A central theme is death and immortality, with light as a symbol of divine creation, but Tolkien's attitudes as to mercy and pity, resurrection, the Eucharist, salvation, repentance, self-sacrifice, free will, justice, fellowship, authority and healing can also be detected.
In The Lord of the Rings, the Ring represents ultimate evil or sin, and Frodo, though himself innocent, bears it to its ultimate destruction. The parallels to Christ are clear, for He, though innocent, bore the sins of the world upon Himself and died for the salvation of mankind.
The connections between The Lord of the Rings and Christianity are numerous. There is a connection symbolically between the One Ring and Original Sin and, therefore, between Mount Doom and Golgotha. The elvish word for waybread, lembas, means life-bread, or bread of life, connecting it to the Eucharist.
First of all, we can see that Tolkien has modelled his story on the basic plot of the Bible. The Lord of the Rings starts with an unspoiled paradise (the Shire / Garden of Eden), which is rudely disturbed by evil (Sauron / Satanic snake). Then there is a moral quest, which brings about moral and spiritual maturation.
However, in J.R.R. Tolkien's books, he does not have one representation of Jesus but rather three: Gandalf, Aragorn, and Samwise Gamgee (perhaps representative of the Holy Trinity, the concept of 'God in three persons'). Each of these characters symbolizes a different aspect of Jesus Christ.
J. R. R. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic from boyhood, and he described The Lord of the Rings in particular as a "fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision". While he insisted it was not an allegory, it contains numerous themes from Christian theology.
Frodo, as the Ring-bearer, emerges as a Christ Figure, the one who bears the Cross, and with it the sins and hopes of humanity… Although Frodo emerges as the most obvious Christ Figure insofar as he is the Ring-bearer and insofar as the Ring can be seen to signify sin.
Whenever one treats Gandalf as a “Christ-figure” in The Lord of the Rings, they often point out his sacrificial death on the bridge of Khazad-Dûm and his resurrection as Gandalf the White. There are, however, many other parallels between Gandalf and Jesus.
The Hobbit is not an allegory of Christian truth, but a vision of the world. Christian themes nevertheless flow beneath Tolkien's Middle-earth, and Brown focuses on three of them: providence, purpose and morality.
Haunted by the Holy Spirit
On the other hand — as Tolkien himself explained, “The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.
Christianity in the novels. While many describe the books as secular or Satanic, many writers, including Rowling herself, have gone to great lengths to demonstrate that the books actively promote Christian values.
The Force and the Jedi religion, Lucas stated, were thus based on all religions in the real-world, as he constructed Star Wars mainly from Methodism—or Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—and Buddhism.
Rowling identifies as a Christian. Although she grew up next door to her church, accounts of the family's church attendance differ. She began attending a Church of Scotland congregation, where Jessica was christened, around the time she was writing Harry Potter.
In the entire canon of Tolkien's primary work, three characters emerge in the story as symbols of Christ: Gandalf, Aragorn, and Samwise Gamgee.
Scholars and critics have identified many themes of The Lord of the Rings, a major fantasy novel by J. R. R. Tolkien, including a reversed quest, the struggle of good and evil, death and immortality, fate and free will, the danger of power, and various aspects of Christianity such as the presence of three Christ ...
The Return of the King
The return of Christ at his second coming is symbolically shown through the return of Aragorn as the king of Gondor. Christians believe that Christ will return again and he will come at a time when the world is most in need of a good, righteous king.
Frodo's name comes from the Old English name Fróda, meaning "wise by experience". Commentators have written that he combines courage, selflessness, and fidelity, and that as a good character, he seems unexciting but grows through his quest, an unheroic person who reaches heroic stature.
The most prominent theme in The Hobbit is bravery, and the transformation of Bilbo Baggins from a timid homebody living quietly in his hobbit hole in the Shire to the brave hero at the center of a dangerous adventure. It was an act of bravery for Bilbo to simply leave the comfort of his home in the first place.
Characters such as Gandalf represent light or goodness throughout the story, while characters such as Gollum and Smaug represent darkness or evil. Throughout the novel, Tolkien describes Gandalf through imagery that shows him light characteristics.
Tolkien opens the sacrificial role to all characters, particularly the most humble ones, the hobbits. Aragorn represents the eschatology of Christ—the belief that Christ will return to establish a kingdom on earth for his faithful.
Legolas first appears during the Council of Elrond, where he is sent as a messenger by his father, Thranduil, to give the council the news of Gollum's escape with the Elves of Mirkwood. He is then selected by Elrond to represent the Elves in the Company that sets out with Frodo on his quest to destroy the Ring.
Eru Ilúvatar, also known as the One, is the single omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent creator. He has been existing eternally in the Timeless Halls and possesses the Flame Imperishable in his spirit which kindles existence from nothingness.
Aragorn's descent to the Paths of the Dead reminds us of Christ's descent into Hell following the Crucifixion. Aragorn, like Christ, is “King of the Dead” who has the power to set the suffering souls free of the death-curse. Similarly, Aragorn is a Christ figure in his role as healer.
Gandalf or Aragorn (and even possibly Frodo) may be seen as Christ-like: with Aragorn the king entering his kingdom, the return of whom everyone is expecting; the apparent "resurrection" of Gandalf when he dies on the Bridge of Khazad-Dum after the fight with the Balrog; or Boromir's surrender of his life for his ...
Tolkien deliberately avoided saying much about the effect of the war on Middle-earth, and specifically denied that The Lord of the Rings was an allegory of the Second World War as some critics had supposed.