So I immediately thought of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
It has themes of redemption, resurrection, the use of the number 3 (Two Towers), good vs. evil, sin, and temptation. One could closely pick a part and analyze each of the characters and plot points as well to see all the possible parallels too. (But I personally don't think that J.R.R. Tolkien meant for Christians to pick a part each aspect off his books.) But as I began to think about the story and the characters as I watch the 2nd and 3rd movie with a friend on my floor I realize all these parallels and similarities that I just never thought of before.
I am going to begin by picking out a few characters, now I do not believe that each character directly represents a particular character in the Bible - that is not what I am implying at all. But anyways . . .
-Smeagol: represents the ugliness and disturbing sin and how sin can transform us and eventually damn us
-Boromir, Denethor, & Isildor: represent the powerful temptations that the ring (sin/evil) can bring even though we think it has good intentions
-Aragon, Gandalf, & Frodo: all represent the savior that everyone needs and depends upon
-Legolas, Gimli & Sam: represent that fellowship (quite literally) and community that believers need to have or you could go so far as to say that they could represent the Disciples but eh, maybe not
Next the fights/battles/situations/plot points:
-The fight between Smeagol and Deagol: represents our fight with what is right but we fight our conscience because we want to give into that temptation
-Sam & Frodo's journey to Mordor: kinda reminded me of Pilgrim's Progress but that just may be me.
-Sailing to the West: ascending to heaven (pretty obvious I think)
-Frodo: as a humble hobbit he saves all of Middle Earth just as Christ as God humbled himself to save all of mankind
Alright, I'll stop there but there are plenty more examples to list.
Overall, the Lord of the Rings are great books to read and movies to watch! If you have not read/watched the movies (um where have you been?) then I recommend reading the books first then watching the movies! (I think that the movies do the books justice and are quite accurate which is a bonus.) The books are amazing and a quick read and I personally really enjoy Tolkien's writing style.
I was going to do a blog about this but it was taking waaaay too long for me to make so I just gave up.
ReplyDeleteHaha well I was watching the movies and I thought "why not?" plus I didn't find anything really inspiring to blog on this past week so I persevered
DeleteSo my question for Peter Jackson is. . .where is Tom Bombadil?? Maybe if we wait long enough he'll get his own movie. :)
ReplyDeleteI definitely like your parallels on the characters though. I had not looked at them in that exact light before.
ReplyDeleteYou said the books were a quick read...? Even my older friends who love to read say they are not easy. I agree that they are amazing, but there is just so much in them... and so much walking...and singing.