Existentialism and Christianity in Middle-Earth.

Chiara Cadrich – September 2017 – V1.7

Duty

In an existentialist perspective1, human duty consists in taking one's destiny in hand, making one's choices to define oneself, and assuming one's freedom. This humanist position is radically opposed to the religious duty, fixed exogenously to Man.

Indeed, the duty of the Christian is to please God, of course by respecting the commandments2, but also by nourishing his faith by the word of God, appropriating Christian values and virtues3 and carrying this word for one's peers4.

In Middle-earth, it is difficult to identify any form of creed or precept - in the broad sense of an explicit formulation of "obligations" or "guides". Of course, this does not prevent Gandalf from giving advice and precepts throughout the novel. But this leads us to seek the expression of duty, in the individual actions of the characters.

The common feature of heroes and obscure fellows seems to be dignity, the duty to behave decently, that is to say, in conformity with honor - respect for life and given word, moderation, solidarity with the family or the clan, which give meaning to one's life, often by dedicating it to others. For example, this conversation between Elrond and Gimli illustrates both the values of loyalty and leniency:

"- Disloyal is saying goodbye when the road becomes dark, said Gimli.

- Perhaps said Elrond but do not swear to walk in the darkness, which has not seen the fall of night.

- Yet given word can fortify trembling heart, said Gimli.

- Or break it, said Elrond."5

In the "medieval" societies of Rohan and Gondor, duty is contracted through a vassalage relationship. The Marshals of the March, leader of the tactical units Eored, are invariably great lords to whom lands are entrusted, presumably with the legal prerogatives attached to them. Merry swears obedience before Theoden as a vassal. Pippin also takes service with the Lord of Minas Tirith, on the basis of an oath of fidelity. In this context, duty is first defined, as the respect of the given word.

Of course, each individual imposes on himself, as a duty, many obligations that are not formulated, which are either his own deep need or the contingencies taught by the society where he has grown: to protect his relatives, to defend his honor, etc.

Frodo's self-appointed duty in Rivendell, appears as an assumed choice - he fully measures the hatred of the black horsemen, the pain, the risk and the evil appeal of the Ring. With lucidity, the hobbit freely chooses the burden - all the more freely as the council is far from the consensus to designate a bearer.

But Frodo seems mostly inspired by the love he feels for his friends and to the Shire. He is not moved by an imperious need for self-realization, nor by a scrupulous respect for the will of the Creator - a will, moreover, unformulated. He lets himself be guided by a human feeling - let us say hobbit's feeling- a kind of sacrifice for reasoned love. If we suppose that Frodo is not yet under the evil hold of the Ring, and is thus able to separate from it, we must conclude that it is a superior duty, a virtuous posture consented out of humanity.

The case of the Dunedain of Arnor, with their superhuman abnegation, seems stranger. By what mechanism can a few thousand people, with a great cohesion, exile themselves in the wilderness of the lands where they had reigned as lords, and then for thousands of years, become the stealthy but mortally effective defenders of villages and roads? Only a religious order, borne by a messianic and monastic ideal, can endure in such a great duty, with its creed (the prediction of Malbeth), an ideal sustained by hope (the rebirth of Isildur's lineage), but also a social organization that can provide both security - the secrecy of the northern rangers - and the education of the next generation.

Even on the scale of a people, duty is thus sustained by hope.

Notes

1 Text of the conference « L'Existentialisme est un humanisme » in 1946, Jean-Paul Sartre.

2 Ecclesiast, 12:13

3 « Now then these three things remain: faith, hope, charity. But the greatest of these things is charity. » Corinthians, 13

4 « All power has been given me in heaven and on earth. Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you every day, unto the end of the world. » Matthew, 28

5 The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book II Chapter Three – The Ring goes South