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Hi Everyone!

I am a big fan of Lord of the Rings. Is anyone else? I wanted to ask these questions: Who is your favorite character and do you think they represent anything from the Bible?

I love LOTR, especially the books and everything by J.R.R. Tolkien.

My favourite characters are Celeborn, Samwise, Treebeard and Elrond, aswell as Bilbo.

There is no "do you think". There simply is a lot of Christian allegory, simply because Tolkien was a very, very devout Catholic. The Silmarillion is kind of the Old Testament. There is even a creation of Arda and a fallen angel. And there is a typical "wrong religion" in LOTR. For example, the men believe in various gods of the elves, even though it is wrong. There is only one God (Eru) and the other "gods" are actually angels (Valar, Maiar). But the don't understand the elvish religion and believe in a wrong version of it. Melkor does definitely represent Lucifer. That's simply a fact. There is a lot of Christian allegory.

My parents and I watched the live-action version of the first two films from the series and it seems like a long story.

   Hmmm ...interesting .....  :)      Well..  Sauron  is  obviously  Satan  and  Sauruman  is  likely the  anti-christ .   I  don't  really  think  there  are  any  Christ like  characters, but  Gandalf or  Lady  Galadriel  are  the  closest  to  that.  my  fave  character  is  probably  Pippin  or  Gimli.  

Sauron is actually not Satan. Melkor the fallen Valar (high angel) is actually Satan. Sauron the fallen Maiar (low angel) actually portrays a low devil or demon, helping Melkor.

My favorite must be Frodo. I think he represents the sinner struggling forward by God's grace. I also really enjoy Samwise. He seems to represent the people God brings in your life to encourage you.

While I don't have my books readily available, I believe if you read the forward, etc to the LOTR, there is a comment by JRRT that his purpose was to write a really long story that could hold people's interest.  He goes on to state that those who think the story was influenced by world events (i.e WW2) are wrong.

Having said that, any writer is influenced by his upbringing/religion/parents/etc.  Key word is influenced.

Actually not to contradict, but Tolkien was a Christian. He led CS Lewis to Jesus.

Back to the idea, I think Sam is like the strong Christian, and Frodo the weaker one.  ;D But both played a very important roll in the Saving of Middle Earth. Gollum is like the unbeliever, torn into two sides, a good and a bad. He is struggling to fight the ring. Frodo has become a dear friend to him in the two towers and he must choose between accepted Frodo's love, or staying his old course of lies and deceit, sadly the latter wins. It is like a Christian telling an unbeliever about Christ. They can reject God's love, or accept it.....

What do you mean? I said Tolkien was a very devout Catholic. And yes, I know, he was one of the people who led Lewis to Christianity - or well, do believing in a god. He than decided to believe in God. Sow hat exactly do you mean? I said exactly the same things as you've said. And I added that there is nothing to argue about if it's Christian or not. It is deeply Christian.

The Hobbit is a spinoff of the series, don't you think?

Actually, Kimberly, The Hobbit is a prequel. It was first written by J. R.R. Tolkien, he later wrote The Lord Of The Rings and his other middle-earth works, even though most of them (like The Silmarillion) were published by his son after his own death. So The Hobbit is not really a spin-off, but an earlier work by the same author, set in the same world and it's connected to the happenings in LOTR.

Perhaps I got confused about the series. (http://www.thesmilies.com/smilies/ashamed/ashamed4.gif)

My dad did too!

I thin Eowyn is like Ester a little bit, wnating to help her people.

What is so tempting about the ring and who made it?

You can read about the history here
http://lotr.wikia.com/wiki/One_Ring

sauran the dark lord made it. It is tempting because it is evil....

I was browsing through this thread again... Darling, what do you mean? I've asked you once and I think you haven't seen that post. In my post I said that Tolkien was a Christian. But it looks like you think I've said something else. I just said that LOTR is a deeply Christian book written by a devout Catholic. What's wrong with that?

And yes, I know, he influenced Lewis a lot and was one of the persons who led him to Christianity. Alas, Tolkien was a bit disappointed when Lewis became an Anglican and not a Catholic. That didn't hurt their friendship though, because they both didn't care much for denominations :)

I was just a little confused because we just said the same, but your post seemed to disagree with my post, even though we both agree that Tolkien actually was a Christian.

You said he was a very devout Catholic.

Yes, but what's the problem here? You didn't say anything else. Tolkien was a devout Roman Catholic. And that is why there is a Christian influence in his books. I think we both agree on that, right? The Roman Catholic church is the largest church in the world, most Christians are Catholics. And so was Tolkien. And so am I. And so are most of our CWuties. I know, some people don't like Catholics, but that doesn't give them the right to say Catholics aren't Christians. So, if you dislike Catholics for whatever reason, then that's your thing and okay. But that won't change the fact that Tolkien was a Catholic.

I didn't say I don't like Catholics, I love them actually, they are very warm, republican people. But the one thing that is wrong is a Christian is not a Catholic. Tolkien was a Christian I believe because there are some symbolizims in the LOTR books, that a Catholic would not put in. Catholics and Christians are not the same. That's my point.

Catholics are a kind of Christians. And Tolkien was a Catholic Christian. What denomination are you of? Or are you a non-dnominational Christian? Of course, not all Christians are Catholics, but all Catholics are Christians. Not all dogs are corgis, but believe me, all corgis are dogs! You can't just say Catholics aren't Christians. And Tolkien himself said he was a Catholic. That's a simple official thing. He was a Catholic Christian. Like Lewis was an Anglican Christian. Both of them were Christians, but not of the same kind.

But of course, the Christian allegory in LOTR is Christian in general, not only Catholic.

   The  latest Hobbit  movie is  scheduled to be released this  December.    8)

I haven't seen the Hobbit movies yet, but I am very curious :)

They are totally awesome!!! You have to see them!!!

I will definitely try to watch them  ;D

Isn't it true that Catholics believe that one must do good works to receive salvation? The Bible says: "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the father but through me." So, how can good works save you if Christ just contradicted it? Christian is an overly used word. Many people claim to be Christians. A true Christian is one who believes that Christ is the Only Way, not the church or good works etc. Hope this helps. Check the the Bible out. All the answers are in there :)

Believe, that's not what it was about. I just said Tolkien was a Catholic. If people agree with Catholicism or not is not the point here. But saying Tolkien couldn't be a Catholic because he was a Christian is plain nonsense. He was a Catholic Christian. And no, Catholics don't believe people had to do certain things to receive salvation - nothing in the Catholic church works without Christ. But doing good is always a good thing ;)

They do believe that the Pope is a high authority. All must listen to the Pope. But Christ is the only authority. Works in Christ's name don't get you to heaven. It is by believing in Him alone for salvation. Knowing He already paid it all.

Believe, this is not a thread about Catholicism. It is a thread about "The Lord Of The Rings". And if Catholics are "good" or "wrong" or whatever is unimportant for this thread. The only thing I said is that Tolkien indeed was a Catholic  while Isabella said he couldn't be one, because he was a Christian. The fact is, that Tolkien was a Catholic. He statet so himself. His wife who was protestant converted to Catholicism for him. If you think Catholics are right or wrong or not even Christians is your personal view, but that doesn't change Tolkien's confession.

And yes, in the Catholic church the Pope is a high authority, he is the successor of Simon Peter. But he doesn't "get you to heaven" nor do "works in Christ's name". But that is clearly not the point of Catholicism. And not the point of this thread. And not the point of LOTR. And not the point of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, who was a Roman Catholic. C. S. Lewis was, by the way, an Anglican turned Atheist, turned Anglican, turned Catholic.

Yes, we are here to talk about Lord of the rings, and not Catholicism. You can make another thread for that if you want believe, but let's keep this lotr related.

We don't need a Catholic thread either, because we have a Religion thread.

This thread is LOTR related.

And to all sum it up:
LOTR has lots of Christian influence/allegory. The Silmarillion is a perfect example.
Tolkien was a Catholic. That is an official fact, he said so himself.
The Roman Catholic church is a Christian denomination, that is a fact. Personal opinions about the church in particular (if it's "qualified" as a Christian church, etc.) are personal opinions and don't need to be discussed here.
The Christian allegory in LOTR is generally Christian, even though Tolkien was a Catholic. Just as the allegory in Narnia is generally Christian, even though Lewis was Anglican.

Yes, so let's no argue. And keep this quite nice. :)

I've watched the movies for the original three books, but it was a while ago. I'm currently reading the first one, but which one is your favourite out of the three?

  I  like  the  final  one  best  ROTK....   BTW ...the final   Hobbit  movie  is out in December !    :D

I wanna try the Hobbit series. :)

  It's  great  so  far  Kimberly  !    8)

I've read them all over time (probably gonna have to dive in again at some point).  Oddly I become more interested in some of the stories that were only mentioned in passing or the appendices . The northern campaign of the war of the ring, the history of lands mentioned once, etc.

They are really awesome.