Gollum and Eagles: Deux ex machina?

[littlemanpoet]

The determinism you present, dear sir, just doesn't seem in keeping with my reading of LotR. May I suggest that trying to get an 'inexorable force' and 'individual freedom' to square with each other in any logical way is an exercise in futility. Best to leave the paradox in all of its realities in the balance that we find it in real life as well as in really good fantasy. But hey, if you like exercises in futility, have at it!

[alatar]

Interesting POV, davem, but somehow the universe that you posit seems contradictory. If an event is fated, which I can accept in ME, then D E M would not be necessary. If the Ring is doomed to go into the Fire, despite everyone's best efforts for or against, then why would divine intervention be required for the Ring to hit the flames?

Unless we assume that the original song, sung by the Divine, is the machine that stomps along, plowing through both mountain and plain, achieving the straight and narrow way desired by the creator, that is.

My interpretation of D E M is where things will go against the plan, down into chaos, unless the god intervenes and sets the world back on the god's path. Then there are more minor interventions where the god tweaks.

A cool tweak is seen in The Clash of the Titans (1981) where Zeus sets the fallen Perseus figurine back on his feet when the hero needs a little boost on his way to fight the Kraken and save Princess Andromeda.

[Legolas]

It is incorrect and ironic to consider the eagles' rescuing episode to be a case of deus ex machina (as presented). To dismiss it as a literary device present only to 'save the story' is to ignore the nature of Tolkien's fictional history.

It is not a literary device deus ex machina, but a literal deus ex machina - a literal act of God. The eagles are not a symbolical representation of God (or anything else) - they literally are sent from God (or actually his regent, in this case). That was the entire point.

Frodo, the Fellowship, and all of 'good' Middle-earth could not win it alone - yet they continued in faith, and in the end, a higher power carried them the rest of the way. (This is a concept taught in Christianity as well.)

Letter No. 183

In The Lord of the Rings the conflict is not basically about 'freedom', though that is naturally involved. It is about God, and His sole right to divine honour. The Eldar and the Númenóreans believed in The One, the true God, and held worship of any other person an abomination.

The definition presented in the first post says that a deus ex machina is "any resolution to a story which does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic." The eagles' appearance is not against the story's internal logic. It actually follows the internal logic of the story, and is at the very essence of the story's focus (addressed above). In addition to the Eagles' appearance in The Lord of the Rings, the army of the Valar save the day in the War of Wrath; the Eagles save Maedhros with Fingon; the Eagles save Húrin and Huor, bringing them safely to Gondolinl; the Eagles save Beren and Luthien, bringing them safely to Doriath; and the Eagles overturn the Battle of Five Armies.

"Of the Return of the Noldor," The Silmarillion:

Maedhros therefore, being in anguish without hope, begged Fingon to shoot him with his bow; and Fingon strung an arrow, and bent his bow. And seeing no better hope he cried to Manwë, saying: 'O King to whom all birds are dear, speed now this feathered shaft, and recall some pity for the Noldor in their need!'
His prayer was answered swiftly. For Manwë to whom all birds are dear, and to whom they bring news upon Taniquetil from Middle-earth, had sent forth the race of Eagles, commanding them to dwell in the crags of the North, and to keep watch upon Morgoth; for Manwë still had pity for the exiled Elves. And the Eagles brought news of much that passed in those days to the sad ears of Manwë. Now, even as Fingon bent his bow, there flew down from the high airs Thorondor, King of Eagles, mightiest of all birds that have ever been, whose outstretched wings spanned thirty fathoms; and staying Fingon's hand he took him up, and bore him to the face of the rock where Maedhros hung. But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon his wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain Maedhros begged that he would slay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Legolas

It is incorrect and ironic to consider the eagles' rescuing episode to be a case of deus ex machina (as presented). To dismiss it as a literary device present only to 'save the story' is to ignore the nature of Tolkien's fictional history.

It is not a literary device deus ex machina, but a literal deus ex machina - a literal act of God. The eagles are not a symbolical representation of God (or anything else) - they literally are sent from God (or actually his regent, in this case). That was the entire point.

Umm, don't you mean "act of Eru" and "sent by Eru"? Or well, that person who is responsible for the music but who isn't directly named, who is conspicuous by his absence from LotR?

[Legolas]

Eru is God of Ea. I simply continued to use "God" to further emphasize that he is The God of Ea.

Or well, that person who is responsible for the music but who isn't directly named, who is conspicuous by his absence from LotR?

I don't know exactly what you mean - feel free to be explicit - but I am speaking as the story is a continuous one in which the author need not reintroduce characters in each episode.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Legolas

Eru is God of Ea. I simply continued to use "God" to further emphasize that he is The God of Ea.

I don't know exactly what you mean - feel free to be explicit - but I am speaking as the story is a continuous one in which the author need not reintroduce characters in each episode.

Originally Posted by Legolas, originally

It is not a literary device deus ex machina, but a literal deus ex machina - a literal act of God. The eagles are not a symbolical representation of God (or anything else) - they literally are sent from God (or actually his regent, in this case). That was the entire point.

Frodo, the Fellowship, and all of 'good' Middle-earth could not win it alone - yet they continued in faith, and in the end, a higher power carried them the rest of the way. (This is a concept taught in Christianity as well.)

Deary me. Is the aura being too cryptic?

Thanks for your comment, Legolas. I think we need to be careful about several points in the discussion.

We need to be careful in discussing LotR within the context of other texts such as The Silm, especially since The Silm we have was produced by another hand and even HoMe, which attempts to 'get back to' Tolkien's original text, is a postumous text. LotR does not present Eru, the valar, etc as explicitly as The Silm does. Tolkien chose a different kind of text and style for TH sequel than he used in his private papers about his Legendarium; Tokien hints rather than states directly; to infer the continuity is to make readerly acts, to take up the hints and veiled references which, for most readers, are to a tantalizing half-glimpsed idea. (This leads to another thread possibly: Why did Tolkien write LotR with such veiled allusions to his Legendarium? Why did he excise explicit naming of Eru and leave readers only with songs and characters' half-remembered stories?) It is not incorrect to make these connections, but it should be clear that the acts are acts of interpretation and connection, interpelating one of Tolkien's texts more explicity into another, rather than an explicit statement in the text.

Also, to use the word "God"--and to capitalise it (the Latin deux ex machina is not capitalised)-- especially in the context of a passage which refers to Christianity--gives rise to confusion between the primary world and the sub-created world. Yes, there are enough allusions and signifiers for readers to see Tolkien's faith in LotR--many of us can see the allusions to Galadriel as Queen of Heaven--but Tolkien choose not to make that an explicit writerly act. His text is a marvellously subtle, tantalizingly complex one which invites comparisons and deductions and conclusion but which doesn't make them explicit--applicability. To state directly that the eagles are sent by God is to make the kind of readerly interpretation Tolkien may have invited, but it is wise to respect his wonderfully elusive and allusive style and not imply it is as ploddingly obvious as, for example, Lewis's. I think it actually demeems that applicability, lessens the excitment of the text, lessens the very eucatastrophic nature of the story, to reduce it to "they literally are sent from God (or actually his regent, in this case)."

[alatar]

Very nice post Bêthberry.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Tolkien chose a different kind of text and style for TH sequel than he used in his private papers about his Legendarium; Tokien hints rather than states directly; to infer the continuity is to make readerly acts, to take up the hints and veiled references which, for most readers, are to a tantalizing half-glimpsed idea.

Could it be that he played to the psychological need for discovery (not sure that this actually exists, and so far my searches have proved fruitless, but I would guess that it's real)? You know, the desire to find out what's out there, in there, over there, under there, etc. Isn't there a thrill when you first meet someone unique and cool, or start reading a book that's a real page-turner, or hear a song that makes you stop and think? The adrenaline levels may vary, but they are examples of moments when you think: Hey, I need to look into him/her/this/that a little more. You get in gear, engaged as it were, and start digging.

M-Y-S-T-E-R-Y.

Don't you just hate it when, at the end of a book, everything is just wrapped up ever so neatly and conveniently, and nothing is left to ponder? Isn't this the reason for d e m, to fill in the plot holes and finish off the story lines?

Discovery. Wonder.

Tolkien, in LotR, gives us a glimpse at times that there's more to Middle Earth than just the book in our hands. In the Appendices (added in subsequent publishing because readers wanted to know more?) more of the story is given, but even that is just a teasing draught from the sea of material. The more you explore, the greater your rewards. You still have to dig, as it's not all laid out. And even better, the additional material is (mostly) consistent and valid across the whole. The letters mor signify something dark or black (Moria, Mordor, Moriquendi, etc), whether they're seen in the First or Third Age. Other authors cobble together appendices or additional stories, but these are hacks, not part of nor grown from the whole. Your exploration is put off as it's all a cheap facade, not the real deal archeology of Tolkien's works.

So again, as I've stated before, we never get to read about Eru, but occasionally see large fingerprints in LotR, and get the pleasure of playing CSI:ME.