The Power of the Ring Quotes

“It is a modern mistake to think that great personalities can grow without being rooted in the rich soil of the past, in the memory of great deeds and in fidelity to promises made across the generations. Civilization is founded on covenants that cannot be broken without consequence.”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

“We find this more cosmic aspect of the Marian archetype expressed in the person of Galadriel’s own heavenly patroness, Elbereth, Queen of the Stars, who plays the role in Tolkien’s legendarium of transmitting light from the heavenly places. It is to Elbereth that the Elves sing their moving invocation: O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this far land beneath the trees,
Thy Starlight on the Western seas. Tolkien would have been familiar from his childhood with one of the most popular Catholic hymns to the Virgin Mary, the tone and mood of which are markedly close to that of Tolkien’s to Elbereth (see L 213): Hail, Queen of Heaven, the ocean star,
Guide of the wand’rer here below:
Thrown on life’s surge, we claim thy care—
Save us from peril and from woe.
Mother of Christ, star of the sea,
Pray for the wanderer, pray for me. Starlight on the sea: for Tolkien a particularly evocative combination, as we have seen. Light shining in darkness, representing the life, grace, and creative action of God, is the heart of Tolkien’s writing.”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

“Each of us is an allegory, embodying in a particular tale and clothed in the garments of time and place, universal truth and everlasting life”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

“The scene is a triumph of providence over fate, but also a triumph of mercy, in which free will, supported by grace, is fully vindicated.”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

“And so, when Gollum bites the Ring from Frodo’s finger and falls into the Fire, this is the consequence of Frodo’s earlier (and freer) decision to spare Gollum’s life. The salvation of the world, and of Frodo himself, is brought about in consequence of the pity and forgiveness that he had shown to Gollum earlier”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

“Tolkien wrote of Frodo’s failure that it reflected the fact that the power of Evil in the world cannot, in the end, be defeated by us on our own, however “good” we may try to be (L 191). By implicitly denying the heresy of Pelagianism (the idea that we can become good entirely by our own power), Tolkien is simply being realistic about our situation in a fallen world. This is not pessimism, however; for while we cannot save ourselves, we can yet be saved.”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

“The goal of the quest is not to retrieve a treasure but to lose one: the Ring must be “unmade” in the fire of its forging, cast into Mount Doom under the very eye of the Dark Lord.”
― Stratford Caldecott, The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit