How Catholicism Influenced the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien

The works of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien have fascinated the world of fiction and fantasy since the publication of The Hobbit, followed by his monumental The Lord of the Rings. Since then, a trilogy of movies has been made for both of these books as well as numerous games and a recent controversial TV show from Amazon.

Many who read the works of Tolkien are enamored with the world he has created. Many are also quick to point out the Christian and more specifically Catholic, symbolism found within. This should not be surprising considering Tolkien was raised a devout Roman Catholic. In a letter to his friend, Fr. Robert Murray, S.J., Tolkien makes it clear that The Lord of the Rings is indeed a Catholic work:

The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work; unconsciously at first, but consciously in the revision. That is why I have not put in, or have cut out, practically all references to anything like ‘religion’, to cults or practices, in the imaginary world. For the religious element is absorbed into the story and the symbolism. (The Letters of Tolkien, no. 142, p. 172)

Most Catholic commentators are quick to quote Tolkien’s words here. They often forget, however, to quote Tolkien further in his explanation as to why The Lord of the Rings is a “fundamentally religious and Catholic work.” Tolkien continues to write:

For as a matter of fact, I have consciously planned very little; and should be grateful for having been brought up (since I was eight) in a Faith that has nourished me and taught me all the little that I know; and I owe that to my mother, who clung to her conversion and died young, largely through the hardships of poverty resulting from it. (Letters, no. 142, p. 172)

Here Tolkien admits that his Catholic Faith served as a foundation and guide for his work. J.R.R. Tolkien’s father, Arthur, died in South Africa due to rheumatic fever in 1896. His mother, Mabel Tolkien converted to Catholicism in 1900. Because of this, her family disowned her and did not support her in the slightest. She was left alone to raise her two boys John Ronald Reuel, and his brother Hilary Reuel.

Unfortunately, she died soon after in 1904. Mabel Tolkien entrusted the care of her two children to Fr. Francis Xavier Morgan, an Oratorian priest, himself being a student and direct pupil of the great St. John Henry Cardinal Newman. Thus, one can be assured of Tolkien’s orthodox upbringing in the Faith.

In one of his letters, Tolkien admits that he dislikes allegory. Tolkien’s friend, C.S. Lewis, on the other hand, used allegory quite frequently throughout The Chronicles of Narnia. Tolkien admits, however, that The Lord of the Rings is a Catholic work. This is because Tolkien’s Faith unconsciously influenced his writing. Frodo, Gandalf, and Aragorn are all known as “Christ-figures.” The Ring represents Sin. There are many other examples that could be given.

C.S. Lewis once said that “Christianity is the true myth.” The greatest story ever told is that of Salvation History found in the Bible. Tolkien knew this. The Lord of the Rings is merely a reflection of Salvation History. In a letter written to his son Michael, Tolkien discusses his belief in the Catholic Faith:

I myself am convinced by the petrine claims, nor looking around the world does there seem to be much doubt which (if Christianity is true) is the True Church, the temple of the Spirit dying but living, corrupt but holy, self-reforming and rearising. But for me that Church of which the pope is the acknowledged head on earth has a chief claim that it is the one that has (and still does) ever defended the Blessed Sacrament, and given it most honour, and put it (as Christ plainly intended) in the prime place. ‘Feed my sheep’ was His last charge to St. Peter; and since His words are always first to be understood literally, I suppose them to refer primarily to the Bread of Life. (Letters, no. 250, p. 339)

For Tolkien then, what set the Catholic Faith apart from other religions was the Eucharist. One could say that for Tolkien, the Eucharist was the “source and summit” of his life and Faith. Indeed, the Faith of the Apostles, early Church, and the Church today is founded upon the belief in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Eucharistic species. Lembas in Tolkien’s legendarium greatly resembles the Eucharist.

Tolkien also held a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He says that Mary is the basis for which “all my own small perception of beauty in both majesty and simplicity is founded.” (Letters, no. 142, p. 172) In an essay, George Sayer, a friend of both Lewis and Tolkien, wrote about Tolkien’s devotion to Our Lady. He writes:

I went back [into a church] and found him kneeling in front of the Lady Altar with the young children and their mother, talking happily and I think telling stories about Our Lady…The story also illustrates one of the most important things about him, his great devotion to Our Lady. He wrote to me years later a letter in which he stated that he attributed anything that was good or beautiful in his writing to the influence of Our lady, ‘the greatest influence in my life’. He meant it. (Tolkien: A Celebration, 10-11)

Many of Tolkien’s characters are representations of the Blessed Virgin, including Varda, Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn, and Luthien.

The summation of Tolkien’s theology could be contained in what he called the “eucatastrophe.” This term was created and coined by Tolkien himself. In a letter to his son Christopher, Tolkien expounds upon the meaning of the eucatastrophe:

I coined the word ‘eucatastrophe’: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce)…And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where joy and sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love. (Letters, no. 89, p. 100)

For Tolkien, the Paschal Mystery is the ideal eucatastrophe. Christ entered into His Passion of Good Friday. He was beaten, scourged, abused, blasphemed, mocked, crucified, and eventually died in the most humiliating and painful way possible. How much sorrow welled up in the hearts of Mary and St. John at the foot of the Cross? Yet, through His Passion and Death, man has been redeemed. The Greatest Fairy Story ever told is that of Christ. Christ’s Death, however, is not the end of the story. The end is the great joy and peace brought by His Resurrection.

Once again, this idea is clearly seen throughout Tolkien’s work. Frodo, like Christ, must carry the Ring, representing Sin, and destroy it. Gandalf must die fighting the balrog a symbol of evil and be resurrected, like Christ battling Satan through His Death and Resurrection. Aragorn must enter into his kingdom like Christ Ascending to the Father.

In a sense, Tolkien has inadvertently given the Church a means of evangelization through fiction. His story is but a small representation of the Story of man’s Salvation written by God. His legendarium reflects his core Catholic beliefs in Mary, the Eucharist, and the Paschal Mystery and can help us understand them better.