Saint Tolkien Weekly Roundup #5

The Culturist, Brothers Krynn, Fr. Stephen Freeman, Candace Owens and more!

Evan Amato

and

The Culturist

For

The Culturist

, Mr. Amato examines Tolkien’s deep and potentially surprising dislike for Disney - not only the woke Disney of the last 20-odd years, but the “classic” Disney of the 30s and 40s, in his article entitled “Why Tolkien Hated Disney”.

While most see these early films as harmless children’s stories without all the gratuitous violence and liberal ideology of today’s ‘children’s’ stories, Tolkien understood that, by severely downplaying the mythic elements of death, suffering and consequences for sin, Disney bastardized the myths and fairy-stories Tolkien and his fellow Inklings loved so much, and which inspired their own very different stories such as The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia,

Tolkien believed that to strip this kind of story of its darker elements was to sever it from its purpose. Without the darkness there could be no light, and without genuine trial there could be no transformation. Fairy-stories, as Tolkien contended, were not supposed to merely entertain or comfort, but to prepare the soul.

What troubled Tolkien most, however, was not just the aesthetic change, but the deeper consequence: suffering had been made optional. There was no cost for redemption, and no consequence for evil. It all made for a fantasy with the edges dulled and the moral center hollowed.

The Brothers Krynn

For their Substack,

Bros Krynn’s Newsletter

, the good brothers recently explored one of the most ancient and significant narrative cycles in the history of mythic story-telling, the return of the king, in their article entitled “The Return of the King Cycle - The Archetypal Journey of the King from Exile back to the Throne - The Ulyssean Cycle/Ulyssean King - The Greatest Archetypal Tale Ever Told” - not the third part of Tolkien’s magnum opus, though they do use this as one example of the cycle, but more so the device of a king who goes through trials and failures only to return, reforge his legacy and restore his kingdom, as seen in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Odysseus/Ulysses and others in antiquity, as well as the stories of Conan, Narnia and Middle-earth in modern times.

I would also add the stories of Oedipus, King Lear and Hamlet as other examples, while in Narnia, Aslan can also be seen as a king who “fails,” in the apparent sense that Christ also “failed” on the Cross, only to return to his Kingdom. Thorin’s story in The Hobbit is also a ‘return of the king’ arc. The story of Aragorn is special in that he exemplifies one of the three “offices” of Christ, alongside the priest and prophet shown by Frodo and Gandalf, so his story isn’t necessarily just a ‘side-show’ but more like one side of a pyramid.

The cycle is perennial and the brothers discuss ways to utilize it in your own fictional writings today, with this important caveat (something sorely lacking in Viggo Mortensen’s portrayal of Aragorn)

The Ulyssean King is not only an ‘Aspirational’ figure but one that is deeper than most others as he combines the attributes of all others. Fighting for the woman he loves, the Queen Penelope/Zenobia/Arwen/whomever, for a lost and broken people and conquering all adversity before him, he will continue to feature in stories until the ending of the world.

But remember another thing; no King should ever be ‘safe’ as he’s a very dangerous man. Only weak men, tyrants and weak Kings are safe. The Ulyssean King’s return is dreaded by the wicked and hoped for by the people and his kinsmen precisely because he is dangerous.

Fr. Stephen Freeman

The Substack

The Wood Between the Worlds

recently reposted a 2014 article by Orthodox priest Fr. Stephen Freeman entitled “Tolkien’s Long Defeat.” Fr. Freeman shows how Tolkien’s Catholic historiography of “the long defeat” is diametrically opposed to the modern ideology of Progressivism which has plagued Western society since its inception by Descartes and Francis Bacon and its full fruition in Darwin’s evolutionism.

Indeed, Fr. Freeman shows that the Catholic (and Orthodox) view, as brilliantly explained by thinkers such as Christopher Dawson and exemplified in St. Augustine’s The City of God, is much closer to pre-Christian views of history than the modern anti-Christian delusion that mankind is somehow progressing into a social, moral and technological utopia (as parodied by St. Thomas More). Lacking any bias against the Faith, Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Virgil and other ancients were closer to Christ than many in the last five centuries who even claimed to be Christians. But within this long defeat, the Cross gives us a new hope beyond the aspirations of this world, for by His very “defeat” on the Cross” He has “overcome the world” (Jn 16:33):

History as a long defeat – I can think of nothing that is more anti-modern than this sentiment expressed by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a thought perfectly in line with the fathers and the whole of Classical Christian teaching. And it’s anti-modernism reveals much about the dominant heresy of our time…

But Tolkien notes that within the long defeat, there are “glimpses of final victory.” I would go further and say that the final victory already “tabernacles” among us. It hovers within and over our world, shaping it and forming it, even within its defeat. For the nature of our salvation is a Defeat. Therefore the defeat within the world itself is not a tragic deviation from the end, but an End that was always foreseen and present within the Cross itself. And the Cross itself was present “from before the foundation of the world.”

David Russell Mosley

For his Substack,

It All Begins with Wonder

, Mr. Mosley reposts his excellent article originally written for Inland Catholic Magazine, entitled “Justice and Pity.” He reflects on Tolkien’s presentation of pity and justice in The Lord of the Rings, most of all through the character of Gollum and how Frodo pities him while Sam is more suspicious. He compares this to instances where justice was certainly due but withheld out of mercy, as with the sparing of Gríma Wormtongue by Théoden or Faramir sparing Gollum despite his desecration of the Forbidden Pool.

Ultimately, as Mr. Mosley teaches us, justice belongs to God - He deputes this authority to men, in the Church, the secular world and the family, but in the end, only He can attain true justice, which Tolkien shows with the destruction of the One Ring by Gollum himself, worked by God’s Providence in reward for Frodo’s mercy. This is a profound lesson for us all. (

Mike Schramm

also reflected on this theme in a recent guest post for Saint Tolkien.)

The word pity comes to us from the Greek word pathos which means feeling or even suffering. It gives us the Latin word passio, from which we get the word passion, both as meaning a strong emotion or desire and as meaning great suffering, like our Lord’s Passion. To be compassionate or sympathetic, for instance, means to suffer with someone. To have empathy means to understand another’s suffering. Frodo, when he meets Gollum, is able to pity or have empathy for Gollum. He understands that his suffering has been great. He understands that this suffering is, initially, of Gollum’s own making. He chose to murder Deagol and steal the ring for himself. But Frodo has seen how the Ring has corrupted Boromir, how it might corrupt the others, so when he meets the living incarnation of the Ring’s corrupting power in Gollum, he has a desire to show mercy, not to do what is unqualifiedly just, which is to kill Gollum at their first chance.

J6Matt da Silva

For his Substack,

J6 Matt’s Substack

, Mr. da Silva, whose unjust imprisonment under President Biden was recently pardoned by President Trump, calls out a grave error (in his recent article entitled “Candace Owens and the Army of the Dead”) by professed Catholic Candace Owens, who called on soldiers to break their oath to serve the government and the people of the United States at all costs to themselves, and she even suggested that they risk dishonorable discharge in order to avoid dying for “the elites.”

As Mr. da Silva rightly observes, the Catholic Church recognizes oaths as sacred, an expression of God’s covenantal relationship with mankind which we enter into with God and one another. This is why we make baptismal promises to reject sin and Satan, why politicians and witnesses in court swear on (hopefully) the Holy Bible and one of the main reasons why the Church condemned the Albigensian Cathar sect as heretical in medieval Christendom, because they refused to take oaths.

Mr. da Silva connects this to Tolkien, both as a soldier who understood the importance of duty in battle and as a writer who showed the spiritual power of oaths in the Dead Men of Dunharrow, doomed to inhabit the Paths of the Dead as ghosts for forsaking their oath of service to Isildur and only freed from it when they made amends by serving Isildur’s heir, Aragorn, just as those who breaks oaths sin mortally and risk eternal damnation. As shown by Faramir and Éomer, oaths of loyalty to secular rulers can only be broken in obedience to God’s higher law - a decision not to be made easily or carelessly, and one that is rarely permissible.

With Mr. da Silva, I pray that Candance recants her error and repents, for the sake of her soul.

The image of noncorporeal forms cursed to exist in a world they cannot physically interact with is a fitting image of what happens to a man who chooses to betray his oath. He is forever a shadow of what he could have become. Like a phantom, he is unreliable as any form of support or protection.

Owens would have us lift up these ghosts as objects of adoration and praise. Her advice violates treasured tradition, encourages needless lawlessness, and rejects Divine law. What's worse is that those who would be most impacted are those dumb enough to heed her words.

Jody C. Benson

For her Substack,

A Holy Wonder

, Jody examines Tolkien’s non-allegorical way of infusing Catholic themes, virtues and symbolism into his works through applicability and narrative, in her article entitled “Tolkien and the Sacramental Worldview.” It is analogous to God’s own ordinary way of communicating Himself to man, rarely revealing Himself directly but instead, and even in Scripture, using the symbolism of Creation and the lessons of life to teach us wisdom.

The ability to show rather than tell Catholic truth is something Tolkien mastered perhaps more than any other writer or artist in history, and this skill has made his legendarium one of the most powerful evangelical forces in modern times, leading countless people - myself included - into the Church who otherwise would have been biased against it or at least uninterested. (It’s also why many people, including Catholics, are unaware that Tolkien and his stories even were Catholic, and often prefer C.S. Lewis, whose stories are more explicit and allegorical in their Christianity!) Catholic writers should try to recognize and learn Tolkien’s sacramental imagination in their own fiction writing today.

Each character embodies Christocentric virtues (unlike Lewis’ Aslan who allegorically represents Christ). Characters display their priest, prophet, and kingship as all baptized are called. The world itself radiates with sacramental life and a world created by an all good and loving Creator. We see suffering and sacrificial love as part of the “eschatology” in the narrative—a working out of the characters’ salvific purpose. We see the Fellowship itself as reflective of the Church’s seven sacraments, conduits of the Lord’s grace. The Shire and the role of true friendship shows a sense of localism and subsidiarity that the Church esteems as indispensable to a flourishing society.

The Grey Havens Hour

An excellent new YouTube channel, The Grey Havens Hour, recently put out two intriguing videos on Christian themes in Middle-earth: one on the One Ring as a symbol of original sin…

… and one on the Christ figures present in The Lord of the Rings, particularly through His three munera or offices as priest, prophet and king:

Olivia

This last entry isn’t directly about Tolkien’s faith but is just something I would like to share: a masterful cover of Howard Shore and Liv Tyler’s highly underrated song for the Houses of Healing scene in The Return of the King extended edition:

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That’s all for now! Check back next week to see what great new Tolkien works have been added to the leaf-mould!

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