Biblical motifs in Tolkien

For our Wednesday Bible study we are reading through Genesis, and the Clan is also rereading The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. I had not read either in quite some time (for LOTR, years), and this time around I see more similarities. Tolkien is not openly religious in his books, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It would take a longer post than I have time to write now to catalogue them all, but I noticed one motif especially this time around.

As we are reading through Genesis, I find it interesting that firstborns are almost never special. Seth, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Levi, Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, Moses, David, Solomon—these people are remembered with honor. But how easy is it to pay little attention to Esau, Reuben, Leah and Cain? Yes, they may be remembered, but their younger sibling is the one who carries the laurels.

In Tolkien's work, firstborns are often as ill-fated. Think of the two sons of Denethor: Boromir and Faramir. Which one is more often beloved? Less obviously, of the heirs to Rohan, it is Eomer, the younger, who eventually becomes king, not the firstborn Theodred. It may not be obvious, but research shows that Arwen, Galadriel, Theoden, Samwise, and Peregrin Took are also younger siblings.

And if you venture into The Silmarillion, Tolkien's epic history of the beginnings of Middle-earth, this motif, like Tolkien's other Biblical motifs, becomes clearer and stronger. What character is more tragic than Feanor, whose pride eventually overwhelms his genius? And it is his younger brother, Finarfin, who fathers the ancestors of many famous characters from The Lord of the Rings. And of the brothers Hurin and Huor, Huor's son is one of the most renowned of Men, while Hurin's son leads an especially ill-fated life. Of Elendil's sons, Isildur and Anarion, Isildur is infamous because of his pride in not destroying the One Ring, while Anarion is good enough to be forgotten without being so good as to be famous.

Of course, in the Bible and also in The Lord of the Rings, the motif is merely a pattern. Jesus is a famous firstborn, as are John the Baptist and Samuel; and as for Tolkien, there are Frodo and Aragorn.

Tolkien once said that he never actively tried to make The Lord of the Rings religious, but that it was such an essential part of himself, that there was unconsciously an air of religion throughout. And with each new reading, I find this more and more to be true, as I root out with interest the religious motifs of The Lord of the Rings.