Frodo's accpetance of Gollum... - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

davem · 01-15-2004, 03:32 AM

Child, I've been thinking about why those images are relevant for me. I think its because they're almost, but not quite, icons. In other words, they point us to, make us think of, Icons, but the Christian element is missing. In this way they're like the world of Middle Earth. They, like the books contain a 'far off gleam of the Gospel', but don't contain the Gospel, or Christ in themselves. But its this 'absence' that we feel in them which points/directs us to Christ - & that's my understanding of Tolkien's purpose - he gives us a world which points us beyond itself to a greater 'truth'. LotR is deliberately not a Christian allegory (hence Frodo cannot achieve the Quest - if he did he would simply be an allegory of Christ, or at least a Christ, within Middle Earth, so Tolkien's desire to direct us out from his 'Secondary' world into the Primary world & towards Christ would be a failure). This sounds too much like I'm saying Tolkien is attempting to 'evangelise' through his work. I don't think that's his whole intent, but I do think its there, & certainly it was central to what drove the TCBS.

I hope this makes sense. I think I prefer these images to those of any other artist, because of the way they (for me) perfectly express what Tolkien is trying to do.

01-15-2004, 03:32 AM	#12
davem Illustrious Ulair Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: In the home of lost causes, and forsaken beliefs, and unpopular names,and impossible loyalties Posts: 4,240	Child, I've been thinking about why those images are relevant for me. I think its because they're almost, but not quite, icons. In other words, they point us to, make us think of, Icons, but the Christian element is missing. In this way they're like the world of Middle Earth. They, like the books contain a 'far off gleam of the Gospel', but don't contain the Gospel, or Christ in themselves. But its this 'absence' that we feel in them which points/directs us to Christ - & that's my understanding of Tolkien's purpose - he gives us a world which points us beyond itself to a greater 'truth'. LotR is deliberately not a Christian allegory (hence Frodo cannot achieve the Quest - if he did he would simply be an allegory of Christ, or at least a Christ, within Middle Earth, so Tolkien's desire to direct us out from his 'Secondary' world into the Primary world & towards Christ would be a failure). This sounds too much like I'm saying Tolkien is attempting to 'evangelise' through his work. I don't think that's his whole intent, but I do think its there, & certainly it was central to what drove the TCBS. I hope this makes sense. I think I prefer these images to those of any other artist, because of the way they (for me) perfectly express what Tolkien is trying to do. __________________ “Everything was an object. If you killed a dwarf you could use it as a weapon – it was no different to other large heavy objects."