The Lord of the Rings” and the World Wars: The Applicability of Allegory

摘要

"Lord of the Rings" trilogy, written by John Ronal Reuel Tolkien between 1937 and 1949 is an epic novel, set in the fictional Middle Earth, in which a brotherhood of humans, elves and dwarves battles against a mighty force of evil, Sauron and his minions to protect the free world from destruction and slavery. Although the author denies that the novel is an allegory of war, many people believe that he was influenced greatly by the First and Second World Wars. My research question was "How did the Two World Wars Influence John Ronald Reuel Tolkien During the Creation of “ the Lord of the Rings” Trilogy ?" . I will analyze the similarities between the events in the novel and the events during the two world wars and strive to point out how Tolkien was influenced by these. The most important allegory is the battle between the ultimate evil of Sauron (ie. Nazism and Fascism) and the free peoples of Middle Earth. Although evil is far more powerful and aggressive in the beginning, the determination and valor of a coalition of unlikely allies wins in the end. Several other points exist in the novel that are directly related to the events during the world wars. Nazi Germany, defeated and repressed after the First World War, rises again as an over-industrialized, hostile country, trying to spread its influence around the world. This is similar to Sauron and the forces of evil, defeated in the Second Age by the coalition of elves and humans, rises yet again to threaten Middle Earth and enslave its people. SS soldiers, performing unspeakable deeds during the Holocaust remind us of mindless orcs who carry out the orders of their masters without thinking. The uneasy alliance formed by the democratic capitalist countries with the communist Russians during the Second World War is like the alliance of elves and dwarves; although they are not fond of each other, they unite against a common enemy. Geographical similarities; the role of the Nazgul and V2 rockets; the similarity of Sauron's army with the German war machine; Saruman's resemblance to Mussolini; the likeness of Dead Marshes to the battlefields of Somme are other minor but important points.