Lo's Literary Life Lessons: Finding Truth in Fiction Lord of the Rings
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Lesson 3: Even The Smallest Person Can Change The Course Of The Future.
There are plenty of mythical creatures and magical races in story books. There are elves, dwarves, pixies, unicorns, wizards, orcs, druids, nymphs, redcaps, and centaurs; just to name a few. Some races and creatures are specific to specific worlds; like nifflers and skrewts, others are universal like phoenixes and dragons. At different times growing up I desperately wanted to be a fairy princess or a woodland elf. I even occasionally wanted to be a dragon or a unicorn. However, at this point in life I have determined that really, deep down, I am a hobbit.
“[Hobbits] were a merry folk. They dressed in bright colours, being notably fond of yellow and green; but they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads, which was commonly brown. Thus, the only craft little practised among them was shoe-making; but they had long and skilful fingers and could make many other useful and comely things. Their faces were as a rule good-natured rather than beautiful, broad, bright-eyed, red-cheeked, with mouths apt to laughter, and to eating and drinking. And laugh they did, and eat, and drink, often and heartily, being fond of simple jests at all times, and of six meals a day (when they could get them). They were hospitable and delighted in parties, and in presents, which they gave away freely and eagerly accepted.”
Hobbits are simple creatures. They enjoy the company of their family and friends but very much desire to be left alone by “the big folk”. Perhaps because they are both small in stature and humble in skill they tend to avoid getting involved in worldly matters or, heaven forbid, adventures.
The Lord of the Rings has plenty of elves, dwarves, orcs and trolls. There are dragons and wizards and goblins; magical cloaks, ancient swords and rings of power. Yet, at the center of the story is not a magnanimous hero but four little homely hobbits. Amongst the big players, the lords and ladies and powerful beings, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin manage to change the course of history. Indeed, they save the whole world. Nobody expects it of them. They definitely don’t expect it of themselves. They are thrust into the great battle for good and evil by a combination of pure chance and a very un-hobbit like streak of curiosity. Not only are they involved in the War for the Ring, they are essential to every victory. They are beloved by good kings and the right hand of wizards. They fight and scheme and travel to the very heart of Mordor in order to save what and who they love. The great fault of the evil characters in The Lord of the Rings is that they underestimate the capability and influence of hobbits. In short, hobbits are both the most unlikely heroes and the most important ones.
We find similarly underwhelming characters in the bible.
“While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me... She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
Jesus spends his last days not dining alongside kings or consulting with sages but in the company of farmers and fishermen. He is honored by a nameless woman, not an elven queen. That might seem strange to us because over the last few thousand years the people Jesus spent time with have been lauded and lifted up. We must remember that, at the time, they were as insignificant and small as our four hobbit friends.
It is a very human thing to yearn for greatness, for power and prestige and influence. It is a deeply held belief in our world that your value as a person is directly correlated to how magnanimous and magnificent you are. It’s why, as children, we pretend to be heroes and heroines, princes and princesses, knights and warriors. Eventually we stop dreaming of unicorns and start imagining ourselves as the CEOs of big companies, self-made millionaires, influential entrepreneurs, doctors with life changing power, farmers that till great swaths of land, lawyers with witty words or artists that can change the world with what we create.
Some of us become those great things, but many don’t. Those of us living perfectly ordinary lives with conventional pleasures and every day difficulties might think that we matter less because of it. We might start to believe that we are not as valuable in the kingdom of God, not as useful of a disciple, or honored as a servant because we lack grandeur and magnitude.
Tolkien’s hobbits certainly thought so. Frodo worries the ring will be too heavy to bear. Sam wants to return home before the Fellowship even sets out. Merry constantly wonders if they will all survive. But it is Pippin, the youngest and perhaps most foolish of the hobbits who names a fear that I share. Midway through The Two Towers Pippin and Merry are told to go back to their quiet little home in the Shire by the Ents (giant sentient trees). Though Merry continues to fight for their place in the coming conflict Pippin argues for returning to the Shire.
“We don’t belong here, Merry. It’s too big for us. What can we do in the end? Maybe we should go home.”
Pippin wants to give up and return home because he believes that he is insignificant. He is convinced that one or two little hobbits aren’t going to make much of a difference in the world of the big folk. He thinks they would be better served hiding away in The Shire and waiting for it all to pass. Lately, It’s not only the hobbits love of food and gifts that I see in myself. I too feel powerless and small, insignificant and unimportant. Not in the way that means I am miserable just in a way that wonders with Pippin, “What can we do in the end?” We are not kings or queens. Most of us don’t hold office or control big companies. We aren’t fabulously famous or particularly popular. Honestly, those things probably won’t change. Maybe they don’t need to.
Do you know what I love the most about the hobbits in The Lord of the Rings?
In all their adventures they never stop being hobbits. Merry becomes an Esquire of Rohan; Pippin a knight of Gondor. Frodo and Sam travel to the heart of Mount Doom and destroy the ring of power. They are held in high esteem by all the most powerful people in Middle Earth and they never cease their love of food and drink and a good party. They never stop being generous. They don’t become exceedingly wise or strong. They remain what they were created to be; humble and hungry, curious and brave.
When we are called to love God and and neighbor; when we are drawn into the great battle for justice and peace; when we are chosen to make the heavenly Kingdom a reality here on earth, God does not require that we become great and magnanimous and exceptional. God only asks that we be ourselves; our ordinary selves with our ordinary talents and struggles and doubts.
Perhaps you are a great king of some kingdom or a beautiful elven princess, a strong warrior or a wizened wizard. That’s wonderful. We need those sorts of people in the world!
If you, like me, think yourself closer to a hobbit than a knight, if you prefer second breakfast to a feast with royalty, then let me assure you that God needs ordinary people as much as the extraordinary ones. It is In God’s kingdom that hobbits become heroes and the likes of you and me make all the difference.