Tolkien: Jung's Collective Unconscious

[SonOfSamWise]

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: The Collective Unconscious of Carl Gustav Jung

A nation comes into existence with its mythology…The unity of its thinking, which means a collective philosophy, is presented in its mythology; therefore its mythology contains the fate of the nation. - Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling


Preface

Since high school, I have been fascinated by the theories of Carl Gustav Jung. The colorful and vibrant tumults of his imagined collective unconscious were inspiring and became a permanent part of my mental imagery, shaping my perceptions ever since. Then, an amazing thing occurred that changed the way I perceived the world forever. I read the Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. This event caused me to formulate a theory of my own: A theory that is planted squarely in the Jungian paradigm. It declares that Jungian theory is infinitely pervasive, that the works of J.R.R. Tolkien make up the Collective Unconscious of Jungian theory, that pathology – aside from being personally cognitive – can be national and cultural, and that these pathologies are fomented by a wayward, Suppressed and belligerent Shadow. On the personal level, I will describe some methods for assessing the influence of the Shadow on an ailing individual and offer some approaches for treating the unrest. On the national and cultural levels, I will establish a sanguineous link between the two men and show how neatly Tolkien symbolism fits the Jungian paradigm.

Part One: Basic principles, beliefs and values:

The framework for my theory is Jungian and the principle is that culture and heritage each play a deep and vital role in the spiritual and psychological health of the individual. People and cultures, like microbiological organisms, are in a constant struggle to achieve and maintain dominance over their surroundings. In a single handful of dirt, for example, there is more living creatures injured, killed, eaten or enslaved than all the human beings on earth who have suffered a similar fate. At this moment there are enough never-ending battles for life and dominance between life forms and species to fill a million books. Similar to microbiology and the animal kingdom, the more sagacious elements of a human culture are challenging to outside influences that threaten their genetic integrity and erode their cultural vitality. In fact, for animals and organisms, this wariness of strangers and relentless struggle for integrity and superiority is instinctive and de rigueur. However, as noted in Part Three of this preface, due to the indoctrination many have received from deleterious sources, not all humans share this unadulterated instinct for survival. For many wayward Thornbirds, besotted on a laced and liquidating opiate-of-the-masses, the noxious and Trojan (1) phantom of multiculturalism and its twisted sister consumerism (Shadows) morph into a deluge of positioned spears and thrashing scimitars upon which they willfully impale themselves. Whether defined as genocide or suicide, such pathology must be denied.

Part Two: Shaping Influences:

Shaped by unconscious, primordial archetypal energy that nourishes their present existence, people become distressed in varying degrees when instinct warns that the nourishment is being impeded or contaminated. The energy is vital because it gave rise to their lineage and cultural heritage. It is the psychic genotype of their cultural phenotype. A natural tendency to protect it from contamination is in order.

Objective examples of such wary instinct include how Hebrew culture seeks to erode Islamic influence and vice-versa; how Islamic extremists attack nations founded by Euro/American gentiles for the role the American government plays in Islamic/Semitic conflicts and how South African Indians threw off the yoke of British imperialism in the early 20th century. Other more immediate though less popular examples include how special interest groups attempt to cleanse the ethnic names of American Founding Fathers from public schools (2) and try to expunge the symbols of southern heritage in every southern state. (3) The list is endless.

Tolkien mythology is a rich and endless source for symbolic manifestations of wary instinct. A growing sense of imminent threat arises, on both objective and subliminal levels, when unconscious and primordial instincts detect the presence of inimical strangers that are hostile to sanguineous and cultural integrity. The recognition of these intercultural dynamics, and the associated symbolism inherent in the works of Tolkien, contributed to shaping my theory.

[SonOfSamWise]

Part Three: Theory of Personality

Humankind has lost her unconscious identity with symbolic meaning. In an information age, habits and notions are often shaped by dysfunctional ideology and decadent media cant. When these perilous, omnipresent forces shape a mentality that is incongruent with its unconscious, primordial influence, internal conflict results. Jung described this loss of identity.

“Thunder is no longer the voice of an angry god… No river contains a spirit, no tree is the life principle… No voices speak from stones, plants and animals…contact with nature is gone, and with it has gone the profound emotional energy that this symbolic connection supplied.” (4)

In the same context, Jung qualifies his lamentation:

“[Her] gods and demons have not disappeared at all; they have merely got new names. They keep her on the run with restlessness, vague apprehensions, psychological complications, an insatiable need for pills, alcohol, tobacco, food – and, above all, a large array of neuroses.” (5)

Hence, the person’s existence becomes a vacuous cardboard cutout staged in a contrived and alien mise-en-cine – her figure out of sync with her ground. The effects can be precipitous. That is, she may use the same strange learning that fostered the interference to correct the cause of her distress - exacerbating rather than assuaging the source of internal estrangement.
For example, if advertising and the media shape her mentality and expectations, or when her ideological epiphanies plunge headlong into the ash heap of history like a toppling World Trade Center, she may develop intense anxiety and depression when she realizes that her life, society and the world have not taken the shape that her lords and mentors taught her to expect. Indeed, she may be sent further reeling if and/or when she suspects she has been an agent of such psychosocial fragmentation. When she looks to the media (e.g. the gilded pages of magazines and journals,) their advertisers (e.g. the pharmaceutical drug cartel,) and/or to the notions of her radical witchdoctors for solutions, she is attempting to use the poison as a cure – a difficult pill to swallow.

Part Four: Theory of Therapeutic/Helping Process

The solution is for people to develop an understanding, respect and preeminent loyalty for their sanguineous heritage and tune themselves to it. One way this harmony can be achieved is to stop taking ques from the ministry of propaganda, i.e. the media, its advertisers and ideological cranks. Reading culturally relevant literature such as myths and folklore (6) can help bridge the internal chasm between the unconscious and the ego – reconnecting us with that “profound emotional energy” quoted above. For example:

“A fox passing through the wood on business of his own stopped several minutes and sniffed.
‘Hobbits!’ he thought. ‘Well, what next? I have heard of strange doings in this land, but I have seldom heard of a hobbit sleeping out of doors under a tree. Three of them! There is something queer behind this.’ He was quite right, but he never found out anymore about it.” (7)

The analyst’s understanding of such relevant unconscious underpinnings is imperative. (8) This understanding can also determine the congenital influence of unconscious symbolism and identify what Jung referred to as the ’Inferior Function.’ (9)

Another technique is to interpret dream symbolism in appropriate cultural terms. Dreams can have both personal and archetypal associations. (10) Recalling childhood memories and fantasies can also be useful in minimizing the estrangement. (11) Case history analysis (12) can begin to reveal when and how alien forces began to rent the ego away from the fertile unconscious soil from which it sprang.

Projective tests such as the Rorschach (inkblot,) Thematic Apperception Test (TAT,) word association, drawing and writing can also be useful in fostering internal harmony. (13) Objective tests such as the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI,) Gray-Wheelwright Jungian Type Survey (GW,) and/or the Singer-Loomis Inventory of Personality (SLIP) can help identify personality types for individuals. (14)

[SonOfSamWise]

Part Five: Gender and Cultural Considerations

All roads lead to Jung. Because Jungian theory is so all-encompassing with regard to human culture, existence and psychosocial development, all other theories must fall short of being as vertically and horizontally integrative and descriptive and therefore must necessarily fall within Jungian parameters. Alternative terms and notions amount merely to surrogate ways of describing Jungian technique. The Freudian Id and Superego are the sexual fantasies of a fixated adolescent dope fiend who cannot decide whether to be an Inferior-Introvert or an Inferior-Extravert. Adlerian Life-Style analysis is the Case History Analysis of the Personal Unconscious and an Inferiority Complex is an Archetypal Martyr. The Existential Uberwelt is Archetypal Symbolism and Dasein is the development of the Self. Rogerian Unconditional Positive Regard is an Ego with a polished bedside manner valuing, nurturing and welcoming a disruptive Shadow into the fold. The incongruent Field-Figure-Ground of Gestalt is an Ego divorced from the cultural elements of its Collective Unconscious. The notions of every would-be “theorist,” along with similar examples, could be added to this list.

The Jungian paradigm is so complete in its establishment that defining alternative terms and theories as anything more than expansions on Jungian technique can rightfully be viewed with misgiving. Avoiding such convoluting fragmentation can be simple. Tolstoy described such simplicity when he wrote of peasant wisdom, also known as “good hobbit sense.”

“[Dolly] had got her household matters so satisfactorily arranged that she was disinclined to make any change in them; beside, she had no faith in Levin’s knowledge of farming… she looked on [them] with suspicion [and they] could only be a hindrance... It all seemed to her a far simpler matter: all that was needed, as Matriona Philimonovna had explained, was to give Brindle and Whitebreast more food and drink, and not to let the cook carry all the kitchen slops to the laundry maid’s cow. That was clear.” (15)

Therefore, cross-cultural and inter-gender attributes that can be ascribed to any other “theory” can, by default, be ascribed to Jung.

According to Jung, we are unaware of the dynamic machinations of our Collective Unconscious. Thus, it is this lack of awareness that explains the absence of personal, professional and academic interaction between Jung’s work and that of J.R.R. Tolkien, even though they were contemporaries. However, because Jung and Tolkien were both Gentiles of Germanic descent, there is a significant cultural, national and genetic affinity between their works.

This likeness is similar to the resounding and Elvish resemblance shared by the Hobbit Samwise Gamgee (Child Hero) and the Gondorian Captain, Faramir (Warrior, Hero and mediator for the Self). This Hobbit and Noble Man-of-Lore, though from different lands, shared a marked and celestial reverence for the Spirit of the Elves; an affinity that, when the two were finally thrown together and conversed, seemed to ascend into the firmament where it assumed a harmonic resonance and gave rise to a collective and translucent specter of the Elves (Self and/or Angels incarnate.) (16) In other words, weaving the works of Jung and Tolkien together could foster an abdication of internal distress within the individual, and the reemergence of a cultural and genetic Self. “When you treat the patient, you treat the culture.” (17)
Genetic and Cultural Connections

Long ago, the Angles and Saxons were Germanic seafaring warriors who sailed to Britannia in the fifth century AD. (18) Jung was Germanic of the Swiss strain, (19) Tolkien Germanic of the Angle-Saxon strain. (20) Both men shared a “mystical” connection to their lands and to their blood. (21)

The people who lived northeast of the Roman Empire spoke languages similar to modern German. These Germanic tribes included the Vandals, Lombards, Alamanni, Goths, Franks, Helvetians and Burgundians. In the 1st century BC the Celtic tribe of Helvetians left Southern Germany for the Central Plateau of Switzerland. The first of the barbaric incursions took place in AD 259. By AD 400 Roman Switzerland disintegrated and Romanized Celtic lands were occupied by Burgundians and Alemannians. The Burgundians occupied the lands of western Switzerland. During the era of Great Migrations the Western part of the Empire succumbed to the Germanic invaders. The largest number of immigrants was the Alemannian tribe. This people had established itself over much of eastern Switzerland. The lands occupied by the Alemannians became completely German speaking by 900 AD. It was a similar story for the Lombard tribes, installing themselves in southern Switzerland and scarcely disrupting the established culture. (22)

[SonOfSamWise]

The name "Tolkien" (pronounced Tol-keen) is believed to be of German origin. His father's side of the family appears to have migrated from Saxony in the 18th century, but over the century and a half before his birth had become thoroughly Anglicised. (23)

Being for the most part illiterate, Anglo-Saxon tales were passed down through oral tradition. Most of these tales were lost after the Norman conquest of England in the 11th century, fostering the death of their oral tradition and a rift between national Consciousness and Collective Unconscious. Tolkien, unhappy with this breach, was inspired by Scandanavian lore (Beowulf) and Finnish mythology (Kalevala,) and created Elvish languages that stem from the prehistoric roots of the English language. (24) Both he and Jung understood the primordial nature of existence.

gYou may ask many people in vain for the real meaning of the Christmas tree or the Easter egg. The fact is, they do things without knowing why they do them. I am inclined to believe that things were generally done first and that it was only a long time afterward that somebody asked why they were done. (25)

Tolkien literally created a mythological framework that connects the Collective Unconscious of Angle-Saxon Germans with the Consciousness of their modern day heirs.

Therefore, based on Jung's theory of abysmal estrangement between Consciousness and Collective Unconscious and the genetic heritage the two men shared, the work of Tolkien can be interpreted as an unknown, and therefore unacknowledged Collective Unconscious of Jung's personality theory. Specifically, the fictional participants in Tolkien's Middle-Earth can be identified as Jungian archetypes that relate to a common heritage, and that the struggle depicted between good and evil in Tolkien lore is made up of the forces of the Collective Unconscious as it strives with the Ego in conflicts that can either destroy or foster the emergence of the Self. The suppressed Shadow takes shape, chafes and festers in the cauldron of the Collective Unconscious, finally bursting out in the form of the Dark Lord, Sauron. The influence of themes and images in Tolkien's Middle-Earth take the form of Jungian archetypes and fill those archetypes with symbolic content.

Introduction

The Fellowship of the Ring, the first book of the three-part Lord of the Rings, depicts a smug Hobbiton (ego,) threatened by the reformation and subsequent actions of the Shadow (Sauron.) The second book, The Two Towers, recounts the advance of Sauron as he steps-up his encroachments on the Ego and the Shadowfs increasing molestation of the persona. The third and final book, The Return of the King tells the tale of the Self as it emerges in the form of a Warrior King, Healer and Hero (Aragorn.) Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor (ego,) with the help of the aiding Archetypes, i.e. a Wizard (Wise Old Man and/or Magician,) Elves ( Self, Angel incarnate, Warrior, Hero, Spiritual Mother, Anima,) Dwarves (Warrior/Hero ,) Men (Heroes, Warriors, Kings and Healers,) and Hobbits (Child Heroes ,) finally accepts his fate and receives the crown of Self, bringing peace and balance to Middle-Earth (the Psyche.)

The Hobbits Bilbo and Frodo, in their times (Bilbo is 78 years older than Frodo,) both set out on their adventures into the Collective Unconscious when they were in their 50s. This is consistent with Jungfs theory that people embark on this endeavor, and their quest for spiritual understanding in mid-life. (28) Bilbo was coaxed from his hole by Gandalf the Wizard. Frodo was forced from his hole by the waxing Shadow of Sauron, who plays the role of primary Jungian Shadow in The Lord of the Rings. According to Jungian theory, if either Bilbo or Frodo had refused to leave the comforts of Hobbiton (their egos/personas,) they (their personas) would have become neurotic and would have eventually perished. Gollum, Smaug and Orcs are mere archetypal agents of the Shadow (evil Trisckster, Dragon and Hobgoblins.) The evil wizard Saruman therefore takes on the role of Sauron's evil Magician.

[SonOfSamWise]

The Archetype of the White Tree, with its roots in the ground and its branches reaching toward the heavens, is a Symbol of growth and transcendence, depicting the origin of men and the role of God (Iluvatar.) "As long as the White Tree lives, Man's psyche is balanced and whole." (27) The withering of the tree symbolizes apathy and selfish and materialistic decadence.

Stewards have governed Gondor in the absence of a king for the past 2,500 years. In this tale, the absence of a King (the mediator between the Shadow and the Self) leads to cultural decay. Birth rates in Gondor have dropped significantly over the years. Its people had been mixing their noble blood with folks from inferior races and a listless form of ritualism and gilded pride pervaded the spirit of the Gondorian people.

"Yet [Gondor] was in truth falling year by year into decay; and already it lacked half the men that could have dwelt at ease there; and yet now they [houses and courts] were silent, and no footsteps rang on their wide pavements, no voice was heard in their halls, nor any face looked out from door or empty window... 'And there were always too few children in this city; but now there are none'" (28)

Declining birth rates and consumption are Achetypal themes I will return to when I discuss the disappearance of the Entwives.

This withering and destruction of blood and culture is a Symbolic representation of the block between the Repressed Shadow and the Self. A blockage that leads to the simmering and ultimate explosion of the Shadow as Sauron once again takes shape and becomes powerful enough to make war on Middle-Earth. Sauron waxes as Man's Spirit wanes and because Hobbiton is protected by Men, the Hobbits's oblivion to the outside world has grown positively systemic. Lore and old wives tales that hint at the presence of the Shadow have become "fire-side tales and children's stories," for both Men (Hero) and Hobbits (Child Hero.)

"Ah," said Ted, "if you listen. But I can hear fire-side tales and children's stories."
"No doubt you can," retorted Sam, "and I daresay there's more truth in them than you reckon." (29)

Two examples of this oblivion and remote reckoning of the past are evident in the conversation between the Hobbits Samwise Gamgee and Ted Sandyman as quoted above, and the words of Ioreth (Wise Old Woman.)

"'Then Gandalf said, 'Thus spake Ioreth, wise woman of Gondor, The hands of the King are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.'"

As his way of heralding the King, Gandalf said, "Men may long remember your words Ioreth! For hope is in them." (30)

An Archetypal Lesson in Vice

In The Lord of the Rings, nine kings were each given a ring of power, all of which were bound to the One Ring of the Dark Lord whose power eventually permeated their existence. The power that came from being in possession of a ring, and the lust for power that rose in the hearts of those who possessed them, caused the possessors to cling to the rings like a crack-head clings to a stem (crack pipe.) Other examples of such vice may include a chain-smoker clutching cigarettes or an antidepressant addict holding fast to both her vile and side effect elixirs. (31) Eventually, all nine kings were completely consumed (i.e. permeated) by the power of the rings (agents of the Shadow) and lost all essence of humanity, thus becoming permanent and irrevocable slaves of the Dark Lord.

These are the Ringwraiths - fell spirits whose lust and addictions have consumed them and made them slaves. The Ringwraiths symbolize the perilous effects of a Repressed Shadow that failed to be reconciled in the Self. Some objective analogies for the rings include nicotine, smoke, drugs, the sensations of emotional and spiritual escape the drugs provide (this includes some prescribed drugs); emotional and spiritual addiction to the acceptance, approval or domination of others; materialism and the lust for gold and lucre; all are lesser rings of avarice and dependency that permeate and eventually consume the Soul.

This, in my opinion, is what we are looking at, in varying degrees, when we gaze into the dark and vitiated caverns of people who are vexed, distracted and brought down by vice. The tragic Souls afflicted by such consumption have slowly become lowly wraiths; victims of the Shadow - collared, controlled and vitiated - stealthily fleeced of the elegant trappings of humanity that once adorned their souls. The precious jewels that were once set in the crown of their Spirits have been pilfered by the ravenous rings of vice leaving them lonely, looted and cursed with their scarred and bitter breath.

[SonOfSamWise]

Another example of this gnawing emptiness is the Archetype of the Entwives. In reference to the Entwives, the Shadow led to nothing less than genocide and extinction. A symbol of the death and consumption perpetrated by a Repressed Shadow is illustrated in this sad tale, the theme of which is recounted here.

The Dilution and Extinction of the Entwives

The story of the Entwives (an ancient Anima) is a tragic tale of spellbinding enchantment – the furtive charm of a wheedling Shadow. Ents are the shepherds of the forest whose wives became slowly enamored with - what could be described in contemporary language as - gilded materialism, power and control. In the beginning Ents and Entwives dwelled happily together in forests whole and undefiled; drawing their rich sustenance only as nature yielded it.

But the Entwives’ growing desire to supplant and subject nature and order their own world led them away from the Ents, where they partook of the lesser fruits of lust and materialism and sought to foist upon nature their own fabricated order. The Entwives eventually strayed and were consumed by this order like a little girl lost in a glittering maze of merchants’ quarters – the merchants of temptation, decadence and decay – where the flames of her desire are ceaselessly stoked and the jewels of her Spirit are fleeced. This partaking of lesser fruits led to their dilution, assimilation and ultimately their extinction. Without the Entwives, the Ents cannot reproduce.

“There have been no Entings,” [said Treebeard.] “No children, you would say, not for a terrible long count of years. You see, we lost the Entwives.” (32)

In this story, the Shadow is a Symbol of the agent of genocide. Because this sad tale refers to a past of countless millennium, it corresponds with the evolutionary nature of the Collective Unconscious. The Ents lament the loss, and forever pine for their beautiful and precious Entwives.

The insidious and relentless emergence of the Shadow is also sharply depicted in the tale of the Stewart of Gondor, Denethor II, and his sons Boromir and Faramir. This is only one of many examples of Jungian Symbolic imagery inherent in the work of Tolkien. However, the inimical permeation of Persona, Soul and Ego by the Shadow, and the resultant pathology and death, supports my theory that Tolkien’s work not only belongs to the Jungian paradigm of Collective Unconscious, but is also, inasmuch as they were contemporaries, an example of the Collective Unconscious of Jungian theory.

The Shadow on Boromir

Boromir was ostentatious. Although this potential Steward of Gondor enjoyed a wise and valiant lineage, when he arrived in Rivendell, he bore only the gilded trappings of majesty and nobility. Every thread of his desire and will was stained by the will and desire of Sauron. His vice was his (and his father’s) lust for the One Ring. He was moved to Rivendell by Sauron, the Lord of the Rings.

Boromir was the son of Denethor II, a man who cloyed his mind on the dark knowledge he found in a Palantir. A Palantir is a seeing stone or ‘crystal ball’ that symbolizes an unacknowledged conduit between a Repressed Shadow and the Self. Similar to The White Tree, which is a positive symbol of growth and transcendence, a Palantir is the Shadow’s destructive conduit to the Ego. The Palantir waxes as the White Tree wanes, and vice versa.

Because he was in possession of a Palantir, Sauron was in the heart of all the Palantiri. (33) The powers of the Shadow traveled unimpeded along these invisible conduits. Gandalf, the Ego’s Magician and Wise Old Man, knew the Palantiri could be perilous because all were not accounted for. Saruman, the Shadow’s evil Magician, communicated with Sauron through a Palantir. (34) The potentially destructive power of a Repressed Shadow is further Symbolized when the Hobbit Perrigrin Took’s Spirit was soiled by simply handling a Palantir. From that point on, Gandalf would scarcely allow Perrigrin out of his sight. (35) Later however, Aragorn, as mediator between Collective Unconscious and Ego gained possession of a Palantir, bent it to his will and struck fear into the heart of the Shadow. (36)

[SonOfSamWise]

As the result of dabbling in a Palantir, Denethor II had become an apprentice wraith. Remnants of the Shadow can be traced back to the days of his youth. Decades earlier Denethor II despised Aragorn's warnings to Denethor's father about the trustworthiness of traitor and renegade, Saruman. (37) Mind you, Denethor II was merely the son of the Steward at this time. Perhaps Denethor II was toying with the Palantir unbeknownst to his father and therefore carried the Shadow into his Stewardship. This indicates that the potentially destructive forces of the Shadow are restless all the days of our lives. It is possible that the Shadow had gained mastery over Denethor II even before he became Steward of Gondor.

Additionally, by nominating Boromir for the Fellowship, and Boromir's desire and subsequent attempt to return the One Ring to Gondor where the Steward would attempt to wield it, Denethor II revealed signs that the Shadow had indeed gained mastery over him. In his madness, Denethor II took measures to possess and wield a ring of power that may have turned him into a wraith.

Further, pessimism and resignation are two of the neurosis a repressed Shadow can inflict on an Ego. Depression, also known as "The Black Breath," is another well-articulated neurosis symbolized in The Lord of the Rings whenever the Ringwraiths are about. Close proximity to these terrorizing agents of the Shadow inflicts a debilitating sense of pessimism, depression and resignation in the hearts of all who live. A telling example of this unseen, though powerful force of the Shadow is when Denethor II cried, "The west has failed," before throwing himself on his pyre. (38)

Because Boromir had been inoculated by his father's dark knowledge and pessimism, the Shadow of Sauron clouded and turned his heart as well; hence, Boromir's pessimism, avarice and desire to wield an evil ring of power. Boromir's spirit was weakened by Denethor II's dark knowledge and pessimism - a weakness that ultimately led to his death. Boromir was the only one in the Fellowship who succumbed to the temptation of the One Ring. (39)

However, the deaths of Denethor and Boromir foreshadowed not only the death of evil and the abdication of weakness found in the hearts of men, it also foretold of the approaching positive agents of the Ego who would gain victory over the Shadow and assume the mantle of the Self.

Faramir's Outpost

Boromir's entire will and desire was in the grasp of the Shadow, probably for most of his life. Indeed, even his little brother Faramir struggled continuously and feverishly against the relentless influence of the Shadow. His indomitable Spirit, love of Elves and respect for Gandalf cast the noble Faramir into the lukewarm favor of his father, Denethor II. When the gallant Faramir was recovering in the Houses of Healing, Aragorn the Healer described how a superficial wound could wreak such havoc on the Spirit of this brave Warrior, scholar and statesman. The assault on the very fabric of the worthy Faramir's existence, explains Aragorn, had actually begun long ago.

Aragorn revealed the longstanding nature and depth of Faramir's affliction; how the Shadow was passed to him through his father and how he had "come close under the Shadow before ever he rode to battle." As if trapped on a precipice on the edge of spiritual outskirts, the gracious Faramir, Captain of the White Tower, grappled valiantly and alone with the insidious and unseen forces of a Shadow that sought to gain the same mastery over him as it had over his brother and father. Aragorn referred to this theater of spiritual warfare as Faramir's "outpost." (40)

The Shadow was etching inroads into the Soul of even this strong and noble Captain. With the hearty Faramir weak and wounded, the Shadow quickened its pace toward death. The "quality" of Faramir's character - the emergence of the Self - was his only real defense. Wounded and frail, even this defense was failing. Indeed, the Healer had to enter the dark realm of a nether world to retrieve the fading Faramir, who is a Symbol of a languishing Self. Upon Aragorn's return from the shaded vale, the worst was over before the use of medicine. (41) This symbolizes the reconciliation of the Ego and the Shadow, and the emergence of the Self.

Faramir, and his yoking to the stately Eowyn (Maiden/Anima), symbolizes man's ascent back to nobility and back into the light. Eowyn's growing maturity also symbolizes the Ego's ascent to light. Similarly, Aragorn symbolizes the noble and humble (faltering at first, then growing in strength, courage and resolve) struggle of the Ego as it reaches for the Elves (Self) of a higher call. Thus, his marriage to Arwen Undomiel, the Elvish princess of the Evening Star (Self, Spiritual Mother and Maiden). Men are to assume the scepter of the Elves.

[SonOfSamWise]

While the King may be a Hero, as we have seen, he could not tame the Shadow alone. Another very influential ally is the Spiritual Mother Galadriel, the powerful Queen of the Elves, who gave to the members of the Fellowship enchanted gear and provender in the form of food, clothing and weapons that were instrumental in the emergence of the Self. These items are everywhere unsurpassed as they provided the Fellowship with defense, sustenance, light, cover and protection from detection. Galadriel is a benevolent Anima – the sagacious Lady of Light. Her destructive counterpart is Shelob, the female spider who lived in darkness and is an insatiable agent of the Shadow.

Conclusion

There are pervasive Archetypal connections between the works of Jung and Tolkien; connections that span the arenas of blood, culture, nation and religion. These are the basic principles, shaping influences and cultural elements of my theory. In all these areas Tolkien symbolism adorns the forms of Jungian theory – especially the structural dynamics of the Collective Unconscious. Psychopathology stems from a Suppressed and un-reconciled Shadow. Treatment would be to discover the wayward and inimical elements of the Shadow and reconcile them with the Ego. The conflicts, destruction and resolution depicted in Tolkien’s lore fit without strain into the Jungian paradigm and symbolize both personal and cultural struggle. This natural and symmetrical affinity resonates because the two men have in common an historical relation to blood, culture, nation and religion and can be used as a guide when treating folks from other lands, cultures and religions. The works of Tolkien are graphic illustrations of Jung’s psychological descriptions. The gender duality inherent in Jung’s explanations makes them applicable to men and women. Although my examples and comparisons are of European and gentile orientation, Jungian theory, inasmuch as everyone has a Collective Unconscious, is essentially universal and can be applied to all peoples and within all cultures.

If all roads lead to Jung and Tolkien is his collective unconscious, then, in the terms of Jean-Paul Sartre, even Jung must descend with helpless bliss into the bittersweet viscous of that sagacious wizard, Reuel. (42)

“However fanciful Tolkien’s creation of Middle-Earth was, he did not think that he was entirely making it up. He was ‘reconstructing’, he was harmonizing contradictions in his source-texts, sometimes he was supplying entirely new concepts (like hobbits), but he was also reaching back to an imaginative world which he believed had once really existed, at least in a collective imagination: and for this he had a very great deal of admittedly scattered evidence.” (43)

"Whither go you?" she said.
"North away." he said: "to the swords, and the siege, and the walls of defence - that yet for a while in Beleriand rivers may run clean, leaves spring, and birds build their nests, ere Night comes." (44)

[SonOfSamWise]

Endnotes

1. Schmidt, Alvin J. (1997). The Menace of Multiculturalism: Trojan Horse in America, Praeger Publishers, CT.
2. Sack, Kevin (1997). Blacks Strip Slaveholders' Names Off Schools, The New York Times, Wednesday, 12 November, pp. 1, 28.
3. Brunner, Borgna (2000). South Carolina's Confederate Flag Comes Down: Controversial confederate flag removed from the statehouse, Infoplease.com, June 30, http://www.infoplease.com/spot/confederate4.html
4. Jung, C.G. (1964). Man and his Symbols, Aldus Books, Ltd. London, p. 84.
5. Ibid, p. 71.
6. Sharf, Richard, S. (2004). Theories of Psychotherapy and Counseling: Concepts and Cases, 3rd ed., Brooks/Cole, p. 80.
7. Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel (1954). The Lord of the Rings, I, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, p. 71.
8. Ibid. Jung, p. 57.
9. Ibid. Sharf, p. 90
10. Ibid. p.98.
11. Ibid. p. 94.
12. Ibid. p. 94.
13. Ibid. p. 95
14. Ibid. p. 95
15. Tolstoy, Leo (1875-7). Anna Karenina, The Easton Press, CT. p. 312.
16. Ibid, Tolkien II, pp. 663-4.
17. Ibid. Sharf, p. 111.
18. National Geographic Television (NGT) Inc. (2002). Beyond the Movie, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring.
19. Fordham, Frieda, (1966). An Introduction to Jung's Psychology, CG Jung Page. http://www.cgjungpage.org/fordhambio.html. Boeree, George C. (1997). Carl Jung 1875 – 1961, Personality Theories. http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/jung.html.
20. Ibid. NGT.
21. Doughan, Davis, J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biographical Sketch, The Tolkien Society, http://www.tolkiensociety.org/tolkien/biography.html. Ibid, The CG Jung Page, NGT.
22. Enclopedia Britannica Online, http://search.eb.com/eb/article?eu=...20migration&ct=. Germanic Migrations in Europe, http://campus.northpark.edu/history...cMigration.html. History of Germany, http://home.carolina.rr.com/wormold/germany/.
23. Ibid. The Tolkien Society.
24. Shippey, Tom, (2001). J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston, pp. xiv-xv. Ibid, NGT Inc.
25. Ibid, Jung, pp. 64-5.
26. Ibid, Sharf, p. 79.
27. O’Neill, Timothy R. (1979). The Individuated Hobbit: Jung, Tolkien and the Archetypes of Middle-Earth, Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston p. 50
28. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings II, pp. 736, 747.
29. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, I: p. 43.
30. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, III, pp. 844, 843.
31. Glenmullen, Joseph, MD (2000). Prozac Backlash: Overcoming the dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and other Antidepressants with safe, effective alternatives, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, pp. 22-3.
32. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, II, p. 464.
33. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, I,
34. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, I, II,
35. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, II, p. 581.
36. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, III, p. 763.
37. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A.
38. The Lord of the Rings, III, pp. 835-6.
39. Ibid, The Lord of the Rings II, pp. 403-4.
40. Ibid. The Lord of the Rings III, p. 846.
41. The Lord of the Rings, III, p. 847.
42. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was, is and will always be affectionately referred to as Reuel by his dearly beloved friends.
43. Ibid, Shippey, p. xv.
44. Tolkien, J.R.R. (2003). Histories of Middle Earth, Vol. 10, Morgoth’s Ring, Ballantine Books p.

[SonOfSamWise]

Fellow Tolkien Enthusiasts,

I don’t like cluttering up threads, mine or anyone else’s, with non-essential stuff.
I know at least some of the folks that viewed my Tolkien/Jung thread read the whole thing and understand it.

However, I would like informed and educated feedback.

I think posting thoughtful criticism on mine or any thread is useful.
I also think that, since the Tolkien/Jung concept can transcend thought into an infinitely symbolic realm, dialog in this vein will be extremely useful in the long run.

I was hoping to get some informed and educated feedback on this work.

I plan on editing it in many areas, but I would be interested in some of your suggestions.

I would also like to know if there are any particular posts by others that would be useful to me.

How can I make my Tolkien/Jung dissertation clearer and more interesting to a wider readership?

[Attalus]

I have no objection to a Jungian reading of Tolkien's work, since I think he would have liked the idea of Archetypes, and I think Joseph Campbell would have read it in much the same way. Laying aside any applicability to modern American politics, let alone references to the pharmaceutical industry (I am a licensed physician), I think that the characterisation of the various characters (Galadriel as Spiritual Mother, etc.), is at least partially true, particularly the role of Gandalf as the Wise Old Man. Certainly, I and others have read LotR with one eye on Cambpell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and think it fits neatly with the Jungian aspects of that, though not the Freudian and especially not the Buddhistic aspects of that work, with which I have grave problems. Some people would say, I think, that the concept fits more neatly into The Book of Lost Tales,, but I think that to argue that LotR is not a tale of redemption over materialism and atheism is to deny the obvious. As for the contemporary references, I think that I would downplay those, since the problems JRRT was wrestling with were much older than multiculturalism or Islamic fundamentalism, though I doubt not that he would have been horrified by both.

[SonOfSamWise]

They could have made another four hour movie with just some important elements that were left out.

Such as the insurrection in the 'The Scouring of the Shire', the parlay Gandalf, Theoden, Aragorn etc. were having with Saruman after the Tower of Orthanc was sacked, the fear and trembling Aragorn inspired into the wild men at Helms Deep when he wielded before them Anduril (although, in the film he did not have Anduril at Helms Deep,) and of course the Houses of Healing, where so much history and lore were unearthed and Aragorn's power to prevail over the shadow in a spiritual realm was revealed.

"The hands of the King..."

Not to mention the courting and wheedling of Eowyn by Faramir.

Also, I really appreciated the compelling manner with which Howard Shore weaved his wonderful composition into the lighting of the beacons of Gondor.

Jackson and Shore breathed an exciting and pulsating life into what was otherwise, for me, simply the amusing fancy of a child and his fear and fascination of dragons.

The sound and visual of that scene had me pinned to the back of my seat.

.

[seekeroflight]

Son of Samwise- Your work is fascinating. I am just now learning about JRRT but have studied Jung and have been a fan of his. I am researching the basics of Middle Earth lore to keep up with my adult children, who have been intrigued with these tales.
Much of the world seems to be joining them in their interest, at least in the fascination with the films that have recently been created.

I am a pacifist, and the violence in the films is so difficult to watch.
AS I have learned more about JRRT and his life, I understand where he is going with the trilogy and Jackson's use of the violence, portraying its horrors, is tolerable.

Basically, after having avoided getting into the fantasy literature world that sustained my oldest son through his adolescence, who is now working toward a PHd in Folklore, I am trying to get with the program.

I spent this morning cruising the web for info. I am at risk of becoming addicted to this fascinating world.
I need a good glossary of terms, places, characters to help me on my way. Do you have one to recommend that would be available online?

Your work is really impressive. I relate to your theory and its implications for healing. As a counselor, it is particularly relevant.

[zoomie]

Well, hell I'm not all that educated,but all matters ,matter in the persona and the shadow self. In each one of us is a world that will struggle folding onto it's self causing a big bang of of our own universe. It may happen in middle age or sooner. Some will call this a spritual awakening,rude awakening,or reality. It's what you do with the inlightenment that counts. I have yet to read any of these books,so I don't have much to add as far as the corellation of Jung and Tolkin,but I will soon. Great writting Merry,it looks like it does not need a thing changed. I am however interested how you came about with subject of "she" that is addicted to many things in correlation to your many findings with Jung and Tolkin.