Prophecy is a recurring element in the narrative ofJ. R. R. Tolkien'sThe Lord of the Rings. Tolkienechoes both biblical andShakespearean prophecy in his epic novel. Close to prophecy are propheticdreams and visions, and theuse of divination through devices such as thePalantír and theMirror of Galadriel. Among the results is a sense of the numinous, of glimpsing a world beyondMiddle-earth. Tolkien's approach has been compared with those of the English poetsEdmund Spenser andJohn Milton.
J. R. R. Tolkien was a devoutRoman Catholic. He describedThe Lord of the Rings as rich in Christian symbolism.[T 1] Deirdre Greene writes that Tolkien, who "saw himself as inspired, saw his writing assub-creation under God, and observed that his fiction seemed to come from outside himself",[1] can be seen as part of an English tradition of prophetic verse going back toEdmund Spenser andJohn Milton. She adds that a major influence on these writers was theBible, especially theBook of Revelation. Further, in her view, all three "display an angry distrust of the making of heterodox images".[1] In Tolkien's case, that takes the form of havinghis evil characters distort images in the minds of their listeners. All three writers were both consciously Christian and trying to create "great national works,English epics."[1] She comments thatheroic narrative and the values of Christianity frequently conflict, creating "some discomfort" in all three men.[1]
Early in theThird Age, the ElfGlorfindel confronts theWitch-king of Angmar, who flees. Glorfindel prophesies that the Witch-king would fall in the far future, but not by "the hand of man".[T 3] Many years later, during theWar of the Ring,Éowyn (a woman) slays the Witch-king during theBattle of Pelennor Fields, assisted byMeriadoc Brandybuck (a Hobbit).[T 4]
Atthe Council of Elrond,Aragorn says the prophetic[2] words "For the Sword that was Broken is thesword of Elendil that broke beneath him when he fell. It has been treasured by his heirs when all other heirlooms were lost; for it was spoken of old among us that it should be made again whenthe Ring, Isildur's Bane, was found".[T 5]
Later, Aragorn quotes a second prophecy, spoken long before (in the time of the last King at Fornost, Arvedui) about the Paths of the Dead by Malbeth the Seer. It is 12 lines of verse, the longest prophecy in the novel, including the lines:[2][T 2]
The Tower trembles, to the tombs of kings
doom approaches. The Dead awaken;
for the hour is come for the oathbreakers:
at theStone of Erech they shall stand again[T 2]
The Elf-ladyGaladriel tells the ElfLegolas in verse that if he hears the cry of a seagull, his heart will never again rest in Middle-earth. When Legolas comes to the port ofPelargir, Galadriel's prophecy is fulfilled: as Legolas heard the cries of seagulls, he experienced the Sea-longing — the desire to sail west toValinor, the "Blessed Realm", latent among his people.[T 6]
AtMount Doom, when the HobbitsFrodo andSam were attacked byGollum, Frodo grabsthe Ring and appeared as "a figure robed in white... [that] held a wheel of fire". Frodo tells Gollum "in a commanding voice" that "If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom", a prophecy soon fulfilled.[T 7]
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Other prophetic statements are presented as accounts ofdreams and visions.[2] Amy Amendt-Raduege writes that Tolkien was "follow[ing] the same conventions" as the common medieval literary device ofdream vision orvisio.[3] This allows readers to pass over them as "interesting detail[s]", but to reflect on them in the light of later events.[2] One such is Frodo's exclamation to Gandalf "I saw you!" when Gandalf narrates his rescue from the top ofOrthanc by theGwaihir the Eagle. Gandalf is "astonished". Another isTom Bombadil's account of the Men of Westernesse who forged the daggers he gave to the Hobbits. The Hobbits "did not understand his words, but as he spoke they had a vision as it were of a great expanse of years behind them, like a vast shadowy plain over which there strode shapes of Men, tall and grim with bright swords, and last cameone with a star on his brow."[T 8] A third dream, the "most prominent",[2] is the one shared by Boromir and Faramir, in which they hear the eight lines of verse forming a riddle that Boromir travels to the Council of Elrond to solve:[T 5]
Seek for the Sword that was broken:
InImladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken
Stronger thanMorgul-spells.
There shall be shown a token
That Doom is near at hand,
ForIsildur's Bane shall waken,
And theHalfling forth shall stand.[T 5]
While accepting of prophecy, Tolkien is far more sceptical of the value of divination. Gandalf describes objects such as thePalantírs as dangerous,[T 9] offering an ambiguous vision of reality, and likely to deceive.[2][4][5] TheMirror of Galadriel too offers magical but ambiguous visions, a perilous guide to future action.[T 10] Tredray comments that this echoesMacbeth, just as Éowyn's encounter with the Witch-king does.[2]
Julaire Andelin, in theJ. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, describes three types of prophecy inMiddle-earth: actual prophecies of the future, by godlikeValar,Maiar (such as Wizards), orseers; "prophecy through the 'eyes of death'; and forebodings of the heart."[6] Andelin writes that seers, whetherElves orMen, speak prophetically by unexplained means, which she suggests could be by some connection to the Music of creation, or by a gift fromIlúvatar the creator; and their prophecies were more ambiguous than those of the immortals. Still vaguer are forebodings of the heart, which only become clear when the event actually occurs.[6]
Numerous scholars have admired Tolkien's simile ofThéoden riding into his final battle "like a god of old, even asOromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young".[T 11] Among them, Steve Walker calls it "almost epic in its amplitude", inviting the reader's imagination by alluding "to unseen complexity", a whole mythology of Middle-earthunder the visible text.[7] The Anglican priestFleming Rutledge calls it imitative of the language of myth and saga, and an echo of themessianic prophecy in Malachi 4:1-3.[8]
The priest and Tolkien scholarFleming Rutledge writes thatAragorn, narrating the Lay ofBeren and Lúthien to the Hobbits, tells them that Lúthien's line "shall never fail". Rutledge talks of the "kings of Númenor, that is Westernesse", and as they gaze at him, they see that the moon "climbs behind him as if to crown him", which Rutledge calls an echo of theTransfiguration. Rutledge explains that Aragorn is of the line of Elendil and knows he will inherit "the crown of Elendil and the other Kings of vanished Númenor", just as Jesus is of the line ofKing David, fulfilling the prophecy that the line of Kings would not fail.[9]Aragorn has been called a Christ-as-King character; Tolkien's use of prophecy has been compared to theOld Testament's foretelling of the coming of theMessiah.[10] Aspects of Aragorn's character - his ability to heal, his sacrificial journey, and his experiences with death and the dead - have long been seen as clues to overt Messianic overtones.[11][12]
Tolkien foundWilliam Shakespeare's solution to how Birnam Wood could come to Dunsinane to fulfil the prophecy inMacbeth bitterly disappointing: the soldiers cut branches which they carry with them, giving something of the appearance of a wood, with an entirely non-magical explanation. Shippey comments that Tolkien transformed Shakespeare's theme so that trees actually could march to war: he has Ents (tree-giants) and Huorns (partially awakened trees) join the fight against the evil WizardSaruman.[13] The Ents destroy Saruman's fortress of Isengard;[14][T 12] the Huorns march as a forest to Rohan's fortress ofHelm's Deep, besieged by Saruman's army ofOrcs. The Orcs find themselves trapped between the Men of Rohan and the Huorns; they flee into the vengeful Huorn forest, never to emerge.[14][T 13]
| Author | Prophecy | Apparent meaning | Prosaic resolution | Mythic/magical resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shakespeare | No man born of woman shall harmMacbeth. | Macbeth will not die violently. | Macduff, delivered byCaesarean section not born naturally, kills Macbeth. | ——— |
| Tolkien | No man living shall hinder theWitch-King. | The Witch-King is immortal. | ——— | AHobbit (with a magical daggermade exactly for this purpose[T 4]) and a woman kill the Witch-King. |
| Shakespeare | Birnam Wood will come toDunsinane. | Impossible, the battle will never happen. | Soldiers cut branches and carry them to battle, giving the appearance of a wood. | ——— |
| Tolkien | ——— | ——— | ——— | Huorns, partially awakened trees, march to battle and destroy theirOrc enemies.[T 13] |
Julaire Andelin, in theJ.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes that prophecy in Middle-earth depended on characters' understanding of theMusic of the Ainur, the divine plan forArda, and was often ambiguous. Thus, Glorfindel's prophecy "not by the hand of man will [the Lord of the Nazgûl] fall" did not lead the Lord of the Nazgûl to suppose that he would die at the hands of a woman and a hobbit.[T 14][6]The Tolkien scholarTom Shippey states that the prophecy, and the Witch-king's surprise at finding Dernhelm to be a woman, parallel the witches' statement toMacbeth that he may "laugh to scorn / The power of man, for none of woman born / Shall harm Macbeth" (Act 4, scene 1), and Macbeth's shock at learning that Macduff "was from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd" (as Macduff was born byCaesarean section: Act 5, scene 8). Thus, Shippey notes, despite Tolkien's stated dislike ofShakespeare's treatment of myth,he readMacbeth closely.[13]
Robert Field Tredray writes inMythlore thatThe Lord of the Rings strikes him with "a sense of the numinous". This goes, he writes, beyond what is expected infantasy, with strange species; the reader glimpses "a world beyond Middle-earth", throughdivination – seeking knowledge of events by magical means, andprophecy – spontaneous prediction of future events. Tredray describes Aragorn's words at the Council of Elrond as a minor detail, "the reforging of a sword", but that the entire plot hangs on its being taken as a prophecy. Of Malbeth's prophecy, Tredray comments that "the reader cannot ignore it. But it establishes mood more than it advances the plot." He adds that Aragorn's choice to take the fateful Paths of the Dead "is certainly a crucial event" in the narrative, but that once again the prophecy is a small detail, and Aragorn had in fact already just said he would take that road.[2]
Tredray writes that Aragorn also made a prophecy of his own, to Éomer, that "in battle we may meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor should stand between." He notes that both the "first-time reader" and Éomer assume this is just a conventional expression of rather doubtful hope. Only when they do actually meet in the middle of theBattle of the Pelennor Fields does Éomer realise that Aragorn had the gift of prophecy.[2]
