http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien Applies an ancient understanding of myth as a form of symbolic expression, starting with J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/090315_1931_purpose_or_chance.html There is a supernatural providence in Middle-earth. Look at the words of Gildor the Elf to Frodo. 15 Mar 2009 18:59:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/090315_1931_purpose_or_chance.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071125_frodo_set_out_just_in_time.html Supernatural providence finds expression in that Frodo set out in the nick of time when he left the Shire with the Black Riders on his trail. This idea of supernatural providence does not find graphic expression in any single image. Rather it's woven into the narrative. 25 Nov 2007 00:38:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071125_frodo_set_out_just_in_time.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071122_2222_planets_n_constellations.html In the imagination of the story, The Lord of the Rings takes place in the distant past of Northwest Europe. The planet earth is therefore part of the world that Tolkien created. Tolkien created his own world, but he put our world in it. 22 Nov 2007 22:32:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071122_2222_planets_n_constellations.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071122_good_fortune_beyond_hope.html Tolkien was a master of symbolic forms of expression. Language is one such form of symbolic expression. So is myth. So is art. Tolkien was good at all three. Maybe in part because he was a philologist, Tolkien was adept at using words with double meanings and sometimes even triple meanings. For instance, multiple meanings appear when the Hobbits were about to be attacked by one of the Black Riders, and the Elves appeared, and Pippin said, 'This is good fortune beyond my hope'. 22 Nov 2007 01:15:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071122_good_fortune_beyond_hope.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071111_a_long_nights_march.html The expression of supernatural providence of the Elves appearing as a Black Rider was sniffing out Frodo continues to unfold in what happened next: the Elves took the Hobbits with them. 11 Nov 2007 23:18:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/071111_a_long_nights_march.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070322_black_rider_slipped_away.html The Elves coming along as one of the Black Riders was about to sniff out the Hobbits is an expression of supernatural providence. It was the Elves who made the Black Rider retreat. 22 Mar 2007 23:07:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070322_black_rider_slipped_away.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070315_shadow_of_fear.html Tolkien's use of the word shadow is instructive. Here shadow is the outward look of fear on Frodo's face and in the way he carried himself. 15 Mar 2007 19:59:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070315_shadow_of_fear.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070222_strange_chance.html Elves coming along as a Black Rider was crawling its way towards Frodo is an expression of supernatural providence. Frodo noted the odds against the encounter with the High-Elves. 'This is indeed a strange chance!' 22 Feb 2007 15:14:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070222_strange_chance.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070131_not_many_remain.html Supernatural providence finds expression in that Elves came along as one of the Black Riders was drawing near the Hobbits. It is part of the expression that the type of Elf that came along was exceedingly rare. 31 Jan 2007 12:11:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070131_not_many_remain.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070107_high_elves_rarely_seen.html The chance encounter with the Elves in the Woody End of the Shire is an expression of supernatural providence. The expression of supernatural providence is enhanced in that this type of Elf was very rare. 'Few of that fairest folk are ever seen in the Shire'. 07 Jan 2007 04:49:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/070107_high_elves_rarely_seen.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061228_high_elves.html Supernatural providence finds expression in that the Elves who came along as the Black Rider was drawing near were, as Frodo put it, High-Elves. 'These are High-Elves! ... said Frodo in amazement'. 28 Dec 2006 12:51:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061228_high_elves.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061222_black_rider_retreats.html It was the Elves that made the Rider retreat. 'As soon as he heard the voices he slipped away'. 22 Dec 2006 19:17:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061222_black_rider_retreats.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061221_black_rider_crawling.html The first clear expression of supernatural providence, in The Lord of the Rings, is when the Black Rider is on the verge of discovering the Hobbits, and Elves come along. Frodo relayed what had happened to the others: 'that Black Rider stopped just here and was actually crawling towards us when the song began'. 21 Dec 2006 05:04:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061221_black_rider_crawling.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061211_sound_like_song.html The first expression of supernatural providence in the main story of The Lord of the Rings occurs when the Hobbits, still in the Shire, are trying to make their way to Buckland and are overtaken by a Black Rider. High-Elves then come along, deterring the Rider from recovering the Ring. The Rider had dismounted and was sniffing his way towards Frodo: 'at that moment there came a sound like mingled song and laughter'. 11 Dec 2006 14:19:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061211_sound_like_song.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061207_invisibility.html The idea that evil is an absence of something finds expression in the invisibility of the Ringwraiths, a.k.a. the Black Riders. When the Hobbits first encounter one of the Riders, 'his face was shadowed and invisible'. 07 Dec 2006 04:48:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061207_invisibility.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061128_choice_of_heir.html Tolkien's unconscious method throughout much of his fiction was to take an ordinary event and layer it with meaning. For example, supernatural providence finds expression in the Ring passing from Bilbo to Frodo. 28 Nov 2006 15:39:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061128_choice_of_heir.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061117_chosen.html Gandalf explained to Frodo that he was meant to have the Ring. While Frodo does not doubt Gandalf's word, he nevertheless asks why. Gandalf doesn't know why. Nonetheless it is true: 'But you have been chosen'. 17 Nov 2006 11:49:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061117_chosen.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061113_chosen.html Frodo was selected to bear the Ring by something. After Gandalf explains to Frodo that he was meant to have the Ring, Frodo asks, 'Why was I chosen?' 13 Nov 2006 07:38:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061113_chosen.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061009_part_to_play.html Frodo is able to travel as far as Mount Doom with the Ring. However, he is unable to throw the Ring into the Cracks of Doom. That's where Gollum comes in. Gandalf had long ago said of Gollum: 'he has some part to play yet'. 09 Oct 2006 23:09:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061009_part_to_play.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061007_meant_to_have_ring.html If Bilbo's finding of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings is an expression of supernatural providence, supernatural providence also finds expression in Bilbo passing the Ring on to Frodo. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, Gandalf said to Frodo. "In which case you also were meant to have it" (Fellowship, p. 65, emphasis his). 08 Oct 2006 01:40:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061007_meant_to_have_ring.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061001_fate_of_ring.html Fate in Middle-earth is a decree or design of one or more powers, be it the One or one or more of the Powers. In the case of the Ring, the outcome could go either way. The Ring could fall into the hands of Sauron, which would be the end of Middle-earth as the Free Peoples of the West know it. Or it could be destroyed. Either way, Gollum is instrumental in what will happen to the Ring: "he is bound up with the fate of the Ring" (Fellowship, p. 69) 01 Oct 2006 02:38:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/061001_fate_of_ring.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060922_meant_to_find_ring.html Providence intended for Bilbo find the Ring. Gandalf related, "Bilbo was meant to find the Ring" (Fellowship, p. 65, emphasis his). 22 Sep 2006 01:38:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060922_meant_to_find_ring.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060919_most_unlikely_person.html There are fine distinctions to be made in symbolic expression. On the one hand, the finding of the Ring is an expression of supernatural providence. On the other hand, supernatural providence also finds expression in that it was Bilbo who found the Ring. An orc would have been a more likely candidate to find the Ring. Orcs after all live underneath the Misty Mountains. Hobbits, however, rarely venture out of their own lands, and their lands are far away from the mountains. Instead the Ring was found by "the most unlikely person imaginable" (Fellowship, p. 65). 19 Sep 2006 22:21:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060919_most_unlikely_person.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060918_something_else_at_work.html One of the powers at work in the transfer of the Ring from Gollum to Bilbo was the Ring itself. However, it was not the Ring that made the discoverer of the Ring be Bilbo. "'Behind that there was something else at work" (Fellowship, p. 65). 18 Sep 2006 22:49:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060918_something_else_at_work.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060915_chance.html The Free Peoples of the West are at war with Sauron. They are hard pressed enough as it is. Now that the Ring has come to light, it is only a matter of time (it seems) before Sauron obtains it, in which case his power will be multiplied manyfold. It is for this reason that Gandalf refers to the finding of the Ring as "this dreadful chance" (Fellowship, p. 60). Gandalf's words conceal a hidden meaning, however. When Bilbo finds the Ring in The Hobbit, it is pure accident. In The Lord of the Rings, however, Bilbo's finding of the Ring is no accident. It has become an expression of supernatural providence. 15 Sep 2006 01:19:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060915_chance.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060913_more_than_one_power.html Supernatural providence in Middle-earth is not always brought about directly by the Creator. In between Creator and creation, in Middle-earth, are intermediate beings called powers. Gandalf's words may contain a reference to these powers. In Gollum losing the Ring, and in Bilbo finding the Ring: "There was more than one power at work" (Fellowship, p. 65, emphasis mine). 14 Sep 2006 01:07:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060913_more_than_one_power.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060913_the_powers.html The mythology of Middle-earth consists of a Creator known as the One or Ilúvatar, and a whole host of intermediaries known as powers, which are in turn divided into greater and lesser powers. Sauron is one of the lesser powers. When Gandalf tells Frodo, "there is only one Power in this world that knows all about the Rings", he is not refering to God, but rather Sauron. Tolkien's mythology of the One and the Powers is a reflection of his ideas about God, angels, archangels, and demons. Angels have their counterparts in the powers. This mythology of the Powers is important because, as much as it is about anything, The Lord of the Rings is about supernatural providence. Without the mythology, one is apt to interpret the supernatural providence in The Lord of the Rings through the rose-tinted glasses of conservative American Protestantism. 13 Sep 2006 01:07:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060913_the_powers.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060911_the_strangest_event.html Bilbo's finding the Ring is an expression of supernatural providence in The Lord of the Rings. It was "the strangest event" (Fellowship, p. 65). 11 Sep 2006 00:40:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060911_the_strangest_event.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060907_gollum.html In Middle-earth, evil is a corruption of something good. Gollum was once a hobbit. Just like nine of the Rings of Power turned men into wraiths, so the One Ring turned a hobbit into Gollum. Evil is a corruption, and Gollum had been corrupted. However, Gollum had not become 100% evil: "Even Gollum was not wholly ruined" (Fellowship, p. 64). 7 Sep 2006 21:36:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060907_gollum.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060906_crooked.html When Gollum first found the Ring, it made him invisible, and he put it to uses that were "crooked" (Fellowship, p. 63). It is but a hop, skip, and a jump to turn "crooked" and its relatives into images, and these images abound in Tolkien's fiction. Almost always the weapons of the enemy are not straight in some way. They are twisted, curved, or crooked. That evil is a corruption finds expression in the shapes of these weapons. The weapons are not themselves expressions of this idea. Rather the idea finds expression in the weapons. It influences what they look like. 6 Sep 2006 12:33:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060906_crooked.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060905_fascinating_product.html Tolkien once wrote, "I find 'dragons' a fascinating product of imagination" (Letters, p. 134). Much of Tolkien is nothing but this--fascinating products of the imagination. Gollum caught fish with his bare hands "and ate them raw" (Fellowship, p. 63). 5 Sep 2006 12:33:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060905_fascinating_product.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060904_ringwraiths.html The idea that pride is the root of evil also finds expression in that the men who became the Ringwraiths were proud. 4 Sep 2006 21:33:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060904_ringwraiths.html http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060903_saruman.html The idea that pride is what turns good into evil is mythically and symbolically expressed in Tolkien's stories. You see a glimpse of this in the character Saruman. Saruman is a good wizard gone bad. He is also proud. His knowledge is great, "but his pride has grown with it" (Fellowship, p. 57). 3 Sep 2006 12:56:00 PST http://www.askaboutcomputers.com/tolkien/060903_saruman.html