Who is your favorite character from the third age? Everyday Deeds of Ordinary Folk: How the Theology of J.R.R. Tolkien Can Help You to Better Serve Students

Dasia Ryan, MAT [email protected] Enrollment Services Liaison Pikes Peak Community College A Personal Introduction A Little About Tolkien 1892-1973

• Born in South Africa, moved to England at the age of 4 following his father’s death. • Scholar of Old and Middle English at the University of . • Raised Roman Catholic, and for a time by Father Francis Morgan following the death of his mother in 1904. • Began inventing languages in his youth, and was proficient in Latin, Greek, Finnish, and Gothic. • Founder of , group of scholars at Oxford, included C.S. Lewis. Before We Begin…

• Tolkien was a Christian but his work is not religious and there are no elements of formal religion in his works. “The religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism.” – Letters of J.R.R Tolkien • Tolkien disliked one-to-one correspondences to his work, whether religious or not. • His work is not allegory but fantasy, allowing us to discern likenesses and resemblances to our world and circumstance but not equate them. He called it a sub-creation- to differentiate it from any sort of illusion, something entirely invented. • Any significance we draw out of the story should send us back to the story over and over so we can immerse ourselves in its complexity. A Few Terms

• Theology: Language or discourse about God; faith seeking understanding. • Faerie: comes from Elvish language ; means spirit. This is how Tolkien classified his work, as faerie stories. “It cannot be caught in a net of words, for it is one of its qualities to be indescribable, though not imperceptible.” – The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays These stories “open a door on Other Time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, perhaps.” - The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays The September 21, 1937 Part 1: The Fellowship of the Ring July 29, 1954 The Lord of the Rings Part 2: November 11, 1954 The Lords of Rings Part 3: October 20, 1955 “There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself.“ – , : An Unexpected Party

“Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!”’ -, The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark

• Unassuming nature of ; small in stature, love ale and pipeweed, delight in ordinary things, and above all lovers of food. • Bilbo was an abnormal hobbit and thus selected for the quest to the Lonely Mountain – he had an unkindled spark. - Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien • At odds with himself: Baggins vs. Took sides to his lineage. “I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo. 'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”’

– Frodo and Gandalf, The Fellowship of the Ring: The Shadow of the Past

• Frodo is referencing finding the and the return of to Middle - earth – calamity of this age. • Frodo must rise to the challenge offered by his time – time given to him. • Frodo gets to decide what to do with this time – free will. “The Old Entish... It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.” -Treebeard, The Two Towers: Treebeard

• Treebeard is the oldest of the ; a tree like being, tall and stiff limbed with bark like skin. He is also the oldest being in Middle – earth. • Entish is a slow thoughtful language. Non-Ents cannot understand it, nor could it be recorded due to its complex sound structure. • "The invention of languages is the foundation. The ‘stories’ were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows.“ – The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien “The deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised…What do you fear, lady?" he asked. "A cage," she said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”’

- and Eowyn, Return of the King: The Passing of the Grey Company

• Aragorn is talking to Eowyn about the fact that she may have to rule after the battle at Pelennor Fields, which is upon them and he is trying to convince her to stay behind. • She pushes back and states her deeds of valour should take place on the battle field, not by staying behind. She ends up slaying the Witch King of Angmar, leader of the Nazgul. " believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I've found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. " - Gandalf the Grey, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

• This is from the first Hobbit film by and does not appear in any of the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. • It captures the essence of Hobbits as Gandalf is talking about why he chose Bilbo to join the Dwarves’ quest to Erebor. • He states Bilbo gives him courage and he’s a wizard! Some Applications

• Courageous conversations and unconscious bias trainings • Be brave enough • Don’t be hasty! • Open cages “It is written in my life-blood, such as that is, thick or thin; and I can no other.” – The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Sources

• The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle – earth by Ralph C. Wood • Tolkien: Maker of Middle – earth by Catherien McIlwain • Biographical information: The Tolkien Society https://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/biography/ • Tolkien Gateway: www.Tolkiengateway.net