On myth

This is not at all the post I thought I was going to write next. I thought I was going to write a triple movie review, covering the first and only three movies I'll see in theaters this winter. But I wasn't really motivated to do that, and a comment I posted on a friend's blog inspired me to write up some thoughts I had a long time ago, and never got the opportunity to explore.

To begin, a question for those who have read or seen The Lord of the Rings: Who is the Christ figure in the story? (I have here a tangential disclaimer for anyone who would point out that Tolkien hated allegory and didn't write deliberate symbolism into his books. But said disclaimer spills over into a whole rant of its own, and I'd rather stick to the subject, so I'll only pull it out if it's needed.)

Now that my parenthetical has given you some space to think, you should have your answer in mind. And I'd love it if you'd comment and say who you thought of, because I'm very interested to know. Apparently most people would say Gandalf. So I'm told, anyway. And the connection is obvious: the character who died and came to life again... also the leader and most powerful, the one who guides the others.

The funny thing is, it never occurred to me to see Gandalf as a Christ figure. When a friend of mine asked (obviously having his own answer in mind, and expecting mine to be different from his), I said immediately, "Frodo." Frodo, the one who must bear an unbearable burden for the salvation of the world. From the time I first read the book, Frodo was the one I associated with Jesus. Of course, the comparison breaks down (but they all do, unless deliberately crafted as Christ figures). Frodo is mortal, and fallible, and he does fail at the point of it. But what is that last trek through Mordor but one long Gethsemane?

My friend, who asked the question, had yet a third character in mind, one I'd never thought of either: Aragorn. His take on it was Christ as the Second Adam, as outlined in Romans. Where Isildur fell, to the great suffering of the world, Aragorn succeeded, to its salvation. He then went on to reign in glory. A nice little parallel, I was impressed by it.

The point of all this: we all see our Lord in different ways; different parts of his role and his character speak most strongly to each of us. My friend's father, who said Gandalf, saw the Son of God, glorious, powerful, conquering death; my friend who said Aragorn saw the Son of Man, the crown of mankind, the only unfallen son of Adam; I saw the sufferer, the burden-bearer, the one who willingly submitted to carry a curse he did not earn.

And the wonder of it is that all these pictures are true. And there are more besides; the healer and humanitarian, the wounded lover, the accused innocent... and the list could go on. This, our true myth, has more depth and resonance than any of the mirror-myths. They each reflect a small fragment of the truth we have only begun to know.

As a writer and lover of stories, I am thrilled to the core at being swept up in this, the wellspring of all stories. As a person, I am awed almost to disbelief that the author and hero of the story would speak to me...