No church in Hobbiton

The other day, we discussed religion in Middle-earth. The general condenses was that there was no specific religion (church, gods, rituals, and the like) in Tolkien’s world. It was, however, suggested that “religion” existed in Middle-earth on a different scale. While the realm of hobbits and balrogs has creators and higher beings, it has no one to be called Lord of all. Instead, Tolkien’s tales contain a strong theme or good versus evil. There is a sense of the powers of good and evil being some kind of abstract, universal authorities that people are ultimately aligned with. These two contrasting sides seem to be the closest thing to religion Middle-earth has. There, it’s not who you worship or what church you attend, but how you live and what you fight for—the whole world is “religion”.

On the side of “good”, firstly, we have the elves. The elves are peaceful, scholarly, and philosophically and spiritually educated, and seem to be held higher than the other races. Next is the race of men. Humans are known for their chivalry and virtuous lives. They live and die for king and country, and are proud. Also on the side of “good” are hobbits. Halflings live peaceful, largely unadventurous, carefree lives. They, along with the elves, hold nature in high regard. The other race is not so obviously on the side of good. The dwarves are looked down upon (pun intended) by the other races because of their greed and reclusive way of life. However, their withdrawn culture does not seek to destroy or seize the lands or lives of the “good” races, and usually end up joining their side.

The side of “evil”, however—Sauron and his minions—only wish to see the conquest, annihilation and enslavement of the peace-loving races and everything they live for. Also, all of the bad-guys are pretty anti-peace-and-nature. Even their area of the continent is barren and hostile. The proponents of evil all seem to be inherently bad with no hint of reason or remorse, though succumbed to corruption way back when in Middle-earth’s history. This corruption and subsequent fall is usually associated with the temptation and desire of power. A prime example of this is the Nazgul, who were once kings but were deceived into falling under Sauron’s power and eventually became so corrupted and evil that they dwindled into near-nothingness.

I’m not entirely sure what I think of all of this, but it intrigues me and I wish we had had more time to discuss it. Part of me sees it as Tolkien asserting the idea that it isn’t our religion or what we say we are that determines our alignment in life, but what we value and live and fight for. So is life so blatantly good and evil? Is there any middle ground or partial alignment? What significance, theologically and philosophically, do the differences in human view of morality and God’s view hold? Who knows?

Tom Bombadil, that’s who.