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Tolkien in Dante // Abbie Hedden

 This is my second post about Tolkien this semester but I am unashamed. I have always loved Tolkien but I never really realized all of the greats he pulled from to create his works. While reading Canto III, I realized something about Tolkien. His portrayal of The Paths of the Dead is parallel to Dante's description of the Gate to Hell. Enscribed on Dante's Gate is "Abandon all hope, you who enter here". Meanwhile, Tolkien's Path is described in a manner that highlighted its sublime eeriness and hopelessness. Both caves host ghosts who are caught in an almost-hell, or ante-Inferno. Tolkien's ghosts are damned to stay behind as they are cursed for abandoning their oath to protect the heir of Gondor. They are in-between, not quite living and not quite dead. This is similar to Dante's souls who are in the ante-Inferno; they are in the Medium-place. While they did not commit enough bad to merit Hell, they did not commit enough good to earn Heaven. This is very reminiscent of Tolkien. Dante's souls are continually tormented by flies and wasps and worms. Tolkien's ghosts could not rest in peace until they fulfilled their oath. I need to reread The Lord of the Rings now with an understading of Dante and see if I can find more parallels!


PS Caroline and Hailey Morgan

Comments

  1. Ian BlairMarch 16, 2021 at 7:07 AM

    I always love a good The Lord of the Rings reference any day of the week! I think it's important when we read some of these great authors to not just realize what they are creating, but also to realize the works they were inspired from so as to fully understand how they came up with certain aspects of their worlds. The ghosts of Gondor definitely creeped me out the first time I saw them, and the lore behind them certainly doesn't help that.

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