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Evil in Middle-earth

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J. R. R. Tolkien's dark lord Melkor has been compared to Lucifer, as he is a powerful spirit-being who rebels against his creator.[1] Illustration of Lucifer devouring human souls for Dante Alighieri's Inferno, canto 33. Pietro di Piasi, Venice, 1491.

Evil is ever-present in J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm of Middle-earth. Tolkien is ambiguous on the philosophical question of whether evil is the absence of good, the Boethian position, or whether it is a force seemingly as powerful as good, and forever opposed to it, the Manichaean view. The major evil characters have varied origins. The first is Melkor, the most powerful of the immortal and angelic Valar; he chooses discord over harmony, and becomes the first dark lord Morgoth. His lieutenant, Sauron, is an immortal Maia; he becomes Middle-earth's dark lord after Morgoth is banished from the world. Melkor has been compared to Satan in the Book of Genesis, and to John Milton's fallen angel in Paradise Lost. Others, such as Gollum, Denethor, and Saruman – respectively, a Hobbit, a Man, and a Wizard – are corrupted or deceived into evil, and die fiery deaths like those of evil beings in Norse sagas.

Context: Tolkien's Catholicism

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J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic. He described The Lord of the Rings as rich in Christian symbolism.[T 1] Many theological themes underlie the narrative, including the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity of grace.[T 2] The Bible and traditional Christian narrative also influenced The Silmarillion; in particular, the fall of man influenced the Ainulindalë, the fighting amongst the Elves, and the fall of Númenor.[T 3]

The nature of evil

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See also: Evil and Christianity in Middle-earth

Manichaean, or Augustinian and Boethian

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Alternative views of evil in the world, Manichaean, where evil coexists with good, and Boethian, where evil is the absence of good. Both views are hinted at in Tolkien's Middle-earth writings.[2] In addition, the creation of the world as good is Augustinian.[3][4]

Tom Shippey writes that The Lord of the Rings embodies the ancient debate within Christianity on the nature of evil. Shippey notes Elrond's statement that "nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord] Sauron was not so".[T 4] He takes this to mean things were created good, and to have become evil by moving away from the good, a Boethian position (evil being the absence of good). This is set alongside the Manichaean view that good and evil are equally powerful, and battle it out in the world.[2] Tolkien's personal war experience was Manichean: evil seemed at least as powerful as good, and could easily have been victorious, a strand which Shippey notes can also be seen in Middle-earth.[5] Elrond's statement is taken by scholars to imply an Augustinian universe, created good.[3][4]

Personified

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The Jesuit John L. Treloar writes that the Book of Revelation personifies evil in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: the first, on a white horse, represents a conquering king; the second, red with a sword, means bloody war; the third, black and carrying a scale balance, means famine; and the last, green, is named death. Treloar comments that the personification increases the emotional impact, and that the Ringwraiths (Nazgûl) are introduced "as terror-inspiring horsemen who bring these four evils into the world. They are bent on conquest, war, [and] death, and the land they rule [in Mordor] is non-productive."[6]

Involving sapience

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Main article: Tolkien's moral dilemma

Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic, created what he came to feel was a moral dilemma for himself with his supposedly wholly evil Middle-earth peoples like Orcs, when he made them able to speak. This identified them as sentient and sapient; indeed, he portrayed them talking about right and wrong. This meant, he believed, that they were open to morality, like Men. In Tolkien's Christian framework, that in turn implied that they must have souls, so killing them would be wrong without very good reason. Orcs serve as the principal forces of the enemy in The Lord of the Rings, where they are slaughtered in large numbers, such as in the battles of Helm's Deep and the Pelennor Fields.[7]

If Tolkien wanted killing Orcs not to be such a problem, then they would have to be without any moral sense, like ordinary animals. That would place them as fierce enemies, but not sapient. Both Tolkien and other scholars have been aware of the contradiction implied by this position: if Orcs were essentially "beasts", then they should not have had a moral sense; if they were corrupted Elves, then treating them as "other" to be slaughtered was straightforward racism.[7][8] Tolkien made repeated attempts to resolve the dilemma,[T 5][T 6][T 7] without arriving at what he felt was a satisfactory solution.[7][8]

Dark lords

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Morgoth

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Main article: Morgoth
The Silmarillion's Melkor/Morgoth parallels the Book of Genesis's Lucifer/Satan.[9]

Middle-earth's first dark lord is Morgoth in The Silmarillion. Morgoth originates as Melkor, the most powerful of the divine or angelic Valar. Like Satan in the Book of Genesis, who was the highest of the angels, he chooses to go his own way rather than to follow that of the creator, and creates discord.[T 8] He is renamed Morgoth, the dark enemy.[T 9] Morgoth's lieutenant is a lesser spirit being, a Maia, Sauron, one of several seduced into his service.[T 10] Morgoth wages war on the Elves of Beleriand.[T 11][T 12][T 13] Eventually the Valar call on the creator, Eru Ilúvatar, to intervene; Morgoth is destroyed amidst the utter ruin of his fortress of Thangorodrim; Beleriand sinks beneath the waves, ending the First Age of Middle-earth.[T 14]

Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride; he rebels against his creator.[10][1] Morgoth has been likened, too, to John Milton's fallen angel in Paradise Lost, again a Satan-figure.[11] Tom Shippey has written that The Silmarillion maps the Book of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions.[9] Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used the Norse god Odin to create aspects of several characters, the wizard Gandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit.[12] Verlyn Flieger writes that the central temptation is the desire to possess, something that ironically afflicts two of the greatest figures in the legendarium, Melkor and Fëanor.[13]

Sauron

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Main article: Sauron
Transmission of Evil in Middle-earth, starting with the dark lord Morgoth and his lieutenant Sauron

Men deceived: Númenor destroyed

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Further information: Akallabêth

In the Second Age, Sauron proceeds to deceive the Men of Númenor into seeking immortality by invading Valinor. When their fleet arrives there, Eru Ilúvatar once again intervenes. The flat world is remade to be round, the fleet is destroyed, and Númenor is drowned, ending the Second Age in a cataclysm reminiscent of the legend of Atlantis.[T 15][T 16] The faithful under Elendil, who opposed the attack on Valinor, escape to Middle-earth.[T 17]

Elves deceived: the Rings of Power and the Nazgûl

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Further information: Rings of Power

Sauron too escapes, and takes on the mantle of dark lord for the Third Age. He helps the Elves of Middle-earth to put their power into Rings of Power, which they intend to use for good. He deceives them by secretly forging the One Ring, putting much of his own power into it, and gaining power over all the other Rings. The Elves perceive him and hide their three Rings, preventing him from controlling them. He gives seven Rings to the Dwarf-lords, and nine Rings to lords of Men. The nine become Ringwraiths, the Nazgûl, corrupted and enslaved to his will.[T 15] Sauron uses the One Ring to build the Dark Tower of Mordor, Barad-dûr, and to amass armies of Orcs, Men, Trolls, and other beings. Elves led by Gil-galad, and Men led by Elendil, make war on Mordor. The two of them defeat Sauron, at the cost of their own lives; Elendil's son Isildur cuts the One Ring from Sauron's hand, but fails to destroy it.[T 15]

The War of the Ring

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Further information: The Lord of the Rings

Centuries later, Sauron rematerialises, and rebuilds Mordor and its armies. He learns that the One Ring has not been destroyed, and sends the Nazgûl to find it: if he regains it, his power of evil will dominate the whole of Middle-earth.[T 15][T 18][T 4] In the War of the Ring, it is finally destroyed, through the combined courage of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, the confusion caused by the traitor Saruman, Sauron's own inability to see the quest to destroy the Ring, and the evil of Gollum that unexpectedly has a good result,[T 15] or as King Théoden proverbially says, "oft evil will shall evil mar".[T 19][14] The Third Age ends, leaving Middle-earth to become a world of Men.[T 15]

Monsters in spirit

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See also: Tolkien's monsters

Joe Abbott describes the dark lords Morgoth and Sauron as monsters, intelligent and powerful but wholly gone over to evil. He notes that in The Monsters and the Critics, Tolkien distinguished between ordinary monsters in the body, and monsters also in spirit: "The distinction [is] between a devilish ogre, and a devil revealing himself in ogre-form—between a monster, devouring the body and bringing temporal death, that is inhabited by a cursed spirit, and a spirit of evil aiming ultimately at the soul and bringing eternal death".[15] By going beyond the limits of the body with these monstrous dark lords, Tolkien had in Abbott's view made the "ultimate transformation" for a Christian author, creating "a far more terrifying monster" than any physical adversary.[15]

Presiding over successive falls

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Further information: Decline and fall in Middle-earth

The evil power of the dark lords brings about successive falls in the history of Middle-earth, reflecting the biblical pattern in which man is cast out of the original paradise into the ordinary world, never to return. Morgoth presides over the destruction of the two Lamps, then that of the Two Trees of Valinor, then the ruinous wars over the Silmarils.[16] Tolkien noted that reflections of the biblical fall of man can be seen in the Ainulindalë, the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, and (under Sauron) the fall of Númenor.[T 3] Sauron is at last destroyed in the War of the Ring, but even that victory represents the dwindling or fading away of all non-human peoples in Middle-earth, including the Elves and Dwarves.[17]

Evil characters

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Witch-king of Angmar

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Main article: Witch-king of Angmar
A Boethian depiction of Evil[18]

In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
      All save one. There waiting, silent, and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.
      "You cannot enter here", said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"
      The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
      "Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade...

"The Siege of Gondor"[T 20]

The Witch-king of Angmar is Lord of the Nazgûl, a former King of the northern Kingdom of Angmar which made war on the Númenórean Kingdom of Arnor, and destroyed it. Commentators have written that the Lord of the Nazgûl functions at the level of myth when he calls himself Death and bursts the gates of Minas Tirith with magical spells.[T 20][19] At a theological level, he embodies a vision of evil similar to Karl Barth's description of evil as das Nichtige, an active and powerful force that turns out to be empty.[18]

Gollum

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Main article: Gollum

Gollum is, Burns writes, "a thieving, kin-murdering, treasure-hoarding, sun-hating, underground dweller who ought to be dead," much like the Barrow-wight.[20] As Gollum states: "We are lost, lost... No name, no business, no Precious, nothing. Only empty. Only hungry; yes, we are hungry".[T 21][21] Verlyn Flieger suggests that Gollum is Tolkien's central monster-figure, likening him to both Grendel and the Beowulf dragon, "the twisted, broken, outcast hobbit whose manlike shape and dragonlike greed combine both the Beowulf kinds of monster in one figure".[22] Burns comments that Gollum has other attributes from the undead of Norse myth: supernatural strength, demanding that he be wrestled; he may appear to be black, but has "bone-white" skin.[21]

Saruman

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Main article: Saruman

Saruman is the leader of the Istari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the Valar to challenge Sauron. He comes to desire Sauron's power for himself, so he betrays the Istari and tries to take over Middle-earth by force, creating an army in his fastness of Isengard. He embodies the themes of the corruptive nature of power and the use of technology in opposition to nature.[23] His desire for knowledge and order leads to his fall, as he submits to Sauron's evil will,[24] brought about by the use of a palantír and his study of "the arts of the enemy".[25] He rejects the chance of redemption when it is offered.[26]

Denethor

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Main article: Denethor

Denethor is the Steward of Gondor, a realm neighbouring and opposed to Mordor. He is depicted as embittered and despairing as the forces of Mordor close in on Gondor. He does not side with Sauron, but his use of a Palantír allows Sauron to deceive him about present and future events.[27] Tom Shippey comments that this forms part of a pattern around the use of the deceptive Palantír, that one should not try to see the future but should trust in one's luck and make one's own mind up, courageously facing one's duty in each situation.[28] Critics have noted the contrast between Denethor and both Théoden, the good King of Rohan, and Aragorn, the true King of Gondor.[29][30] Others have likened Denethor to Shakespeare's King Lear, who similarly falls into a dangerous despair.[31]

Deaths of evil characters

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See also: Death and immortality in Middle-earth

Marjorie Burns writes that multiple monstrous or evil characters in Middle-earth die deaths that would befit "the [undead] afterwalkers of Old Norse sagas", being destroyed by fire sufficient to eliminate them completely.[20] Gollum is brought to an end by fire, the final resort for "stopping the restless dead".[21] In similar vein, the Nazgûl, already wraiths, are destroyed at the same time as the One Ring, blazing in their final flight, "shooting like flaming bolts" and ending in "fiery ruin" as they are burnt out.[21][T 22] Burns states that Tolkien creates "quite a pattern" for characters "who would take more than their due and who have aligned themselves with death", naming Sauron, Saruman, and Denethor as instances of those who come to a "final and well-deserved destruction".[21]

Marjorie Burns's analysis of the living deaths and final ends of evil characters in Middle-earth[32]
Evil character Origin Actions Fiery death
Gollum Hobbit Constantly seeks the One Ring, finally bites it from Frodo's hand Falls into the fire of the Cracks of Doom in Orodruin
Nazgûl Kings of Men Obey Sauron's commands, carry messages to Orthanc, terrify his enemies Seemingly on fire in their final flight, "shooting like flaming bolts", ending in "fiery ruin"
Sauron A Maia, assistant to Morgoth Creates the One Ring to dominate Middle-earth; uses it to build Mordor and the Dark Tower; becomes the "Necromancer", communing with the dead "Virtually indestructible": undone by fire, his shadow blown away
Saruman Wizard, a Maia Imitator of Sauron; creates an army in Isengard, dwells in the tower of Orthanc; has sided with death As a Maia, should be immortal; turns to "grey mist ... like smoke from a fire"; is blown away by the wind
Denethor Dúnedain, Steward of Gondor Lives in dying city of Minas Tirith; plans to die, killing his one remaining son Faramir with him Burns to death on funeral pyre, holding his magical Palantír

References

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Primary

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  1. ^ Carpenter 2023, Letters #142 to Robert Murray, S.J., 2 December 1953
  2. ^ Carpenter 2023, Letters #181 to Michael Straight, drafts, early 1956
  3. ^ a b Carpenter 2023, Letters #131 to Milton Waldman, late 1951
  4. ^ a b Tolkien 1954a, book 2, ch. 2 "The Council of Elrond"
  5. ^ Tolkien 1984b, "The Tale of Tinúviel"
  6. ^ Tolkien 1977, ch. 3 "Of the Coming of the Elves"; ch. 10 "Of the Sindar"
  7. ^ Tolkien 1984b "The Fall of Gondolin"
  8. ^ Tolkien 1977, "Ainulindalë"
  9. ^ Tolkien 1993, pp. 194, 294
  10. ^ Tolkien 1977, "Valaquenta"
  11. ^ Tolkien 1977, ch. 13, "Of the Return of the Noldor"
  12. ^ Tolkien 1977, ch. 18, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand"
  13. ^ Tolkien 1977, ch. 20, "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"
  14. ^ Tolkien 1977, ch. 24, "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath"
  15. ^ a b c d e f Tolkien 1977, "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age"
  16. ^ Carpenter 2023, #211 to Rhona Beare, 14 October 1958
  17. ^ Tolkien 1955, Appendices
  18. ^ Tolkien 1954a, book 1, ch. 2 "The Shadow of the Past"
  19. ^ Tolkien 1954, Book 3, ch. 9 "The Palantír"
  20. ^ a b Tolkien 1955, book 5, ch. 4, "The Siege of Gondor"
  21. ^ Tolkien 1954 Book 4, ch. 6 "The Forbidden Pool"
  22. ^ Tolkien 1955 Book 3, ch. 3 "Mount Doom"

Secondary

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  1. ^ a b Rosebury 2008, p. 113.
  2. ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 160–161.
  3. ^ a b Rosebury 2003, pp. 35–41.
  4. ^ a b Walther & Larsen 2024, pp. 92–109.
  5. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 169–170.
  6. ^ Treloar 1988, pp. 57–60.
  7. ^ a b c Shippey 2005, pp. 265, 362, 438.
  8. ^ a b Tally 2010.
  9. ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 267–268.
  10. ^ Carter 2011, p. pt 16.
  11. ^ Holmes 2013, pp. 428–429.
  12. ^ Burns 2000, pp. 219–246.
  13. ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 99–102.
  14. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 188–190.
  15. ^ a b Abbott (Sauron) 1989.
  16. ^ Flieger 1983, pp. 65–87.
  17. ^ Hannon 2004.
  18. ^ a b Shippey 2005, pp. 131–133.
  19. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 242–243.
  20. ^ a b Burns 2014, pp. 189–195.
  21. ^ a b c d e Burns 2014, pp. 192–195.
  22. ^ Flieger 2004, pp. 122–145.
  23. ^ Dickerson & Evans 2006, pp. 192ff.
  24. ^ Spacks 1968, pp. 84–85.
  25. ^ Kocher 1973, p. 79.
  26. ^ Evans 2013.
  27. ^ Kocher 1973, p. 63.
  28. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 188, 423–429.
  29. ^ Chance 1980, pp. 119–122.
  30. ^ Shippey 2005, pp. 136–137, 177–178, 187.
  31. ^ Smith 2007, p. 140.
  32. ^ Burns 2014, pp. 194–194.

Sources

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