I have said this before and I promise I will say it again, I LOVE Lord of the Rings! I have hobbit feet slippers and a remake of Gandalf’s sword (Glamdring). So all in all I am a giant Lord of the Rings nerd, great I’m glad we have that settled. With that being said I recently started watching the movies again (for the millionth time) with a friend who had never seen them before. I’ve been trying to put myself in his shoes and attempt to see these movies like it is my first time all over again.
This has made me realize things about one of my favorite stories that I had not noticed before. I’ve noticed multiple connection to christianity, as well as things that relate to my life right now. I will write a few different blogs about this because if I tried to fit it all in one that would be a super long blog, and lets be honest no one would read the whole thing.
One of the bigger picture concepts that I have come across is the array of Christian themes throughout Lord of the Rings. I have always known that Tolkien was a Christian and that he was raised going to a Catholic Church with his mom. Also one of Tolkien’s dearest friends was none other than C.S. Lewis. (Man I would of loved to go those dinner parties). The Christian themes throughout Lord of the Rings are not extremely obvious. Surprisingly there is no hero in the stories that can be completely compared to Jesus. Characters like Samwise Gamgee, Aragorn, and Gandalf do have some of the characteristics of Christ, but in the end they do not exactly measure up. I think that is what Tolkien might have been trying to say. That we can and should strive to be as Christ like as possible.
He could also be saying that not even in Middle Earth can someone be as great as Christ. Not even the lovable Sam could completely sacrifice himself and save everyone. But there are hints or things that make up Christ that can be seen in many of the characters Tolkien created. For instance, Samwise continuously gives of himself for the good of Frodo. Sam shows great sacrifice in the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring when Frodo decides to leave the fellowship and try to get to Mordor by himself. Sam cannot swim yet his devotion and love of Frodo causes him to jump into the river chasing after Frodo. Sam makes a decision in that moment that helping Frodo is more important than himself. We see him struggle and start to drown yet he keeps trying to get to Frodo.
That scene, along with many others, has Christian tones jumping out. Jesus is always going to be chasing after us. At different times in life we try to go it alone and do things without Christ, like Frodo leaving Sam. Yet, without fail Christ is always there ready to help and waiting for us to reach out and accept His gift. We need to accept the fact that like Frodo we can’t walk into Mordor by ourselves, we NEED Christ or it just won’t happen. Imagine if Frodo didn’t have Sam to help him? That would have been a much shorter story where Frodo gave into the power of the ring and Sauron would have conquered and ruled Middle Earth. Without Sam, Frodo couldn’t complete his mission. Like wise, without Jesus, we cannot complete our purpose in life.
Like I said before I am going to continue writing blogs on this subject over the next few weeks. And if you do not already know, this blog will be where I will be writing updates throughout the next year. I will be writing about my process leading up to the World Race and then next year I’ll be writing about my experiences while traveling from country to country. I am getting more and more excited the closer I get to departure. I am so thankful for all the support I have gotten from friends and family and anything more would be so helpful! I am similar to Frodo now in the sense that I cannot go on this journey by myself. I am so blessed to have friends and family that are supporting me like Sam supports Frodo. Next year I am going to be leaning on Christ more than ever and learning how to depend on Him completely. Thanks for reading and helping me with this journey.
