Prophecy in The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic. He described The Lord of the Rings as rich in Christian symbolism. Deirdre Greene writes that Tolkien, who "saw himself as inspired, saw his writing as sub-creation under God, and observed that his fiction seemed to come from outside himself", can be seen as part of an English tradition of prophetic verse going back to Edmund Spenser and John Milton. She adds that a major influence on these writers was the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation. Further, in her view, all three "display an angry distrust of the making of heterodox images". In Tolkien's case, that takes the form of having his evil characters distort images in the minds of their listeners. All three writers were both consciously Christian and trying to create "great national works, English epics." She comments that heroic narrative and the values of Christianity frequently conflict, creating "some discomfort" in all three men. == Narrative ==

Prophecies in the mountains of Gondor. Many years later, during the War of the Ring, Éowyn (a woman) slays the Witch-king during the Battle of Pelennor Fields, assisted by Meriadoc Brandybuck (a Hobbit). At the Council of Elrond, Aragorn says the prophetic Later, Aragorn quotes a second prophecy, spoken long before (in the time of the last King at Fornost, Arvedui) about the Paths of the Dead by Malbeth the Seer. It is 12 lines of verse, the longest prophecy in the novel, including the lines: The Elf-lady Galadriel tells the Elf Legolas in verse that if he hears the cry of a seagull, his heart will never again rest in Middle-earth. When Legolas comes to the port of Pelargir, Galadriel's prophecy is fulfilled: as Legolas heard the cries of seagulls, he experienced the Sea-longing — the desire to sail west to Valinor, the "Blessed Realm", latent among his people. At Mount Doom, when the Hobbits Frodo and Sam were attacked by Gollum, Frodo grabs the Ring and appeared as "a figure robed in white... [that] held a wheel of fire". Frodo tells Gollum "in a commanding voice" that "If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom", a prophecy soon fulfilled. Prophetic dreams and visions '' Other prophetic statements are presented as accounts of dreams and visions. A third dream, the "most prominent", offering an ambiguous vision of reality, and likely to deceive. Tredray comments that this echoes Macbeth, just as Éowyn's encounter with the Witch-king does. == Analysis ==

Types Julaire Andelin, in the J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, describes three types of prophecy in Middle-earth: actual prophecies of the future, by godlike Valar, Maiar (such as Wizards), or seers; "prophecy through the 'eyes of death'; and forebodings of the heart." Andelin writes that seers, whether Elves or Men, speak prophetically by unexplained means, which she suggests could be by some connection to the Music of creation, or by a gift from Ilúvatar the creator; and their prophecies were more ambiguous than those of the immortals. Still vaguer are forebodings of the heart, which only become clear when the event actually occurs. Echoes of biblical prophecy Numerous scholars have admired Tolkien's simile of Théoden riding into his final battle "like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young". Among them, Steve Walker calls it "almost epic in its amplitude", inviting the reader's imagination by alluding "to unseen complexity", a whole mythology of Middle-earth under the visible text. The Anglican priest Fleming Rutledge calls it imitative of the language of myth and saga, and an echo of the messianic prophecy in Malachi 4:1-3. The priest and Tolkien scholar Fleming Rutledge writes that Aragorn, narrating the Lay of Beren and Lúthien to the Hobbits, tells them that Lúthien's line "shall never fail". Rutledge talks of the "kings of Númenor, that is Westernesse", and as they gaze at him, they see that the moon "climbs behind him as if to crown him", which Rutledge calls an echo of the Transfiguration. Rutledge explains that Aragorn is of the line of Elendil and knows he will inherit "the crown of Elendil and the other Kings of vanished Númenor", just as Jesus is of the line of King David, fulfilling the prophecy that the line of Kings would not fail. Aragorn has been called a Christ-as-King character; Tolkien's use of prophecy has been compared to the Old Testament's foretelling of the coming of the Messiah. Aspects of Aragorn's character - his ability to heal, his sacrificial journey, and his experiences with death and the dead - have long been seen as clues to overt Messianic overtones. Echoes of Shakespearean prophecy comes to Dunsinane, in the form of branches carried by the soldiers, as described by Shakespeare. This was a prosaic resolution that Tolkien found deeply disappointing.|alt=Illustration of Shakespeare's wood, a group of soldiers carrying branches Tolkien found William Shakespeare's solution to how Birnam Wood could come to Dunsinane to fulfil the prophecy in Macbeth bitterly disappointing: the soldiers cut branches which they carry with them, giving something of the appearance of a wood, with an entirely non-magical explanation. Shippey comments that Tolkien transformed Shakespeare's theme so that trees actually could march to war: he has Ents (tree-giants) and Huorns (partially awakened trees) join the fight against the evil Wizard Saruman. The Ents destroy Saruman's fortress of Isengard; the Huorns march as a forest to Rohan's fortress of Helm's Deep, besieged by Saruman's army of Orcs. The Orcs find themselves trapped between the Men of Rohan and the Huorns; they flee into the vengeful Huorn forest, never to emerge. Ambiguity Julaire Andelin, in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes that prophecy in Middle-earth depended on characters' understanding of the Music of the Ainur, the divine plan for Arda, and was often ambiguous. Thus, Glorfindel's prophecy "not by the hand of man will [the Lord of the Nazgûl] fall" did not lead the Lord of the Nazgûl to suppose that he would die at the hands of a woman and a hobbit. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that the prophecy, and the Witch-king's surprise at finding Dernhelm to be a woman, parallel the witches' statement to Macbeth that he may "laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4, scene 1), and Macbeth's shock at learning that Macduff "was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (as Macduff was born by Caesarean section: Act 5, scene 8). Thus, Shippey notes, despite Tolkien's stated dislike of Shakespeare's treatment of myth, he read Macbeth closely. Sense of the numinous Robert Field Tredray writes in Mythlore that The Lord of the Rings strikes him with "a sense of the numinous". This goes, he writes, beyond what is expected in fantasy, with strange species; the reader glimpses "a world beyond Middle-earth", through divination – seeking knowledge of events by magical means, and prophecy – spontaneous prediction of future events. Tredray describes Aragorn's words at the Council of Elrond as a minor detail, "the reforging of a sword", but that the entire plot hangs on its being taken as a prophecy. Of Malbeth's prophecy, Tredray comments that "the reader cannot ignore it. But it establishes mood more than it advances the plot." He adds that Aragorn's choice to take the fateful Paths of the Dead "is certainly a crucial event" in the narrative, but that once again the prophecy is a small detail, and Aragorn had in fact already just said he would take that road. == References ==