Volume 13 Number 2 Article 3

12-15-1986

Tolkien and Old Germanic Ethics

Robert Boenig

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Recommended Citation Boenig, Robert (1986) "Tolkien and Old Germanic Ethics," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 13 : No. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol13/iss2/3

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Abstract Claims the “idea that a warrior must die with his lord in battle is one of the most important moral injunctions among the various Germanic peoples.” Uses this theme to examine Tolkien’s work for his reworking of the Old Germanic ethic into a Christian perspective.

Additional Keywords Germanic culture—Influence on J.R.R. olkien;T Nordic culture—Influence on J.R.R. olkien;T Tolkien, J.R.R.—Influence of Northern cultures; Paula DiSante

This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol13/iss2/3 MYTHLORE 48: Winter 1986 Page 9

Tolkien and Old Germanic Ethics Robert Boenig

The indebtedness of Tolkien to medieval witness to what he finds a remarkable custom: Germanic literature is axiomatic. The Raw- linson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford and founder of the Kolbitar Club-- Cum ventum in aciem, turpe principi the distinguished group of scholars who met virtute vinci, turpe comitatui in Oxford to translate and discuss Old Norse virtutem principis non adaequare. sagas1 - - amanoncewho recited the Lord's Iam vero infame in omnem vitam ac prayer in Gothic into a suspect tape recorder probrosum superstitem principi suo to exorcise any technological demons, was ex acie recessisse: ilium this century's greatest authority on Old defendere, tueri, sua quoque fortia Germanic language and literature. It takes facta gloriae eius adsignare only a superficial fam iliarity with Tolkien's praecipuum sacramentum est: imaginative works, moreover, to see that his principes pro victoria pugnant, Middle-earth, in which good characters fight comites pro principe. a seemingly hopeless battle against the forces of evil, is an Old Germanic world-- that of Snorri's Edda and the last half of When the battlefield is reached it Beowulf. Critics, of course, have noted is a reproach for a chief to be Tolkien's debt to such works, 2 but a mere surpassed in prowess; a reproach list of names3 be borrowed from Old English for his retinue not to equal the and Old Norse--Beorn, Eorl, Theoden, Gandalf, prowess of its chief: but to have Durin--or even a list of characters he left the field and survived one's adapted for use--Smaug/Glaurung/Fafnir, chief, this means lifelong infamy Turin/Sigurdr , Morgoth/Loki, Theoden/Hrojpgar- and shame: to protect and defend -cannot exhaust his indebtedness. Even more him, to devote one's own feats even important, I feel, than details of character to his glorification, this is the and plot is the Germanic ethic that Tolkien gist of their allegiance: the remolded for The Hobbit, The Lord of the chief fights for victory, but the R in g s, The S ilm a r illio n , The U n fin ish ed retainers for the chief.4 T a le s , and The Lost T a le s . The id ea th a t a warrior must die with his lord in battle is one of the most important moral injunctions This passage is problematic:5 Tacitus speaks among th e v a rio u s Germanic p e o p le s ; how in general terms and does not provide a Tolkien treats it will serve as a good specific example of one individual warrior example of what Tolkien really did to Old who died for his lord in one individual Germanic ethics as a whole. battle. If warriors did indeed act like this in specific battles, did they all do it when In his Germania (ca. AD 100), Tacitus the circumstances arose, or was this a goal provides us with our earliest literary which only the very bravest reached? If the Page 10 MYTHLORE 48: Winter 1986

historical reality of this ethical injunction Perhaps the most famous literary is hard to establish, its literary reality, treatment of this ethical motif, however, is however, is not: vernacular references are The Battle of Malden. There Ealdorman frequent in the corpus of Old Germanic Byrhthnoth, as the result of a tactical literature, especially in English and Norse. error, allows a large force of vikings to In Beowulf, for instance, the poet reproaches land and thus finds himself in a losing the cowardly thanes who deserted their lord battle. After he dies courageously, his in his last fight with the dragon: thanes either flee like those in Beowulf or die beside their lord like those in Bjarkamal—actions which, of course, define Naes da lang to 6on, their moral natures: bæt 6a hildlatan holt ofgefan, tydre treowlogan, tyne ætsomne, 6a ne dorston ær dare6um lacan Paer wurdon Oddan b ea m aerest on flea m e, on hyre mandryhtnes miclan fearfe, Godric fram gube, and bone godan forlet ac hy scamiende scyldas bæran, be him maenigne o f t mear g e s e a ld e - - gu6gewadu, pær se gomela læg. . . . he gehleop bone eoh be ahte his hlaford. (2834b-2851) (185-189)

It was not very long before those Those who did not want to be there cowards left woods—the weak retreated from the battle. The son pledge-breakers, ten together, of Odda, Godric, was the first to th o se who d id n ot dare p la y w ith flee from the battle and abandon spears earlier in their earthly the good one who often gave him lord's greatest need; but they were many horses; he mounted the horse ashamed to bear shields, battle that his lord owned.9 clothes, where the warrior lay.6 Byrhtwold, perhaps, sums up the Old Germanic Wiglaf, the one faithful thane, adds his ethical injunction to die with one's lord reproaches to those of the poet by telling best with his words. his cowardly companions that Dead bid sella/eorla gehwylcum bonne edwitlif ("Death is better for every earl than a life Her lid ure ealdor eall forheawen, of reproach" [2890b-2891]). The moral god on greote. A mæg gnornian consequences of this cowardice extend beyond se 6e nu fram bis wigplegan wendan the reproachful lives of these cowardly b en ced . thanes, because the destruction of the whole Ic eom fro d fe o r e s ; fram i c ne w i l l e . Geatish social order will follow: the ac i c me be h e a lf e minum h la fo r d e , Franks, Friesians, and Swedes (2912-2921) be swa leofan men licgan bence. w ill rise up and destroy the lordless nation. (314-319) In the Old Norse Bjarkamal,7 fragmentary in its original language but translated into Here lies our elder, all hewn up, Latin by Saxo Grammaticus around the turn of the good one on the ground. Ever the thirteenth century in his History of the may th e one who now th in k s to tu rn Danes, we have an eloquent defense of the from this battle, grieve. I am moral injunction to die with one's lord. experienced in life; I will never Over the slain body of the Danish King turn away, but I myself think I Hrolfr, two loyal warriors, Bjarki and will lie by the side of my lord, H jalti, exhort the surviving retainers to die th e much b elo v ed man. by their lord. Hjalti speaks: It is impossible to overestimate the Dulce est nos domino percepta importance of this ethical injunction as a rependere dona. . . . Quid moror? structural principle in Tolkien's imaginative Extremam iam degustavimus escam. works. In The Hobbit, for instance. Bilbo Rex perit, et miseram sors ultima feels the pull of conscience to return to the corripit urbem. caves from which he has so recently escaped so he can defend his leader Thorin Oakenshield; later F ili and Kili fall beside Sweet it is for us to return to a Thorin, who is slain in the Battle of the lord the gifts we have received. . Five Armies. In The Lord of the Rings Sam . . What i f I sh ou ld d ie ? For in goes—in the Norse sense--beserk when he sees the end we shall all taste that Frodo lying, apparently, dead; he must find food. The king has died, and that his enemy Shelob so he may die defending his miserable lot has lain hold of the lord's body. But there are two especially c i t y . 8 instructive treatments of this theme in The Lord of the Rings: first, when Aragorn and Boromir prepare to fall with their leader The retainers heed this advice and fall one Gandalf in his fatal battle with the Balrog by one; Bjarki and Hjalti are the last to and, secon d , when Merry and Eowyn prepare to d ie . die in the battle for Gondor defending the MYTHLORE 48: Winter 1986 Page 11 fallen King Theoden. Both of these scenes The context of the second passage is as take the Germanic ethic as a given: what the follows: Gondor is besieged by a seemingly surviving characters expect of themselves is invincible force from Mordor led by the heroic death. In the conceptual world of Nazgul. Old King Theoden, however, halts the The Battle of Malden, in other words, they momentum o f th e e v i l fo r c e s m om entarily by reject the choice of Godric for that of arriving unexpectedly from Rohan with his Byrhtwold. But in neither scene does Tolkien troop of horse soldiers—among whom are the allow his characters to die: Merry and Eowyn hobbit Merry, recently accepted as one of escape wounded but alive while Aragorn and Theoden's thanes, and Eowyn, Theoden's niece, Boromir are forced to make the choice of the who is disguised as a male named Dernhelm in coward Godric and flee. Tolkien, of course, her refusal to stay home in safety with the is reluctant to k ill off his good characters: rest of the women. Enraged by the sudden Gandalf comes back from death, and most of turn in the battle, the Lord of the Nazgul the others survive. But this reluctance is attacks King Theoden, causing his horse to not, I feel, the main reason Tolkien allows fall upon him, crushing him to death. As the these four characters to survive the death of Nazgul prepares to mutilate the King's body-- their lords; it lies instead in what I would as the vikings did to Byrhthnoth's in The like to call his acceptance and supersession Battle of Malden--Eowyn and Merry, like of the Old Germanic ethic. Byrhtwold, prepare to fall beside their dead lo r d : The context of the first passage is as follows: faced with the dangerous crossing of the Misty Mountains, the fellowship of the But Theoden was not utterly ring has been forced to find its dark way forsaken. The knights of his house through the deserted tunnels of Moria. The lay slain about him, or else companions are attacked by a huge troop of mastered by the madness of their ores, who pursue them to the narrow bridge steeds were borne far away. Yet before the exit. There a Balrog arises and one stood there still: Dernhelm Gandalf must do battle with him. Tolkien the young, faithful beyond fear; w r ite s : and he wept, for he had loved his lord as a father. Right through the charge Merry had been borne The wizard swayed on the bridge, unharmed behind him, until the stepped back a pace, and then again Shadow came. . . . "K ing's man! stood still. King's man!" his heart cried within "You cannot p a ss!" he s a id . him . "You must s ta y by him ." With a bound the Balrog leaped (p . 115) full upon the bridge. Its whip whirled and hissed. "He cannot stand alone!" cried The situation here is similar to that in Aragorn suddenly and ran back along Beowulf: all the lord's thanes are gone the bridge. "Elendil!" he shouted. except for one blood relative willing to die "Iam w ith you, G andalf!" with him. The one becomes two when Merry "Gondor!" cried Boromir and overcomes his sensible instinct to preserve leaped after him.10 life and submits himself to the ethical (p . 345) injunction to die with his lord. But because of two swordstrokes both lucky and courageous—the first from Merry and the So far Aragorn and Boromir are acting like second from Eowyn, the enemy is killed. p e r f e c t th a n e s, who owe lo y a lt y n ot so much They, however, are badly wounded, but later to a cause but to a man. It would have been are healed by Aragorn. tactically wise for Bryhthnoth's thanes in The Battle of Malden to have regrouped and At first glance Tolkien's reluctance to attacked the vikings from a position of kill off good characters seems the only strength; England would have been served the reason for the survival of Merry and Eowyn. better. Under a different ethical system Unlike Aragorn and Boromir earlier, they are those who retreated would have been praised, not faced with a moral crisis in which the not damned. But it is personal loyalty that Old Germanic ethic of dying with one's lord is important in Old Germanic ethics. Thus is superseded by a higher one. Like Aragorn and Boromir leave their safe position Byrhtwold, Bjarki, and Hjalti they fall in and run back onto the bridge. But as he battle--but like Wiglaf they live. And by falls off the bridge, Gandalf gives them one the end of the book we understand why they l a s t command: " F ly, you f o o ls ! " (p . 3 4 5 ). live. Unlike Wiglaf, who survives to rule a They do, and Aragorn assumes the leadership country facing sure and swift destruction, of the group. We respond first to the they both are instrumental in building the courage and loyalty of Aragorn and Boromir, new w orld a f t e r th e wars have ended. Eowyn but then we realize that there is a greater marries Faramir, Steward of Gondor, and with ethical injunction that supersedes that of him rules the new realm of Osgiliath, and dying with one's lord: accomplishing the Merry is the main instrument in the scouring all-important task of destroying the ring. of the Shire of the remnants of evil. Again, An analogous situation in The Battle of as with Aragorn and Boromir at the bridge, Malden would have been for the poet to praise the larger, communal concerns outweigh the those who flee for their wisdom in choosing individual. to defend England rather than a dead lord. Page 12 MYTHLORE 48: Winter 1986 In short, Tolkien accepts Old Germanic confided in Tolkien that although he was now ethics—but only partially. The idea of willing to accept God's existence, he saw no dying with one's lord is admirable as long as reason behind Christ and the Crucifixion— it is a limited and not absolute commandment. even if it was a pleasing myth similar to This analysis leads me to make three ob­ that of the Norse god Baldr. One of our God- servations about Tolkien's use of medieval given capabilities, ran Tolkien's rejoinder, material; the first is historical, the second is to be a sub-creator12 and make myths which biographical, and the third critical. are imperfect reflections of the truth. Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection First, as we find out from Bede, the comprise the true, historical myth which the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons from the Old Baldr myth reflects imperfectly. That in­ Germanic religion to Christianity was largely sight of Tolkien's, based on acceptance and a process of accepting the good from pagan supersession of Old Germanic religion, was cult worship and giving a Christian dimension the immediate cause of Lewis' conversion. to those things. As Pope Gregory writes to Abbot M ellitus on his departure for Britain: My third observation is about Tolkien's literary criticism. As he demonstrates in his verse play, "The Homecoming of Cum ergo Deus omnipotens vos ad Beorhthnoth, Beorhthelm's Son," (see Tol­ reverentissimum virum fratrem kien's "On Fairy Stories," pp. 3-25) which he nostrum Augustinum episcopum coupled with his scholarly article, perduxerit, dicite ei, quid diu "Ofermod," creative work can be literary mecum de causa Anglorum cogitans criticism as valuable as scholarship and tractavi: videlicet quia fana complementary to it. I suggest that we can idolorum destrui in eadem gente view The Lord of the Rings as criticism of minime debeant; sed ipsa quae in Old Germanic literature as useful as eis sunt idola destruantur; aqua Tolkien's famous article, "Beowulf: the benedicta fiat, in eisdem fanis Monsters and the Critics." In other words, aspergatur, altaria construantur, by presenting this paradigm of acceptance and reliquie ponantur. . . . supersession worked out imaginatively, Tolkien gives us a useful tool for sorting out the relationship between Old Germanic and When Almighty God shall bring you Christian values in Beowulf and so many other to our most reverend brother masterpieces of early medieval literature. Augustine, bishop, tell him what I Thus the vexing last lines of Beowulf, have for a long time devised about the cause of the English: that is, that the temples of the idols in . . . he wære wyruld cyninga that country ought not to be manna mildust ond mondwærust broken; but only the idols which leodum li6ost ond lof geornost. are in them; that holy water be (3180-3182) made and sprinkled about those temples, altars built, relics p la c e d . . . . H . . . he was of earthly kings the mildest of men and most gentle, kindest to his people and most Thus Archbishop Augustine's first meeting eager for praise. with the British prelates is in a sacred grove (II.2), and St. Columba establishes the monastery of Dearmach in another sacred grove in which the Old Germanic boastfulness and (III. 4). This, analogously, is also the Christian meekness are yoked with Tolkien's method: he takes an established violence together make perfect sense if we element from the Old Germanic past, accepts apply Tolkien's paradigm to them: we may what is useful in it and constructs something accept the Germanic heroic values as good in greater in its place. themselves as long as they are superseded by the Christian. Sacred oak groves are My second observation has more to do wonderful places as long as Christian with Tolkien's life than English history. As churches are built in them. a dedicated, enthusiastic Roman Catholic who was a scholar of Old Germanic language and literature by profession, he had to come to term s w ith h is own m oral dilem m a. The medieval Church condemned the Old Germanic NOTES gods bluntly as demons, yet Tolkien delighted 1. See Humphrey Carpenter, Tolkien: A in stories about them as long as a means Biography (New York: Ballantine, 1978), p. could be found by which they could fit into 134 for this detail. his Christian beliefs. Thus we can find 2. See, for instance, Mariann Russell, "'The traces of the paradigm of acceptance and Northern Literature' and the Ring," Mythlore supersession, which he saw in Bede and used 18 (1978), pp. 41-42; and Gloriana St. Clair, in The Lord of the Rings, in his life. The "The Lord of the Rings as Saga," Mythlore 20 famous story (see Carpenter, pp. 163 ff.) (1979), pp. 11-16. about how Tolkien argued his friend, C. S. 3. See J. R. R. Tolkien, "Guide to the Names Lewis, into Christianity is a case in point. in The Lord of the Rings" in Jared Lobdell, On an evening's walk around Oxford, Lewis Continued on page 40 MYTHLORE 48: Winter 1986 Page 40 world, why should there not be a sort of "Christianity" [6] J.R.R. Tolkien. The Book of Lost T ales— Part II in his secondary world? The answer is that there should (Boston: Houghton M ifflin Company, 1984), p. 160. be, as evidenced by Boromir's absolution, Gandalf's [7] J.R.R. Tolkien, "On Fairy Stories," The Tolkien resurrection, and the eucatastrophe of Minas Tirith. Reader (New York: B allantine Books, 1966), p. 68. The Christian influence brought to Middle-earth is evidenced in ways other than resolution. It is a ACKNOWLEDGMENT strange coincidence that the day Frodo departs from Rivendell on his quest is December 25, Christmas Day, I would like to thank Dr. Robert Boenig of Rutgers and the day on which the Ring is destroyed is March 25, University for his advice and assistance in the the Feast of the Enunciation. preparation of this paper.

The very nature of Christianity is optimistic, based on the ultimate triumph of good over evil. The Old Germanic Ethics, continued from page 12 sub-creator of Middle-earth was a devout Catholic and ed., A Tolkien Compass (La Salle, Illinois: believed in this optimistic faith, and he passed this Open Court Publishing, 1975), pp. 153 ff. belief into his sub-creation. Tolkien, the Christian, 4. Tacitus, Aqricola and Germania, ed. and could not in good conscience allow evil to triumph tr a n s . Maurice Hutton (New York: Putnam, a g a in . 1925), pp. 282-285. 5. See Rosemary Woolf, "The Ideal of Men In each example, we see evil trying to work its Dying with their Lord in the Germania and in w ill, only to be beaten off by some Christian belief. The Battle of Malden." Anglo-Saxon England 5 For Boromir, the lust for the Ring was too much to fend (1976), pp. 63-81. off. Yet in the end, Boromir confesses this sin to 6. C. L. Wrenn and W. F. B o lto n , e d s ., Aragorn and dies with a clean conscience. I personally Beowulf with the Finnesburg Fragment (New have no doubt that he finally passed over the sea. He York: St. Martin's Press, 1973), p. 200. was forgiven. Translations from Old English are my own. 7. See Peter Hallberg, Old Icelandic Poetry, Gandalf fell defending the members of the trans. Paul Schach and Sonja Lindgrenson Fellowship against one of the most powerful evil beings (Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska left in Middle-earth, and it appeared that his Press, 1962), pp. 102 f. guidance, wisdom, and motivation were taken from the 8. J. Olrek and H. Raeder, eds., Saxonis Free Peoples of the world too soon. Yet he was sent Gesta Danorum, Vol. I (Hauniae: Levin and back to complete his task, truly a eucatastrophe, and a Munksgaard, 1931). pp. 54-55. The tran­ miracle to those who thought he was gone. slation is my own. 9. The passages from The Battle of Malden Minas Tirith was on the brink of disaster, and the are taken from Frederic G. Cassidy and Rohirrim suddenly appeared to turn the course of the Richard N. Ringler, eds., Bright's Old battle. Each time that evil is on the verge of a English Grammar and Reader (New York: Holt, victory, there is some sort of saving grace, a Rinehart and Winston, 1971). eucatastrophe, just as the eucatastrophe of Christ's 10. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings resurrection saves Man in the Bible. The Christianity (Boston: Houghton M ifflin, 1974). of the primary world is mirrored in Tolkien's secondary 11. Bede, The Ecclesiastical History of the w o rld . English Nation ed. J. E. King (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, As shown by examples above, the dissonances of the 1971), pp. 161-163. The translation is my first victory of Evil (in The Silmarillion) are modernized version of King's. resolved into the harmony of the victory of Good (in 12. See Tolkien's essay, "On Fairy Stories," The Lord of the Rings) by the Christian influence in J. R. R. Tolkien, The Tolkien Reader (New brought into Middle-earth by its sub-creator. To York: Ballantine, 1966), pp. 5 ff. Tolkien, the Christian and the sub-creator, it seems almost inconceivable that The Lord of the Rings would end in any way other than a happy ending: Williams Panel, continued from page 21 about the way you have to learn a new language to read The Evangelium has not abrogated legends; it science fiction. Well, you have to learn a new has hallowed them, especially the "happy language — and it's not just a sub-language, ending"... So great is the bounty with which either — to enjoy Charles Williams. Sooner or later he has been treated that he [man] may now, you do, if you keep up with it. perhaps, fairly dare to guess that in Fantasy he may actually assist in the effoliation and DAVID BRATMAN: I think we've come to a multiple enrichment of creation. All tales conclusion on Charles Williams and I thank you for may come tru e.... (Ibid.) coming to this panel.

NOTES

[1] J.R.R. Tolkien, "Leaf by Niggle," The Tolkien Reader (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966), p.88. Art Submissions [2] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (New Submissions of art are strongly encouraged and York: Ballantine Books, 1965), p. 320. requested. They may be drawings of scenes from, or [3] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silm arillion (Boston: Houghton thematic treatm ents of, the works of Tolkien, Lewis, M ifflin Company, 1983), p. 153. and/or W illiams, as well as general treatments of [A] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers (New York: fantastic and m ythological themes. Art should be 4 1/2" Ballantine Books, 1965), p. 135. wide and from 1 to 5 1/2" ta ll. Full page art should be [5] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (New York: 7 1/2" wide by 10" ta ll. Address inquiries to the Art Ballantine Books, 1965), p. 24. Editor (see page 2 for address).