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Posted by tic on July 05, 19100 at 04:50:42:
In Reply to: Re: Tolkien Christian? posted by jesus on May 24, 19100 at 01:38:00:
: : I want to know how his Christian beliefs influenced his writing in the Silmarillion, the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings. What did the Rings symbolize??????
: Rings symbolize human wwantings to get absolute power and to have everything they want without working for it.
Comment on that:
That's right!
the ring awards his bearer with supposedly absolute power. It's just like in Genesis Chapter III, where the snake tempts eve (and with her all mankind) to taste the fruit by telling her, she than would become similar to god, which means she will be able to judge between good and evil. But this ability of course brings his death into the man's mind (... and this thought about death hasn't left his mind ever since). So in trying to become like god, man eventually achieves death.
This is the same ambition Melkor has in the beginning of the Silmarillion "He wished to be called LORD!" And his disciple Sauron's ring tempts his victims to take it (the ring) by the promise of power over others (So he does with Frodo on the journey into Mordor). But in reality the rings does not award the power he promises. It rather makes its bearer its slave and leads to a shadow existence (Like the Nazgul or as Smeagol-turned-to-Gollum) which is like death (... if not worse).