The appearance ofmental illness in Middle-earth has been discussed by scholars of literature and bypsychiatrists.Middle-earth is the fantasy world created byJ. R. R. Tolkien. His novelsThe Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings are both set in Middle-earth and are peopled with realistically-drawn characters who experience life much as people do in the real world. Characters as diverse asDenethor,Théoden,Beorn,Gollum, andFrodo have been seen as possibly exemplifying conditions includingparanoia,bipolar depression,schizoid personality disorder,post-traumatic stress disorder, anddissociative amnesia.
Tolkien's depiction of Frodo's mental suffering may derive from his own wartime experience. Scholars state that his friendC. S. Lewis was interested inJungian psychology and thecollective unconscious; Tolkien used these concepts in several places. Middle-earth is known to fans both through Tolkien's writings and through other media, notablyPeter Jackson'sThe Lord of the Rings film series. In a celebrated scene, Jackson's 2002 filmThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers depicts Gollum/Sméagol talking to himself, using the device ofshot/reverse shot to switch between the two personalities.
Tolkien fans have discussed Gollum's diagnosis on over 1300 websites. A supervised study by medical students, in a paper that uses both Tolkien's and Jackson's depictions of the character, concluded that Gollum does not meet the criteria forschizophrenia ormultiple personality disorder, but that he meets 7 of 9 criteria for schizoid personality disorder. Some psychiatrists have suggested thatThe Lord of the Rings offers useful and "very tangible" lessons for mental health by helping readers to envisage and empathise with the situations of other people.
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was an EnglishRoman Catholic writer, poet,philologist, and academic, best known as the author of thehigh fantasy worksThe Hobbit andThe Lord of the Rings, both set in hissubcreated world ofMiddle-earth.[1]
The scholar of English Steve Walker states that Tolkien has rooted every element of Middle-earth naturally, using descriptions of Earthlike weather, landforms, peoples, cultures, flora, and fauna.[2] He comments that
The psychological authentication of Tolkien's fiction approachesFreudian levels of subtlety. Thatpsychiatric insight can get almost clinical, as with the representation ofDenethor's aberrant behavior in terms ofparanoia, the motivation ofThéoden's passivity asbipolar depression, and the causally rich implications of the parallels betweenBeorn's werebear transformations and symptoms ofepileptic seizure.[3]
OtherTolkien scholars andpsychiatrists broadly agree with Walker, in addition suggestingGollum'sschizoid personality disorder[4] and the resemblance ofFrodo's increasingly disturbed mental state topost-traumatic stress disorder.[5][6] Themedievalist Alke Haarsma-Wisselink, who has experienced psychotic episodes, remarks that bothBilbo andThorin inThe Hobbit have symptoms ofpsychosis.[7] The Tolkien scholar James T. Williamson describes howÉowyn responds to her "perceived rejection" by Aragorn with "a madness" seen as her eyes change "from gray to 'on fire'";[8] other scholars have named Éowyn as suffering fromdepression.[9][10]
The psychiatrists Landon van Dell and colleagues write thatThe Lord of the Rings offers useful and "very tangible" lessons for mental health by helping readers to envisage and empathise with the situations of other people.[11]
Tolkien's depiction of Frodo's mental suffering may owe something to his own wartime experience.[13] The Tolkien scholar Karyn Milos comments that "recurring pain and intrusive memory, often triggered by significant dates or other reminders of the traumatic event, is a central characteristic of post-traumatic stress."[6]Janet Brennan Croft adds that "Frodo's experience of the war" resembles "modern war in its unrelieved stress". As in the static trenches of theFirst World War,in which Tolkien had fought, Frodo had to stay in cover onhis quest toMordor, constantly threatened by a watchful enemy he could not see.[13]
The Swiss psychiatristCarl Jung coined the termanalytical psychology for his approach to the psyche.[14][15] His theory includedarchetypes, thecollective unconscious,individuation, theSelf, and theshadow.[16] Tolkien and his friendC. S. Lewis were members ofThe Inklings literary club. The Tolkien scholar Nancy Bunting states that Lewis was interested in Jungian psychology and "enchanted" by the idea of the collective unconscious, and that he probably shared these ideas with Tolkien.[17] The scholarVerlyn Flieger states that Tolkien's incomplete novelThe Lost Road was based on the collective unconscious.[17][18] Flieger comments that inThe Lost Road, Tolkien uses the "recognised psychological phenomenon" of sudden flashbacks "as a psychic gateway into locked-off areas of the soul".[19] The clinical psychologist Nancy Bunting writes that Tolkien expressed a Jungian view in several places, such as in a letter toChristopher Tolkien which, in her words, "sounds the Jungian refrain of linking native soil, race, and language".[17] Dorothy Matthews and others have identified numerous Jungian archetypes, such as the "Wise Old Man", inThe Lord of the Rings.[20]
The madness and despair of Denethor,Steward of Gondor, have beencompared to that of Shakespeare'sKing Lear. Both men are first outraged when their children (Faramir andCordelia, respectively) refuse to aid them, but then grieve upon their children's death – or apparent death, in the case of Faramir. Both Denethor and Lear have been described as despairing of God's mercy, something extremely dangerous in a leader who has to defend a realm.[21] The Tolkien scholarMichael Drout writes that while Tolkien's professed dislike of Shakespeare is well-known, his use ofKing Lear for "issues of kingship, madness, and succession" was hardly surprising.[22]
| J. R. R. Tolkien | Peter Jackson |
|---|---|
Gollum was talking to himself. Sméagol was holding a debate with some other thought that used the same voice but made it squeak and hiss. A pale light and a green light alternated in his eyes as he spoke... |  Peter Jackson's 2002The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers depicts Gollum/Sméagol talking to himself using theshot/reverse shot device in "perhaps the most celebrated scene in the entire film".[23] |
In Tolkien's book, themonster Gollum talks to himself in two different personalities, the good Sméagol and the evil Gollum.[4]Peter Jackson's 2002 filmThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, part ofhis major film series on Middle-earth, similarly depicts Gollum/Sméagol talking to himself in "perhaps the most celebrated scene in the entire film".[23] The scene uses the device ofshot/reverse shot to switch between the two personalities, who are represented as two differentCGI characters. The scholar of filmKristin Thompson writes that Jackson andFran Walsh, who directed the scene, suggest the mental conflict using a "subtle combination of framing, camera movement, editing, and character glances."[23] Thompson comments that the scene's ability to make the viewer "apparently see two characters arguing with each other when only one is actually present creates an eerie, even astonishing momentthat transcends the presentation in the book".[23]
Tolkien fans have extensively discussed what mental illness this dual personality might represent.[4][24] A 2004 paper in theBritish Medical Journal by supervised medical students atUniversity College London (UCL) notes that the diagnosis for Gollum's mental illness is analysed on more than 1300 websites.[4] Nomenclature has varied over the years, and fans have applied labels more or less loosely; a common description isdissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder.[25]
The UCL authors consider a diagnosis ofschizophrenia for Gollum, based on Tolkien's and Jackson's depictions.[4] The disorder is characterised byhearing voices,delusions,disorganised thinking and behaviour,[26] andflat or inappropriate affect.[27] They find that this diagnosis superficially looks reasonable; 25 of 30 students surveyed thought it likely. However, they note that Gollum does not have "false, unshakeable beliefs"; that the power of theOne Ring is real in Middle-earth; and that other ring-bearers have the samesymptoms. Accordingly, they find that the criteria for schizophrenia are not met.[4]
The UCL authors then examine a diagnosis ofmultiple personality disorder in Gollum's case. They note that this looks possible; it is the second most common diagnosis in their student survey (3 of 30 thought it likely). However, they state that in multiple personality disorder, "one personality is suppressed by the other and the two personalities are always unaware of each other's existence". Because this is not true in Gollum's case, as the Gollum personality actually converses with Sméagol, and the two are aware of each other, the authors exclude this diagnosis.[4] Bruce Leonard writes that Gollum "probably fits the criteria for PTSD" and "may fit the diagnoses for Dissociative Identity Disorder (DSM 330)".[25]
The UCL team conclude, despite the plausibility of the other diagnoses, that on the basis of the available evidence Gollum meets seven of the nine diagnostic criteria (inICD-10 1992) forschizoid personality disorder, making this the most probable diagnosis. They state that Gollum displays several symptoms of the disorder: "pervasive maladaptive behaviour" since childhood "with a persistent disease course"; he has "odd interests" and indulges in "spiteful behaviour" which makes friendships difficult and causes "distress to others".[4] Thepersonality disorder is characterised byasociality,[28] solitariness, secretiveness, emotional coldness, detachment, andapathy. Affected individuals may find it hard to form intimate attachments, but have a rich internalfantasy world.[29][30]
In early March ... Frodo had been ill. On the thirteenth of that month Farmer Cotton found Frodo lying on his bed; he was clutching a white gem that hung on a chain about his neck and he seemed half in a dream. 'It is gone for ever', he said, 'and now all is dark and empty'. But the fit passed, and when Sam got back on the twenty-fifth, Frodo had recovered, and he said nothing about himself.
Milos and medical scholars like Bruce D. Leonard suggest that the ring-bearer Frodo, returning "irreparably wounded" from hisquest, could be suffering frompost-traumatic stress disorder. They note that Frodo repeatedly relives the most traumatic experiences "mentally, emotionally, and physically", especially on anniversaries of the quest's events.[6][31]
Leonard quotes Tolkien's description of Frodo's behaviour after the quest: "By the end of the next day the pain and unease had passed, and Frodo was merry again, as merry as if he did not remember the blackness of the day before".[T 3][31] Leonard comments that this sounds likedissociative amnesia, common alongside flashbacks of traumatic events. He writes thatTolkien's doubting phrase "as if" and the amnesia both suggest that Frodo was in a dissociative state on the day that he relived theWitch-king's attack onWeathertop, not wishing to remember it.[31]
The scholar Andreas Minshew suggests that Frodo's behaviour resembledobsessive-compulsive disorder while carrying the Ring. Unlike other Ringbearers, Frodo recognizes the Ring's will asego-dystonic, separate from and opposing his own will from the start of his quest. The thoughts and urges it generates are violating to his sense of self and cause him shame. This somewhat resembles harm-based OCD, where individuals experienceintrusive thoughts, images, and urges to hurt others that contradict their core values. Minshew writes that Frodo's fear and hypervigilance are more warranted than in OCD, where individuals face no danger from acting on their intrusive thoughts.[32]
But far more he was troubled by the Eye: so he called it to himself... The Eye: that horrible growing sense of a hostile will that strove with great power to pierce all shadows of cloud, and earth, and flesh, and to see you: to pin you under its deadly gaze, naked, immovable. So thin, so frail and thin, the veils were become that still warded it off. Frodo knew just where the present habitation and heart of that will now was: as certainly as a man can tell the direction of the sun with his eyes shut. He was facing it, and its potency beat upon his brow.
Walker suggests that Denethor's increasingly "aberrant behavior" can be explained as despair and paranoia.[2] As already mentioned, Croft writes that Frodo had to stay in cover on his quest to Mordor, constantly threatened by a watchful enemy he could not see.[13] Edward Lense, inMythlore, describes Frodo's continuing experience of seeing theEye of Sauron wherever he goes as "read[ing] like the record of aparanoiac's delusions".[5]
results in a paralyzing depression that allows Wormtongue ...
