The Ring, the Cross, and the Crown

Eucatastrophe and the Echoes of Easter in Middle-earth

Holy Week begins today as I write this, and by coincidence, I’ve reached the point in my re-reading of The Lord of the Rings where Frodo and Sam encounter Shelob. As I sat contemplating Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection, it occurred to me that Frodo’s death-like swoon from the bite of the great spider is not unlike Christ’s descent into the tomb. From there, I began thinking of all the literal and symbolic deaths and resurrections Tolkien included throughout LOTR.

The first and most obvious example is Gandalf. Fighting the Balrog in the Mines of Moria, he sacrifices himself to defeat the evil creature—but at the cost of his own life, or so it seems to the others. As he later says, he was so grievously wounded in battle that “darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time, and I wandered far on roads that I will not tell.” Yet he was sent back to finish his task. When he returned, he was transformed—still Gandalf, but something new—so much so that even his closest companions, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli, didn’t recognize him. Clearly, Gandalf is the most obvious Christ-figure in LOTR, but he’s not the only one.

Another is Frodo in the pass of Cirith Ungol. Gollum led Frodo and Sam up past Minas Morgul, ostensibly by a secret way into Mordor, but in truth, he intended to betray them to Shelob, the monstrous spider, hoping she would consume them and discard their possessions—including the Ring. He nearly succeeded, but for the light of the Silmaril held in the Phial of Galadriel, the sharpness of an Elven sword forged in Gondolin, and the courage of a Hobbit gardener. Though Frodo was so wounded that he appeared dead, Sam—despairing—took up the Ring to continue the journey. But Frodo was only mostly dead, and through grace, good fortune, and Sam’s quick thinking, he was revived and returned to the quest.

Frodo suffers several symbolic deaths and resurrections. In the Barrow-downs, all four Hobbits are laid in a tomb, pale as death, awaiting only the final stroke of the blade, when Frodo awakes and calls on Tom Bombadil to rescue them. Not long after, Frodo enters another death-like state when he is wounded by a Morgul blade on Weathertop. Only Aragorn’s first aid, the swiftness of Glorfindel, and Elrond’s healing arts return him to life.

Théoden’s awakening in Edoras is also a kind of resurrection. Wormtongue’s poisonous words had crushed his spirit and vitality until Gandalf arrived and roused the old king with words of truth and power.

Later, after Helm’s Deep, Aragorn seeks to fulfill prophecy by venturing into the Paths of the Dead to summon the Oathbreakers. These shades, cursed for breaking their oaths to Isildur, dwell beneath the mountains until the rightful king comes to claim their allegiance. Aragorn’s descent evokes Christ’s Harrowing of Hell and, like Christ, he emerges victorious with an army of the dead at his back.

Other deaths and resurrections are subtler but no less real. Sam’s despair on the slopes of Mount Doom is followed by a renewal of his resolve—one of the great heroic moments of the story, sealing Sam’s place as its true hero.

Merry and Éowyn echo Frodo’s near-death at Weathertop in their takedown of the Witch-king at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Their wounds require healing at Aragorn’s hands, fulfilling the old lore: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer.

The Fellowship itself experiences a kind of rebirth after the loss in Moria. Passing into Lothlórien, they enter a land outside of time—a kind of spiritual afterlife where grief is soothed and strength renewed before continuing the road ahead.

Even the land experiences resurrection. Gondor is reborn after the fall of Sauron and the return of its king, who brings healing and hope. Middle-earth itself is renewed when the Ring is destroyed and Sauron finally defeated.

Later, the Shire undergoes its own resurrection in the Scouring. A diminished but malicious Saruman tries to turn it into an industrial wasteland, but the four returning Hobbits lead a rebellion and restoration. Chief among them, Samwise the Master Gardener replants it—literally—with Galadriel’s gift of mallorn seeds.

Finally, there’s the last resurrection: the departure of the Ring-bearers—Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel, and (eventually) Sam—from the Grey Havens to the Uttermost West. Not death, but a kind of transfiguration, a passing into peace beyond the world.

Notice how often Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn appear at the heart of these moments—not just because they are the central heroes, but because they together embody the threefold office of Jesus Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King.

Gandalf is the Prophet, proclaiming truth, rousing others to action, and offering wisdom that illumines the way.
Frodo is the Priest, bearing the Ring as Christ bore the Cross, sacrificing himself for the sake of all.
Aragorn is the King, returning in glory to reign, restore, and heal.

The Lord of the Rings is a fitting companion to Holy Week and Easter. I look forward to contemplating the eucatastrophe—that sudden, joyous turn of Easter which, as Tolkien wrote, offers “a piercing glimpse of joy and heart’s desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story and lets a gleam come through.”
(On Fairy Stories, p. 61)

Did I miss any examples of resurrection and rebirth in LOTR? What about in The Hobbit or The Silmarillion?