perhaps the most important information about the Orcs – the process of their coming to existence. The word “creation” does not seem to precisely fit the evil deed itself, because a diabolic transformation of seized Elves was needed, resulting in the Orcs’ emergence. Orcs [were bred] in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise. And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. This it may be the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar (The Silmarillion 50). The Orcs represent the worst aspects of mankind’s (or perhaps rather elvenkind’s) darker nature, yet for all their belligerence they are not entirely without their redeeming qualities. The Orcs remain social creatures, they are tribal and obey leadership and they feel or at least express loyalty towards one another. They are nasty and brutish, but are not mere senseless monsters. They have free will and likely even souls (Carpenter 1995: 195). 24

As the most numerous minions of evil, the Orcs form a significant counterpart to the Elves. Firstly, although neither of them chose it, they represent the twisted bastards of their Elvish pre-images; secondly, due to their rotten bosoms and fear of their own masters (especially the Witch-King and Sauron himself) they serve to the opposite side of the conflict between good and evil. Tolkien embodies into the two races a strong contrast of pure divine creation and its stained imitation.

2.6 Light and darkness The long-established archetypal opposites are often used as paraphrases of good and evil. Pairs like day and night, truth and falsehood, and the like; one of them is remarkably elaborate in Tolkien’s world. It is the dyad of light and shadow. There is one particular fairy tale element, which plays an important role in Tolkien’s fantasy world: the colour specification of contradictory forces. Different colours specify boundaries between good and evil sides of the conflict. While light colours – especially white – characterize good; dark colours – traditionally black, as colour of death and despair – are associated with minions of wickedness. Numerous examples may be found in LOTR: the Black Speech of Mordor, the Black Gate or the Black Riders; balanced by the White Rider, the White tree or the White Council. However, to generalize like that in LOTR may prove to be imprecise: Saruman the White, for instance, keeps his name and status even though his mind has turned to dark thoughts. His clothes may be white, but inside his soul a dark fire burns, eventually forcing him to show himself “in his true colours” – metaphorically speaking. Moreover, in dialog with Gandalf, Saruman calls himself “Saruman of Many Colours” and continues by disregarding the colour he is wearing: “White! (…) It serves as a beginning. White cloth may be dyed. The white page can be overwritten; and the white light can be broken” (FOTR 252). To break the white 25

light in this case may suggest two different things: to divert it into the many colours of the spectrum or to destroy its source and thus let the darkness prevail. Saruman probably stresses the first meaning (Saruman of Many Colours), but the reader knows where Tolkien really points to: he wants to portray Saruman as a traitor, who betrays his former quest (to do good) and fails to deserve his name containing the holy colour. Another exception from the sharp distinction in terms of colours is the character of Gandalf. For his beneficial deeds it is him, and not Saruman, who deserves the white robe and epithet. He is known as Gandalf the Grey, which (still in the colour notation) seems to classify him among neutral characters: neither good nor evil. But his good deeds speak for themselves – he helps wherever he comes to, really tries to fulfil his long-term quest (the one that Saruman abandoned). As a reward for proving his constant kindness, Tolkien lets Gandalf get what he is really worth – leadership together with the white colour as a symbol of purity of mind. It is, though, not earlier than at the footing of Orthanc where Gandalf becomes the head of the Wizard’s order: Behold, I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed. I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council." He raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear voice. ‘Saruman, your staff is broken!’ There was a crack, and the staff split asunder in Saruman’s hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf’s feet (TTT 569). This act can not be, however, seen as Gandalf’s revenge. By getting his own back, Gandalf would not gain anything; right on the contrary – by using such method (vengeance) he would lose face in front of those who trust him most. What he accomplishes is pure justice. By this action, Gandalf deprives Saruman of almost everything: worst of all, perhaps, is the loss of colour. Having no colour seems to be a serious disgrace, because Saruman claimed ownership of all of them before. There is only bitterness and anger left in him. His sudden powerlessness makes for his last cruel deed – invasion to the Shire – and later also to his death.

26

What is more, the second concept of Saruman’s “light-breaking” process can not be fully accomplished within Tolkien’s realm. The light may be hidden or blocked, allowing thus the growth of darkness, but it may not be completely destroyed. Removing the obstacles from the light’s path is theme of central importance in both The Silmarillion and LOTR. As implied above, there are such moments in both LOTR and The Silmarillion, when a character deliberately transforms his essence and body from the realm of light into the one of dark. However, those who underwent this change unwillingly – most often as victims of deceit or curse – have not been mentioned yet. In LOTR, there were at least nine important characters of that kind. They are considered to be the mightiest and most dangerous servants of Dark Lord Sauron in LOTR. They are the Ringwraiths, Nazgûl in the Black Speech of Mordor. They used to be men of the Second Age, when Sauron gave them nine magical Rings, which enhanced their natural powers. However, that proved to be only one half of their effect, their twisted properties remained unseen, until it was too late. Those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth, yet it turned to their undoing. They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men; but too often they beheld only the phantoms and delusions of Sauron. And one by one, sooner or later, according to their native strength and to the good or evil of their wills in the beginning, they fell under the thraldom of the ring that they bore and under the domination of the One, which was Sauron’s. And they became for ever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows. The Nazgûl were they, the Ringwraiths, the Enemy's most terrible servants; darkness went with them, and they cried with the voices of death (Silm. 289). Mere presence of these wraiths on the battlefield causes the enemy soldiers to run away in panic, fear is their ultimate weapon. Captain of the Ninth, the Witch-King of Angmar, used to be an evil sorcerer of the Second Age. After the ring had consumed him, he became the master of all Sauron’s armies and long years of both Second and Third Ages personified the threat for Middle-earth. Gandalf knows him well and therefore can not underestimate his 27

power: “Sauron is yet to reveal his deadliest servant, the one who will lead Mordor’s armies to war. The one they say no living man can kill: The Witch-King of Angmar! You've met him before. (…) He is the Lord of the Nazgûl” (Jackson: ROTK). Moreover, the Witch-King is protected by a prophecy, that no living man can kill him, which seems to make him almost immortal, but he is killed – by a woman: Éowyn of Rohan in the battle of Pellenor Fields. The inner and outer characteristics in terms of colours seem to be closely interconnected in Tolkien’s world. Those who try to hide their vice under the “white sheep’s clothing” are finally exposed and a bright light can shine on their black hearts. Similarly, those who fight against darkness deserve to carry names and apparel in colour of chastity.

2.7 The One Ring In LOTR, Tolkien drew (among others) on Old Norse saga literature, particularly The Saga of the Volsungs. At the centre of this story of fearless heroes is a cursed ring, which deprived of original symbolic fertility becomes associated with death or something even worse, rather than representing a source of life (DuBois 2). The One Ring in Tolkien’s LOTR retains a great deal of importance. Tolkien maintains its status as the very special and extremely dangerous item. The Ruling Ring in LOTR acts as a living character and is responsible for many important events, which form the plot of the whole book. Moreover, its presence invokes a kind of invisible tension spreading around its position. So successful and suggestive is the story of the Ring that a New Zealand director Peter Jackson decided to transform it into three films, keeping the storyline, dialogues and atmosphere almost the same as in the original trilogy. In the prologue to the FOTR, the key events of Ring’s creation are presented and might of the Ring is demonstrated. Since Isildur, one of the greatest kings of men, falls into the Ring’s cruel plans and is killed three thousand years before the original beginning of LOTR , the whole world silently waits and is afraid of 28

the moment when the Ring reappears. When it does, Tolkien lets it to be found and then arranges forces of good and evil to clash in a great war of its possession or its doom. He also has to incorporate Hobbits (another of his invented races) into this monstrous conflict – although small and seeming weak, they play the crucial role within the quest for freedom as ring-bearers and therefore the Ring’s impact on Hobbits is the strongest. However vulnerable Samwise and especially Frodo appear to be, they are capable of resistance. Meanwhile, very appealing psychological confrontation between the Ring and Gollum appears – that is the very opposite case to the previous ones, emphasizing Gollum’s obedience and schizophrenia caused by the addiction. Without any exaggerating, the One Ring in LOTR, in spite of its inanimateness, acts as a protagonist and can be adequately compared to all other main characters. By creation of the wielding Ring, Sauron took quite a risk while placing a major portion of his own power into an item that could be taken from his control. The loss comes true when the Last Alliance’s army enters Mordor and Sauron is defeated. Consequently, after cutting it from his enemy’s hand “the Ring passed to Isildur, who above all men desired power, [...] but the hearts of men are easily corrupted” (Jackson: FOTR). Isildur took it, unaware of the great danger hidden within. In that moment, a struggle between two strong wills begins and it could only have one ending. The relationship between those two is very interesting – although one is a powerful king and the other only a thing, it is hard to say who presents the owner and who his property. Although Isildur has the opportunity to destroy the Ring once and for all, he does not do so – in fact he can not command his will to do so. The Ring tries to return back to Sauron and makes Isildur think of it as of a “precious,” who is paradoxically eroding and poisoning his mind. The effort of the evil Ring to be released is effective and while “… the Ring was trying to get back to its master, it slipped off Isildur’s finger and betrayed him” (FOTR 54). This was the first betrayal the Ring committed, but not the last one. It was the

29

Ring’s obvious intention to get rid of Isildur for good and to find another owner, but in that moment it had to wait for half a millenium. A far more disastrous connection between “Isildur’s Bane” and another character can be observed in the case of Gollum. Gollum first appears in The Hobbit and is described as someone really ugly, poor-looking and hideous – “a small slimmy creature (…) as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face” (The Hobbit 52). He is the regrettable result of the Ring’s possession for almost five hundred years. He was a Hobbit called Sméagol once, until he stole the Ring from his brother, whom he had to kill. The Ring started decaying Sméagol since the very first moment he has seen it. Not incidentally, his appearance and also name changes – to Gollum. Afterwards, Gollum lapses into a schizophrenic state of mind in which he remains until the rest of his regrettable life. The manifestation of that is particularly good recognisable in parts two and three of the trilogy, where Gollum often leads a strange kind of dialogue with himself, time to time almost changing into a quarrel between two personalities inside him. One part of him is a cunning traitor who has no mercy for anybody or anything – he is obsessed with the Ring, which he also calls “my precious;” it is unthinkable for him to be separated from this artefact. The second half of him still seems to be quite unspoilt, deep inside a bit of his former identity remains – a Hobbit one. It was Tolkien’s intention to make the readers feel sorrow for Gollum’s shattered mind and the same way Frodo feels it. Not surprisingly, considering the fact that Gollum owned his “precious” for long years and now can not have it anymore, he is more than upset when obliged to guide Hobbits into Mordor, while the Ring hangs on Frodo’s neck under Gollum’s very nose. On the contrary not everything what the Ring actually caused was bad. During the time when Frodo and Sam travel to Mordor carrying the burden of the Ring, Tolkien reveals what true friendship can be created in terrible conditions and under a never-ending threat of death.

30

Presence of the Ring and the dangers involved while bearing it transform both Frodo and Sam very much. When the story begins in FOTR, Frodo is just a sort of coward, he does not desire to be a hero, he wants to remain ordinary like he did his whole life, but his fate wants the things to go in a different way. After joining the Fellowship, his role dramatically changes, as master Elrond remarks: “This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great“(FOTR 264). Frodo then embodies someone braver, but not the typical hero, who draws his sword in front of the whole Orcish army, he is rather the one who relies on help of friends and resolves the problems with his clever mind. Although he is rougher than he used to be, the experience with bearing the Ring makes him a better man (or rather – Hobbit). At the beginning of the story of LOTR, the Ring is just an ordinary piece of jewellery brought to the Bag End by Bilbo Baggins from his adventurous trip to the east. Its mighty abilities, such as making anyone who wears it invisible, are at first treated “only” as something special and extraordinary, but nobody sees behind that anything of a bigger importance. As time goes by, the Ring continues to draw more attention and becomes a threat for all free lands of Middle-earth. The only way how to destroy it, is to bring it to its creator’s and lord’s land and there destroy it. While the rescuers are travelling many miles to face uncertainty, the One Ring changes the lives of all in sight. Some die, stronger ones resist, but all of them are bound to the Ring somehow. Therefore the question of what the Ring really is speaks more in favour of the lifeless character.

3. Conclusion Tolkien’s world has formed since the time of his childhood and youth. In search for escape from the real world full of pain, Tolkien thought about a world of his own, partially similar to the real world, but populated by many strange creatures – totally unknown before or 31

originating from different mythologies. By writing The Hobbit, Tolkien made the door to his Middle-earth half open. The publishing of LOTR several years later, made them open wide, and there were many readers who entered the world behind them and found it delightful in the same way as Tolkien did. This thesis offers only a short insight to the developing process of Tolkien’s world creation, but tries to take into account events, which were to a significant extent important, such as the author’s devotion to languages, mythology, and faith. Furthermore, it describes different phenomena of interest: for example the characters which are not so necessary for the immediate plot of the given story, but essential for the overall understanding of Tolkien’s world harmony. Special attention is paid to the principles of light and darkness, masterfully incorporated into the mythological-historically conceived realm, and further proclaiming the influence of fairy tales on Tolkien. The fundamental conflict between good and evil Tolkien describes, speaks across time; and, in some cases, echoes the medieval and pre-medieval literature Tolkien studied. The individual style of writing as well as writing systems he devised for Middle-earth reflect his linguistic genius, and all the skills, together with knowledge, made Tolkien one of the most famous and successful fantasy writers of the twentieth century.

32

Works cited: Carpenter, Humphrey. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton, 1995. ---. J.R.R. Tolkien. A biography. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977. Clarke, Greg. “Tolkien and Theology: Believing in Fairy-stories.” CASE 4 Magazine S1. (2005). 15 Dec 2005. . Dubios, Tom, and Scott Mellor. “The Nordic Roots of Tolkien's Middle-earth.” Scandinavian Review. New York: Summer 2002. 14 Nov. 2005. Grabner, Christopher. “Human, Semi-Human, Non-Human and Super-Human Selves in Flux: Morphological Pluralism in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.” The Human Figure in (Post-) Modern Fantastic Literature and Film. Eds. Coelsch-Foisner, Sabine, and Milada Franková. Brno: Masarykova univerzita v Brně, 2004. Hiley, Margaret. “Stolen Language, Cosmic Models: Myth And Mythology In Tolkien.” Modern Fiction Studies. West Lafayette: Winter 2004. 14 Nov. 2005. Jackson, Peter, dir. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. 2001. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. By J. R. R. Tolkien. ---, dir. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. 2003. King James Version Bible Online. BibleDatabase. 4 Apr. 2006. Krivak, Andrew: “Author of The Rings: Tolkien’s Catholic Journey.” Commonweal. New York: Dec 2003. 14 Nov. 2005.

33

Morrow, Jeffrey L. “J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis in Light of Hans Urs von Balthasar.” Renascence. Milwaukee: Spring 2004. 21 Nov. 2005. Speed, Diane. “What Might Have Been: Creation and Eternity in Tolkien.” CASE 4 Magazine S1. (2005). 15 Dec 2005. . Tolkien, Christopher. Foreword. The Silmarillion. By J. R. R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton, 1977. 7-9. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. E-book version. Apr 2000. ---. The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Harper, 2001. ---. The Silmarillion. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton, 1977. Wood, Ralph C. “Conflict and Convergence on Fundamental Matters in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.” Renascence. Milwaukee: Summer 2003. 14 Nov. 2005.

34