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Tolkien, Lewis and the Medieval Model part 7 of 7
This series began by contrasting High Fantasy (epitomized by the works of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien) with the classic works of Hard Science Fiction, as each genre provides a good foil for the other.
It also began with a simple distinction between fantasy and sci-fi; as the former containing a supernatural element and the later having none. But is this distinction precise enough when we are looking to define High Fantasy and in particular the High Fantasy of Tolkien and Lewis?
In my layout for this series I knew that this last installment would be about the Supreme Being (God, as described in Judeo-Christian scriptures), and in particular, the views on this subject in the writings of Lewis and Tolkien; as this is one of the main defining elements of a High Fantasy story. (see parts 1 through 6 for the other elements).
The Good God vs the “gods”
All of the best fantasy stories, be they about the ultimate war between good and evil or the doings of the smallest of fantasy creatures, really say the same thing and suggests to the reader (whether consciously or not) the same ultimate conclusion: If the smallest of supernatural things exists, even if it is the smallest of fairies, then perhaps the greatest of supernatural things (God) exists. But High Fantasy is much more than this.
The defining characteristic of God in the works of Tolkien and Lewis is not His power, but His goodness and mercy. The reverse is true of the small “g” gods of many other fantasy genres.
Epic Fantasy (such as Game of Thrones) or Sword and Sorcery (such as Conan the Barbarian) have supernatural beings, but these “gods” merely have more power than the mortals of the story and are their equals in morality. These gods are as chaotic in their actions as an earthquake and as corrupt in their morals as the lowest of mortal men. (For more on this, see the gods of the ancient Greeks or Norse).
High Fantasy is different though. Every High Fantasy story that says justice will prevail in the end, is really saying that the universe is ruled by a God of Justice. Every High Fantasy story in which mercy is the “secret weapon” that turns the tide, is saying that the Supreme Ruler of the Universe is a God of Mercy.
J.R.R. Tolkien, in his essay On Fairy-stories writes:
“But the ‘consolation’ of fairy-tales has another aspect than the imaginative satisfaction of ancient desires. Far more important is the Consolation of the Happy Ending. Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have it. At least I would say that Tragedy is the true form of Drama, its highest function; but the opposite is true of Fairy-story. Since we do not appear to possess a word that expresses this opposite—I will call it Eucatastrophe.(1) The eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its highest function.
The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending; or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially “escapist,” nor “fugitive.” In its fairy-tale — or otherworld — setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.
How did we loose hope?
I’ve seen fans of both fantasy and sci-fi describe the differences between the two genres as “Fantasy shows you the universe as you wish it to be, while Sci-Fi shows you the harsh reality of the universe as it is.” However, as I was writing this series , I began to see this “harsh reality” worldview as underlying a large percentage of modern fiction.
The seeds of this worldview were planted in 19th century philosophies of Marx and Nietzsche, grew during the horrors of World War I and bore its literary fruit with the “Lost Generation”(3) of influential writers of the inter-war period.
Two writers of this generation were of course C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Both men fought and were wounded in WWI and both men suffered great personal loss as children prior to the war ( Tolkien lost his father to rheumatic fever at three years of age and his mother to diabetes at twelve, while Lewis’s mother died from cancer when he was ten). Having survived the death of a parent when children and then a world war as young adults, they did not write stories of “harsh reality,” but of hope, mercy and miracles.
The great question of course, is how were Tolkien and Lewis able to do this when so many other writers with similar tragedies in their backgrounds did not? How did they keep their faith (in the case of Tolkien) or regain their faith (as in the case of Lewis), when so many other writers of their time reacted to such tragedies with bitterness and nihilism? Why did so many writers of the 20th century become, not just agnostics on the question of God, but militant and angry atheists? (10)
Tolkien remained a devout Catholic throughout his life, in part, according to his biographer, out of love for his devout mother.
Lewis lost his faith after his mother died, (4) but found it again through a long process of logical inquiry, his love of myths and the help of some learned friends.
Compare these two men with the writer called the “Anti-Lewis,” Philip Pullman. (5) Like Lewis and Tolkien, Pullman lost a parent when young. In Pullman’s case, his father died in a plane crash of his RAF bomber while serving in Africa when Pullman was seven years of age. When Pullman was 44 years old, his mother died and he came upon some information in her papers that lead him to believe that his father had deliberately crashed his plane and committed suicide. Three years later he began work on his novel “Northern Lights,” the first novel in his series “His Dark Materials.”
Lewis, Tolkien and Pullman all lost parents at a young age. Tolkien kept his faith, in part, out of reverence to his devout mother, Lewis lost his faith after his mother died, but regained it, with the aid of his friends Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. Meanwhile, Pullman went down a very different path.
Although Pullman has stated he is “a Church of England atheist, and a 1662 Book of Common Prayer atheist, because that’s the tradition I was brought up in”, he has also said he is technically an agnostic. He has singled out elements of Christianity for criticism: “if there is a God, and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against.” He has also acknowledged that the same could be said of all religions. Pullman has also referred to himself as knowingly “of the Devil’s party”, a reference to William Blake’s revisionist view of Milton in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
Pullman said in an interview, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” (6) and in 2010 published the novel, “The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.”
For more on the novels of Philip Pullman and his attacks on religion (and specifically on Christianity), read the essay at REASON magazine: (7)
For answers to some of the criticisms of the Narnia series by Pullman, see the links in note 8.
“The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven….Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
High Fantasy, Hope & Mercy:
Frodo and Gandalf discussing all the evil that Gollum has done;
“What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!’
‘Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.’
‘I am sorry,’ said Frodo. ‘But I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum.’
‘You have not seen him,’ Gandalf broke in.
‘No, and I don’t want to,’ said Frodo. ‘I can’t understand you. Do you mean to say that you, and the Elves, have let him live on after all those horrible deeds? Now at any rate he is as bad as an Orc, and 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 too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many – yours not least.”
We see this theme of mercy over and over in High Fantasy; the mercy shown Gollum by Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn and Faramir allows Gollum to be present at the Crack of Doom and inadvertently save the quest at the end. In The Chronicles of Narnia, Aslan’s merciful sacrifice for Edmond’s sake was part of a “deeper magic” used to defeat the White Witch. In the Harry Potter series, it’s Harry’s mercy to Peter Pettigrew that saves Harry from death and it’s Dumbledore’s mercy towards Draco Malfoy that saves the boy from loosing his soul.
God vs ‘gods”
In the climatic chapter of Lewis’s The Silver Chair, the witch called The Green Lady is trying to stop the escape of her prisoner, Prince Rilian, by casting a spell upon the prince and his rescuers, saying that there is no such place as Narnia, no such a thing as the sun in the sky and no such a creature as Aslan:
The Prince and the two children were standing with their heads hung down, their cheeks flushed, their eyes half closed; the strength all gone from them; the enchantment almost complete. But Puddleglum, desperately gathering all his strength, walked over to the fire. Then he did a very brave thing. He knew it wouldn’t hurt him quite as much as it would hurt a human; for his feet (which were bare) were webbed and hard and cold-blooded like a duck’s. But he knew it would hurt him badly enough; and so it did. With his bare foot he stamped on the fire, grinding a large part of it into ashes on the flat hearth. And three things happened at once.
First, the sweet heavy smell grew very much less. For though the whole fire had not been put out, a good bit of it had, and what remained smelled very largely of burnt marsh-wiggle, which is not at all an enchanting smell. This instantly made everyone’s brain far clearer. The Prince and the children held up their heads again and opened their eyes.
Secondly, the Witch, in a loud, terrible voice, utterly different from all the sweet tones she had been using up till now, called out, “What are you doing? Dare to touch my fire again, mud-filth, and I’ll turn the blood to fire inside your veins.”
Thirdly, the pain itself made Puddleglum’s head for a moment perfectly clear and he knew exactly what he really thought. There is nothing like a good shock of pain for dissolving certain kinds of magic.
“One word, Ma’am,” he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. “One word. All you’ve been saying is quite right, I shouldn’t wonder. I’m a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won’t deny any of what you said. But there’s one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that’s a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We’re just babies making up a game, if you’re right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That’s why I’m going to stand by the play world. I’m on Aslan’s side even if there isn’t any Aslan to lead it. I’m going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn’t any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we’re leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that’s a small loss if the world’s as dull a place as you say.”
Narnia- The Silver Chair: Puddleglums Heroic Speech
[ For more on Lewis and his Narnia series, read note 9. ]
Compare the speech Lewis writes for Puddleglum to the one Robert E. Howard’s character Conan the Barbarian gives in the story “Queen of the Black Coast” (written in 1934, two years before Howard’s death by suicide).
“I have known many gods. He who denies them is as blind as he who trusts them too deeply. I seek not beyond death. It may be the blackness averred by the Nemedian skeptics, or Crom’s realm of ice and cloud, or the snowy plains and vaulted halls of the Nordheimer’s Valhalla. I know not, nor do I care. Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson, and I am content. Let teachers and priests and philosophers brood over questions of reality and illusion. I know this: if life is illusion, then I am no less an illusion, and being thus, the illusion is real to me. I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.”
In George R.R. Martin’s “Game of Thrones” there are many ‘gods’, which do show powers and miracles throughout the show.
Game Of Thrones Season 2: Religions Of Westeros
George R. R. Martin on FIRE & BLOOD, and magic in his books
It is plain that neither Robert E. Howard or Martin R.R. Martin believed in the magic, sorcery or religions depicted in their stories. These elements for them were merely common literary tools used in the construction of many fantasy tales. They serve the same purpose as the superpowers of the heroes and villains of comic books and the alien races of many sci-fi stories. They are simply plot devices used to increase the stakes for the characters. The main goal of these authors is to tell a story that will sell well and are using tools from their imagination to tell them. They do not believe in the existence of these tools in the real world.
Lewis and Tolkien and other High Fantasy authors are different though. Yes, they are using made up tools, but the underlying beliefs and values behind their tales are ones they truly believe in.
Tolkien sums up the purpose of fantasy stories thus:
“I would venture to say that approaching the Christian Story from this direction, it has long been my feeling (a joyous feeling) that God redeemed the corrupt making-creatures, men, in a way fitting to this aspect, as to others, of their strange nature. The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind, which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. They contain many marvels—peculiarly artistic, beautiful, and moving: ‘mythical’ in their perfect, self-contained significance; and at the same time powerfully symbolic and allegorical; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe. The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy. It has pre-eminently the ‘inner consistency of reality’. There is no tale told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many skeptical men have accepted as true on its own merits. For the Art of it has the supremely convincing tone of Primary Art, that is Creation. To reject it leads either to sadness or wrath.
But in God’s kingdom the presence of the greatest does not depress the small. Redeemed Man is still man. Story, fantasy, still go on, and should go on. The Evangelium has not abrogated legends; it has hallowed them, especially the ‘happy ending’.”
Copyright 2022 William R. McGrath
HIGH FANTASY AND THE MEDIEVAL MODEL:
INTRODUCTION
Part 1: Advanced Future vs. Golden Past
Part 2. Urban vs Rural
Part 3: Knights and Angels in the Age of Chivalry
Part 4: Cosmos vs Chaos
Part 5: Hierarchy vs Equality
Part 6: Longaevi: The origins of fantasy creatures in Medieval Literature
Part 7: The Good God vs. “gods”
NOTES:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucatastrophe
2. It is the supernatural elements in the first Star Wars trilogy that made it a fantasy story. Once the “Midi-chlorians” entered the story in episode 1 of the prequels, as a “natural,” (rather than supernatural), explanation for Jedi powers, Star Wars left the fantasy genre and leaned more towards sci-fi.
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Generation
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._S._Lewis
5. Philip Pullman’s biography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman
6. BBC Imagine – Interview of Philip Pullman.
7. https://reason.com/2008/02/26/a-secular-fantasy/
8. There is a difference between the classical equality of opportunity and the modern Left’s equality of outcome and we see this in the negative reviews of Lewis’s The Last Battle, specifically on the question of Susan’s fate at the end of the story. Some critics say that Susan did not enter Narnia at the same time as the other children because she grew up and became interested in sex, but Lewis never says this.
Lewis, in two letters to children on the subject of Susan, writes:
“The books don’t tell us what happened to Susan. She is left alive in this world at the end, having by then turned into a rather silly, conceited young woman. But there is plenty of time for her to mend, and perhaps she will get to Aslan’s country in the end—in her own way.”
also
“Not because I have no hope of Susan ever getting to Aslan’s country, but because I have a feeling that the story of her journey would be longer and more like a grown-up novel than I wanted to write. But I may be mistaken. Why not try it yourself?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Pevensie
There is a good discussion about Susan on the Narniaweb group:
https://community.narniaweb.com/index.php/community/talk-about-narnia/is-anyone-else-tired-of-the-problem-with-susan/
The Problem of Susan Theses:
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6988&context=etd
9. “What Aslan meant when he said he had died is, in one sense plain enough. Read the earlier book in this series called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and you will find the full story of how he was killed by the White Witch and came to life again. When you have read that, I think you will probably see that there is a deeper meaning behind it. The whole Narnian story is about Christ. That is to say, I asked myself ‘Supposing that there really was a world like Narnia and supposing it had (like our world) gone wrong and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours), what might have happened?’ The stories are my answers. Since Narnia is a world of Talking Beasts, I thought He would become a Talking Beast there, as He became a man here. I pictured Him becoming a lion there because (a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; (b) Christ is called ‘The Lion of Judah’ in the Bible; (c) I’d been having strange dreams about lions when I began writing the work. The whole series works out like this.
The Magician’s Nephew tells the Creation and how evil entered Narnia.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Prince Caspian, restoration of the true religion after corruption.
The Horse and His Boy, the calling and conversion of a heathen.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the spiritual life (especially in Reepicheep).
The Silver Chair, the continuing war with the powers of darkness.
The Last Battle, the coming of the Antichrist (the Ape), the end of the world and the Last Judgment.
– C.S. Lewis in a 1951 letter to a young fan.
10. Here is one possible cause of the “angry atheist” syndrome. Working for thirty years in the NY state court system, I have seen a reoccurring theme among emotionally and spiritually wounded people of many types. Wounds suffered in childhood have a lasting effect and the deeper the wound the more severe the effect and the more difficult it is to heal.
In the case of deliberate wounds caused by human action, such as mental, physical or sexual abuse, some of those abused as children grow up to be abusers themselves and some go the extreme opposite direction. One common thread though among those who did not heal is extreme anger, sometimes at the type of person who abused them, sometimes at the type of person they themselves were at the time of their abuse and sometimes at the system represented by the abuser.
For more on this subject, read the following:
The books of former FBI agent John Douglas:
http://mindhuntersinc.com
Further reading:
The Quest for Pity and Mercy in Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Woody Wendling.
https://pillars.taylor.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1116&context=inklings_forever
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Paderborn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malleus_Maleficarum
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