While C.S. Lewis has his fantasy stories based on biblical stories, his good friend Tolkein build his famous book series, The Lord of the Rings around biblical principles. While the books has a lot of meaning , and a lot of lore that can be looked at by various ways, there are some key themes that can be applied to any writing style. And it all revolves around one object: a ring.
To many loyal fans, casual fans, or non-fans, the One-Ring is seen as an magical artifact that corrupts anyone who touches it. While not automatic(except for maybe Golem), it does gradually start warping the mind. In a senes this is exactly what sin is like. Both sin and the ring are the “Precious” that one wants to give up, yet are enslaved by it. They both offer power, which is tempting while they have short-term results, but would soon corrupt them in the end. When writing a story revolving around a magical item, the writer must be determine what are limits and the consequences.
With every embodiement of evil, there must be the characters that it reflects backs to. to start with, there is Sauron, the one who created the ring. It was his voice, his thoughts, his desires, that were channeled through the ring. While there is a lot more lore to Sauron before he became the great eye, it was him who created the ring as a gift to middle earth as means to decieve and corrupt people. The same way Satan controls people through sin. When writing such a character, a writer should have these questions in mind: What does the villain represent? What makes him or her a threat? What influence or impact does the villain have on the heroes? What are the villains limits?
As for Frodo, he had a very strong resistance to the ring, which made him in charge of disposing it at Mount Doom. While he did eventually give in to the ring at the last second, his journey is very reflective of Christ. The title, the ring-bearer would reflect that of the name sin-bearer. Just as Christ carried the cross up the hill, Frodo carried the burden of the ring throughout the entire trilogy. They were both journeys that wounded them, yet they pushed forward. While Frodo did eventually put on the ring, it was necessary for him to face Sauron directly, guest as Jesus conquered death on the cross. Gollum, who is the embodiment of sin corrupting an individual, fell into the pit of lava, which reflects Christ’s victory over sin. This may be a lot of similarities that one would notice very closely, but they are similarities that writers should take into account when writing a main character facing an embodiement of evil. What is his personality? What are his motivations? What is he tempted by? What is his relationship with villain? How does he resist the villain? What is his breaking point? How does he overcome his struggles?
Overall, out of all the themes in the Lord of the Ring books, the main themes involving the rings are the one I look at when creating my stories. There is the magic object representing sin, the villain representing the devil, and the main character who would either represent Christ, or the character that opposed the devil. All the questions I listed for each of these characters are what I look back on when creating fantasy world, because in any story, fantasy or real life, corruption threatens even the innocent. What are your thoughts? Do you feel there were some themes I should have brought up? What are your perspectives on the characters? I would love hear your thoughts in the comments below.
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