The Lord of the Rings 1069tagonist of the novel. Central to the novel’s premise
is that heroism as conventionally understood is inad-
equate. “‘We cannot achieve victory by arms,’” Gan-
dalf asserts (The Return of the King). As impressive
as the feats of arms of the warriors are, such heroism
is secondary. The final battle is presented not as the
ultimate confrontation between good and evil but
rather as a ruse by the heroes to distract Sauron’s
attention from the true threat to his power. If he is
busy fighting them, he will be less likely to notice
Frodo sneaking toward Mount Doom to destroy the
ring and thereby destroy Sauron’s power.
Power is, to a considerable extent, precisely the
problem. Even the good characters can be corrupted
by the desire for power, and the more powerful they
are already, the greater their danger. One of the
merits of figures such as Gandalf, Elrond, Galadriel,
Aragorn, and Faramir is that they recognize the
danger the One Ring represents to them. They may
be tempted to take it out of a desire to do good, but
the ultimate power it grants would inevitably cor-
rupt them, however pure their initial motivations
might be. In short, much of what makes the con-
ventional hero heroic is also precisely what makes
the conventional hero potentially dangerous. The
danger of power and weapons is especially clearly
reflected in the villainous characters, whose own
pursuits of power actually assist the efforts against
them.
Heroism is not the desire for or enactment of
power. In a key commentary, Sam notes that heroic
adventures are not sport to be sought but rather situ-
ations “[f ]olk seem to have been just landed in” (The
Two Towers), and their heroism is merely the choice
to continue on to the end; heroism is endurance and
self-sacrifice. Indeed, the thrust of The Lord of the
Rings is toward the rejection of the heroic. Again,
a significant moment comes when Sam is tempted
by the ring but immediately sees that the vision it
offers him of himself as a warrior hero is profoundly
wrong. He can play the warrior’s role when neces-
sary (for example, in his confrontation with Shelob),
but he does not choose it. Finally, the desire for
power is itself the cause of the destruction of the
ring. Frodo cannot bring himself to destroy it. Ironi-
cally, Gollum’s intervention as he reclaims the ring
from Frodo and then accidentally falls into the fires
of Mount Doom brings about victory. Evil is not
defeated by heroic action or even by self-sacrifice.
Instead, it is defeated by its own nature.
Dominick GraceHope in The Lord of the Rings
Hope is one of the central themes of J. R. R. Tol-
kien’s The Lord of the Rings. Faced with an appar-
ently unbeatable evil foe and facing overwhelming
odds, the characters who successfully resist Sauron’s
evil are those who maintain hope. By contrast, the
primary failing of the characters who succumb to
Sauron’s evil is not physical or moral weakness but,
rather, despair. Hope is a force more powerful than
the mightiest magic or the mightiest hero.
Hope is introduced early in the novel, when
Gandalf tells the story of the One Ring to Frodo.
He speaks of Gollum and acknowledges that there is
little hope of curing the evil done to him by the ring.
However, Gandalf makes clear that there remains
a small possibility Gollum may be saved, a crucial
point. Gollum may indeed be an irredeemably cor-
rupt creature, but on the other hand, he may not,
and to slay him without pity would therefore be an
evil act. This sparing of Gollum proves central to
the completion of the quest to destroy the ring—
not because Gollum is redeemed, but because he
has been spared and can therefore play a role in the
ring’s destruction. Though the hope of redemption
does not bear fruit, the fact of hope and its influence
on characters proves essential. Much of the novel’s
moral complexity derives from the fact that unan-
ticipated outcomes are possible, so that nothing is
truly “beyond hope.”
Indeed, “beyond hope” is a recurrent phrase in
the novel, but not to suggest hopelessness. Rather, it
is used characteristically when characters find unex-
pected aid. For instance, when Gandalf miraculously
reappears after his death, Aragorn exclaims, “Beyond
all hope you return to us in our need!” (The Two
Towers). Continuing to strive even when circum-
stances seem beyond hope—hopeless—is central
to the success of the heroes. Even if circumstances
seem hopeless, those who continue to act as if success
were possible—those who carry themselves beyond
hope—succeed. As Elrond notes, the heroes can
do nothing other than resist Sauron, “with hope or