Works Of Tolkien

From JrrTolkien

But that's the point of his story, that Good will triumph because it has something that Evil can't match, no matter Evil's apparent might.

Or is this the position for which Tolkien wishes to propagandise? We know from human history that the "bad guys" are often every bit as sophisticated as the good. Some evil regimes do collapse quickly from within, usually the ones based on some sort of personality cult. Some of them become self-supporting however, and can persist for all together too long.

It's not "the whole point of his story" surely anyway. It's much too good a story for that.

The point of his story: Good Acts Benefit the Doer. Evil Acts Harm the Doer. Both in ways not intended.

A sampler. Spoiler alert:

• It was Good for Elrond to let Pippin join the Fellowship, despite he was an underage "tweenager". Pippin triggered the War of the Rings by irresponsibly looking into the Palantir. But the War started before Sauron was completely ready.

• It was Evil for Wormtongue to tell Theoden to order his troops not to guard the East March (during wartime!). But this lead to his exposure by Gandalf.

• It was Good for Eomer, defying Theoden, to lead men of his own farm to the East March, because he rescued Pippin & Merry and delivered them to Fangorn. This lead to Isengard's sack by the Ents.

• It was Evil for Grishnákh to try to get the Ring, but this lead to he removed Pippin & Merry from the other orcs. And Grishnákh got skewered for trying.

• It was Good for Samwise to accidentally let his fire smoke in Ithilien, because this lead to Frodo meeting Faramir. And he supplied Frodo and reported his situation to Gandalf, thus atoning for the corruption of his brother Boromir.

• It was Evil for Sauron to attempt to enthrall Smeagol to fetch the Ring and bring it back, but this empowered Smeagol to redouble his efforts to get it for himself. This put Middle Earth's best spy on the frontiers of Mordor, whose paths he knew, just as Frodo arrived seeking a way in. And it gave Smeagol an iron-clad reason not to betray or leave Frodo. And it helped Frodo force Smeagol to swear some very specific oaths.

• It was Good for the Noldor of Eregion to research Rings of Power with Sauron posing as "Allatar" the Gift Bringer, despite he used the rings to destroy their kingdom and kill Celebrimbor (Feanor's grandson). Elves used their rings to stabilize Middle Earth for nearly 3,000 years. But Sauron had to place the greater part of his native strength into his own Ring to overpower the Noldor, and this left him vulnerable to that Ring being destroyed.

-- PhilipCraigPlumlee

So it is the whole point of the story? From the Great Song to the Last Battle ;-)

Now, don't get me singing with Aslan ... I was thinking of JrrT's forward to LordOfTheRings where he says (paraphrasing) that his main aim was as a storyteller asking "Can I make a really long story work and hold the reader's attention ... ?". He says he agrees with those critics that say that the main deficiency of the book is that it's too short. But the point of the story is to be a great story. Isn't that right? -- rd

PS The other great moment of the forward talking of the book's many critics on publication: "Some of those who have read the book, or at least reviewed it ..."

A bit acerbic but not without reason: one critic who claimed having read the whole book aloud to his son persisted in spelling Gandalf Gandolph.