New!
articles • book quests • news • library
reviews • podcast • gifts • archives
Crew manifest Faith statement FAQs
All author resources Lorehaven Guild Subscribe for free

A Crown of Chains
Reviews, Jan 27, 2023

The Magician’s Nephew Taught Me Christ’s Compassion in the Midst of Grief
Elijah David in Articles, Jan 26, 2023

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, Jan 25, 2023

Library

Find fantastical Christian novels

fantasy · sci-fi · and beyond
middle grade · young adult · grown-ups
All novels Search Add a novel
Silver Bounty, Victoria McCombs
A Sword for the Immerland King, F. W. Faller
Calor, J. J. Fisher
Once Upon A Ren Faire, A. C. Castillo
Exile, Loren G. Warnemuende
Aberration, Cathy McCrumb
The Truth Beyond the Lies, Kathleen Bird
Frost, Winter's Lonely Guardian, E. E. Rawls
Dream of Kings, Sharon Hinck
The Change, Bradley Caffee
Quest of Fire: Desperation, Brett Armstrong
Wishtress, Nadine Brandes
Flight, Kristen Young
The Deliverer, Jason William Karpf
Podcast

Get the Fantastical Truth podcast

Podcast sponsors | Subscribe links
Archives Feedback

146. How Did Animators Adapt The Wingfeather Saga For Streaming TV? | with Keith Lango
Fantastical Truth, Jan 24, 2023

145. How Did Edmund Spenser’s ‘The Faerie Queene’ Shape Christian Fantasy? | with Rebecca K. Reynolds
Fantastical Truth, Jan 17, 2023

144. Which Top Six Fantasy Franchises Gave Fans Grief in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 10, 2023

143. Which Top Ten Lorehaven Stories Proved Most Popular in 2022?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 6, 2023

142. What Christmas Gift ‘Tools, Not Toys’ Helped You Grow As a Person?
Fantastical Truth, Dec 20, 2022

141. Ten Years After ‘An Unexpected Journey,’ Must We Really Hate The Hobbit Films? | with Rilian of NarniaWeb
Fantastical Truth, Dec 13, 2022

Quests

Join our monthly digital book quests.

Lorehaven Guild Faith statement FAQs

Rose Petals and Snowflakes
Book Quests, January 2023

Prince Caspian
Book Quests, January 2023

Dream of Kings
Book Quests, December 2022

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness
Book Quests, November 2022

Reviews

Find fantastical Christian reviews

All reviews Request review

A Crown of Chains
“A Crown of Chains creatively retells a biblical tale to explore themes of providence, racism, faith, and fidelity.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 27, 2023

Lander’s Legacy
“Lander’s Legacy stacks modern thrills and complex characters on a foundation of biblical what-ifs.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 20, 2023

Prince Caspian
“Pacing starts slow but creature lore grows in C. S. Lewis’s sequel, introducing practical tyrants and talking-beast politics into a Narnian resistance.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
“New and returning readers of all ages would do well to seek deeper magic within C. S. Lewis’s faithful classic.”
—Lorehaven on Jan 13, 2023

Gifts

Find new gifts for Christian fans

Archives

The original SpecFaith: est. 2006

Speculative Faith | archives

Lorehaven issues (2018–2020)

Order back issues online!
About
Library
Reviews
Podcast
Gifts
Guild
Archives
SpecFaith
Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
Subscribe free to Lorehaven
/ SpecFaith /

Evil And The One Ring To Rule Them All

Evil is one of the more compelling topics of theology, literature, and philosophy. Does evil exist? If so, where did it come from?
Rebecca LuElla Miller on Oct 2, 2017
1 comment

October! As we dive into the heart of autumn, many turn their thoughts toward the spooky. I’ve seen ads for scary movies, horror-ish TV programs, and the requisite decorations and costumes that accompany Halloween. I thought perhaps it was time to revisit some thoughts on the subject of evil. Hence, this re-post of an article that first appeared here five years ago. It’s about a timeless subject explored by one of the timeless pieces of speculative fiction.

Evil is one of the more compelling topics of theology, literature, and philosophy. Does evil exist? If so, where did it come from? And why can’t an all powerful God dispatch it? Fantasy as a genre is dedicated to an examination of evil in conflict with good. As we might expect, the great fantasy writers of the modern era led the way.

J. R. R. Tolkien created some classic representations of evil–corrupted men (the Ringwraiths), a corrupted wizard (Saurman), and a Ring able to corrupt all.

It is the Ring I find most fascinating. As Dr. Michael D.C. Drout (Weaton College) said in Exploring Fantasy Literature: Course Guide

The Ring was made by and belongs to Sauron, the Dark Lord, who is attempting to conquer all of Middle-earth. It was lost many years ago, but now it is trying to get back to its master, who is seeking it. With the Ring, the Dark Lord is effectively invincible. If the Ring were to be destroyed, the Dark Lord would fall. Furthermore (and this is the key gimmick) the Ring cannot be used for good: it is somewhat sentient, and it can turn anyone who uses it for domination into a slave of the Dark Lord.

Tolkien, as most speculative readers know, was not attempting an allegory. Nevertheless, his mythopoetic world, the result of his sub-creation, contains parallels with reality. In fact, his world throws revelatory light on what he believed about certain things in the real world. One of those things is evil.

Based on Dr. Drout’s summary above, I think it’s safe to conclude that Tolkien believed evil existed, that it came from some source other than God, and that it could never be used for good.

These seem to be Biblical positions as well. James 1:13 clearly divorces evil from God:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

Throughout Scripture evil or wickedness is contrasted with good or righteousness. Perhaps no passage lays out the duality as clearly as Psalm 1:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish.

The Apostle Peter reiterates the distinction in his first letter:

“For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
And His ears attend to their prayer,
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12)

Notice, however, that this duality of opposition is not a duality of two equal entities. Evil is not a force of equal or greater value in opposition to God.

Genesis 1:1 makes this clear. God was in the beginning, not God and a second god responsible for evil. At the same time, Genesis 1 makes it clear that God did not create evil. All He made was good.

So where does evil come from?

According to Tolkien, the Dark Lord created the One Ring to rule them all, to bind them. Did he believe that the One Ring was the equivalent of Evil or Sin? Hard to say. I’ve not read any commentary on this point. But clearly he created the Ring as a corrupting agent, and since we know from Scripture that Sin taints all Mankind and corrupts the world (see Rom. 8:22), it’s not a stretch to see similarities between the Ring and Sin.

But that doesn’t answer the question about Evil. Rather, the existence of Sauron more nearly addresses that topic. He is the embodiment of Evil in Middle Earth, and the Ring is simply his tool.

In Scripture, the rebellious, fallen angel we know as Satan seems to embody evil. He was the agent of temptation, not only of Eve and Adam, but also of Christ. Nevertheless, his evil is not something he created but is the negation of God. He brought into question God’s word (“Has God said …”), God’s truth (“You surely will not die”), God’s sovereignty (“you will be like God”).

In short, Satan is all that God is not. God is not limited or sinful or selfish or merciless. At the same time, Satan is not what God is. God is all powerful, omniscient, unchanging, wise, good.

Evil, then, is not God. It is in direct opposition to God but it is in no way equal to Him.

Tolkien’s exploration of evil and sin in his stories, as good as it is, falls short in this last point, I believe–perhaps because he has no clear depiction of God (although I could be wrong on this since I haven’t read all his stories).

He shows Sauron as the most powerful force, one that will inevitably win unless the Ring can be destroyed. The Elves and Men are noble because they are committed and willing to die in what appears to be a hopeless cause. In other words, in Middle Earth, Evil has the upper hand.

Is that a reflection of reality? Only if God isn’t painted into the picture. So in The Lord of the Rings, it was accurate, but in real life, though Evil may appear to be winning, there is a great deal more to the story.

Rebecca LuElla Miller
Best known for her aspirations as an epic fantasy author, Becky is the sole remaining founding member of Speculative Faith. Besides contributing weekly articles here, she blogs Monday through Friday at A Christian Worldview of Fiction. She works as a freelance writer and editor and posts writing tips as well as information about her editing services at Rewrite, Reword, Rework.
Website ·
  1. LadyArin says:
    October 4, 2017 at 5:46 am

    I was going to let someone else say something, since i’m not really keen on the kind of research that an in-depth response would require, but seeing as no one’s said anything, i’ll point out that yes, Middle Earth does have a God.

    I doubt Tolkien intended The One Ring as the ultimate depiction of sin. Sauron himself isn’t even the closest thing to a Satan-analogue — that would be Morgoth, who tried to sing his own song when God created the world, only to be told by God: “And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.”

    I’m not an expert on Tolkien, but i know one of the things he loved about Norse mythology was the bravery in the face of certain defeat: ultimately, Fenris Ulf will devour the world and end everything, but until then, the brave fight, and are honored in Valhalla. That’s probably the reason that in so much of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Silmarillion”, it seems like Evil has the upper hand. But that’s not the end of the story.

    Reply

What do you think? Cancel reply

  • Gandalf and the BalrogWizards, Witches, and The Bible
  • What Does it Mean for a Story to be Christian?What Does it Mean for a Story to be "Christian"?
  • What Do We Do About God?What Do We Do About God?
  • C. S. Lewis Was RightC. S. Lewis Was Right
Lorehaven magazine, spring 2020

Wear the wonder:
Get exclusive shirts and beyond

Listen to Lorehaven’s podcast

Authors and publishers:
Reach new fans with Lorehaven

Lorehaven helps Christian fans explore fantastical stories for Christ’s glory: fantasy, science fiction, and beyond. Articles, the library, reviews, podcasts, gifts, and the Lorehaven Guild community help fans discern and enjoy the best Christian-made fantastical stories, applying their meanings to the real world Jesus Christ calls us to serve. Subscribe free to get any updates you choose and to access the Lorehaven Guild.
Website · Facebook · Instagram · Twitter