Hey guys! Last weekend, while I watched The Lord of the Rings movies again and started re-reading the books, I became interested in possible allusions to Christianity that seemed to be contained in them. I had also remembered previously hearing that Tolkien himself was a devout Catholic. Deciding to investigate this further, I came across a website that had an article titled "20 Ways The Lord of the Rings is Both Christian and Catholic." Interestingly enough, this article claims that many aspects of The Lord of the Rings and its characters can have distinctly Christian interpretations. For example, "the One Ring illustrates how evil can entice and enslave," the main theme is that of a clear-cut good versus evil, and the whole idea of a King returning could be seen as parallel to the second coming of Jesus. And these are only a few references among many. Some interpretations that I've heard also claim that the characters of Sam, Aragorn, and Gandalf all embody some aspect of Christ himself. (Devotion, loyalty, sacrifice, and leadership, among others.) If this is the case, then Tolkien seems to have chosen to use his books to convey, not necessarily obviously, some of the aspects and meanings of his faith. I find this fascinating. I know Christianity is the most wide-spread religion in the world, but somehow it is still amazing to me how often it crops up. I mean, come on. Its presence is even felt in Middle-Earth! The messages of Christianity are truly ageless, timeless, and applicable to this day, which could go some way towards explaining why it has managed to stick around for a couple thousand years. I'm sure I could get into analyzing this further, but that might go on for awhile. So...here's the link if anyone wants to read the article! http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0160.
If anyone is actually reading this, I hope you enjoyed looking through it!
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