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The Thread on Which Doom Hangs: Free Will, Disobedience, and Eucatastrophe in Tolklen's Middle-Earth

2010; Mythopoeic Society; Volume: 29; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

0146-9339

Janet B. Croft,

Violence, Religion, and Philosophy

IN TOLKIEN'S LEGENDARIUM, A WORLD THAT SEEMS almost constantly at at one level or another, there are many moments, large and small, where a character's disobedience--to orders, to unwritten rules and expectations, even to common sense--turns out to be a critical key to a later eucatastrophic turn of events. Why is this so? Why would disobedience, especially during a crucial time of when obedience to orders is important, so frequently be turned to the good? Dualism and War in Heaven To work towards an understanding of this, I want to start with first principles and examine some underlying concepts in comparative mythology and religion. To begin with, let's look at the concept of War in Heaven itself. The idea of an all-encompassing conflict at a cosmic level is a nearly-universal one, but there are a wide range of interpretations and nuances across and within different religious and mythological traditions. First of all, in order to have a in heaven, there must be an underlying concept of some sort of duality, since a requires at least two parties. And secondly, there must be a conflict of some sort between these two principles. Scholars have come up with several schemes to try to classify the ways in which different belief systems have incorporated this concept (Bianchi 2507-9), which can be used to gain a clearer understanding of what Tolkien's creation is and what it is not. (2) One very basic way to look at forms of dualism is to divide them into radical and moderate. Radical goes back to its roots, quite literally--it means the root. A radical system of dualism means that the two opposing fundamental principles are co-equal and co-eternal--that is, they are both equally powerful and have existed together since the creation. Moderate, in this pairing, means that there was initially one primordial principle, but through some moderating event, the second principle in some way was derived from the first. In the case of Tolkien's creation story, Eru was the creator and Melkor was created by him, so we have a moderate dualism. Another way to classify dualistic systems is to consider them dialectical or eschatological. In a dialectical system, the two opposing principles oppose each other eternally; there is no end or beginning to their rivalry, since a dialectical system is also always a radical one. In an eschatological system, there is some predicted end to the conflict, an Armageddon or Ragnarok where the two principals will meet in a final battle. Tolkien's cosmology, then, is an eschatological one, since it includes a prophesied Last Battle and the recreation of the world in the Second Music thereafter. A third major way dualistic systems can be considered is pro-cosmic versus anti-cosmic. To simplify, in a pro-cosmic system, the created world is fundamentally good, and evil comes from some source other than directly from its creator. In an anti-cosmic system, evil is intrinsic in all matter; there is a divide between the spiritual and the physical, and in fact matter may have been created by the evil principle. While Melkor twisted aspects of physical creation in his malice, the world Eru created is not considered evil in itself. Brown ale and mushrooms, white bread and honey, are all good in and of themselves, and so Tolkien's is clearly a pro-cosmic system. Considering the war part of the phrase, the two principles of a dualistic system may also be classified as either working against each other in conflict, as in a good-vs.-evil system, or working together in harmony, as in a yin/yang system. In other words, the dualistic system can be viewed as a war--or as a dance. In a radical system, this would be part of the system from the start; in a moderate system, the second principal might be either in rebellion against the first or working cooperatively with it (Armstrong 34). Tolkien's system is a struggle where one must pick a side, rather than an equilibrium where one should strive for balance. …