A Hobbit's Sense of Violence, Part I

For those familiar with J.R.R.Tolkien's extraordinary trilogy The Lord of the Rings, along with its "prequel," The Hobbit, insights are a regular part of the book's power and attraction. Tolkien himself was Catholic to the core, and so is the trilogy (not always respected in the film version, unfortunately). Sometimes, the deepest insights seem almost to be throwaway lines, but paying attention to details repays the reader, for as Mies van der Rohe once said about architecture, "God is in the details."

And so in conversation between Gandalf the Wizard, young Frodo (heir of Bilbo, finder of the evil One Ring of Power), the following critical dialogue occurs:

"O Gandalf, best of friends, what am I to do? …What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature (Gollum, from whom Bilbo took the Ring), when he had the chance!" "Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need…"… "I can't understand you [Gandalf," said Frodo]…."Now at any rate he is…just an enemy. He deserves death." "Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." [The Fellowship of the Ring, Ballantine paperback edition, p. 85].

Did Frodo ever learn the lesson that Gandalf tried to lead him to, in this conversation? At the very end he certainly has, for in returning to his home of the Shire, he encounters the evil Wizard Saruman, who has damaged much of the Shire's goodness. Should he execute Saruman? Frodo tells his fellow-Hobbits:

"…I will not have him slain. It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing." [The Return of the King, Ballantine paperbacks edition, p. 333].

In passing by him, Saruman strikes with his dagger to kill Frodo, whose life is saved only by a hidden coat of mithril-mail under his clothing. Again Frodo speaks:

"Do not kill him, even now. For he has not hurt me. And in any case I do not wish him to be slain in this evil mood. He was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against. He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it." [ibid.]

Writing in the dark times of World War II and its aftermath, Tolkien desired greatly "that peace which the world cannot give" (Jn. 14:27). Yet having spent time in the trenches of World War I himself, he knew too personally and too deeply the truth we desperately want to forget: that revenge only prolongs anger and sorrow; it never heals it. This is true in international conflicts, as we see raging in the "Holy Land," becoming so quickly unholy for its spilled blood, or in Afghanistan, where we delude ourselves into thinking that if only we could destroy Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, we would procure world peace. We see it in our families, when manipulation never brings "triumphs," only "Just wait until next time!" And we see it in our societies when we think that great evil, experienced personally or in community, can some be "made right" by the death of the perpetrators of that evil.

Is anyone the safer from evil by the death of a criminal, as opposed to his or her permanent imprisonment?

Are our hearts given the peace of Jesus Christ by means of a gas chamber or a lethal injection or an electric chair?

Do deaths relieve us of sorrow, or do they just further the anger and rage?

Would the formal execution of Osama bin Laden actually, in any sense at all, be "retributive justice" for the attacks on the World Trade Center?

ALL our brothers and sisters (even those who hate us, for whatever reason) are "…great…, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against." NONE of us, not even the very wise, can see all ends. Can we take the lessons of a Hobbit to heart? Can we remember the Catholic teaching of the Fall-that all are damaged but none irretrievably destroyed by sin? Catholic teaching reminds us that even for Osama bin Laden Jesus Christ can be healer, forgiver and redeemer. We are the Body of Christ: should we strive to be any less?