THE LORD OF THE RINGS (by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954–1955) The Lord of the Rings is nothing less than a modern cosmology and mythology of England. It brings together the story forms of myth, legend, and high romance, along with story and symbol references to Greek and Norse mythology, Christianity, fairy tale, the King Arthur story, and other tales of the knight errant. The Lord of the Rings is allegorical in the sense, as Tolkien said, that it is very applicable to our modern world and time. Allegorical means, among many other things, that the characters, worlds, actions, and objects are, of necessity, highly metaphorical. That doesn’t mean they aren’t unique or created by the writer. It means the symbols have references that echo against previous symbols, often deep in the audience’s mind.

Story Symbol

The story symbol, of course, is right in the title. The ring is the object of unlimited power that everyone craves. He who possesses it becomes a lord, with godlike powers. But that lord will inevitably be destructive. The ring is the great temptation that will pull someone from a moral, happy life. And its lure never ends.

Symbolic Characters

The strength of this incredibly textured story is the rich web of symbolic characters. This is not simply man versus man, man versus animal, or man versus machine. These characters are defined and distinguished by good versus evil, by levels of power (god, wizard, man, Hobbit), and by species (man, elf, dwarf, Orc, goblin, Ent, and ghost). Myth works by character type, which is one reason it has epic scope but little subtlety in how it depicts people. By setting up such a complex and textured web of character types, Tolkien and his audience get to have their character cake and eat it too. This is an important lesson for any writer using symbolic characters, especially if you are writing a myth-based story.
In Tolkien’s character oppositions, good is symbolized by characters who sacrifice, Gandalf and Sam; by the warrior-king Aragorn, who can heal as well as kill; and by those who are one with nature and who have gained mastery of self rather than mastery over others, Galadriel and Tom Bombadil. Tolkien’s hero is not the great warrior but the little “man,” Hobbit Frodo Baggins, whose greatness of heart allows him to be the most heroic of all. Like Leopold Bloom in Ulysses , Frodo is a new kind of myth hero, defined not by the strength of his arms but by the depth of his humanity. The opponents also possess great symbolic power. Morgoth is the original evil character who predates this story and is part of the history Tolkien created for The Lord of the Rings . Like Mordred of King Arthur, Maugrim of The Chronicles of Narnia , and Voldemort of the Harry Potter stories (English writers just love giving the bad guy a name with “mor” in it, perhaps because “mor” sounds like the French word for “death”), Morgoth conjures up in the minds of the audience the first antigod, Satan, and he is associated in name and action with death. Sauron is the main opponent in The Lord of the Rings ; he is evil both because he seeks absolute power and because he will use it to wreak total destruction on Middle Earth. Saruman is a kind of switch character of evil who began as a wizard sent to fight Sauron but was poisoned by the taste of absolute power. Other opponents—Gollum, the Nazgul, the Orcs, the spider Shelob, and the Balrog—are various symbolic expressions of envy, hatred, brutality, and destruction.

Symbolic Theme

As always in a good story (and especially in an allegory), all the elements are founded on the thematic line and oppositions. For Tolkien, that means a Christian thematic structure emphasizing good versus evil. Evil is defined here by the love for and use of power. Good comes from caring for living things, and the highest good is to sacrifice, especially one’s own life, for another.

Symbolic Worlds

The visual subworlds of The Lord of the Rings are as richly textured and symbolic as the character web. These worlds are also both natural and supernatural. Even the man-made spaces areinfused with and extend out of the natural environment. Like the characters, these symbolic subworlds are set in opposition. In the forest world, there is the beautiful, harmonic Lothlorien and the forest of the treelike beings, the Ents, versus the evil Milkwood. The good forest worlds are also set in opposition to the mountain world, which is where the evil forces live. Sauron rules from the mountain lair of Mordor, behind the massive Morannon gate (more “mor”). The Misty Mountains are the site of the underground caverns of Moria, where the heroes visit the “underworld.” Frodo passes through the Dead Marshes, a graveyard for those who have died in battle.
The “human” communities express this same natural symbolism. Like Lothlorien, which is a utopia built around trees, Rivendell is a utopia built around water and plants. The Shire, home of the Hobbits, is a village embedded in a tamed, agricultural world. These communities stand in contrast to mountain fortresses such as Mordor, Isengard, and Helm’s Deep, which are founded on raw power.

Symbolic Objects

The Lord of the Rings is based on the quest for and possession of symbolic objects, and these are largely dug from the ground or forged in fire. Most important, of course, is the One Ring that Sauron forged in the fires of the volcano of Mount Doom. It symbolizes the desire for false values and absolute power, and whoever owns it will inevitably become totally evil and corrupt. Another circular symbol of evil is the Eye of Sauron that sees all from the top of the Dark Tower and helps Sauron in his quest for the ring.
Like King Arthur’s Excalibur, Anduril, which means “flame of the west,” is the sword of right action and must only be wielded by the rightful heir to the throne. Where Excalibur was stuck in stone, Anduril was broken and must be reforged so that Aragorn can defeat the forces of evil and regain his throne. Aragorn is a unique warrior-king in his use of the plant Athelas, which has the power to heal. Like Achilles, he is a fighter of great skill, but he is also in communion with nature and is an agent of life.

Truby, John. The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller (pp. 254-255). Faber & Faber. Kindle Edition.

1. Story Symbol
   Is there a central symbol that unites the whole story?  How does it work?
2. Symbolic Characters
   What kinds of characters populate the story? Does their age, gender, race, abilities, background, skills give them a symbolic role?  Do they carry, use or appear near symbols that define them?
3. Symbolic Theme
   What is your story’s main moral message about what kinds of actions are good vs evil? Are there any symbols used to describe or define the theme?
4. Symbolic Worlds
   What kind of story world(s) exist in your story and do the worlds define their inhabitants in any symbolic way? eg erathdwellers are emphatic, and sky dwellers are aloof.
5. Symbolic Objects
   Are there symbolic objects that carry meaning(s) in your story. Examples include the Ring in Lord of Rings, The Wand in Harry Potter, the Grail in King Arthur stories. Even small objects can have pervasive meaning, like the Red thread/bracelet in Your Name.