The Reflexive Paradox in the Lord of the Rings

Many veiwers find the ending of the "Lord of the Rings" a bit anticlimatic.

Frodo, who was being chased by armies of the foulest creatures in Middle Earth, undertook an epic adventure through treacherous mountains, dark forests, raging rivers, deadly swamps and caves infested by huge man eating spiders.

Meanwhile Frodo's friends fought furious battles in Moria, Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith and even at the gates of Moria.

In what was supposed to the film's climax, Frodo entered the caverns of Mount Doom where he lost his resolve to destroy the ring of power. Frodo put the ring on his finger.

Gollum, Frodo's nemesis, lurched into action. He bit off Frodo's finger to take the ring. While jumping with glee, Gollum tripped and fell into the cracks of Mount Doom.

The LoTR was fodder for some of the best action scenes in movie history. Yet, it turns out that Frodo's quest was a failure. The ring was destroyed by accident.

In the following Youtube video, Robert of InDeepGeek does a good job arguing that there is more to the story.

The video puts forward the idea that Frodo used the ring to place a clever curse on Gollum. The curse was that, if Gollum were to regain the ring, the ring would throw Gollum off a precipice and into the fire.

Gollum did not simply trip. The ring caused Gollum to fall into cracks of doom.

This means the Lord of the Rings is really a clever story about a misfired curse. The curse caused the ring to destroy itself.

I find it interesting that InDeepGeek would read the story as a misfired curse. It is likely that the creators of InDeepGeek read Harry Potter as a child. Readers weened on Harry Potter are attentive to unintended consequences of curses.

The LoTR as a Commentary on Modern Philosophy

I find it unlikely that Tolkien would have wasted time writing an epic three volume book about a twist on a curse ... even if the twist was immensely clever.

Personally, I've always thought that the Lord of the Rings was a commentary on Modern Philosophy.

The Wikipedia page for (1892-1973) notes that the Tolkein family hailed from the outskirts of Königsberg. Königsberg was the capital of Prussia. It is the home of the insular philosopher Immanuel Kant.

J.R.R. Tolkien entered the academic world and would have been intimately familiar with the ramblings of Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and other German idealists.

Schopenhauer's most famous work was "The World of Will and Representation." This work began with the line: "The world is my idea."

One can read into Schopenhauer's work the notion that the world we see around us was the creation of the human will.

If the world we experience is the creation of the the human will; then the power to control the human will is the ultimate power.

Numerous writers influenced by Schopenhauer prattled on about controlling the will.

Nietzsche extended this concept with the creation of the Übermensch. The Übermensch (aka superman) was a creature with a superior will. An Übermensch was one who defined society with their superior will.

I should note that in Tolkien's life time, a large number of Germans fell for the idea that a group called "Aryans" was a race of Übermensch. This master race was destined to use their superior wills rule the world.

Things went poorly in Germany. The great army of Übermensch behaved in WWII like bands of orcs.

The One Ring and the Battle of Wills

But, lets get back to the Lord of the Rings. The chief villain Sauron was a higher level being (an Übermensch) who created a set of magical rings which he gave to elves, dwarves and men.

Sauron crafted the one ring of power in secret. The one ring gave its bearer the power to dominate the wills of the other ring holders.

In the first War of the Rings, the free people of Middle Earth united to defeat Sauron.

Isildur cut off the Sauron's finger. Isildur lacked the will to destroy the ring at the time. Isildur found that he could not control the ring; so he wore it on his neck as a trophe until he lost it in a battle.

Isildur's plight was that, if he used the ring of power, he would inevitably become a dark lord just like Sauron.

In the Council of Elrond, one learned that anyone who gained power with the ring that could dominate the wills of others was destined to become a dark lord.

This paradox has real world implications.

For example, I see base partisanship as one of the greatest problems in modern Democracy. It seems that the only way to counter the ruling party is to create an opposition party.

Since the opposition party has taken the form of the ruling party it is unable to address the problem of partisanship.

There are numerous paradoxes of power.

People who favor the monarchy often note that the people in a Republic are likely to vote in a tyrant. This would cause a Republic to end in tyranny.

Majorities in Democracies often have a tendency to suppress the rights of minorities. So the attempt to create a free society through Democracy are likely to end in tyranny.

The paradoxes of power often play out in the real world. One often hears politicians say: "My enemies are evil and partisan; therefore we must be evil and partisan to defend all that is wholesome and good."

After the American Revolution, European intellectuals spent a huge amount of time exploring paradoxes.

Georg Hegel typifies the arguments. Hegelian dialectics is a game in which one combines the reflective paradox and a negation.

Hegel was particularly fond of the slavery paradox. Hegel presented numerous arguments claiming slavery to be freedom and freedom was slavery. To be truly free, we must seek slavery for ourselves and our dependents!

Paradoxes of Will and LoTR

Tolkien worked in the British university system. He lived in a world infused with paradoxical discussions about the nature of that nature of the human will.

As Tolkien was a University level professor, I find it unlikely that he wrote a three volume work about a misfired magical curse! I find it more likely that he formed the LoTR around the discussions that people were having in academic circles.

The ring of power symbolized the desire to gain power by controlling the will of others.

Since professors love to prattle about paradoxes, Tolkien set up a situation where the ring destroyed itself.

So, in the story, Frodo sets off on a hopeless quest to destroy the ring knowing that the ring would dominate his will. When Frodo met Gollum he had true pity for Gollum. Frodo did not hatch a clever plan to use Gollum to destroy the ring.

It was the hands of providence that set up the self-destruction of the ring and not a sinister ploy on the part of Frodo or even Gandalf.

Conclusion

The referenced video did a great job arguing that the ring of power was destroyed by a misfired curse.

The ending is one of million examples of the reflexive paradox in action. While Frodo lacked the will to destroy the ring he created a curse that cause the ring to destroy itself.

Yes, the reflexive paradox is the most clever thing ever!

However, I believe that the Lord of the Rings was based on a deeper deeper discussions about modern philosophy and a criticism of those who seek power by controlling the will of others.