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Since the publication of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, a wealth of secondary literature has been published discussing the literary themes and archetypes present in the story. Tolkien also wrote about the themes of his book in letters to friends, family and fans, and also in the book itself. In his Foreword to the Second Edition, Tolkien said that he "disliked allegory in all its forms" (using the word applicability instead), and told those claiming the story was a metaphor for World War Two to remember that he had lost "all but one" of his close friends in World War I.
Friendship
A Fellowship is created, consisting of all the Free Peoples of Middle-earth, including Elves and Dwarves, settling aside their differences against the common enemy of Sauron.
Frodo Baggins, the Ringbearer, makes a huge sacrifice in saving Middle-earth from evil, as the One Ring takes its toll on him.
Aragorn decides to make a suicidal bid for Frodo by taking the armies of Rohan and Gondor to the Black Gate at the final battle of The Return of the King.
Samwise Gangee is always loyal to his master and friend, Frodo, even as they journey through Mordor.
Christ figures
See also: Messiahs in fiction
Gandalf is a Christ-like figure, representing aspects such as the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension.
Frodo is not a Christ figure, but exhibits some of the suffering. He however does not overcome the power of the Ring in the final scene on Mount Doom. This is an example of, at best, a reluctant-hero. Gollum's motives in the destruction of the Ring are not clear and widely debated.
Aragorn draws strong parallels to King Arthur, who is also seen as a Christ-like figure. This is not consistent with a view of a Peaceful Christ, however.
Forgiveness
Frodo spares Gollum, thus fulfilling the Quest in the long run. Gandalf, Théoden and Aragorn also do not wish to kill Gríma despite betraying Rohan and hope he may turn away from Saruman. When they meet Saruman following his defeat, they do not wish to kill him either.
Peace after wars applies to everyone. Théoden pardons the Dunlendings and Aragorn pardons the Haradrim and Easterlings following their defeats.
Wormtongue did kill Saruman in the end which could not have been achieved by any Hobbit as Saruman trusted Gríma.
Power
The One Ring is an object of power and desire, tempting all who wield it. Isildur, Gollum, the Nazgûl, Boromir and Saruman are all characters who fall to the temptation of power that Sauron offers. Characters like Isildur and Boromir have good intentions with the power but nevertheless corrupted by it.
The goodness of men, such as Aragorn and Faramir are represented that they understand it and refuse it.
The Ring itself is symbolic of the devil's third temptation of Christ. "If you bow to me, I will give you dominion over all you see." All other Rings, aside from the elf rings, pertain to this idea, and the One Ring, still makes the wearer a near-helpless victim to its corruption.
Racism
It is argueable that the book deals heavily with fantastic racism. Gimli and Legolas constantly tease each other based on race. The "white" Elves and the "dark" Orcs play on a notion of good and evil. Hobbits are oft looked down upon by humans. J.R.R. Tolkien did spend his early years in a rather racially divided Africa, and this may have played a part in the inspiration.
Death and immortality
Death is prominent, with the Rings of Power promising immortality to Men, yet eventually sucking away their lives.
Ironically, the Elves are immortal yet dislike it. Their Rings are created for a desire to prevent the waning of their world. Arwen must choose between immortality and the love of Aragorn.
Tolkien wrote about The Lord of the Rings and death in his Letters:
"But I should say, if asked, the tale is not really about Power and Dominion: that only sets the wheels going; it is about Death and the desire for deathlessness. Which is hardly more than to say it is a tale written by a Man!" (Letter 203, 1957)
"It is mainly concerned with Death, and Immortality; and the 'escapes': serial longevity, and hoarding memory." (Letter 211, 1958)
Indeed, the fall of Númenor is caused by an attempt from the King Ar-Pharazôn to seize immortality from the Valar.
Fathers and sons
Frodo and Aragorn are orphans, yet raised by figures like Gandalf, Bilbo and Elrond. Théoden is pushed into action following the death of his son, and Denethor is blinded by the death of Boromir whilst Faramir defends Gondor from the coming onslaught.
War
War was something Tolkien knew well and felt strongly about, considering he lost many friends in the trenches of World War I. War is shown as a necessary defence with huge costs in his story, and many characters look forward to the return of the King of Gondor and Arnor, which will herald the Fourth Age of peace.
Nature versus technology
Tolkien allegedly loved the beauty of nature. The villains in the story are often described as mechanical with Saruman having "a mind like metal and wheels". His destruction of Fangorn forest shocks Treebeard and other Ents into action. The Elves of Lórien live in huge trees.
Growing up
The Hobbits are small simple creatures who don't like to go out for adventures. The Shire is an idyllic place of peace that the Hobbits such as Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin journey out of into the dangers of the war.
Fate
Gandalf in one scene discusses the possibility that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and that Gollum has an important part to play. Much of the story goes the way it does because of events or decisions influencing other events, such as Gollum destroying the Ring, at length due to Bilbo and Frodo sparing him in the first place, and the Witch-king being weakened and ultimately killed due to Merry's barrow-blade, which was enchanted with spells against him long ago.
Loss and Farewell
From the beginning of Tolkien's mythos, there has been a consistent theme of great beauty and joy failing and disappearing before the passage of time and the onslaught of the powers of evil. In the Silmarillion, Melkor uses his powers first to destroy the works of his fellow Valar and as this ultimately fails he uses his ally Ungoliant to destroy the Two GreaTrees that gave the blessed lands of Aman their light.
Fëanor, prince of the Noldor, first loses his father and then his greatest creations, the Silmaril through the machinations of the evil Morgoth. By his fault Elven blood is for the first time spilled on the ground of Eldamar and the Noldor give away both their home and their innocence. Mandos, the Doomsayer himself, proclaims judgement over the Noldor and reveals to them that none of them shall find peace or rest until their oath has been fulfilled or their souls come to the House of Spirits.
Over the course of Middle-earth history, nations and civilizations of ever greater marvels are created but ultimately doomed to failure, before the eyes of the immortal Elves who have to learn that nothing good will ever last to them. Gondolin and Nargothrond as well as Khazad-dûm and Númenor ultimately are destroyed or deserted, either through the intervention of evil from the outside or by the growing evil within.
At the end of the Lord of the Ring trilogy, most of the Elves have left Middle-earth, taking with them all their wonders and the beauty they have created. Lothlórien withers as the protecting powers of Galadriel and with her the ring Nenya leave for the Undying Lands. Frodo has returned to the Shire, but because of the injury he sustained at Weathertop he cannot ever live there peacefully and free of pain. He finally leaves, alone, to the Undying Lands himself.
Finally, in one of the epilogues to The Return of the King, after nearly two hundred years of life Aragorn Eléndil dies in his deathbed, leaving behind a lonely and now-mortal Arwen, who travels to what is left of Lothlórien to herself die on a flat stone next to the river Nimrodel, having returned to one of the few places of true happiness she knew in her life.
The theme of loss is reinforced by some of the songs given throughout Tolkien's book, one of the more prominent being the poem recited by the Dwarf Gimli near the exit of Moria (reproduced in part):
- The world was fair, the mountains tall,
- In Elder Days before the fall.
- Of mighty kings of Nargothrond
- And Gondolin, who now beyond
- The Western Seas have passed away;
- The world was fair in Durin's Day.
- The world is grey, the mountains old,
- The forge's fire is ashen cold;
- No harp is wrung, no hammer falls,
- The darkness dwells in Durin's halls;
- The shadow lies upon his tomb
- In Moria, in Khazad-dûm.
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