The Eternal Story

In his masterwork The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien created what he called a "new mythos for England." The story, set in a world Tolkien called Middle-earth, puts forth a possible alternative past for our Earth, one that could have occurred before our written history began.

Tolkien was fascinated with the pre-Christian mythology of northern Europe. To make his story, Tolkien pulled elements from these myths. He also imbued it with elements from his own Catholic faith. And in so doing, he created a story that followed the basic plot of almost every heroic quest myth told by humans that we know of.

Joseph Campbell identified these elements in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell found that no matter what culture or religion one looks at, one will find the same essential story being told. This commonality is so striking that he refers to it as the Monomyth, saying "it will always be the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find . . ." It is the story of Odysseus, of Beowulf, of Percival; of Dorothy and Luke Skywalker; of the Buddha and of the Christ. It is a story that humans tell over and over again, creating variation upon variation yet never straying far from the basic plot, the same set of characters.

The Monomyth is so important to us because it works on several levels. First, the versions that survive the test of time are usually ripping good yarns, told in memorable language. We appreciate them as beautiful examples of the art of story-telling.

From a religious viewpoint, the stories tell us about the eternal struggle between Good and Evil. They reassure us that there is a reason for Evil and that Good will prevail. For those of a mystical bent, they are the stories of the quest for self-actualization, for enlightenment.

Finally, the stories offer us a map for how humans develop into mature, emotionally healthy adults. They help us believe that we too can overcome the obstacles in our lives to find a rich, happy life. As stated by the pioneering psychiatrist and mythologist Carl G. Jung: ". . . the essential function of the heroic myth is the development of the individual’s ego-consciousness — his awareness of his own strengths and weaknesses — in a manner that will equip him for the arduous tasks with which life confronts him." Or as Campbell puts it, "It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward." This is why The Lord of the Rings speaks as deeply to people who share neither Tolkien’s faith nor his opinions as it does to those who do. It transcends the personal and the particular to touch us all.

According to Campbell, an essential element of the Monomyth is "a challengingly persistent suggestion of more remaining to be experienced than will ever be known or told." Tolkien, who was writing The Lord of the Rings as Campbell was writing his book, said in a letter to his son: "A story must be told or there’ll be no story, yet it is the untold stories that are most moving. I think you are moved by [the story of] Celebrimbor because it conveys a sudden sense of endless untold stories: mountains seen far away, never to climbed . . ." He deliberately echoes this idea in Chapter VIII of Book One, "Fog on the Barrow-Downs," when the hobbits stand on the hill behind Tom Bombadil’s house with Goldberry and look around them:

Eastward the Barrow-downs rose, ridge behind ridge into the morning, and vanished out of eyesight into a guess: it was no more than a guess of blue and a remote white glimmer blending with the hem of the sky, but it spoke to them, out of memory and old tales, of the high and distant mountains.

The Monomyth feeds our hope that there is always something more to be learned, something more to be discovered. We like to think that there is still some kind of Terra Incognita we might explore someday; that we might venture into those places that are still blank on the map, marked only with the warning "Here be dragons!" And the great revelation is that this frontier exists within us. We do not fully know ourselves; the Monomyth is, in essence, the story of learning just how much more there is to each of us than we ever guessed.

The Lord of the Rings is itself an example of this. Tolkien started out just to write a sequel to The Hobbit. However, as Ursula LeGuin says, the story often comes from places within that the writer did not even know existed until he or she sat down to write. Tolkien tells us in the Foreword to The Lord of the Rings that "the tale grew in the telling" into something much larger, darker, and complicated than his original intent. At the end of his first draft of Chapter III, Tolkien wrote to his publisher that the story "has taken an unpremeditated turn." By the time he was writing Chapter VII, he reported that "It is now flowing along, and getting out of hand . . . [it] progresses towards quite unforeseen goals." When Faramir appeared, Tolkien reported to his son that "I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him . . . but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien . . ." Later he said "Gollum continues to develop into a most intriguing character."

So how, specifically, does The Lord of the Rings follow the elements of the Monomyth?

The Lord of the Rings follows the basic plot of the hero’s journey. Campbell has named three necessary stages to this journey:

1. Separation and departure from the safe haven of home or childhood.
2. Initiation, where the hero encounters fabulous forces, traverses the Underground, and wins a decisive victory. During this stage the hero battles demons, undergoes a false death, and comes to understand who he really is and what gifts he possesses.
3. Return and reintegration, where the hero returns home and shares the fruits of his victory and his new strengths and knowledge.

Jung coined the term "archetypes" to describe those characters that are found in all cultures: Father, Mother, Wise Elder, Warrior, Healer, etc. He believed that these archetypes are symbolic of aspects of the human psyche that are contained within all of us. To become a mature adult, a person must learn how to draw on the strengths of his own character without being controlled by the negative qualities. In a myth, all of these aspects are embodied in separate characters.

To accomplish his quest, the hero will need to call on his own strengths. These qualities are often represented as companions. For example, in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy will need to use her intelligence (the Scarecrow), love (the Tin Man), and courage (the Lion). Her dog Toto, who represents intuition - the ability to see what is really behind the masks put up by others - also accompanies her. Frodo, whose task is to save the world, needs eight companions on his journey besides Gandalf (who occupies a special niche, as we will see below). Frodo’s companions, like Dorothy’s, provide intelligence, love, and courage. They also provide wisdom, a wider perspective, loyalty, strength, sacrifice, perseverance, and humor. The Lord of the Rings being a far more adult tale than The Wizard of Oz, the characters of the Fellowship are complicated and suggest more than one quality.

The hero must battle the forces of evil to achieve the quest. From the story-telling and religious viewpoints, evil is usually a force imposed on the world by and embodied in a Satanic being. Yet there is also an understanding that evil is a necessary part of God’s plan. When Melkor, Tolkien’s Satan, imposed disharmony into the song that created Tolkien’s world, making evil possible, Iluvatar (God) said:

"And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined."

It is through the struggle with evil that we learn to recognize and value what is good.

The psychological viewpoint is somewhat different. According to Jung, we all must struggle with our shadow. The shadow is our unconscious self, all the parts of ourselves that we refuse to acknowledge or are shamed by. The more we try to flee from or ignore the shadow, the more it grows and the more power it gains over us. To master the shadow, we need to stop running, turn, and face it. "The hero . . . must realize that the shadow exists and that he can draw strength from it. He must come to terms with its destructive powers if he is to become sufficiently terrible to overcome [it]." For example, Sam must "become terrible" — in other words, behave in a most unhobbitlike manner - by drawing on his own anger to combat Shelob and rescue Frodo from Cirith Ungol.

Gollum is Frodo’s shadow made manifest. He represents Frodo’s biggest fear: that he will succumb to the Ring’s siren call. Frodo fears and even hates Gollum up until the moment he actually meets the wretched creature. Once he sees Gollum in the light of day, his heart is moved to compassion. We cannot gain mastery over our weaknesses until we first admit that we have them and then forgive ourselves for that. Only then can we see clearly how to overcome them. Looking at Gollum, Frodo feels pity. Out of this pity he finds the strength to control Gollum — who even calls him "master" — and resist the lure of the Ring for a while longer than he might otherwise have done. When Gollum is apparently no longer around and there is no necessity to control him, Frodo begins to lose his grip on his own desire.

Shadows are not always bad. They can be strengths not yet realized or owned. The self-effacing Ranger, Strider, learns to embrace his heritage and destiny. He has to rise above his self-doubts and take on his rightful role as the King of Men, which he does on the plains of Rohan:

Aragorn threw back his cloak. The elven-sheath glittered as he grasped it, and the bright blade of Anduril shone like a sudden flame as he swept it out. "Elendil!" he cried. "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, and am called Elessar, the Elfstone, Dunadan, the heir of Isildur Elendil’s son of Gondor. Here is the Sword that was Broken and is forged again! Will you aid me or thwart me? Choose swiftly!"

Gimli and Legolas looked at their companion in amazement . . . he seemed to have grown in stature while Eomer had shrunk; and in his living face they caught a brief vision of the power and majesty of the kings of stone. For a moment it seemed to the eyes of Legolas that a white flame flickered on the brows of Aragorn like a shining crown.

It is only after he declares himself openly to Eomer and takes his full power that Aragorn can look Sauron in the face and not be conquered. Even the most powerful of the wizards, Saruman, cannot do that. But Saruman has let his shadow control him. He lies to others and to himself about his true motives. Lies are always a sign that the shadow is in control.

The hero’s journey is always a circle leading back home. It is necessary that the hero go away from home to achieve the quest; but the quest is not complete until the hero comes home again with new knowledge gained on his quest. Just as children must grow up and leave home, go to school, and encounter trials out in the world before they are ready to make their own home and become parents themselves.

At the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, the shadow has become very large. A few places of light remain in Middle-earth, where people who love light and beauty have gathered. It is a false safety, however, and the wise among them know it. For balance to be restored and for the shadow to lose its power, someone must turn away from the light and venture out into the dark, encounter the shadow, and master it.

And it is from the bright, sunny Shire, the place least touched by the shadow in Middle-earth, that this hero will come. Heroes are almost always the most unlikely person possible, someone whom no one would ever think to choose to fulfill a quest: a shepherd boy, a kitchenmaid, a hobbit. Usually the hero is adopted or orphaned. If so, there may be a hint that his parentage is extraordinary or that there is some unusual inheritance or destiny in store for him. If not, he’s the child who has never quite lived up to expectations. He may be the middle child or the last. He doesn’t quite fit in. He may be resented or treated badly. He is innocent and naive; he is quite frequently the archetype of the Holy Fool, the naïve innocent who goes blithely out where angels fear to tread. His innocence and ignorance are a blessing. Since he doesn’t realize that he can’t possibly win against the obstacles stacked against him, he goes ahead and does so.

In The Lord of the Rings, we have many heroes, but the two primary ones are Frodo and Sam. Both express aspects of the archetypal hero. Frodo is an orphan and the adopted and spiritual heir of Bilbo Baggins, who himself does not quite fit in the Shire. Frodo appears to be a normal hobbit up until Bilbo’s disappearance. However, he is greatly resented by the Sackville-Bagginses and regarded with suspicion by many in Hobbiton because of his Brandybuck blood. Sam, although a native son in every way, is considered a bit odd because he is interested in things other hobbits aren’t. We see this in his exchange with Ted Sandyman at The Green Dragon, the Hobbiton pub:

"Queer things you do hear these days, to be sure," said Sam.
"Ah," said Ted, "you do, if you listen. But I can hear fireside-tales and children’s stories at home, if I want to."
"No doubt you can," retorted Sam, " and I daresay there’s more truth in some of them than you reckon. Who invented the stories anyway? Take dragons now."
"No thank ‘ee," said Ted, "I won’t."

Sam also expresses the naïve, blessed aspects of the Fool.

Often the thing that sets the hero off on the quest in the first place appears to be a mistake. Because of this, the hero often tries to refuse the call to the quest. Both Bilbo and Frodo tell Gandalf that he’s got the wrong hobbit. Frodo can’t believe Gandalf when he says Bilbo was meant to find the Ring and Frodo was meant to have it. He wishes the Ring had never come to him. He delays his departure from the Shire to the last minute. Then he tries to fool himself into believing that all he has to do is get it to Rivendell where he can hand it over to someone wiser and stronger. But deep in his soul, he knows the quest belongs to him.

Each time Frodo and Sam begin another stage of their journey, they encounter one or more threshold guardians. At first these are archetypal parents, people who possess more power and wisdom than the hero does at this stage of his development. They offer a temporary place of safety where the hobbits can relax and put the responsibility on someone else for a while. These figures warn about dangers ahead and give gifts to help the hobbits on their way. They cannot stay within the parental protection and fulfill the quest, however. They must leave Tom Bombadil and Goldberry’s home and journey into the Wild, leave Elrond in Rivendell and venture south across Hollin to Moria.

A wizard or a witch, a man or woman of power, advises and perhaps accompanies the hero for part of the way. This person represents supernatural aid and is another sign that the quest is guided and blessed. As Gandalf says to Frodo when Frodo protests that his having the Ring is a mistake:

"There [is] more than one power at work, Frodo . . . beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought."

"It is not," said Frodo. "Although I am not sure I understand you."

But we do not see Gandalf’s true power until Frodo and Sam have gone on without him. This is an essential part of the Monomyth: the quest must be achieved without supernatural aid. This is why the Eagles weren’t used to take the Ring to Mount Doom in the first place. In The Silmarillion, the Eagles are called the Eagles of Manwe, and it is clear that Manwe controls whether or not they participate in the wars of Middle-earth. Manwe is the head of the Valar, angelic beings that live "over sea" in the West where mortals are forbidden to go. At the Council of Elrond, the Elf-Lord Glorfindel suggests that the Ring be sent to the Valar. Elrond replies:

". . . they who dwell beyond the Sea would not receive it; for good or ill it belongs to Middle-earth; it is for us who still dwell here to deal with it."

There is no easy way out of the quest. If there were, nothing would be learned or gained. For mortals to learn the lesson of the Monomyth, it is vital that the quest be accomplished not by God or agents of God, but by a mortal being. And the hero must fulfill the quest using his own strengths alone. This is the only way he can learn what those strengths are. Then he will be able to use them after he returns to his own land to heal and guide others. It will not be until a crisis forces him to use all his strengths that he’ll learn just how strong he really is. Therefore, the supernatural helper often disappears right when things are looking very bad indeed! The lesson for us here is that when we find ourselves in great trouble, not to despair, for that's when we'll learn who we really are.

The hero must make a formal commitment to the quest. At the Council of Elrond, the true scope of the quest is made clear: to take the Ring to Mount Doom and destroy it. Frodo is still hoping that the quest is not his. But the wise Elves, brave Men, and strong Dwarves sit in silence.

Frodo glanced at all the faces, but they were not turned to him . . . a great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo’s side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.

"I will take the Ring," he said, "though I do not know the way."

Lovers in a story often represent commitment. Aragorn and Arwen are both in Rivendell at this moment. When Arwen and Aragorn commit to each other forever, Arwen answers the call that the other Elves have refused. She chooses to turn and embrace her shadow, her human side, and remain in Middle-earth. The rest of Elvendom chooses to remain within the rapidly shrinking circles of light until finally they lose the world entirely. Campbell says that refusal of the call is not necessarily a bad thing. But the world cannot be saved by those who refuse the call. The path of the hero is not the path of the monk. Also, Arwen, by committing to Aragorn, gives him the inspiration to complete his part of the quest.

After the commitment is made, the Fellowship goes out into the dark lands, or what Campbell calls the Road of Trials. The stage of Initiation has begun.

At this point more threshold guardians appear. Unlike the earlier parental figures, these represent tests of the hero’s resolve or right to continue. A threshold guardian of this type can be a terrible creature who tries to daunt the hero from continuing. Or it may be a being like the Sphinx who asks riddles. (We still make students answer questions before they can earn a degree and interview people before they are hired into a job.) The Fellowship passes the trials of Caradhras, the Wargs, and the Balrog. But in the seeming safety of Lothlorien there dwells a fiercer guardian: the terrifying yet beautiful Galadriel, who sees into one's heart. The truth cannot be withheld from her. She forces people to look honestly at themselves, to see the shadow within.

Through her, Gimli realizes that material wealth, the goal most Dwarves value above all, is meaningless. His heart opens to the knowledge that love is the highest form of wealth, and it is a terrible realization for him.

"Tell me, Legolas, why did I come on this Quest? Little did I know where the chief peril lay! Truly Elrond spoke, saying that we could not foresee what we might meet on our road. Torment in the dark was the danger that I feared, and it did not hold me back. But I would not have come, had I known the danger of light and joy."

As a result of this revelation, Gimli becomes more Elf-like, able to see and love true beauty without coveting it. This allows him and Legolas, another Elf who has answered the call to action, to overcome a long legacy of distrust between their peoples and become friends.

Aragorn becomes the leader he is meant to be. Merry and Pippin begin to grow up and take responsibility. This is also when Sam makes his final commitment to the quest. He sees what the consequences will be and still chooses to go with Frodo all the way.

Boromir fails the test because he cannot admit his weakness. When Galadriel shows him his shadow, he refuses to see.

"Maybe it was only a test . . . but almost I should have said that she was tempting us, and offering what she pretended to have the power to give. It need not be said that I refused to listen. The Men of Minas Tirith are true to their word." But what he thought that the Lady had offered him Boromir did not tell.

Boromir lies to himself that he is best fitted to bear responsibility for the Ring. Yet he is at heart a good man. Once his eyes are opened, he acknowledges his error and then atones by sacrificing himself without hesitation to save Merry and Pippin. Joseph Henderson, a colleague of Jung’s, states that "We see the theme of sacrifice or death of the hero as a necessary cure for hubris, the pride that has over-reached itself." Henderson also says that sometimes the hero is so frightened by realizing the extent of his failing that instead of striving to overcome it, he chooses to die. Death can seem easier than admitting our failings and working to overcome them. This is part of the power of the shadow.

Boromir is, in a way, a foreshadowing character. In Mordor, when Sam offers to bear the Ring (not because he lusts for it, simply out of a desire to spare Frodo), Frodo makes the same error of judgment. Although Frodo does not seem prideful, he too thinks he is the best choice to be the Ringbearer. He cannot see that his servant Sam may in fact be the better choice to bear the Ring.

Frodo and Sam now make the descent into the Underworld. This is the descent into the darkest parts of one’s own soul. Before the hero can face the big bad guy who’s been causing all the trouble, or pull the sword from the stone, or destroy the One Ring, he has to master his own shadow. To do this he often has to be "swallowed by the whale," as Campbell puts it, and undergo a kind of death. Frodo allows his shadow Gollum to be his guide through the Underworld. They traverse the Dead Marshes and Shelob’s tunnel. Here, Frodo is betrayed by Gollum and appears to die. This is Sam’s crisis, his "dark night of the soul" — his greatest fear has always been that he would not be able to protect Mr. Frodo. The Ring tempts him, but pride and ambition are not Sam’s faults; his fault is that he doesn’t have faith in himself. In this dark hour he finds just how strong his love for Frodo and the Shire makes him. He resists the Ring, takes on a tower full of Orcs, and rescues Frodo.

The initiation continues as Frodo and Sam are tempered by their passage through the shadow lands of Mordor. Frodo, who is still struggling with his shadow, cannot see anything beyond that. But Sam has won his battle and gained perspective:

Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing; there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.

Finally they reach Mount Doom. At the ultimate moment, Frodo succumbs to the temptation of the Ring and claims it for his own. However, his earlier compassion for this failing saves Frodo from a terrible fate. Because he pitied Gollum and did not kill him, the quest is still fulfilled.

Now begins the stage of return. Even though the main task of the quest has been fulfilled, the quest itself is far from over. The return home is often filled with hazards. There is often a "magical journey" at t his point. Once the quest has been fulfilled, supernatural power can be used freely, so Gandalf and the Eagles can save Frodo and Sam as Mount Doom erupts and Barad-dur collapses. (Physical structures are often metaphors for the ideals or force that built them. Barad-dur crumbling means Sauron has been completely defeated.)

At the field of Cormallen, the heroes find a respite. It is time for healing, rejoicing in the victory just past, and bestowing honors. The heroes are also reunited, beyond hope, with their companions. "Is everything sad going to come untrue?" asks Sam in joy and disbelief when he realizes that not only have he and Frodo not died, but Gandalf has also returned from death.

But the hero still must cross the "return threshold" to his homeland. Often the hero is not welcome or recognized at first, and more trials must be undergone. The return to the Shire is not what the hobbits hoped for. They find their home sadly changed and being ruled by ruffians. Now that they have "become terrible" themselves, Pippin and Merry easily rouse the other hobbits and defeat the villains. Sam uses his gardening skills and his proven courage and endurance to travel throughout the Shire and heal it. He does not just restore his homeland, he brings it to its highest possible state of being. Nothing is added to the Shire in 1420 (with one exception): everything is as it was, but it’s the best it's ever been.

The one exception is the mallorn. Here, as in Gondor, a seedling of the World Tree, the Tree of Life, has bloomed. This tree only blooms in the garden where there is no shadow. The restoration of the White Tree in Gondor and the presence of the mallorn in the Shire let us know that things are truly balanced and healed. The mallorn also signals a passing of the torch from the Elves to the hobbits. Sam, who has an Elf-like love for the beauty of natural things, will be a fitting steward.

After wholeness has been restored, it is time for union. Sam marries Rosie, uniting his wider perspective with the home-grown wisdom of the Shire. Eowyn and Faramir marry and solidify the ties between Gondor and Rohan. And Aragorn, now King Elessar, marries Arwen Evenstar. This is the Great Marriage, the union of the mortal hero with the immortal goddess, that ensures that the world will be renewed. Their marriage unites the long-sundered lines of the Half-Elven and represents the founding of a new dynasty. The Elves are about to pass out of the world, but their legacy will always be present in Arwen and her descendents. Their marriage also represents the embrace of the shadow:

And Frodo when he saw her come glimmering in the evening, with stars on her brow and a sweet fragrance about her, was moved with great wonder, and he said to Gandalf: "At last I understand why we have waited! This is the ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away!"

The time for judgment has come. Aragorn sits in judgment on Men, and his decisions reflect the wisdom and mercy of the returned King the world is now ready for. The Valar condemn Sauron to endless existence as a "mere shadow of malice." Frodo, the former simple hobbit, is now qualified to pass judgment on Saruman the Maiar. Although Frodo would choose to spare him, Saruman’s fate turns out to be the same as that of the master he served and betrayed. Those who cannot become whole and balanced, who remain in the power of their shadows, are cast out from the reborn world.

Once judgment is passed, the hero comes into his true inheritance. Frodo is elected Mayor, the highest honor the Shire can bestow. Yet Frodo gradually drops out of the Shire’s affairs and finally leaves Middle-earth. This can be interpreted two ways. Frodo did, in a sense, fail. He did not master his longing for power and so the Ring mastered him in the end. Knowing this about himself, Frodo may feel unworthy of being in a position of power. He is not at peace; his memories trouble him. Just as Boromir renounced his sin and then atoned for it by sacrificing himself, Frodo chooses to renounce his home. But because he was and remains willing to sacrifice everything he loved for the good of others, Frodo is permitted a place among the angels.

There is another way to view his leaving. Henderson says "Once the individual has passed his . . . test and can enter the mature phase of life, the hero myth loses its relevance. The hero’s symbolic death becomes, as it were, the achievement of that maturity." In this light, we see that Frodo has grown far beyond the simple world of the Shire. He cannot return to a child-like state.

Either way, Frodo’s fate is bittersweet, and this is part of the power of the tale. Life will never be exactly as we wish it could be.

Sam becomes Frodo’s spiritual and material heir. Bag End becomes his home and he becomes the Mayor. We know he will guide the Shire wisely. He also becomes a parent, symbolic of true maturity. And so the story ends, having come full circle. Two years before, Sam and Frodo left Bag End at dusk to begin their quest. After seeing Frodo off at the Grey Havens, Sam returns to Bag End just as night is falling.

And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.

He drew a deep breath. "Well, I’m back," he said.

- Jody G. Bower

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