“It’s all wrong. By rights, we shouldn’t even be here, but we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because, how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But, in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And, when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But, I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.”
“What are we holding on to, Sam?”
“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”
The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been in the news lately, thanks largely to J.D. Vance and the left’s accusations that it’s a racist story and written for white supremacists. If you didn’t know that’s what they’re saying, here’s a link to sum it up:
Well, I’ve been a huge fan for 25 years, and my husband has loved it for even longer. We watched the entire trilogy over the past week and finished it last night after not having seen any of the films in over a decade. I cried many times at the parallels between the story and what is happening right now around the world. It all hits me so much harder now than it ever did before, even though the first film was released right after 9/11. We are living a dystopian modern version of LOTR right now.
After the movie ended last night, my husband and I talked about the different characters in the film and how they fit different people we’re seeing now. I don’t think that any one person necessarily fits any one character, but there are some obvious parallels. Saruman could be Soros or Gates, while Grima Wormtongue could be Anthony Fauci or any other Deep State lackey. Sauron, I think, is the person at the top who is running this entire operation, someone we’ve never seen with our eyes but we know they’re there. It could be one of the top families of the world, but it’s more likely Satan.
Trump is the closest thing we have to Aragorn right now, a man who left his old life behind to become what he was born to be, the leader for our time. Gandalf is the main God/Jesus/Archangel figure (and there could be others who play that role, like Aragorn or Frodo). Nayib Bukele and J.D. Vance are both something like a Legolas, young and energetic and going full blast on the enemy. We could go on and on.
But it’s the hobbits who represent us, I think, if we choose to be like them, and I find that the most inspiring of all. I want to be a Samwise in this fight and never give up on what I love in this world, even if I feel like a nobody and like nothing is ever going to get better. And that is why the left hates this story so much, because it is a reminder to treasure our tradition and history and greatness, and not to give it up to the enemy out of weakness and fear. Theoden King told us to stand up for our country and people, even at the end of the world, riding out to face death in the eye, and that’s what the hobbits did, too, even though they were small and seemingly insignificant. And in the end, even kings bowed down to them out of gratitude.
(When Trump “lost” the election in November 2020, I watched Theoden’s speech at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields again and again. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/7lwJOxN_gXc)
So, if you are feeling like all is lost, that life is hopeless, watch the trilogy or read the books, especially if you have never seen or read LOTR. I suspect that when Q says we are watching a movie that LOTR plays into this as well. Never has a story so perfectly portrayed the battle of darkness and light and the triumph of good over pure evil and corruption. Even when we are hanging at the edge of the abyss by a thread, the Light always wins.
I like your character parallels with the current political scene. Our world has no shortage of orcs. I sometimes think about who the ents might be…the Amish perhaps? How about the ghost warriors? I’d sure love to be able bring to back all the soldiers who died in the wars of the 20th century….
Anyway, my husband and I are major longtime LOTR fans. I’ve listened to the trilogy on audiobook twice on recent years and we’ve watched the movies multiple times. My son is also a huge fan and has now introduced his girlfriend to the films. She loved them — one of the ways we know she’s a keeper.
Happy to meet a fellow LOTR frog fren, and another lady at that.
I wondered about the ghost warriors, too. That's one of my favorite parts of the third movie, but I'm not sure who they'd be. I like the idea of the ghosts of WWI and WWII coming to avenge their deaths to the military industrial complex.
The ents, too. When I originally got into the story many years ago, I thought maybe they were the Americans in both WWI and WWII, not getting involved until the sinking of the Lusitania and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I think now, in today's world, they symbolize the people who are still apathetic about all this and have chosen not to pick a side, even as the world crumbles around them. There are still so many out there like this.
Here's an amazingly little-known fact about Lord of the Rings, given that the plot, the dialogue, AND the name of the title object (The Ring of Power) ALL point directly to it: Lord of the Rings is an ABOLITIONIST tale, specifically about the NECESSITY of renouncing and eliminating coercive Power structures.
The entire reason for Frodo's quest is to DESTROY the Ring of Power. Not to make it "nicer" or "tame it" or "use if for good." NONE OF THAT WORKS. ONLY ridding the world of structures that can initiate coercion against the innocent with impunity will solve the problem.
In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (first movie of Jackson's trilogy), Frodo desperately offers the Ring to the Wizard Gandalf after learning of its evil and corrupting power and that agents of Mordor are looking for the ring.
With visible effort, Gandalf refuses to even touch the Ring (dialogue from the film follows):
(Frodo, desperately handing the Ring to Gandalf)
Take it, Gandalf. Take it!
(Gandalf, backing away from the Ring)
No, Frodo.
(Frodo)
You MUST take it!
(Gandalf)
You CANNOT offer me this Ring.
(Frodo)
I'm GIVING it to you!
(Gandalf)
Don't tempt me, Frodo! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe. Understand, Frodo – I would use this Ring from a desire to do good . . . [long pause] . . . but through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.
America is great because we came closer to the ideal of Liberty than other nations had.
We fell into corruption and evil because we failed to fully do the job.
My hope for the future is that we will find our way to a truly civil society where NO ONE, including "the government", has the power to coerce the innocent with impunity.
Let the downvotes begin. But for those with a more open mind, I suggest The Market for Liberty (free download; also available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon) as a way to begin seeing the possibilities of FULLY removing government corruption and evil (i.e., coercive government) from America and eventually from the Earth.
We got rid of legal chattel slavery; why do we accept our own slavery to the coercive state? The arguments against eliminating the coercive state are eerily similar to those used against eliminating slavery. THIS is a big part of what the Great Awakening must include, imo. (Mel Gibson voice): FREEDOM!
I completely agree with you about the symbolism of the ring being completely destroyed. This is what must happen now. Centuries of corruption, slavery, and the evil powers of the Cabal must come to an end! LOTR is NOT entirely fiction.
They definitely did at the time the movies were released. Since the final film was released in 2003, I think the original story has become a bit passe for them and now they're reading it through Marxist and racial critical theory like they do everything else. They're incapable of enjoying good stories anymore. It ALL has to boil down to the oppression olympics.
They've been claiming for so damn long that the Orcs are supposed to be blacks. Probably part of the reason I've seen some people start using orc online like it's the n-word.
I read that many thought the Orcs were supposed to be the Japanese since Tolkien wrote the story during WWII, but there is really nothing to support it. People see whatever they want. Imagine how the films would look now, though. There would be black and brown elves and hobbits, even though the story is based entirely on northern European mythology/history.
Tolkien actually denied LOTR was an allegory for any modern event. The story is so universal and contains so many human architypes that it resonates with human events of many eras. I suppose that when it was published in the 1950s it would have been hard not to see parallels to WWII, that being the latest human catastrophe/drama at the time….
Tolkien said in his writings that LoTR was an allegory on the evils or power.
“You can make the Ring into an allegory of our own time, if you like: and allegory of the inevitable fate that waits for all attempts to defeat evil power by power” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1995, p. 121.)
“Power is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales” (p. 152.)
“The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on” (pp. 178-179.)
“In my story Sauron represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible. He had gone the way of all tyrants: beginning well, at least on the level that while desiring to order all things according to his own wisdom he still at first considered the (economic) well-being of other inhabitants of Earth. But he went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination, being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit” (p. 243.)
“Of course my story is not an allegory of Atomic power, but of Power (exerted for domination)” (p. 246.)
Excellent article from 2002 that I have had saved for very long time. "Tolkien vs Power", explains how LoTR is an allegory of the evils of political power.
Interestingly Satan aka lucifer is litterly the angel of light, and lucifer being the son or star of the morning light thing is very confusing. Jesus is the light I thought?
First, Sam’s speech to Frodo:
“It’s all wrong. By rights, we shouldn’t even be here, but we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. Sometimes you didn’t want to know the end because, how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But, in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And, when the sun shines, it’ll shine out the clearer. Those are the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But, I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going because they were holding on to something.”
“What are we holding on to, Sam?”
“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”
The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been in the news lately, thanks largely to J.D. Vance and the left’s accusations that it’s a racist story and written for white supremacists. If you didn’t know that’s what they’re saying, here’s a link to sum it up:
https://nypost.com/2024/07/19/us-news/rachel-maddow-claims-lord-of-the-rings-is-a-favorite-cosmos-of-the-far-right/
Well, I’ve been a huge fan for 25 years, and my husband has loved it for even longer. We watched the entire trilogy over the past week and finished it last night after not having seen any of the films in over a decade. I cried many times at the parallels between the story and what is happening right now around the world. It all hits me so much harder now than it ever did before, even though the first film was released right after 9/11. We are living a dystopian modern version of LOTR right now.
After the movie ended last night, my husband and I talked about the different characters in the film and how they fit different people we’re seeing now. I don’t think that any one person necessarily fits any one character, but there are some obvious parallels. Saruman could be Soros or Gates, while Grima Wormtongue could be Anthony Fauci or any other Deep State lackey. Sauron, I think, is the person at the top who is running this entire operation, someone we’ve never seen with our eyes but we know they’re there. It could be one of the top families of the world, but it’s more likely Satan.
Trump is the closest thing we have to Aragorn right now, a man who left his old life behind to become what he was born to be, the leader for our time. Gandalf is the main God/Jesus/Archangel figure (and there could be others who play that role, like Aragorn or Frodo). Nayib Bukele and J.D. Vance are both something like a Legolas, young and energetic and going full blast on the enemy. We could go on and on.
But it’s the hobbits who represent us, I think, if we choose to be like them, and I find that the most inspiring of all. I want to be a Samwise in this fight and never give up on what I love in this world, even if I feel like a nobody and like nothing is ever going to get better. And that is why the left hates this story so much, because it is a reminder to treasure our tradition and history and greatness, and not to give it up to the enemy out of weakness and fear. Theoden King told us to stand up for our country and people, even at the end of the world, riding out to face death in the eye, and that’s what the hobbits did, too, even though they were small and seemingly insignificant. And in the end, even kings bowed down to them out of gratitude.
(When Trump “lost” the election in November 2020, I watched Theoden’s speech at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields again and again. Watch it here: https://youtu.be/7lwJOxN_gXc)
So, if you are feeling like all is lost, that life is hopeless, watch the trilogy or read the books, especially if you have never seen or read LOTR. I suspect that when Q says we are watching a movie that LOTR plays into this as well. Never has a story so perfectly portrayed the battle of darkness and light and the triumph of good over pure evil and corruption. Even when we are hanging at the edge of the abyss by a thread, the Light always wins.
I like your character parallels with the current political scene. Our world has no shortage of orcs. I sometimes think about who the ents might be…the Amish perhaps? How about the ghost warriors? I’d sure love to be able bring to back all the soldiers who died in the wars of the 20th century….
Anyway, my husband and I are major longtime LOTR fans. I’ve listened to the trilogy on audiobook twice on recent years and we’ve watched the movies multiple times. My son is also a huge fan and has now introduced his girlfriend to the films. She loved them — one of the ways we know she’s a keeper.
Happy to meet a fellow LOTR frog fren, and another lady at that.
I wondered about the ghost warriors, too. That's one of my favorite parts of the third movie, but I'm not sure who they'd be. I like the idea of the ghosts of WWI and WWII coming to avenge their deaths to the military industrial complex.
The ents, too. When I originally got into the story many years ago, I thought maybe they were the Americans in both WWI and WWII, not getting involved until the sinking of the Lusitania and the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I think now, in today's world, they symbolize the people who are still apathetic about all this and have chosen not to pick a side, even as the world crumbles around them. There are still so many out there like this.
Yes! The ents could be the fence sitters who don’t want to pick a side until something pushes them off the fence.
Here's an amazingly little-known fact about Lord of the Rings, given that the plot, the dialogue, AND the name of the title object (The Ring of Power) ALL point directly to it: Lord of the Rings is an ABOLITIONIST tale, specifically about the NECESSITY of renouncing and eliminating coercive Power structures.
The entire reason for Frodo's quest is to DESTROY the Ring of Power. Not to make it "nicer" or "tame it" or "use if for good." NONE OF THAT WORKS. ONLY ridding the world of structures that can initiate coercion against the innocent with impunity will solve the problem.
In Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (first movie of Jackson's trilogy), Frodo desperately offers the Ring to the Wizard Gandalf after learning of its evil and corrupting power and that agents of Mordor are looking for the ring.
With visible effort, Gandalf refuses to even touch the Ring (dialogue from the film follows):
America is great because we came closer to the ideal of Liberty than other nations had.
We fell into corruption and evil because we failed to fully do the job.
My hope for the future is that we will find our way to a truly civil society where NO ONE, including "the government", has the power to coerce the innocent with impunity.
Let the downvotes begin. But for those with a more open mind, I suggest The Market for Liberty (free download; also available in paperback and Kindle at Amazon) as a way to begin seeing the possibilities of FULLY removing government corruption and evil (i.e., coercive government) from America and eventually from the Earth.
We got rid of legal chattel slavery; why do we accept our own slavery to the coercive state? The arguments against eliminating the coercive state are eerily similar to those used against eliminating slavery. THIS is a big part of what the Great Awakening must include, imo. (Mel Gibson voice): FREEDOM!
🏆
Because sometimes an upvote is not enough.
Thanks, very kind of you.
No down votes here fren!
I completely agree with you about the symbolism of the ring being completely destroyed. This is what must happen now. Centuries of corruption, slavery, and the evil powers of the Cabal must come to an end! LOTR is NOT entirely fiction.
Lots of liberals love LOTR. It's strange to hear they don't.
They definitely did at the time the movies were released. Since the final film was released in 2003, I think the original story has become a bit passe for them and now they're reading it through Marxist and racial critical theory like they do everything else. They're incapable of enjoying good stories anymore. It ALL has to boil down to the oppression olympics.
They certainly did at one point.
Not sure about now with The Craze having taken hold..
They've been claiming for so damn long that the Orcs are supposed to be blacks. Probably part of the reason I've seen some people start using orc online like it's the n-word.
I read that many thought the Orcs were supposed to be the Japanese since Tolkien wrote the story during WWII, but there is really nothing to support it. People see whatever they want. Imagine how the films would look now, though. There would be black and brown elves and hobbits, even though the story is based entirely on northern European mythology/history.
Tolkien actually denied LOTR was an allegory for any modern event. The story is so universal and contains so many human architypes that it resonates with human events of many eras. I suppose that when it was published in the 1950s it would have been hard not to see parallels to WWII, that being the latest human catastrophe/drama at the time….
Tolkien said in his writings that LoTR was an allegory on the evils or power.
“You can make the Ring into an allegory of our own time, if you like: and allegory of the inevitable fate that waits for all attempts to defeat evil power by power” (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 1995, p. 121.)
“Power is an ominous and sinister word in all these tales” (p. 152.)
“The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on” (pp. 178-179.)
“In my story Sauron represents as near an approach to the wholly evil will as is possible. He had gone the way of all tyrants: beginning well, at least on the level that while desiring to order all things according to his own wisdom he still at first considered the (economic) well-being of other inhabitants of Earth. But he went further than human tyrants in pride and the lust for domination, being in origin an immortal (angelic) spirit” (p. 243.)
“Of course my story is not an allegory of Atomic power, but of Power (exerted for domination)” (p. 246.)
https://mises.org/mises-daily/tolkien-v-power
Orc lives matter!
Excellent article from 2002 that I have had saved for very long time. "Tolkien vs Power", explains how LoTR is an allegory of the evils of political power.
Interestingly Satan aka lucifer is litterly the angel of light, and lucifer being the son or star of the morning light thing is very confusing. Jesus is the light I thought?