Robert Murray, in December 1953, or is it, as he claimed in the foreword to the second edition of The Lord of the Rings, devoid of any intentional meaning or “message?” If Tolkien dislikes allegory in all its manifestations and if he insists that it is “neither allegorical nor topical,” how can it be Catholic? If there is no literal reference to Christ or the Church and no allegorical level of meaning, the work cannot be Catholic. Is it “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work,” as Tolkien claimed in a letter to his Jesuit friend, Fr. There is a mystery at the heart of The Lord of the Rings that continues to baffle and confuse the critics. Tolkien (Foreword to the second edition of The Lord of the Rings.) I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. Īs for any inner meaning or ‘message,’ it has in the intention of the author none. The Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision. Tolkien claimed in a letter, or is it, as he claimed elsewhere, devoid of any intentional meaning or message? Is it “a fundamentally religious and Catholic work,” as author J.R.R. There is a mystery at the heart of “The Lord of the Rings” that continues to baffle and confuse the critics.

The lord of the rings ring meaning