Evil is ever-present inJ. R. R. Tolkien's fictional realm ofMiddle-earth.Tolkien is ambiguous on the philosophical question of whether evil is the absence of good, theBoethian position, or whether it is a force seemingly as powerful as good, and forever opposed to it, theManichaean view. The major evil characters have varied origins. The first isMelkor, the most powerful of the immortal and angelicValar; he chooses discord over harmony, and becomes the first dark lord Morgoth. His lieutenant,Sauron, is an immortalMaia; he becomes Middle-earth's dark lord after Morgoth is banished from the world. Melkor has been compared toSatan in theBook of Genesis, and toJohn Milton'sfallen angel inParadise Lost. Others, such asGollum,Denethor, andSaruman – respectively, aHobbit, aMan, and aWizard – are corrupted or deceived into evil, and die fiery deaths like those of evil beings inNorse sagas.
J. R. R. Tolkien was a devoutRoman Catholic. He describedThe Lord of the Rings asrich in Christian symbolism.[T 1] Many theological themes underlie the narrative, including the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, and the activity ofgrace.[T 2] The Bible and traditional Christian narrative also influencedThe Silmarillion; in particular, thefall of man influenced theAinulindalë, thefighting amongst the Elves, and the fall ofNúmenor.[T 3]
Tom Shippey writes thatThe Lord of the Rings embodies the ancient debate within Christianity on the nature ofevil. Shippey notesElrond's statement that "nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord]Sauron was not so".[T 4] He takes this to mean things were created good, and to have become evil by moving away from the good, aBoethian position (evil being the absence of good). This is set alongside theManichaean view that good and evil are equally powerful, and battle it out in the world.[2]Tolkien's personal war experience was Manichean: evil seemed at least as powerful as good, and could easily have been victorious, a strand which Shippey notes can also be seen in Middle-earth.[5] Elrond's statement is taken by scholars to imply anAugustinian universe, created good.[3][4]
TheJesuit John L. Treloar writes that theBook of Revelation personifies evil in theFour Horsemen of the Apocalypse: the first, on a white horse, represents a conquering king; the second, red with a sword, means bloody war; the third, black and carrying a scale balance, means famine; and the last, green, is named death. Treloar comments that thepersonification increases the emotional impact, and that the Ringwraiths (Nazgûl) are introduced "as terror-inspiring horsemen who bring these four evils into the world. They are bent on conquest, war, [and] death, and the land they rule [in Mordor] is non-productive."[6]
Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic, created what he came to feel wasa moral dilemma for himself with his supposedly wholly evilMiddle-earth peoples likeOrcs, when he made them able to speak. This identified them assentient andsapient; indeed, he portrayed them talking about right and wrong. This meant, he believed, that they were open tomorality, likeMen. InTolkien's Christian framework, that in turn implied that they must havesouls, so killing them would be wrong without very good reason. Orcs serve as the principal forces of the enemy inThe Lord of the Rings, where they are slaughtered in large numbers, such as in thebattles of Helm's Deep andthe Pelennor Fields.[7]
If Tolkien wanted killing Orcs not to be such a problem, then they would have to be without any moral sense, like ordinary animals. That would place them as fierce enemies, but not sapient. Both Tolkien and other scholars have been aware of the contradiction implied by this position: if Orcs were essentially "beasts", then they should not have had a moral sense; if they were corruptedElves, then treating them as "other" to be slaughteredwas straightforward racism.[7][8] Tolkien made repeated attempts to resolve the dilemma,[T 5][T 6][T 7] without arriving at what he felt was a satisfactory solution.[7][8]
Middle-earth's firstdark lord isMorgoth inThe Silmarillion. Morgoth originates as Melkor, the most powerful of the divine or angelicValar. He chooses to go his own way rather than to follow that of the creator, and creates discord.[T 8] He is renamed Morgoth, the dark enemy.[T 9] Morgoth's lieutenant is a lesser spirit being, aMaia, Sauron, one of several seduced into his service.[T 10] Morgoth wages war on the Elves ofBeleriand.[T 11][T 12][T 13] Eventually the Valar call on the creator,Eru Ilúvatar, to intervene; Morgoth is destroyed amidst the utter ruin of his fortress ofThangorodrim; Beleriand sinks beneath the waves, ending theFirst Age of Middle-earth.[T 14]
Melkor has been interpreted as analogous toSatan, once the greatest of all God's angels,Lucifer, but fallen throughpride; he rebels against his creator.[10][1] Morgoth has been likened, too, toJohn Milton'sfallen angel inParadise Lost, again a Satan-figure.[11]Tom Shippey has written thatThe Silmarillion maps theBook of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions.[9]Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used the Norse godOdin to create aspects of several characters, the wizardGandalf getting some of his good characteristics, while Morgoth gets his destructiveness, malevolence, and deceit.[12]Verlyn Flieger writes that the central temptation is the desire to possess, something that ironically afflicts two of the greatest figures in the legendarium, Melkor andFëanor.[13]
In theSecond Age, Sauron proceeds to deceive the Men ofNúmenor intoseeking immortality by invadingValinor. When their fleet arrives there, Eru Ilúvatar once again intervenes. Theflat world is remade to be round, the fleet is destroyed, and Númenor is drowned, ending the Second Age in a cataclysm reminiscent of the legend ofAtlantis.[T 15][T 16] The faithful underElendil, who opposed the attack on Valinor, escape to Middle-earth.[T 17]
Sauron too escapes, and takes on the mantle of dark lord for the Third Age. He helps theElves of Middle-earth to put their power intoRings of Power, which they intend to use for good. He deceives them by secretly forging theOne Ring, putting much of his own power into it, and gaining power over all the other Rings. The Elves perceive him and hide their three Rings, preventing him from controlling them. He gives seven Rings to theDwarf-lords, and nine Rings to lords of Men. The nine become Ringwraiths, theNazgûl, corrupted and enslaved to his will.[T 15] Sauron uses the One Ring to build the Dark Tower ofMordor, Barad-dûr, and to amass armies ofOrcs, Men,Trolls, and other beings. Elves led byGil-galad, and Men led byElendil, make war on Mordor. The two of them defeat Sauron, at the cost of their own lives; Elendil's sonIsildur cuts the One Ring from Sauron's hand, but fails to destroy it.[T 15]
Centuries later, Sauron rematerialises, and rebuilds Mordor and its armies. He learns that the One Ring has not been destroyed, and sends the Nazgûl to find it: if he regains it, his power of evil will dominate the whole of Middle-earth.[T 15][T 18][T 4] In theWar of the Ring, it is finally destroyed, through the combined courage of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, the confusion caused by the traitorSaruman, Sauron's own inability to seethe quest to destroy the Ring, and the evil ofGollum that unexpectedly has a good result,[T 15] or as KingThéodenproverbially says, "oft evil will shall evil mar".[T 19][14] The Third Age ends, leaving Middle-earth to become a world of Men.[T 15]
Joe Abbott describes the dark lords Morgoth and Sauron as monsters, intelligent and powerful but wholly gone over to evil. He notes that inThe Monsters and the Critics, Tolkien distinguished betweenordinary monsters in the body, and monsters also in spirit: "The distinction [is] between a devilish ogre, and a devil revealing himself in ogre-form—between a monster, devouring the body and bringing temporal death, that is inhabited by a cursed spirit, and a spirit of evil aiming ultimately at the soul and bringing eternal death".[15] By going beyond the limits of the body with these monstrous dark lords, Tolkien had in Abbott's view made the "ultimate transformation" for a Christian author, creating "a far more terrifying monster" than any physical adversary.[15]
The evil power of the dark lords brings about successive falls in thehistory of Middle-earth, reflecting the biblical pattern in which man is cast out of the original paradise into the ordinary world, never to return. Morgoth presides over the destruction of the two Lamps, then that of theTwo Trees of Valinor, then the ruinous wars over theSilmarils.[16] Tolkien noted that reflections of the biblicalfall of man can be seen in theAinulindalë, the Kinslaying atAlqualondë, and (under Sauron) the fall ofNúmenor.[T 3] Sauron is at last destroyed in the War of the Ring, but even that victory represents the dwindling or fading away of all non-human peoples in Middle-earth, including the Elves and Dwarves.[17]
In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
All save one. There waiting, silent, and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.
"You cannot enter here", said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade...
TheWitch-king of Angmar is Lord of the Nazgûl, a former King of the northern Kingdom ofAngmar which made war on the Númenórean Kingdom ofArnor, and destroyed it. Commentators have written that the Lord of the Nazgûl functions at the level of myth when he calls himself Death and bursts the gates ofMinas Tirith withmagical spells.[T 20][19] At a theological level, he embodies a vision of evil similar toKarl Barth's description of evil asdas Nichtige, an active and powerful force that turns out to be empty.[18]
Gollum is, Burns writes, "a thieving, kin-murdering, treasure-hoarding, sun-hating, underground dweller who ought to be dead," much like theBarrow-wight.[20] As Gollum states: "We are lost, lost... No name, no business, no Precious, nothing. Only empty. Only hungry; yes, we are hungry".[T 21][21]Verlyn Flieger suggests that Gollum isTolkien's central monster-figure, likening him to bothGrendel and theBeowulf dragon, "the twisted, broken, outcast hobbit whose manlike shape and dragonlike greed combine both theBeowulf kinds of monster in one figure".[22] Burns comments that Gollum has other attributes from theundead ofNorse myth: supernatural strength, demanding that he be wrestled; he may appear to be black, but has "bone-white" skin.[21]
Saruman is the leader of theIstari, wizards sent to Middle-earth in human form by the Valar to challenge Sauron. He comes to desire Sauron's power for himself, so he betrays the Istari and tries to take over Middle-earth by force, creating an army in his fastness ofIsengard. He embodies the themes of thecorruptive nature of power and the use oftechnology in opposition to nature.[23] His desire for knowledge and order leads to his fall, as he submits to Sauron's evil will,[24] brought about by the use of a palantír and his study of "the arts of the enemy".[25] He rejects thechance of redemption when it is offered.[26]
Denethor is theSteward of Gondor, a realm neighbouring and opposed to Mordor. He is depicted as embittered and despairing as the forces of Mordor close in on Gondor. He does not side with Sauron, but his use of a Palantír allows Sauron to deceive him about present and future events.[27]Tom Shippey comments that this forms part of a pattern around the use of the deceptive Palantír, that one should not try to see the future but shouldtrust in one's luck and make one's own mind up,courageously facing one's duty in each situation.[28] Critics have noted the contrast between Denethor and bothThéoden, the good King ofRohan, andAragorn, the true King of Gondor.[29][30] Others have likened Denethor toShakespeare'sKing Lear, who similarly falls into a dangerous despair.[31]
Marjorie Burns writes that multiple monstrous or evil characters in Middle-earth die deaths that would befit "the [undead] afterwalkers of OldNorse sagas", being destroyed by fire sufficient to eliminate them completely.[20] Gollum is brought to an end by fire, the final resort for "stopping the restless dead".[21] In similar vein, theNazgûl, already wraiths, are destroyed at the same time as the One Ring, blazing in their final flight, "shooting like flaming bolts" and ending in "fiery ruin" as they are burnt out.[21][T 22] Burns states that Tolkien creates "quite a pattern" for characters "who would take more than their due and who have aligned themselves with death", naming Sauron, Saruman, and Denethor as instances of those who come to a "final and well-deserved destruction".[21]
| Evil character | Origin | Actions | Fiery death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gollum | Hobbit | Constantly seeks theOne Ring, finally bites it fromFrodo's hand | Falls into the fire of theCracks of Doom in Orodruin |
| Nazgûl | Kings ofMen | ObeySauron's commands, carry messages toOrthanc, terrify his enemies | Seemingly on fire in their final flight, "shooting like flaming bolts", ending in "fiery ruin" |
| Sauron | AMaia, assistant toMorgoth | Creates the One Ring to dominate Middle-earth; uses it to buildMordor and the Dark Tower; becomes the "Necromancer", communing with the dead | "Virtually indestructible": undone by fire, his shadow blown away |
| Saruman | Wizard, aMaia | Imitator of Sauron; creates an army inIsengard, dwells in the tower of Orthanc; has sided with death | As a Maia, should be immortal; turns to "grey mist ... like smoke from a fire"; is blown away by the wind |
| Denethor | Dúnedain,Steward of Gondor | Lives in dying city ofMinas Tirith; plans to die, killing his one remaining sonFaramir with him | Burns to death onfuneral pyre, holding his magicalPalantír |
