Comparing Good and Evil in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

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Comparing Good and Evil in Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Imagine yourself in a pre-industrial world full of mystery and magic. Imagine a world full of monsters, demons, and danger, as well as a world full of friends, fairies, good wizards, and adventure. In doing so you have just taken your first step onto a vast world created by author and scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Tolkien became fascinated by language at an early age during his schooling, in particularly, the languages of Northern Europe, both ancient and modern. This affinity for language did not only lead to his profession, but also his private hobby, the invention of languages. His broad knowledge eventually led to the development of his opinions about Myth and the importance of stories. All these various perspectives: language, the heroic tradition, and Myth, as well as deeply-held beliefs in Catholic Christianity work together in all of his works. The main elements of Tolkien’s works are Good versus Evil, characters of Christian and anti-Christian origin, and the power of imagination.

In Tolkien world, evil is the antithesis of creativity, and is dependent on destruction and ruin for its basis. Conversely, goodness is associated with the beauty of creation as well as the preservation of anything that is created. The symbolic nature of these two ideologies is represented in the Elven Rings, which symbolize goodness, and the One Ring, which is wholly evil. A main theme of "The Hobbit", then, is the struggle within our own free will between good will and evil. "Early in the (Lord of the Rings) narrative, Frodo recalls that his uncle Bilbo, especially during his later years, was fond of declaring that… there was only one Road; that it was lik...

... middle of paper ...

...Pity 2. Self-sacrifice B. Evil 1. corruption (Gollum) 2. greed (Smaug) II. Characters, Christian and anti-Christian A. Christian 1. Comparing to Christ a. Bilbo b. Gandalf B. Anti-Christian 1. Satan a. Saruman b. The Ring III. Power of the Imagination A. Creates secondary belief B. Escape through imagination

Works Cited

· Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Hobbit. New York: Ballantine, 1982.

· Wood, Ralph C. "Traveling the one road: The Lord of the Rings as a "pre-Christian" classic." The Christian Century Feb. 93: 208(4).

· "Eucatastrophe." Time September. 1973: 101

· Evans, Robley. "J. R. R. Tolkien" Warner Paperback Library. 1972: 23-4, 41-2, 202

· Urang, Gunnar. "J. R. R. Tolkien: Fantasy and the Phenomenology of Hope" Religion and Fantasy in the Writing of C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and J. R. R. Tolkien. United Church Press, 1971

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