Discovering Enchantment the of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth M a t t h e w D i c k e r s o n S (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd ii 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM © 2012 by Matthew Dickerson Published by Brazos Press a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.brazospress.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording— without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dickerson, Matthew T., 1963– A Hobbit journey : discovering the enchantment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth Matthew Dickerson. p. cm. Rev. ed. of : Following Gandalf, 2003. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-58743-300-9 1. Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892–1973. Lord of the rings. 2. Epic litera- ture, English—History and criticism. 3. Fantasy fiction, English—History and criticism. 4. Free will and determinism in literature. 5. Middle Earth (Imaginary place). 6. Battles in literature. 7. Courage in literature. 8. Ethics in literature. I. Dickerson, Matthew T., 1963– Following Gandalf. II. Title. PR6039.O32L633345 2012 823.912—dc23 2012010627 Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible. Scripture quotations labeled JB are from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright © 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd iiii 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM To my wife, Deborah, and my sons, Thomas, Mark, and Peter, who allowed me to read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (including some of the appendixes!), and even The Silmarillion as part of family read-aloud. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd iiiiii 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd iivv 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM Contents Acknowledgments ix References and Conventions x Abbreviations for Works by J. R. R. Tolkien x A Note on Capitalization xi Introduction 1 Finding Meaning in Fantasy 1 Where Is Middle-earth? 2 The Making of Books 5 Allegory and Applicability 11 1. On Hobbits, the Treatment of Prisoners, and the Ethics of War 19 Principles of Ethics in Warfare 22 Torture by the Enemy 24 The Ethics of the Wise 28 The Complexities of Narratives, and of Life 31 2. Epic Battles 36 The Battle of Five Armies 38 The Black Gate and the Skirmish with Southrons 41 The Rohirrim and the Anglo-Saxons 43 So Fair, So Desperate 48 Hope and Healing 54 The “Contest” at Helm’s Deep 56 War, the Individual, and Fellowship 59 v (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd vv 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM Contents 3. Frodo and the Wisdom of the Wise 62 Spotting Wisdom in Middle-earth 64 The Wisdom of Gandalf 65 Military Might and True Hope 69 Faramir 72 The Wisdom of the Bagginses 75 4. Military Victory or Moral Victory? 80 Victory, at What Cost? 81 The Temptation of the Ring: Gandalf and Elrond 86 The Temptation of the Ring: Galadriel and Faramir 91 5. Human Freedom and Creativity 95 The Reality of Choice 98 Aragorn and the Doom of Choice 102 The Prophecies 104 6. The Gift of Ilúvatar and the Power of the Ring 108 The Domination of Wills 109 The Flame Imperishable 114 The Firstborn and the Followers 119 Free Will and Creativity 122 7. Moral Responsibility and Stewardship 126 Objective Morality and Judgment 131 Moral Responsibility 136 Another Word on (or against) Judgment 139 The Steward of Middle-earth 143 8. The Seen and the Unseen: Salvation and Social Justice 148 The Salvation of Boromir 151 The Salvation of Sméagol 155 Saruman, Denethor, and Damnation as Un-Salvation 159 Bilbo and Frodo: Mercy for the Merciful 162 Social Justice and a Rejection of Gnosticism 164 9. A Shift in Tone: Free Will and the Hand of Ilúvatar 170 A Deepening of Voice 171 Attaching a Leaf 179 The Presence of Ilúvatar 182 The Purpose of Ilúvatar 188 vi (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd vvii 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM Contents The Power of Ilúvatar 191 Free Will and the Hand of Ilúvatar 198 10. Ilúvatar’s Theme and the Real War 203 Not a Christian Myth? 206 The Missing Piece 216 Sorrow and Loss 221 A Christian Myth? 227 The Absence and the Presence of the Incarnation 236 The Theme of Ilúvatar 240 The Real War and the Happy Ending 244 Notes 251 Sources 259 vii (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd vviiii 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd vviiiiii 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM Acknowledgments I am grateful to Tom Shippey, who remains at the forefront of Tol- kien scholarship, for his many years of indispensible scholarly work that is at once profoundly insightful and very enjoyable to read, and also for his personal encouragement (and occasional suggestions) over the past few years; to several other scholars and writers who, through talks and essays and especially personal conversations, have contributed to my understanding, including Jonathan Evans, Chris- topher Vaccaro, Charles Taliaferro, Michael Drout, David Bratman, Colin Duriez, Peter Kreeft, Thomas Howard, Sandra Miesel, and Paul Kerry; to literary colleagues at Middlebury College for many other stimulating conversations about Tolkien and related literary topics, especially Professors Kathy Skubikowski, John Elder, and Dan Brayton; to many years of Middlebury College students who have taken my Tolkien classes and made the effort to write insight- ful papers and engage in class discussions; to numerous readers as well as critics of Following Gandalf for their comments; to the late Professor Marion Singleton (of Dartmouth College), to whom I am greatly indebted for her teaching on writing, and literature, and writing about literature, and for investing in me as a person; and finally to my good friend David O’Hara for his friendship over the years, not only for the frequent discussions about philosophy, myth, and literature, but even more for the numerous times when we went fishing instead of discussing philosophy, myth, or literature. Matthew Dickerson, September 2011 ix (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd iixx 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM References and Conventions Citations to works by J. R. R. Tolkien are given parenthetically in the text, using the conventions and abbreviations described here and below. Citations from The Lord of the Rings are from the Houghton Mifflin second edition. Because of the many different editions and typesettings of this three-volume work (with different page number- ings), references are by volume number and chapter number (rather than by page number), in uppercase and lowercase Roman numerals respectively. Thus the reference “III/iv” refers to volume 3, chapter 4 of The Lord of the Rings, a chapter titled “The Siege of Gondor” found in The Return of the King. Except where noted, Scripture citations come from the Douay-Rheims Catholic edition commonly in use during the lifetime of Tolkien. All other works (authors other than Tolkien) are cited using endnotes, with a list of sources at the end of the book. Abbreviations for Works by J. R. R. Tolkien “Fairy” “On Fairy-Stories.” In The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1984. Foreword Foreword to The Lord of the Rings. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966. Hobbit The Annotated Hobbit. Revised and expanded ed., anno- tated by Douglas A. Anderson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. x (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) DDiicckkeerrssoonn__HHoobbbbiittJJoouurrnneeyy__LLCC__ddjjmm..iinndddd xx 66//1122//1122 22::0066 PPMM