The Lord of the Rings: a Source-Critical Analysis

The Lord of the Rings: a Source-Critical Analysis

By Mark Shea (Crisis magazine, Jan. 2004)

Experts in source-criticism now know that The Lord of the Rings is a
redaction of sources ranging from the Red Book of Westmarch (W) to Elvish
Chronicles (E) to Gondorian records (G) to orally transmitted tales of
the Rohirrim (R). The conflicting ethnic, social, and religious groups
that preserved these stories all had their own agendas, as did the
"Tolkien" (T) and "Peter Jackson" (PJ) redactors, who are often in
conflict with each other as well but whose conflicting accounts of the
same events reveal a great deal about the political and religious
situations that helped to form our popular notions about Middle Earth and
the so-called War of the Ring. Into this mix are also thrown a great deal
of folk materials about a supposed magic "ring" and some obscure figures
named Frodo and Sam. In all likelihood, these latter figures are totems
meant to personify the popularity of Aragorn with the rural classes.

Because The Lord of the Rings is a composite of sources, we may be quite
certain that "Tolkien" (if he ever existed) did not "write" this work in
the conventional sense, but that it was assembled over a long period of
time by someone else of the same name. We know this because a work of the
range, depth, and detail of The Lord of the Rings is far beyond the
capacity of any modern experts in source-criticism to ever imagine
creating themselves.

The tension between source materials and the various redactors is evident
in several cases. T is heavily dependent on G records and clearly
elevates the claims of the Aragorn monarchy over the House of Denethor.
From this it is obvious that the real "War of the Ring" was a dynastic
struggle between these two clans for supremacy in Gondor. The G source,
which plays such a prominent role in the T-redacted account of Aragorn,
is significantly downplayed by the PJ redactor in favor of E versions. In
the T account, Aragorn is portrayed as a stainless saint, utterly sure of
his claims to the throne and so self-possessed that he never doubts for a
moment his right to seize power. Likewise, in the T account, the Rohirrim
are conveniently portrayed as willing allies and vassals to the Aragorn
monarchy, living in perfect harmony with the Master Race of Numenoreans
that rules Gondor. Yet even the T redactor cannot eliminate from the R
source the towering Amazon figure of Eowyn, who is recorded as taking up
arms the moment the previous king of Rohan, Theoden, is dead. Clearly we
are looking at a heavily reworked coup d'etat attempt by the princess of
the Rohirrim against Aragorn's supremacy. Yet this hard kernel of
historical fact is cleverly sublimated under folk materials (apparently
legends of the obscure figure of 'Meriadoc'). Instead of the historical
account of her attempt on Aragorn's throne as it originally stood in R,
she is instead depicted as engaging in battle with a mythical "Lord of
the Nazgul" (apparently a figure from W sources) and shown fighting on
Aragorn's side. This attempt to sublimate Eowyn does not convince the
trained eye of the source-criticism expert, who astutely notes that Eowyn
is wounded in battle at the same moment Denethor dies. Obviously, Eowyn
and Denethor were in league against Aragorn but were defeated by the
latter's partisans simultaneously.

This tendency to distort the historical record recurs many times in T.
Indeed, many scholars now believe that the so-called Madness of Denethor
in T (which depicts Denethor as a suicide) is, in fact, a sanitized
version of the murder of Denethor by Aragorn through the administration
of poison (possibly distilled from a plant called athelas).

In contrast to T, the PJ redaction of Aragorn is filled with self-doubts
and frequently rebuked by PJ-redacted Elrond. Probably this is due to
PJ's own political and religious affiliations, which seek, in particular,
to exalt the Elvish claims to supremacy against Numenorean claims.

T suggests some skill on Aragorn's part in the use of pharmaceutical (and
hallucinogenic?) plants, which may account for some of the more
"visionary" moments of mysterious beings like "Black Riders" who appear
to have been tribal chieftains hostile to the Aragorn dynasty. PJ,
however, exalts Elrond 's healing powers over Aragorn's. This is probably
rooted in some incident of psychosomatic healing repeatedly chronicled in
different sources. Thus, the G source also has an account of Frodo's
"healing by Aragorn" on the Field of Cormallen, but E places it at
Rivendell and attributes the healing to Elrond. Since we know that
"Frodo" is likely just a figure representing the rural population and not
a historical personage, most scholars therefore conclude that "Frodo's"
healing is T's symbolic representation of Aragorn's program of
socioeconomic appeasement of the agrarian class, while his healing by
Elrond is a nature myth representing the renewal of the annual crops.

Of course, the "Ring" motif appears in countless folk tales and is to be
discounted altogether. Equally dubious are the "Gandalf" narratives,
which appear to be legends of a shamanistic figure, introduced to the
narrative by W out of deference to local Shire cultic practice.

Finally, we can only guess at what the Sauron sources might have
revealed, since they must have been destroyed by victors who give a
wholly negative view of this doubtlessly complex, warm, human, and many-
sided figure. Reasonable scholars now know, of course, that the
identification of Sauron with "pure evil" is simply absurd. Indeed, many
scholars have undertaken a "Quest for the Historical Sauron" and are
searching the records with growing passion and urgency for any lore
connected with the making of the One Ring.

"It's all legendary, of course," says Dr. S. Aruman, "Especially the
absurd tale of Frodo the Nine-Fingered. After all, the idea of anyone
deliberately giving up Power is simply impossible and would call into
question the most precious thesis of postmodern ideology: that everything
is a power struggle on the basis of race, class, and gender. Still,
I...should... very much like to have a look at it. Just for scholarly
purposes, of course?"

(first posted by Alboin at Tolkien Online)
--
Tar-Elenion

Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.
Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Tar-Elenion <tar_elenion DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<MPG.1a60b0a6370358fd989838 DeleteThis @news.comcast.giganews.com>...
> The Lord of the Rings: a Source-Critical Analysis
> By Mark Shea (Crisis magazine, Jan. 2004)
> (first posted by Alboin at Tolkien Online)

[brilliance snipped]

Bravo to Alboin for posting this and bravo to you for showing it to rabt! Thanks!