Sulimo
Active Member
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2011
- Messages
- 258
This very likely is a topic touched upon before, but being a new member, I decided to just start a thread.
On my most recent reread of all the major Tolkien books there were two themes I found repeated over and over. The first was the destructiveness of pride, and the second was the power of forgiveness. I would even argue that pride is the downfall of almost every fallen character from Melkor to Thorin.
I wanted to present some examples of grace that were stymied by pride.
1.) The chaining of Melkor and upon his release the unrest he sowed among the Noldor.
2.) Sauron presenting himself before Eonwe, and how he fled and became the dark lord.
3.) Sarumon's encounter with the Hobbits and other members of the White Council on the road from Isenguard, and their offer of forgiveness. As well as Gandalf offering to pardon him while he was in Orthanc.
4.) Frodo offering forgiveness and compassion to Grima during the scouring of the Shire.
Here are just a few examples of this repeated theme.
I find it very interesting that almost every "evil" character was once good, and "fell" into evil. However, this did not mean they were beyond redemption. All the characters that fell were given an opportunity to redeem themselves by the grace of those they wronged. However, most of them passed on the opportunity out of shame (pride), because they lacked humility.
I guess this isn't so much a question, as something I found to be quite intriguing as I read his works. I am curious how others feel about this topic. How it may relate to Tolkien's world view for example, and also if someone feels I missed some other major examples, I would love to see them.
On my most recent reread of all the major Tolkien books there were two themes I found repeated over and over. The first was the destructiveness of pride, and the second was the power of forgiveness. I would even argue that pride is the downfall of almost every fallen character from Melkor to Thorin.
I wanted to present some examples of grace that were stymied by pride.
1.) The chaining of Melkor and upon his release the unrest he sowed among the Noldor.
2.) Sauron presenting himself before Eonwe, and how he fled and became the dark lord.
3.) Sarumon's encounter with the Hobbits and other members of the White Council on the road from Isenguard, and their offer of forgiveness. As well as Gandalf offering to pardon him while he was in Orthanc.
4.) Frodo offering forgiveness and compassion to Grima during the scouring of the Shire.
Here are just a few examples of this repeated theme.
I find it very interesting that almost every "evil" character was once good, and "fell" into evil. However, this did not mean they were beyond redemption. All the characters that fell were given an opportunity to redeem themselves by the grace of those they wronged. However, most of them passed on the opportunity out of shame (pride), because they lacked humility.
I guess this isn't so much a question, as something I found to be quite intriguing as I read his works. I am curious how others feel about this topic. How it may relate to Tolkien's world view for example, and also if someone feels I missed some other major examples, I would love to see them.
