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ORDER IN THE FICTIONAL, WORKS OF J. R. R. TOLKIEN WILLADEAN THORDIS LEO DOCTOROF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH 1980 *v o BEST COPY AVAILABLE Variable print quality I declare that the thesis "Order in the Fictional Worka of J. R. R. Tolkien" submitted to the University of Edinburgh for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy is an original work composed only by myself and that no part of it has been included in any other piece of research submitted for previous degrees. ' TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Abbreviations i ii Abstract I. Introduction 1 II. The Relationship between Order and the Structure of "Arda" 21 III. The Relationship between Order and Heroism 70 IV. The Relationship between Order and "Otherness" 106 V. The Relationship between Order and "Place" 135 VI. The Relationship between Order and Communication 155 VII. The Relationship between Order and History 182 VIII. Conclusion 209 Bibliography 245 i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSUSED FOR PRIMARYSOURCES "Beowulfs The Monsters the Critics. " in'The Mc .... and -1936; rpt. "Beowulf" Poet, ed. Donald K. Fry. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1966. (unless H.... The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again. 3rd ed. otherwise stated). London: Unwin Books, 1966. HBB.... "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son. " 1953; rpt. in The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. Lf1.... "Leaf by Niggle. " 1945; rpto in Tree and Leaf. London: Unwin Books, 1964. I, II and III.... The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, being the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings. 2nd ed. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1966. Where it will aid clarity, LH is used as an abbreviation for The Lord of the Rings as a whole. OFS.... "On Fairy-Stories. " 1947; rev. and rpt, in Tree and Leaf. London: Unwin Books, 1964. S.... The Silrnarillion. Ed. Christopher Reuel Tolkien. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1977. Other works by Tolkien consulted and referred to: The Adventures of 'tom Borlba.dil. 1962; rpt. in The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. "Farmer Giles of Ham. " 1949; rpt. in The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again. 2nd ed. 1951; rpt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1961. (3 "Imram. " Time and Tide, 36 December 1955), 1561. (December "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun. " Welsh Review, 4,2do. 4 1945), 254-66. "Ofermod. " 1953; rpt, in The Tolkien Reader. New York: Ballantine Books, 1966. The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle, with music by Donald Swann. New York: Ballantine Books, 1967. 1967. "Smith of Wootton Major. " London: George Allen and Unwin, ii ABSTRACT 4 J. R. R. Tolkien was strongly conscious of the importance of order, and order is a prominent force in his works. However, while in the past twenty-five years his writings, especially those fictional works dealing with his "secondary world" of "Arda", have been the subject of much critical commentary, the importance of order has not been comprehensively discussed. This thesis investigates the nature function and of order in Tolkien's major fictional works The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, with references to his critical writings and minor fictional works where relevant. The introduction notes the importance of order to Tolkien as an individual (this in the "primary world" world), 'demonstrating some the of ways in which order and chaos were felt by Tolkien to operate in his own life. The second chapter, which begins the discussion of "Arda", shows that order originates with the Creator of the World. The development of chaos during the making of Arda and the nature of the world which results from the order-disorder struggle are examined. The five following chapters demonstrate the all-encompassing role of the order-chaos conflict which pervades and influences structures formed by the societies of Arda and the actions of their members. Chapter III investigates the connection between order and the concept of "heroism" as evident in the behaviour of individuals. The role of is order the relationships among the members of different social groups and among characters and the world around them is examined in the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters. The seventh chapter looks at the links between order and past history in Arda and traces the development of events under the influence of the two forces. The last chapter iii concludes that Tolkien's characters, in their relationships with others and with their world, are agents of order in a way which differentiates them from traditional heroes of myth and fairy-story, a difference which is also evident in the stories of many fantasy writers working in the past quarter-century. The depiction of order in Tolkien's secondary world, especially as represented by the attitudes and actions of its inhabitants, is seen as a. central and yet all-pervasive factor in his fictional writings. 1 Chapter I -. Introduction Although there has been much commentary on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially over the last twenty-five years, few if-any-writers or critics have noted that the theme of world order is not only-central to the-works but extends throughout them, in such'a way as to permeate every aspect of the world depicted in them. For example, pandel Helms notes: fantasy literature is based on an aesthetic as demanding and uncompromising. -.as any realism. - The realistic writer' must, to maintain his credibility, make clear (however implicitly) how his events could have happened, for realism stands upon an ontology that grants reality only on a basis of cause-and-effect sequences. Fantasy stands upon a different theory of reality, but one demanding with equal rigour that the fantasist keep always in mind his aesthetic principles: that what happens in his world accord not with his daydreams nor with our world's laws of common senIe, but with the peculiar laws of the sub-created cosmos. Having put forward, thisapremiseo Helms goes on to discover five "internal laws" of Middle-earth, outline them, and demonstrate how closely Tolkien follows the "internal laws" his including, for r of, secondary worlds example, the strictures that "the cosmos is providentially controlled" and "all experience is the realization of proverbial truth"2 (meaning, essentially, that proverbs quoted and actions performed by the characters are closely related). Helms' discussion is thoughtful and perceptive as far as it goes, but he does not pursue, for-instance, the "providential control" law very far. Paul H. Kocher examines "Cosmic Order, " "Sauron and the Nature 3 of Evil" and "The Free Peoples" in three chapters of his book, discussing large and complex questions such as the relation between "free will" and 1. Randel Helms, Tolkien's World (London: Thames and Ihidson, 1974), p. 84. 2. Helms, p. 86. 3" Paul H. Kocher, taster of Middle-Earth: The Fiction of''J. R. R. Tolkien (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1972)-. N "providential control",, the problem, of-individuality and possessiveness, and the relation"between. the different natures of the "good" characters and the nature of Middle-earth. However,, his criticism also does not emphasize the fact that order is central to the secondary world and yet extends to every aspect of it. Deborah C. Rogers, focusing on "Everyclod" (Aragorn) (the typical Hobbit) and "Everyhero"4 points out that Aragorn is out of his correct place for most of the story. Since Aragorn is one of the central figures it is reasonable for the reader to assume that if he is subject to a disordered situation then the rest of the secondary world is also. However, Rogers concentrates on Aragorn's problems and relations to order rather than widening, her, scope. Of these and other writers, no , one seems to have realized, or at least stated, that the struggle for order is implicit or explicit in the background structures of the world as well as in the attitudes and actions of the characters, who, support or rebel , against authority in the foreground..., _,_ A large ' part of. the'difficulty. confronting Tolkien commentators and contributing to the lack-'of- criticism on -the subject of- order- has been the absence of a published version. of. The Silmarillion. A brief-examin- ation of the history of the development of Tolkien's three major works -' The Si imari11jon, The Hobbit and, The Lord of the Rings- illustrates the significance äf ' The- Silmarillion., - Moreover, auch an examination also indicates the -importance of the-effects-of "accumulation" ;in Tolkien's (and works is'in part the-result of, the works' development), and why the reader, like those of the author's characters who are ignorant or comparatively inexperienced, must-be alert to all seemingly. casual referenced or implications so that the amassed information can eventually 4. Deborah C. Rogers, "Everyclod and Everyherot The Image of Man in Tolkien'+, in A Tolkien Compass, ed. Jared Lobdell (La Salle,. Ill.: , Open Court Publishing Co., 1975) pp"69-76. 3 be "collected" to provide a more complete view of the world in which the stories' events take place. 'Tolkien's initial efforts at creating a mythology -a "sub-creation" or "secondary world" with its'own history originally conceived of as an environment for some of the languages Which Tolkien had been inventing childhood i stories since - were embodied the collection of which eventually ( came to form The Silmarilliön accords ng to Hump hrey'C arpenter; the first" ta1e"was "The'Fall' of Gondolin", which was followed by'the'story of Turin, the? Beren-Lüthien episode, and the Creatiön myth, riot, äecesiarily in thAt 5' order). These störies'develöped and''changed over'a number of'years, and as the world in which the narräted events took place expanded, 'it also 6 became"" Ithe world into which Mr.

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