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J. R. Tolkien's Use Of Allegory In The Lord Of The Rings

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Writer J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic, whose faith shines through in many of his works. Numerous details in his stories appear to reflect Christian themes or serve as religious allegorical figures. Leaf by Niggle, The Music of the Ainur, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy all contain elements that could be construed as deeply Christian. Tolkien, however, despised the use of allegory and asserted that there was no intentional inner meaning of his stories (Purtill, 2006). Although Tolkien expresses his distaste of the use of allegory, a great number of his works contain elements that could be interpreted as having Christian meaning. Leaf by Niggle is one work by Tolkien that appears to contain a heavy amount of Christian allegory. …show more content…

He compares Frodo’s journey to Mordor in an effort to destroy the ring to Jesus’s journey to Golgotha. He discusses how Frodo accepted his mission as a ring-bearer and endures great suffering in order to save those threatened by evil. Purtill compares this to how Christ died in order to bring salvation to humanity. Moreover, he considers how Gollum betrays Frodo, which is similar to how Jesus was deceived by Judas. Lastly, he makes a comparison between Gandalf’s sacrifice for his friends and that of Christ. In the process of defending the group from the Balrog, Gandalf falls from bridge of Khazad-dûm with his arms stretched out in a cruciform position, and seemingly dies. Later, the group encounters a resurrected Gandalf, which can Purtill says can be interpreted as a Christ figure. Much like Christ, Gandalf sacrificed himself to save the others, and is returned to life (Purtill, 2003). Leaf by Niggle, The Music of the Ainur, and The Lord of the Rings are just a few of Tolkien’s stories that can be interpreted as having underlying Christian meanings. Although J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Catholic, he despised the use of allegory in fiction and defended that his works had no deep, inner meaning to them. However, Tolkien also admitted that his story, The Lord of the Rings, was essentially a religious work. Though this contradiction remains, many of Tolkien’s works appear to have numerous Christian themes contained in

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