WWII Parallels - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Aiwendil · 04-01-2003, 10:21 AM

The very fact that no one can agree on what represents what seems to me to indicate that there is no allegory; if there were, the parallels would be far easier to make. If I were forced to try and find parallels, I'd say that Mordor=Germany and Isengard=Russia. And of course the infamous Ring=nuclear weapons.

But none of that is really valid. Tolkien said quite explicitly that the book was not an allegory. Either he was right or he was lying. And no matter how hard one tries, one cannot quite make the story fit World War II perfectly. Who is Gandalf? Or Frodo? Or Aragorn? If the Ring is nuclear weapons, why was it initially created by Mordor then lost and found by the 'allies'? None of it stands up to close scrutiny.

Of course, it is possible to find applicability to World War II. In Tolkien's use of the terms, a work is allegorical when the story itself serves merely as a front or analogy to something else; the story is not the important thing. If LotR were an allegory it would be about World War II. If a work is applicable that means that, because it is a well-constructed and internally realistic story, there are inevitably themes found in the work that are also found in real life. The Ring does not represent nuclear power. But the Ring is an artifact with great power, and thus it bears a relation to all power, in any form.

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04-01-2003, 10:21 AM	#7
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	The very fact that no one can agree on what represents what seems to me to indicate that there is no allegory; if there were, the parallels would be far easier to make. If I were forced to try and find parallels, I'd say that Mordor=Germany and Isengard=Russia. And of course the infamous Ring=nuclear weapons. But none of that is really valid. Tolkien said quite explicitly that the book was not an allegory. Either he was right or he was lying. And no matter how hard one tries, one cannot quite make the story fit World War II perfectly. Who is Gandalf? Or Frodo? Or Aragorn? If the Ring is nuclear weapons, why was it initially created by Mordor then lost and found by the 'allies'? None of it stands up to close scrutiny. Of course, it is possible to find applicability to World War II. In Tolkien's use of the terms, a work is allegorical when the story itself serves merely as a front or analogy to something else; the story is not the important thing. If LotR were an allegory it would be about World War II. If a work is applicable that means that, because it is a well-constructed and internally realistic story, there are inevitably themes found in the work that are also found in real life. The Ring does not represent nuclear power. But the Ring is an artifact with great power, and thus it bears a relation to all power, in any form.