Scholars have seen multiple resemblances between themedieval Christian conception ofhell and evil places inJ. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world ofMiddle-earth. These include the industrial hells ofSaruman'sIsengard with its underground furnaces and labouringOrcs; the dark tunnels ofMoria;Sauron's evil land ofMordor; andMorgoth's subterranean fortress ofAngband. The gates to some of these realms, like the guarded West Door of Moria, and the Black Gate to Mordor, too, carry echoes of the gates of hell.
Some of the journeys down into the dark places of Middle-earth, too, have been likened to thekatabasis of Ancient Greece, a descent into the underworld, as whenLúthien and Beren descend into Angband, or when Lúthien goes to the Halls of Mandos to plead with him to allow Beren to return to life, paralleling the classical Greek legend ofOrpheus and Eurydice. These journeys into hellish places may also recall the medieval theme of theHarrowing of Hell, a story in whichChrist descends into hell after his crucifixion, and setsthe Devil's captives free with the power of his divine light. The Devil is paralleled by both of Middle-earth's dark lords, Morgoth and Sauron; Sauron is in turn supported by a range of demonic figures, including theNazgûl who appear like the Devil as black riders on black horses, the fiery-eyedBalrogs, and the Orcs with their devilish habits and appearance.
In medievalChristian cosmology, middle-earth was the realm of men. It was at the centre of three worlds, withheaven above,hell below.[1]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]
Several places in Tolkien'sMiddle-earth have been described as being or resembling various kinds of hell. InThe Silmarillion, the dark lordMorgoth's underground fastness ofAngband in theFirst Age is an instance. InThe Lord of the Rings, the land of Morgoth's successorSauron, the realm ofMordor with its volcano, Mount Doom, and Sauron's Dark Tower of Barad-Dûr, is another. The dark and dangerous tunnels of Moria form another, as does the enclosed circle ofIsengard, centred on the tower of Orthanc, with its underground fires and furnaces, home toOrcs under the control of the traitorous WizardSaruman.[2]
The scholar of English literatureCharles A. Huttar describes Isengard as an "industrialhell".[2] He quotes Tolkien's description of Isengard, supplying his own emphasis on Tolkien's words: "tunneled .. circle .. dark .. deep .. graveyard of unquiet dead .. the ground trembled .. treasuries .. furnaces .. iron wheels .. endlessly .. lit from beneath .. venomous."[T 4][2] Huttar comments: "The imagery is familiar, its connotations plain. This is yet another hell [afterMoria andMordor]."[2] All the same, he writes, the tower of Orthanc cannot but be admired, with its "marvellous shape" and wonderful, ancient strength; he supposes that for Tolkien, technology could neither be "wholeheartedly embraced nor utterly rejected".[2]
Shippey, discussing Saruman's character, notes several facts about him: Treebeard's comment that "He has a mind of metal and wheels"; that Isengard means "Irontown" inOld English; that theEnts, tree-giants, are attacked in Isengard with "a kind ofnapalm [or] perhaps ... [given] Tolkien's own experience, aFlammenwerfer".[3] Shippey concludes that Saruman had been led into "wantonpollution ... by something corrupting in the love of machines",[3] which he connects to "Tolkien's own childhood image of industrial ugliness ...Sarehole Mill, with itsliterally bone-grinding owner".[3]
David D. Oberhelman, writing in theJ.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, states, following Anne C. Petty, that there are multiple "industrial 'hells' in Tolkien's work, such as Saruman's blighted, machine-ridden Isengard".[4][5] He notes that its prototype was the fallenValaMorgoth's subterranean fortress,Angband, whose name meant "Iron Prison" or "Hell of Iron".[4]
![Isengard is an "industrial hell":[2] in Tolkien's words "...hammers thudded. At night plumes of vapour steamed from the vents, lit from beneath with red light".[T 4] Steam hammer at work, England](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aDante%2527s_inferno_-_Kirkstall_forge_(cropped).jpg)
![Charles A. Huttar likened Isengard to hell.[2] Medieval fresco of hell, St Nicholas in Raduil, Bulgaria](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aHell-fresco-from-Raduil.jpg)
Charles A. Huttar compares the travellers' approach to the dark tunnels ofMoria under the Misty Mountains toOdysseus's passage between the devouringScylla and the whirlpoolCharybdis. Huttar likens the "clashing gate" that crashes shut behind the travellers as they enter Moria to theWandering Rocks that inGreek mythology lie near the opening of theGreek underworld. That realm, also calledHades, the name of its ruler, is where the Greeks thought people went after death, never to return. The gigantic tentacledWatcher in the Water, a monster who guards the gate to the underground realm, parallels the mythical Scylla who attacked Greek mariners.[6]
The gate to Mordor at the Morannon is named the "Black Gate".Tom Shippey writes that the Catholic Tolkien comes very close toallegory andwriting about Christian revelation in moments of what Tolkien called "eucatastrophe". When theOne Ring is destroyed and Sauron is overthrown for ever, agreat eagle comes as messenger to report the glad news. The eagle sings a song that, Shippey notes, sounds very much likePsalms 24 and33 in theBible, complete withAuthorised Version words like "ye" and "hath". When the eagle sings "and the Black Gate is broken", Shippey writes, the surface meaning is the Gate of the Morannon, but it could "very easily apply to Death and Hell", as inMatthew 16:18. In his view, this degree ofdouble meaning was "deliberate", as the date was 25 March, for theAnglo-Saxons the date ofChrist's Crucifixion, andthe Annunciation, and thelast day of Creation.[7]
Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard,
for your watch hath not been in vain,
and the Black Gate is broken,
and your King hath passed through,
and he is victorious.
The other entrance to Mordor, the dangerous pass ofCirith Ungol, is guarded by the giant spiderShelob.Jane Chance likens Shelob to the guardian of the gateway to Hell inJohn Milton'sParadise Lost.[8] George H. Thomson similarly compares Shelob to Milton's Sin and Death, noting that they "serve neither God nor Satan but look solely to their own interests", as Shelob does; she is "the Death and Chaos that would overcome all".[9]
Scholars have likened some of the journeys down into dark places to thekatabasis of Ancient Greece, a descent into the underworld, followed by a return to the light. Peter Astrup Sundt draws parallels betweenBeren andOrpheus, or rather between both Beren andLúthien and the classical character, as it is Lúthien not Beren who has magical powers, and far from playing a passiveEurydice to be rescued, or not, from the underworld, she is the one who goes to sing forMandos, theVala who watches over the souls of the dead.[10] Tolkien indeed called the story "a kind of Orpheus-legend in reverse",[T 6] following theMiddle English poemSir Orfeo.[11] Ben Eldon Stevens adds that Tolkien's retelling contrasts sharply with the myth. Where Orpheus nearly manages to retrieve Eurydice fromHades, the Hell or underworld of classical mythology, Lúthien rescues Beren three times – from Sauron's fortress-prison of Tol-in-Gaurhoth, involving singing; from Morgoth's Angband, with theSilmaril; and by getting Mandos to restore both of them to life. In the original myth, Eurydice meets "a second death", soon followed by the griefstruck Orpheus, whereas Tolkien has Lúthien and Beren enjoy "a second life" after their "resurrection".[12][T 6]
![In the classical myth, Orpheus nearly rescues Eurydice from Hades, only for her to die a second death. In Tolkien's version, Lúthien plays Orpheus rather than Eurydice, three times rescuing Beren, and they enjoy a second life together.[10]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aKratzenstein_orpheus.jpg)
In multiple places inThe Silmarillion andThe Lord of the Rings, Tolkien echoes and in Robert Steed's words "creatively adapts" the medieval theme of theHarrowing of Hell.[13][11] The medieval tale holds that Christ spent the time between his crucifixion and resurrection down in Hell, settingthe Devil's captives free with the irresistible power of his divine light. The motif, Steed suggests, involves multiple elements: 1) someone imprisoned in darkness 2) a powerful and evil jailor 3) a still more powerful liberator 4) who brings light, and 5) sets the captives free. Steed describes the tale "Of Beren and Lúthien" as an instance, where Lúthien sets Beren free from Sauron's imprisonment. Beren is freed from darkness, Lúthien from despair, so, Steed remarks, both of them take on aspects of Christ:[13]
But Beren coming back to light out of the pit of despair lifted her up, and they looked again upon one another; and the day rising over dark hills shone upon them."[T 7]
Steed suggests thatTom Bombadil's rescuing of theHobbits from the dark spells of the undeadBarrow-wight inThe Lord of the Rings[T 8] is another "less immediately obvious" instance of the Harrowing of Hell motif. As Bombadil breaks the spell, he sings "Get out, you old Wight! Vanish in the sunlight!", making him the light-bringing Christ-figure in this case.[13][T 8]
Steed offers two further examples of the medieval motif, commenting that they are rather more thoroughly camouflaged. The first is the WizardGandalf's freeing of KingThéoden ofRohan from the dark insinuations of the traitorousWormtongue, who has become a servant of the evil WizardSaruman. In Steed's words "After rebuking Wormtongue, Gandalf raises his staff, at which point thunder rolls and the hall falls into darkness, except for the shining figure of Gandalf himself."[T 9][13] Steed observes that Théoden was not actually dead, nor actually imprisoned; he was still King, but shut away in the darkness of despair, "reinforced by Wormtongue's crafty counsel".[13]
The final instance isSam Gamgee's complex liberation ofFrodo, involving the devious imprisonment brought about by the monsterGollum, who, pretending to be helpful, leads them to Shelob's dark lair. Shelob stings Frodo, and ties him with her spider-silk. Sam fights off Shelob, and cuts down Frodo's body, thinking him dead, only for a party ofOrcs to carry Frodo's body off to the tower of Cirith Ungol, joking darkly amongst themselves that he is still alive. Sam breaks into the tower and rescues Frodo.[T 10] Steed comments that he uses light, in the form of thePhial of Galadriel, in the liberation, both when fighting Shelob and when breaking through the guard of the silent Watchers of the tower's gate. Frodo had not actually been dead, but he looked it, and death was undoubtedly close. Steed comments that Sam was an "odd" fit for the pattern of the Christ-like irresistible force, but in the narrative he indeed plays the part of the "light-bearing liberator at the center of the Harrowing of Hell motif".[13]
| Agent of light | Subjects freed | Jailors | Method | As narrated in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christ | Human captives inHell | The Devil | Power ofDivine light | Medieval Christianity |
| Lúthien | Beren | Sauron | Elvish power | The Silmarillion |
| Tom Bombadil | Frodo's party ofHobbits | Barrow-wight | Power of singing | The Lord of the Rings |
| Gandalf | KingThéoden ofRohan | Wormtongue's insidious control | Wizard's power | The Lord of the Rings |
| Sam Gamgee | Frodo | Shelob,Orcs of Cirith Ungol | Elvish light ofPhial of Galadriel | The Lord of the Rings |
Scholars have likened both Melkor and Sauron to the Devil;[14][15][16] Jaume Poveda notes that both the dark lords torture their victims, as the Devil is said to do to those in hell. He adds that Tolkien represents the Devil inThe Lord of the Rings both as the "lidless eye", and as an embodied character. In Poveda's view, the lidless eye "corresponds to a learned formulation, [which] emphasizes the destructive power of the Devil",[14] whereas the embodied figure corresponds to a popular understanding, someone "less frightening, more stupid and easily deceived."[14] He notes, too, that Sauron has armies formed ofBlack Riders, fiery-eyedBalrogs, andOrcs, just as the Devil of the Bible leads "legions" of demons, and that one of the Devil's "traditional embodiments" is as a rider dressed in black on a black horse.[14] In keeping with having Sauron as the Devil, Saruman fits the pattern, Poveda writes, of "the man whosells his soul to the Devil in exchange for earthly power and wealth".[14] He notes, too. that the Old English wordorc carried the meaning "devil",[14][17] and that Tolkien depicts the Orcs as "creatures that arepossessed by the devil. They worship him. Their bodies have been deformed from torture and suffering. Like traditional representations of the Devil, the orc's complexion is dark and his eyes are as live coal."[14]
Clearly Charybdis is yet another route to hell.
