Hopefully, in a short amount of time, I will be able to share with you a fan project that has been in the works for quite some time. Eluadin and I have been working on a document called The Loremaster's Guide to Mythic Battles since early July. It is getting very close to completion and when it is, we'll be excited to present it here for suggestions before finalizing.

Today, I thought I would share with you a sidebar I wrote that will appear in the introduction part of the guide. Imagine it in stylish Tolkienesque font laid over a piece of parchment.

The Ethics of the Wise
While the subject of this guide is warfare, we do not recommend glorifying war or killing—especially if you want to capture the feel of Tolkien’s work. It is very clear that the wise of Middle-earth hold to a common ethical principle governing the defeat of evil. In summary, the wise believe that it is never acceptable to defeat an enemy, regardless of how cruel that enemy is, by the same cruel practices of that enemy. Evil actions will not lead to the defeat of evil or to true victory. By refusing to take the Ring in order to destroy Sauron himself, did not Gandalf, Elrond, Aragorn, Galadriel, and Faramir demonstrate this principle? Did they not show their belief that the Ring would turn them into a copy of Sauron?

Of course, this view is a direct reflection of Tolkien’s values, which he admits inevitably get worked into an author’s writing. In a letter he wrote in 1956, Tolkien speaks about this:

[The Lord of the Rings] is a “fairy-story,” but one written—according to the belief I once expressed in an extended essay “On Fairy-stories” that they are the proper audience—for adults. Because I think that fairy story has its own mode of reflecting “truth,” different from allegory, or (sustained) satire, or “realism,” and in some ways more powerful. But first of all it must succeed just as a tale, excite, please, and even on occasion move, and within its own imagined world be accorded (literary) belief. To succeed in that was my primary objective.

But, of course, if one sets out to address “adults” (mentally adult people anyway), they will not be pleased, excited, or moved unless the whole, or the incidents, seem to be about something worth considering, more e.g., than mere danger and escape: there must be some relevance to the “human situation” (of all periods). So something of the teller’s own reflections and “values” will inevitably get worked in. (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 232-33)

“Get worked in,” in Tolkien’s case, seems like a gross understatement. The “defeat of evil” principle is repeated so many times by his characters in various ways and scenes that to leave it out of any Middle-earth tale would be to change a core ingredient of the setting. This places the burden on the “teller” to familiarise himself with Tolkien’s ethics and values, lest he merely reflect his own, which may not end up feeling anything like the Middle-earth we know and love.

Heartily Agree with these sentiments!

The key speech that I recall (I think from the Chapter-Shadow of the Past) comes (of course) from Gandalf, who often puts forward the author's own views:

Frodo: I do not feel pity for Gollum - he deserves death.

Gandalf: Deserves death! I daresay he does! But some die who deserve to live. Can you give that to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.

This of course is in my view Tolkien's variation on Jesus' own speech: 'let he who is without sin cast the first stone'

Robin S.