As you say, Old Man, this topic has gained a life of its own and the ideas continue to blossom.
First things first, though – I believe a couple of misconceptions need to be addressed.
The first is that the whole thing is a joke. While it’s true that my original post was intended for satirical effect, there was a spark of truth at the core of the joke which Sharku came along and fanned into a flame. There seems to be a startlingly sound coherence to the underlying symbolism here.
The second is an apparent perception in some quarters that Sharku and I are proposing this complex of Ring analyses as allegorical intent on JRRT’s part. I think I can safely speak for the Old Man when I say that that is not the case. We are simply exploring the mythical principles that underlie LotR in particular and JRRT’s cosmology in general. Whether this set of symbols and relationships exists by design, by luck, by a more mysterious expression of certain universal truths that reside in the collective-unconscious, or by some combination of all three, only God knows.
But after all, JRRT was a student of mythology and actively sought to create a new mythology with his work. Should it come as a surprise that he should, consciously and unconsciously, draw on familiar mythological symbols and themes? The principal conclusion of comparative mythology is that the same basic truths lie at the heart of all the manifold mythological traditions, so it seems natural to me that an invented tradition would contain many of those same truths and themes if people are to respond to it. In
Letters Tolkien describes
The Hobbit as being “derived from (previously digested) epic, mythology, and fairy-story”, and says this about his whole Middle-earth cosmogony:
Quote:
|
These tales are 'new', they are not directly derived from other myths and legends, but they must inevitably contain a large measure of ancient wide-spread motives or elements. After all, I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth', and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and must always reappear.
|
The shelves are full of inferior attempts that do not manage to tap those elemental sources. Clearly, certain fundamental symbolism is inarguably at work in LotR – we could do a whole thread on the symbolism of the relative physical statures of the various races and characters, for instance; the symbolism inherent of the ‘White’ Council and the ‘White’ Tower vs. the ‘Dark’ Lord and the ‘Black’ Riders is evident at once. This sort of imagery is something we respond to on such a primary level that it doesn’t even occur to us as ‘symbolism’, yet it is, nevertheless. While some may disagree with the avenues Sharkey and I have explored or the conclusions we have drawn, the inquiry itself is not invalid.
Now, back to business. Sharku has perceptively demonstrated that, whether or not you agree with the idea of “feminine” and “masculine” characteristics, this sort of duality is an inherent (and fundamental) characteristic of JRRT’s cosmology. I’m interested in exploring several elements of this duality and its symbolic relation to Middle-earth further, even though others have disagreed with it.
The Old Man has, as usual, clarified and elaborated on what I only implied – namely, that the possession of an Elven Ring helped to counter the seductive temptation of the One Ring. Taking this a step further, we can see that Sam Gamgee provides a similar balancing function for Frodo. As Galadriel has an unusually high level of masculine energy, so Sam has an unusually high level of feminine energy. I mean this, of course, only on the mythical/symbolic level – Sam’s spiritual
yin-yang relationship with Frodo has led to many a sniggering remark, but that phenomenon only tends to support the proposed interpretation. We instinctively sense elements of a male-female relationship between them, even if it exists only as a metaphor. Sam cares for Frodo, cooks for him, tends his wounds, and generally frets over his well-being. Indeed, I would characterize this female anima of Sam’s as mother-love rather than as eros-love. This is in counterpoint to the temptation of the Ring, the dark side of the Ring’s symbolic function; the female as seductress. It is partly through Sam’s balancing effect that Frodo is able to resist the Ring’s temptation for so long under such extreme circumstances.
In reference to TW’s most recent post, I’m not sure I understand your objection to the idea of the Ring as a feminine symbol. You take a different tack with your psycho-sexual analysis – but in it the Ring still stands as a feminine symbol.
Now I’d like to step back for a moment and examine the Ring’s origins and another curious fact that seems somewhat inexplicable on a surface level, but that, when examined from a symbolic viewpoint, may once again make some sense. I’ve always wondered why, if Sauron had nothing to do with the forging of the Three (other than having provided the instruction necessary for their making), are they subject to and dependent upon the One? One possible explanation is linked to the idea of the earth itself as a feminine symbol – Mother Earth, the giver of forms, the nourisher. The forge at Orodruin represents a very primal wellspring of feminine energy in this context – at this place, fire wells “from the heart of the earth”, and it is by binding this energy up with his own in the Ring that Sauron has created an object of surpassing potency. The other Rings have not been forged in this primal power source, but they
have been made in lesser, imitative versions of it, from some of the earth’s most precious substances – gold, mithril(?), and precious gems. The Rings have all been made from the same materials, using similar methods, for fundamentally similar purposes.
This latter assertion may seem shocking, and we are usually inclined to disinclude the Three from discussions of the other Rings of Power, but even they have ultimately selfish – though of course considerably more benevolent – uses, namely, the ordering of things according to the bearer’s will, as in Galadriel’s use of Nenya to extend her old and fading order unnaturally. Since the Rings all draw their power, symbolically, from the same primitive feminine source, and the One Ring was forged in and has bound up in it the most primal and powerful charge of that source, it makes sense in a way that it should hold sway over the others, and that when its energy is released, the others should also wane, since the Rings also seem to be bound up in a sort of network, again, perhaps because they all draw from the same power source. For me, this symbolic reading neatly satisfies not only my earlier question of why Sauron’s power increases through simply placing some of it into the Ring (a question that is currently being wrestled with in
this thread), but also the question of, what powers the other Rings, and especially the Three? Symbolically, the Rings harness this female/earth spiritual energy and subordinate it to the will of the bearer. When the One Ring is unmade, it unleashes an explosion of elemental forces (Mother Nature) – Orodruin erupts, gale winds blow, and black rain pours down as this bound energy is released.
Further evidence of Sauron’s subjugation of this feminine spiritual energy is manifested physically in his realm, Mordor – it is, of course, a lifeless, blasted, barren land. He and his minions despoil the earth, and live in complete disharmony with their environment.
[ December 14, 2001: Message edited by: Mister Underhill ]