Lords on black thrones

Valeria Novodvorskaya - about Tolkien's trilogy

The trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" came to us, as expected, from the West, from the publishing house "North-West" in 1991. It was the last treasure of Tamizdat... It was such a shock! After all, the orcs (as Tolkien himself called the Nazis) were then behind us, around and, possibly, in front. Our “red-browns” completely passed for them.

And it took a while before we realized that we ourselves are far from elves and not even kind, simple, innocent hobbits. We clung to the same Ring that Sauron coveted. We were looking for a direct way to the West, to Valinor. We didn't pass.

And Tolkien's idea is that power is an absolute evil and that the Ring of Omnipotence cannot make anyone either free or righteous. Power is a curse. And revenge is a curse. Frodo released the former great magician Saruman, who had surrendered to Evil, in peace. And Bilbo, and Frodo, and Sam, in turn, pardoned the vile Gollum, and this saved both the West and themselves.

In general, Tolkien - a linguist, a zealous Catholic, a missionary - went through the hard school of war back in the First World War, falling into a meat grinder on the Somme. He saw terrible pictures of the 30s and 40s (the writer died in 1973) and found four rulers on black thrones at once: Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, who was one of all changed his mind. In 1937, Tolkien wrote the novel The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, in 1954 the great saga of the West, The Lord of the Rings, was published, and in 1977, the writer's son Christopher published a collection of legends, The Silmarillion.

We are still rushing about with our ancient all-powerful Evil like devils with a written sack. And behind the formidable grimaces of Putin - our homegrown Sauron - the pathetic Gollum, the slave of the “treasure”, is more and more clearly visible.

It all started with Melkor, Tolkien's Satan, who in his pride rebelled against Iluvatar (the Creator) and Good. He was defeated, cast out of the world, imprisoned. But Evil is renewed, and after him comes Sauron. The temptations and temptations of Omnipotence are eternal. As the Ring, intended "for the ruler on the black throne: to find everyone, to convene together and forge with a single black will in Mordor, where there is eternal darkness." Power over the world tempts Galadriel, the mistress of the elves of Lorien, she wants to be great and formidable, longs to cleanse the world of evil. However, she understands that it will begin with this, but will not end with this, and remains an elven woman. And only the humble hobbits Frodo and Sam turn out to be the saviors of the West, because thanks to them the Ring falls into the mouth of the Orodruin volcano, and the power of Evil ends for the hobbits and elves, and the era of people begins, where there will certainly be the same cruel and inevitable dilemma, because every era their Rings of Omnipotence.

In the mid-60s of the last century, The Lord of the Rings conquered England and the USA, it was published in millions of copies, Yale students shouted: “Long live Frodo! Gandalf for President!" And the lessons of Tolkien were learned: the West is full of decorative kings and queens, the Japanese emperor is a favorite theatrical character, prime ministers cannot even take a step without the will of parliaments, and legislators breathe down the back of the president's head.

And we still rush about with our ancient all-powerful Evil like devils with a written sack. And behind the formidable grimaces of Putin - our homegrown Sauron - the miserable Gollum, the slave of the "treasure", is more and more clearly visible. Neither the Valar, nor the Elves, nor the Hobbits will help us. And we ourselves will have to throw the fatal Ring into the mouth of Orodruin and stand with a sword on the bridge of Khazad-Dum in front of Barlog, the shadow of the Stalin era, with the words “You will not pass! Return to darkness!"

"The road of memory can still lead to the West: like an invisible bridge, it connects two worlds."

First published in NT #1–2, January 27, 2012