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Where the Births of Heroes LeadPublished: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 09:00:00 -0500 Most likely the first thing that will enter your mind as you see this column is "What on earth can Tolkien's works have to do with Christmas? After all, isn't Christmas about celebrating Christ's birth, the coming of God's Son into the Land?" That's true, and finding a way to tie this column into Christmas seemed easy at first. I knew that plenty of Tolkien's stories could be tied to the "birth of a hero" theme, from the birth of Beren or the coming of the Wizards to the birth of Aragorn, it seemed at first as though I would have plenty of material to work with, but unfortunately, Tolkien does not go into great detail about the births of any of these characters. While several (most of all Aragorn) could be seen as Christ figures, Tolkien wrote mainly on their lives AFTER birth. Certainly Tolkien himself knew of the birth of Christ, but it was the life the birth brought about that Tolkien focused on.
The story of Christmas is most likely familiar to all who are reading this column. Joseph and Mary traveled to Jerusalem and found only a stable in which to sleep. Christ was born, and then they were almost immediately told by God to flee to Egypt because Herod was killing all the babies in Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside. His advisors had told him that a king was to be born in his realm, and he wished to end this threat before it could grow out of control.
In the Silmarillion, we are told the story of Turin Turumbar. The Easterlings had invaded Dor Lomin, killing or enslaving anyone they found there. They would not harm Morwen, Turnin's mother, because of her connections with the Elves, but they held no such compunctions about her son Turin. His mother sent him away as a very young child to the lands of King Thingol because he would not harm Turin, and the Easterlings' power did not extend to that realm. So Turin set out with two aged servants and finally arrived on the borders of Doriath—the realm of Beren, son of Thingol. As Christ was brought to Egypt to escape Herod's purge, so was Turnin brought to Doriath to escape the hands of the Easterlings. Eventually, Turin grew to become a mighty warrior for the king, and as Christ died on the cross to save us from the death that our sins brought, Turin sacrificed his life to kill Glaurung, the dragon hunting his mother, so that she might live.
Another close parallel to Christ can be found in the character of Aragorn. Aragorn was born to Valinor, heir of Isildur, after Sauron's return. As shadows spread in the forests, Dol Gulur became a place of evil, and the Dunedain kingdoms devoured each other and were sent into exile. Aragorn was born and sent to live in the house of Elrond in Imladris. It was feared that Sauron would learn of his existence, and seek to destroy him. But in the end Aragorn was able to grow up and join the Dunedain in protecting the Shire. Like Christ he grew to become rightful heir to the throne, and yet was scorned even by his own kind. The stewards would not let Aragorn take the throne until Sauron was defeated, and the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders NEVER let Christ lead them. Eventually, however, Aragorn defeated the wiles of Sauron, just as Christ defeated sin on the cross, and Aragorn came to sit on the throne of man, as Christ came to sit on the throne of heaven.
That these characters' births resemble that of Christ is obvious. The fact that Tolkien included so many characters like this shows us something that may not be so obvious when reading his books—that Tolkien's faith was strong enough to drive him towards creating heroic main characters modeled after his hero, the Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly, the great author wanted readers to see the story of Christ in his writing, most likely as a kind of literary witnessing tool to reach out to non-Christian readers. But I believe it was also spawned out of something deeper—a God-given drive to glorify Christ in anything and everything Tolkien did.
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