Table Of ContentDiscovering
Enchantment
the of
J. R. R. Tolkien’s
Middle-earth
M a t t h e w D i c k e r s o n
S
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© 2012 by Matthew Dickerson
Published by Brazos Press
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.brazospress.com
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—
without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in
printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dickerson, Matthew T., 1963–
A Hobbit journey : discovering the enchantment of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth
Matthew Dickerson.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of : Following Gandalf, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-58743-300-9
1. Tolkien, J. R. R. (John Ronald Reuel), 1892–1973. Lord of the rings. 2. Epic litera-
ture, English—History and criticism. 3. Fantasy fiction, English—History and criticism.
4. Free will and determinism in literature. 5. Middle Earth (Imaginary place). 6. Battles in
literature. 7. Courage in literature. 8. Ethics in literature. I. Dickerson, Matthew T., 1963–
Following Gandalf. II. Title.
PR6039.O32L633345 2012
823.912—dc23 2012010627
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled JB are from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, copyright © 1966 by Darton,
Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All
rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book
are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource.
Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content
or permanence.
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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To my wife, Deborah, and my sons, Thomas, Mark, and
Peter, who allowed me to read The Hobbit, The Lord
of the Rings (including some of the appendixes!), and
even The Silmarillion as part of family read-aloud.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
References and Conventions x
Abbreviations for Works by J. R. R. Tolkien x
A Note on Capitalization xi
Introduction 1
Finding Meaning in Fantasy 1
Where Is Middle-earth? 2
The Making of Books 5
Allegory and Applicability 11
1. On Hobbits, the Treatment of Prisoners, and the Ethics
of War 19
Principles of Ethics in Warfare 22
Torture by the Enemy 24
The Ethics of the Wise 28
The Complexities of Narratives, and of Life 31
2. Epic Battles 36
The Battle of Five Armies 38
The Black Gate and the Skirmish with Southrons 41
The Rohirrim and the Anglo-Saxons 43
So Fair, So Desperate 48
Hope and Healing 54
The “Contest” at Helm’s Deep 56
War, the Individual, and Fellowship 59
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Contents
3. Frodo and the Wisdom of the Wise 62
Spotting Wisdom in Middle-earth 64
The Wisdom of Gandalf 65
Military Might and True Hope 69
Faramir 72
The Wisdom of the Bagginses 75
4. Military Victory or Moral Victory? 80
Victory, at What Cost? 81
The Temptation of the Ring: Gandalf and Elrond 86
The Temptation of the Ring: Galadriel and Faramir 91
5. Human Freedom and Creativity 95
The Reality of Choice 98
Aragorn and the Doom of Choice 102
The Prophecies 104
6. The Gift of Ilúvatar and the Power of the Ring 108
The Domination of Wills 109
The Flame Imperishable 114
The Firstborn and the Followers 119
Free Will and Creativity 122
7. Moral Responsibility and Stewardship 126
Objective Morality and Judgment 131
Moral Responsibility 136
Another Word on (or against) Judgment 139
The Steward of Middle-earth 143
8. The Seen and the Unseen: Salvation and Social Justice 148
The Salvation of Boromir 151
The Salvation of Sméagol 155
Saruman, Denethor, and Damnation as Un-Salvation 159
Bilbo and Frodo: Mercy for the Merciful 162
Social Justice and a Rejection of Gnosticism 164
9. A Shift in Tone: Free Will and the Hand of Ilúvatar 170
A Deepening of Voice 171
Attaching a Leaf 179
The Presence of Ilúvatar 182
The Purpose of Ilúvatar 188
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Contents
The Power of Ilúvatar 191
Free Will and the Hand of Ilúvatar 198
10. Ilúvatar’s Theme and the Real War 203
Not a Christian Myth? 206
The Missing Piece 216
Sorrow and Loss 221
A Christian Myth? 227
The Absence and the Presence of the Incarnation 236
The Theme of Ilúvatar 240
The Real War and the Happy Ending 244
Notes 251
Sources 259
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Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Tom Shippey, who remains at the forefront of Tol-
kien scholarship, for his many years of indispensible scholarly work
that is at once profoundly insightful and very enjoyable to read, and
also for his personal encouragement (and occasional suggestions)
over the past few years; to several other scholars and writers who,
through talks and essays and especially personal conversations, have
contributed to my understanding, including Jonathan Evans, Chris-
topher Vaccaro, Charles Taliaferro, Michael Drout, David Bratman,
Colin Duriez, Peter Kreeft, Thomas Howard, Sandra Miesel, and
Paul Kerry; to literary colleagues at Middlebury College for many
other stimulating conversations about Tolkien and related literary
topics, especially Professors Kathy Skubikowski, John Elder, and
Dan Brayton; to many years of Middlebury College students who
have taken my Tolkien classes and made the effort to write insight-
ful papers and engage in class discussions; to numerous readers as
well as critics of Following Gandalf for their comments; to the late
Professor Marion Singleton (of Dartmouth College), to whom I
am greatly indebted for her teaching on writing, and literature, and
writing about literature, and for investing in me as a person; and
finally to my good friend David O’Hara for his friendship over the
years, not only for the frequent discussions about philosophy, myth,
and literature, but even more for the numerous times when we went
fishing instead of discussing philosophy, myth, or literature.
Matthew Dickerson, September 2011
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References and Conventions
Citations to works by J. R. R. Tolkien are given parenthetically in
the text, using the conventions and abbreviations described here and
below. Citations from The Lord of the Rings are from the Houghton
Mifflin second edition. Because of the many different editions and
typesettings of this three-volume work (with different page number-
ings), references are by volume number and chapter number (rather
than by page number), in uppercase and lowercase Roman numerals
respectively. Thus the reference “III/iv” refers to volume 3, chapter
4 of The Lord of the Rings, a chapter titled “The Siege of Gondor”
found in The Return of the King. Except where noted, Scripture
citations come from the Douay-Rheims Catholic edition commonly
in use during the lifetime of Tolkien. All other works (authors other
than Tolkien) are cited using endnotes, with a list of sources at the
end of the book.
Abbreviations for Works by J. R. R. Tolkien
“Fairy” “On Fairy-Stories.” In The Monsters and the Critics, and
Other Essays. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1984.
Foreword Foreword to The Lord of the Rings. 2nd ed. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1966.
Hobbit The Annotated Hobbit. Revised and expanded ed., anno-
tated by Douglas A. Anderson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1994.
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