The Rings Are Back

THE RINGS ARE BACK. In September, Amazon Prime Video premieres The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, the newest adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium. From The Hobbit toThe Lord of the Rings trilogy to The Silmarillion, Tolkien is one of the most beloved fantasy authors of all time. His fictional world has captivated generations of readers and inspired countless spin-offs.

The newest series takes place during the Second Age, long before The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. It includes some characters portrayed onscreen before and many more not. While a compressed timeline means story changes are expected, fans hope the show retains the essence of Tolkien’s truths rooted in his Roman Catholic worldview. In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien refers to the act of creating fictional stories as “sub-creation.” He writes that humans take pieces of God’s creation and use them to sub-create “because we are made ... in the image and likeness of a Maker.” Because sub-creation is an expression of God’s creativity, Tolkien also believed that fictional stories reflect truth.

Tom Emanuel, a United Church of Christ minister and Tolkien scholar, compares the resilience of Tolkien’s work to that of the Bible. “Why has the Bible continued to resonate for all these centuries? Because it offers us a glimpse of a Truth beyond everyday failures and disappointments, possibility beyond the worst we can do to one another,” Emanuel told Sojourners. Tolkien’s writings reflect the truth of a world in need of healing yet never without hope, a vision that resonates for Christians pursuing social justice.

One clear example of social justice themes in Tolkien’s work is the area of environmental justice. There is a reverence for nature interwoven throughout Tolkien’s books. The destruction of a place’s natural ecosystem is a sign that evil is or has recently been present, while the return of beautiful plants to a desolate area represents a return of goodness. Tolkien also drew from his own experiences in World War I to write with a strong distaste for war and violence. This is illustrated well in The Two Towers, when Samwise Gamgee sees a dead enemy soldier and wonders if he was truly evil or if he had been led to battle by lies or threats.

Conflict in Tolkien’s narratives is driven by pride and greed. This is especially relevant to the new series, which is expected to feature the Dark Lord Sauron. Sauron’s desire to rule Middle-earth leads to the creation of the Rings of Power. However, it is not the powerful who eventually undo this evil. “The War of the Ring is ultimately won not through force of arms, but through the unarmed vulnerability and dogged hope of two humble hobbits,” Emanuel said.

Consistent with Tolkien’s Christian faith, Middle-earth is a world where heroes choose hope and love for creation over violence and domination. Hopefully, The Rings of Power series reflects these truths, too.