![]() ![]() But over the course of “The Lord of the Rings” we discover that before he found the ring Gollum was a hobbit himself named Smeagol. In The Hobbit he seems like a vile and treacherous monster, his external filthiness indicative of the state of his character. Perhaps no character embodies these ideas more fully than Gollum, the violent, lizard-like creature Bilbo Baggins encounters living in the caves of the Misty Mountains and obsessing over his precious ring. For Tolkien, even Satan himself is capable of conversion.įor Tolkien even the very worst of monsters have within them the potential to turn back toward the good. But as mentioned in Episode 2 of “The Rings of Power,” when Morgoth actually gazed upon the Silmarils, he was so overwhelmed by their beauty that he had to turn away from them, lest his heart be changed permanently toward the good. The central part of The Silmarillion concerns three jewels known as the Silmarils, which shine with the most beautiful light in the universe and are widely coveted, including by Melkor (who the elves know as Morgoth). The Nazgul who fight at Sauron’s side, though they are some of the most frightening creatures in Middle-earth, were likewise originally nine human kings, at least some of whom were almost certainly good before they donned the rings that corrupted them.įor Tolkien even the very worst of monsters have within them the potential to turn back toward the good. Good people can go bad: Tolkien repeatedly shows even the noblest of creatures, like Gandalf or Frodo, falling prey to the same temptations to greed and power that drives monsters like Smaug or Melkor. Every creature exists on the same continuum between good and evil, and has the capacity to travel either way along it. Most importantly, it undermines any attempt to separate life on Middle-Earth into heroes and monsters. Grounding the idea of evil in corruption has major consequences for Tolkien’s way of thought. Good People and Bad Are Not Fundamentally Different Long after they have become a species of their own, they remain trapped and in pain: “Deep in their dark hearts,” Tolkien writes, “the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery.” In a sense, perhaps they are the most universally evil of all the forms of life in Middle-earth because they are the most universally abused and imprisoned. Yet in The Silmarillion, Tolkien reveals that orcs are among Middle-earth’s greatest victims, because their corruption is a result not of their choice, but of Melkor’s torment and abuse. Never in any of Tolkien’s books do we meet a single orc that is good, or who resists the commands of Sauron. Of all the races in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy the orcs are the one group who seem utterly evil. And Balrogs like the one that attacked Gandalf the Grey in The Two Towers are the Middle-earth equivalent of Lucifer’s fallen angels.įor Tolkien, every creature exists on the same continuum between good and evil, and has the capacity to travel either way along it. Trolls are believed to be a similarly warped version of Ents, the trees that walk and speak. So orcs were created from elves who had been kidnapped and tortured by the Lucifer-like Melkor. Evil is a corruption of something that was once good. And this has a major implication for his universe: No race of creature is inherently evil. In The Silmarillion, Tolkien’s ancient history of Middle-earth from which “The Rings of Power” draws, Tolkien explains that only Ilúvatar (Tolkien’s version of God) can create life. In our own modern-day world of would-be trolls and heroes, Tolkien’s work offers important lessons on the ways we treat others and ourselves. Tolkien’s vision of human existence, in which the difference between villains and champions is far less than we might expect. ![]() Obviously, this is Storytelling 101: You want to keep people guessing. Even the lead character Galadriel seems as likely as not to be an unwitting agent of evil. But otherwise it really is an open field. O.K., no one is asking whether it’s the adorable Harfoot. And six episodes in, the big question is, which character is actually the evil wizard Sauron? Is it the dark elf who the orcs called Father? The mysterious man with tremendous magical ability who crashed to earth seemingly from the stars? The tormented ironsmith who doesn’t want to go back to his kingdom and has unexpected dexterity as a fighter? The adorable Harfoot who is just trying to help everyone? Last month Amazon debuted its mega-super-massive television series “The Rings of Power,” a “Lord of the Rings” prequel (in the same way that ancient Egypt is a prequel to today-the events take place 5,000 years before The Hobbit). ![]()
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