The Power of Sauron
Aug 1st, 2008 by ljkim
A few of us have been getting together Sunday afternoons for a LOTR (that’s Lord of the Rings) book study. And although I recommend reading it just for escapist fun, it’s one of the books that have helped me the most over the years… Tolkien believed that just the way ideas are conveyed through sounds, words, and symbols, that “truths” are conveyed through “stories…” Especially the essential (archetypal) stories that are at the root of every story, which he called “myths.”
One of the “truths” Tolkien spends time describing is Sauron. He’s the primary incarnation of evil in the LOTR world… And the key weapon in Sauron’s disposal is unconventional: It’s the ability to make people despair. The more people come in contact with him, the more they fear and despair and feel hopeless. This leads people to make compromises (trying to use evil as a means to accomplish good) or fight amongst themselves, or just plain give up. What’s interesting is that this is probably what every person in the real world faces when she or he tries to do something good. “Why bother?” “This is never going to work!” “They will never change!” “I can never change!”
In the real world, the way God makes people heroes is by taking regular people and giving them superhuman hope. “…And [this] hope does not disappoint…” (Romans 5:5). Which is why both Scripture and Tolkien show their heroes fighting and winning the inner battle over despair even
as they fight their outer battles over evil.
Related posts:
Return of the King is one of my all time favorites with profound theological implications…