Hobbits in the Shire: Iluvatar’s Providence and Protection

The Lenten Lord of the Rings blog has some great thoughts and themes for consideration, from the first chapters of Fellowship of the Ring, the adventures of Frodo and his friends starting in the Shire, then the taking on of the quest, and then as they travel through the Shire.  In the quest motif, from its beginning through later events, it is indeed easy to see parallels to the experience of Lent (as a type of pilgrimage or journey), as well as more generally to our Christian lives as pilgrims in this world, on a journey passing through (this world is not our home) as our journey takes us through times of joy and gladness, and feasting, as well as difficulties.  The themes noted at the Lenten LOTR site (see posts The Real Choice for day 2 and A Slow Start for day 3 readings) include the value of conversations and different types of conversations, festive holiday times, good people versus dangerous, evil people, mercy, the quality of good friends such as Elfs, and even the theme of mushrooms as an embodiment of home.

Another theme that sticks out to me, is the work of Providence, and how the hand of Iluvatar is working to bring various characters onto the scene, and often in the nick of time to avert disaster.  If the evil Sauron were the only power, along with the natural course of events, Frodo with the Ring should have been caught by the Black Rider long before they reached Buckland.  It is as though something restrains the Black Rider each time.  The Black Rider shows up to visit Hamfast Gamgee, instead of coming next door where Frodo is.  The first time along the road, Frodo almost puts on the Ring, but just then the Rider backs away.  The next time, they are saved when a company of elves “just happens” to show up along the road at the same moment as a Black Rider.  Obviously it works as part of a story, the sub-creation.  If things occurred as they “naturally” ought to have — and as it often seems in real life, where we don’t always see the “happy coincidences” that occur in fiction — the story would have ended even before the quest had started.

Yet the same quality, of people arriving, and unexpected events, occurs in the many stories in our world’s history, and in some of the great events told in the Bible.  The story of David and his band of followers, pursued by King Saul and his army, has some similarities.  One time, Saul’s men are very close to capturing David, when a messenger intervenes, such that Saul and company must back off and go elsewhere.  Saul is kept from harming David time and time again.  Satan can only do as much harm to Job as God will allow; there is a restraint on the worker of evil.  Wars among nations have gone differently due to seemingly small, unexpected events, such as the betrayal plans of Benedict Arnold falling into the hands of the American side.  When Queen Esther asked for a one-day delay answer to King Ahasuerus, the next night and day of Providential events changed the outcome.

So in our daily lives, often God brings people to us, at the “right” moment — a “chance” meeting with an acquaintance, an encouraging word at the right time when the person is depressed, information from one person is shared (in a blog post, or other online post) that answers another person’s particular situation.  One person’s need for a job to be done is filled in the person with the right skills, there at the needed time. Unexpected hospitality comes, such as Frodo experiences from both the elves (and particularly Gildor) and Farmer Maggot, who are provided at the right time, companions for the situations at hand.  Through all of this we marvel at the providence of Iluvatar.

 

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The Lord of the Rings Prologue: Table of Nations, Pipeweed, and Other Matters

Continuing from my last post, an introduction to the Lenten Lord of the Rings, for today, a look at the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings.   As noted at the Lenten Lord of the Rings site, we can relate to many general ideas brought out here: contentment versus difficulty, beginnings, calendars, and what things are important in defining a people-group (such as Hobbits in this case) such as their clans and the importance of family relationships.

The Hobbit origins are described in a way similar to our early history, even with three different branches of hobbits:  Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides, and how they spread out over a region.  The origins and descriptions have resemblance with our earliest history such as the Table of Nations in Genesis 10.  Here, the different groups of Hobbits described in terms of key characteristics: slight physical variations (the closest that Lord of the Rings gets to the idea of races of men), and which ones were friendly with Elves, which ones preferred to stay in one place, which ones preferred water, or were skilled in handicrafts.

An attentive reading of the Prologue tells us several things about what will happen to the characters.  For all the critics’ comments about Tolkien’s abundance of unmarried young men and under-representation of women and families, here we learn that Merry and Pippin did (later) have families, of which they are heads. A great-grandson of Pippin is mentioned, as are Sam’s descendants, and a grandson of Faramir.  Without giving out too many spoilers (for those who have yet to read the story, or who have never even seen any movie adaptations), Tolkien reveals that Elrond and Galadriel had since departed, with Celeborn remaining behind in Rivendell, but “there is no record of the day when at last he (Celeborn) sought the Grey Havens.”  By the absence of mention of Frodo in later years, we have implied what will later be revealed, that Frodo will not be around in those future years in Middle Earth.

The different characters and groups provide the variety of life and wonder, reflecting the great variety that Iluvatar has set into our own world as well.  Meriadoc is a historian, and Peregrin one with librarian tendencies, to collect manuscripts.  The people of Middle Earth, like our Medieval Age, have their scribes.  Unlike the history of the Elves (brought out in The Silmarillion), the Hobbits’ life circumstance has been overwhelmingly one of peace and leisure — the trials of plague and war have occurred, but long ago beyond their memory.  Yet for all the lack of challenge, a life most similar in our world to certain times of medieval Europe and especially of the relatively peaceful and prosperous 19th century Victorian England, “ease and peace had left this people still curiously tough.”  The Hobbits embody the ideal of Christendom and Christian people, showing us a quality not realized in human history, yet a key characteristic of a spiritual people, of those who are not in bondage merely to the cares of this world — and also the Lenten spirit of turning from the world and giving up the normal, comfortable things of life:  “they were, perhaps, so unwearyingly fond of good things not least because they could, when put to it, do without them, and could survive rough handling by grief, foe, or weather in a way that astonished those that did not know them well and looked no further than their bellies and their well-fed faces.”

I continue to marvel at the inner consistency of every detail within the story of Middle Earth.  Tobacco pipe-smoking is something associated with our early-modern world (including the early 20th century in England), yet a New World product from the West, native to North America.  Tolkien has an explanation even for this anomaly, in the words of Meriadoc:  “observations that I have made on my own many journeys south have convinced me that the weed itself is not native to our parts of the world, but came northward from the lower Anduin, whither it was, I suspect, originally brought over Sea by the men of Westernesse.”  The pleasure that men have enjoyed in their smokes is of course conveyed as a relaxing event for hobbits and even Gandalf the wizard.  My recent reading of a travel journal from a young British man who walked through Europe in the early 1930s (see this post)  also shows some of the enjoyment that Tolkien, also a British man of that time and place, experienced from “pipeweed,” as shown in a few excerpts from the traveler, then-19 year old Patrick Leigh Fermor:

The weather had changed so much, we could lie on the grass there, talking and smoking cigars and basking under a cloudless sky like the lizards, watching the water flow past on its way to the Danube.

I found a hollow lined with leaves among the willow-trunks about three yards from the water and after a supper of Kövecses-remains and a new loaf from my baker friend and watercress from a stream, I stuck a candle on a stone to fill in my diary. It burned without a tremor. Then I lay, gazing upwards and smoking with my rucksack for a pillow, wrapped in my greatcoat in case of cold later on.

The diary lays a lot of stress on cigar- and pipe-smoking; I had forgotten the latter. I think they were both slightly self-conscious symbols of emancipation and maturity. I always seem to be ‘puffing away thoughtfully’ or ‘enjoying a quiet pipe,’ in these pages.

As far as I know, Tolkien never wrote up such an origins explanation for another new world item in his pre-historic world: potatoes.  But potatoes get less mention in Lord of the Rings than the tobacco.

I had not read the Prologue to Lord of the Rings in a few years, so today’s read was a great refresher.  Up for tomorrow:  chapters 1 and 2 of Fellowship of the Ring.  I’ll be noting interesting thoughts as I continue reading, though I may not have the time for blog posts for each day in this Lenten reading journey.

 

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Lord of the Rings 2023: A Lenten Reading

As I mentioned last fall in this post about Ritual Participation, there is a blog dedicated to calendar readings of the Lord of the Rings each year during Lent.  Over the years I have done several annual readings, not every year, but sometimes for a few years in a row, such as when I returned to Lord of the Rings in 2016 (after absence of several years) and then read through The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings again in 2017 and 2018 (in audio format), followed by reading through the Lord of the Rings: One Volume Kindle edition during the first half of 2022.

It is nearing the start for the 2023 Lenten Lord of the Rings reading — it starts this coming Monday, February 13, with the first reading in the Prologue –On Hobbits, and other matters.   Over the next two months I’ll be reading per this schedule – a fast pace though do-able with a combination of audio and print versions.  Every reading it seems, brings out new considerations, great themes and devotional thoughts.  Since I’ve been getting an intro to Tolkien scholarship (Tolkien: A Celebration, and Following Gandalf, plus several podcast episodes of Amon Sul) as well this last year, it’ll be interesting to see what associations come to my mind, what new insights I’ll discover as I read it this time.

Check out this blog post with links to various devotionals from the first reading: many Lenten thoughts here, from the content of the prologue, regarding our comfort and being sheltered; perseverance; the things that define us; beginnings, and Calendars.

This recent essay from Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative, The Death and Resurrection of Bilbo Baggins, is also interesting — more particular to The Hobbit and Bilbo Baggins, but also fitting as about Hobbits and Bilbo’s character before and after his great adventure.

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