Mythic Unities in The Lord of the Rings

[littlemanpoet]

I just picked up my latest issue of Mythlore magazine (volume 25, Number 1/2: Fall/Winter 2006), which has has an article about the correspondences between LotR and the Northern (Celtic, Norse, & Anglo-Saxon) tradition of swords. The article mentions that the swords have names, usually both formal and vulgar, and that they have lineages.

This fired a synapse, I suppose, in regard to Mythic Unities, and I think I'm on to something. Some of us have talked a bit about how Earth is more real, and living things seem more alive. I noted a question raised by one SPM:

Originally Posted by SPM

So what is it about LotR that sets it apart from these other stories that use similar techniques (often, indeed, borrowed from Tolkien). Is there something more than just unity of meaning that lends LotR its mythical quality? Or is it simply that Tolkien uses this technique more effectively than any other authors in this genre? If so, how?

And what of the (no doubt) many people who have read LotR who do not find it making any impact on them, or any impact which is significantly greater than other works of literature that they have read?

My current developing answer, based on current synapse firings, is that Tolkien succeeded in investing his tale with potency in all facets. Language is a central piece of this. Language has history and development. Language is the primary (maybe only) medium of meaning for humans. Language is thus one of the primary ingredients in the potency of which I speak. Words are invested with meaning and effect. Oaths cause things to happen. Spells cause things to happen. This is so because words do themselves hold potency. They make a difference. Words scratched as runes on swords have potency. Words carry meaning from mind to mind. Words constructed as story weave a spell upon enchantable people. That some people are not enchanted by the potency of LotR signifies that they are dead to Words, rather than impervious. That they don't understand the words, or their power, does not lessen the effect words have on them.

Words and language, speech and writing, event and story, are significant aspects of mythic unity, but not its entirety. If words are invested with a potency, from where does that potency come? or from whence is it derived? or whom? Tolkien posits the gods; and ultimately Eru. Speaking of Eru, I'm reminded of the great Song the gods sing, the Ainulindalë. Words combined Artfully (craftily) with Music take the potency to a higher level as does a rune scratched onto a sword; or a Ring. Add Dance to Words and Music and the potency is yet higher. Combine them in ritual, such as in coronation, marriage, funeral, etc., and you have an even more charged enactment.

This, then, is what most (hack?) writers in the fantasy genre don't get. They try to use psychology and/or character development to achieve what Tolkien did with the sheer potency of words.