I feel compelled to beg your pardon as you enter into this post, like a Hobbit unprepared to feed a troupe of dwarves that have just come upon him unannounced, that this post will not have the footnotes and citations to qualify for a Tolkien scholarly article. But that doesn’t bother you, right? You were looking for a spiritual reflection on Tolkien, so let’s reflect.

One of the reasons so many readers are continually drawn into Middle Earth is the richness of the individual characters, but Tolkien too was arguably writing a “myth” for his country and language that he felt was needed. This means that while Bilbo and Frodo, Aragorn and Boromir, Gimli and Gloin and Legloas and Elrond all have unique, fleshed out personalities, they are representative of their races that make up the free peoples of Middle Earth. 

Much has been said about what each race represents in Tolkien’s world, so there will be nothing of that sort here. I will also assume here that each race was meant to represent a certain aspect of human nature. It has also been clearly established that the ring acts as a metaphor for sin and its destructive nature on the person. Neither of these points are controversial, but it brings me to my main point. 

Each of the four races of that world (*SIDE NOTE: I do not include Gandalf as he is an Istari and precisely not of that world. *SIDE SIDE NOTE: I do not include Tom Bombadil because no one is precisely sure what world he belongs to.) are tempted by the Ring, but as we know, everyone is tempted differently and the Ring has a different effect on each wearer. The primary temptation each race of Middle Earth experiences corresponds to the four primary temptations as explicated in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas in ST I-II. Q 2 of his Summa Theologiae.

 

The Dwarves and Wealth (ST I-II. Q 2. article 1)

Aquinas considers here if humanity’s happiness could possible consist in wealth. While we’ve seen enough corny after-school specials to know otherwise, Aquinas leaves no stone unturned. His first objection considers the reality that it does have a pretty strong hold on our affections, so maybe it can really *buy* happiness. Objection two argues that happiness is the possession of good things, of which money can certainly attain many. In objection three states that our desire for happiness is infinite, as is the desire for money in those who love it.

Who of our free peoples seem to desire wealth and shiny things? I gave you an easy one to start. It is the dwarves whom we are told dug too greedily and too deep in Moria. It was a dwarf who succumbed, albeit temporarily, to “dragon sickness” in the Hobbit, nearly killing Bilbo for possession of the Arkenstone. Because of their origin, they are tied to the earth more literally than the other three, which means that their attachment to the things of earth (gold and jewels are ultimately just rocks anyway) makes sense. 

Aquinas shows clearly and succinctly the insufficiency of money for happiness by pointing out that money itself is most useful when it can attain other things that may bring happiness, so at best it is an intermediate good and therefore impossible to be that in which happiness consists. 

 

The Elves and Honor (ST I-II. Q 2. article 2)

Elves, on the other hand, will be tempted by something higher, more befitting of their nature. The second consideration for happiness Aquinas states is honor. This is first because honor is the reward of virtue, of which humanity is ordered, so surely honor is where happiness lies. Second, this at least appears to be the case in the happiest people, as they are honored. Third, it seems to be humanity’s greatest desire, so attaining it would mean humanity’s greatest happiness, right?

This is how Galadriel, our greatest elf and most obviously tempted elf, presents her case. In her interaction with Frodo in Lothlorien, one alluding to a “The Last Temptation of Galadriel,” she describes the likely results of her accepting the Ring from Frodo. “Instead of a dark lord you would have a queen…All will love me and despair.” 

What is this but a fantasy of honor? Included in this scene are the many honorific titles she ascribes to herself, “Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth” These are about how she is viewed, or honored, by others.

Lastly, after she passes the test, she says that she will diminish. This seems like a harkening to the humiliation, in the purest, best sense of the word, of St. John the Baptist, who decreased so that our Lord could increase. This was an eschewing of personal honor for something greater. 

Aquinas shows that honor cannot be the ultimate means of happiness because happiness can only come from honor if it is attained virtuously. This means that honor is not the source of the happiness but the virtue that attained it.

 

The Men and Power (ST I-II. Q 2. article 4)

While this line is only given in the movies of the Lord of the Rings, it certainly fits with the spirit of the men of Middle Earth “Who above all else, desire power.” This is fitting in two ways. First, men are the second born of Illuvatar after elves, giving them that younger sibling chip on their shoulder. Second, it is called the “Ring of Power,” so shouldn’t that be its biggest draw?

Aquinas argues that power must be that in which happiness is found because God is all powerful and we desire to be like God. Second, happiness is the perfection of a highest good. There is no higher created good than humanity, so to rule over humanity by power must be where happiness is found. Finally, is happiness is the highest good, its opposite must be lowest evil. Slavery, utter powerlessness, is the lowest evil, so powerfulness must be the highest good.

Readers are confronted visually by Boromir’s temptation in the LoTR film scene of the Council of Elrondto use the “gift” they’ve been given. In the book, he describes exactly how and unsurprisingly, he seeks to wield it as a weapon against Sauron. Later in the book, he refers to the Ring as the “armed might of the Dark Lord,” showing his primary understanding of the Ring in terms of power. It is also the desire for immortality, power over death, which tempted the Numenoreans at the suggestion of Sauron, that became their downfall as well.

Aquinas shows that power cannot be humanity’s ultimate good for two reasons. First, power is a principle by which an action is taken, whereas happiness is the end that an action is seeking. Second, power can be used for good or evil, but happiness is the highest good, so power cannot be the same thing.

 

The Hobbits and Pleasure (ST I-II. Q 2. article 6)

Finally, we come to our hobbits, who above all, seek “food and cheer and song.” Aquinas actually saves pleasure for his last temptation because, I think, it is probably the most reasonable, most ubiquitous, and therefore, most tempting of them. First, pleasure seems to appear the most like happiness in its ultimacy. As he says, it is strange to ask someone why he would want pleasure. Second, pleasure is that which moves our appetites, the satisfaction of which makes us happy. Third, pleasure is most universally desired by all creatures, so this must be that which brings the most happiness.

While the ring is used for serious purposes in the Hobbit like survival and avoiding detection from enemies, Smeagol and Bilbo both use it in times of peace to play tricks and/or steal desirable things from others. Bilbo certainly looks pleased with himself when he returns to his home after disappearing from his birthday party speech. 

Another interesting connection between the Hobbits and pleasure being their people’s vice is that of the four it was considered the “least bad” category of sins according to the medievals. This is illustrated in Dante’s Divine Comedy, who places the “sins of incontinence” at the “top” of his map of hell, furthest from the Devil. 

We can see the lesser effect of the Ring on a Hobbit when considering Smeagol/Gollum, as he simply becomes a diminutive, pitiable wretch of a creature after his prolonged corruption by the Ring, contrasted with the Ringwraiths, who were once men before their corruption. Gollum has become nothing but the unquenchable desire for pleasure, even if that pleasure has become nothing more than the avoidance of pain. 

Interestingly, one can see a sort of redemptive suffering in Frodo for the many injuries he suffers on his journey. Though not keeping count, he certainly appears to suffer the most and/or the most space is dedicated to their description in the LoTR series. Was this physical suffering an act of repentance from the pleasure that tempts a Hobbit to possess, or rather be possessed, by the Ring?

Aquinas shows that pleasure cannot be our highest good because it takes place in the body, but true happiness in us requires our participation of the soul. This is because the powers of memory, that which keeps the happiness with us, and reason, that which recognizes the goodness in the object, are both powers of the soul. This means that happiness must consist in something not excluding the body, but also not excluding the soul.

So where is happiness, and how do dwarves, elves, hobbits, and us, find it? (ST I-II. Q 2. article 8)

Not to leave our free people in despair, they’ll have enough of that on their journey to destroy that One Ring that keeps tempting them to wealth, honor, power and pleasure. Where does Aquinas say happiness can be found? If you know anything about Aquinas, you can probably guess that the answer is God, but don’t walk away thinking this answer is the arbitrary thing he has to say because he is Christian. It follows from our soul being that which is ordered toward eternity. 

Even though our soul is created, it is also immortal, so its powers extend beyond the temporary time of our life on earth. Because its existence is not limited, neither are its desires. Therefore, it does not desire a limited good, but an unlimited good, goodness itself. Aquinas had already shown this “goodness itself,” that which encompasses all good, to be God in his fourth way of God’s existence (ST I. Q 2. A 3.). It is basically a longer, but quite reasonable, way of affirming St. Augustine’s famous line “our hearts are restless until they rest in you,” which holds true for Dwarves, Elves, Men, and even little Hobbitses.