2. Epigraph

''Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

     Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

     One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

     One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

     One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

Tolkien's epigraph to The Lord of the Rings, the first text one encounters after the title page of The Fellowship of the Ring, is interesting in its characterization of the three races of Middle-earth, and of men in particular.
 The poem opens with "Elven-kings under the sky," a description that connotes openness, freedom, and light.  (To readers of the Silmarillion, it may further recall the first awakening of the Elves beneath the starlight).  The next line continues the same pattern of number of rings - race - archetypal dwelling, with "Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone," a description that suggests earthliness, enclosure, and a certain coldness.  It is also noteworthy that "halls of stone" can also describes a tomb or crypt, for the next line--in fact, the rest of the poem--turns towards death, starting with "Mortal Men doomed to die."  What's remarkable about this third line is its departure from the pattern of the first two lines, which also resumes in the fourth ("the Dark Lord on his dark throne").  The race of men is described not with a label of royalty or leadership (as the "kings" and "lords" of elves and dwarves), but with the label "Mortal," capitalized as if to suggest that it is indeed a title rather than mere description, and alliterated to further emphasize the connection.  The Three and the Seven are for the powerful among elves and dwarves, but the Nine, it seems are suited to any man, for he desires power regardless of his station in life--so the language of the poem suggests, along with the novel that follows.  Furthermore, the language of the poem does not grant "Mortal Men" any physical dwelling place, but a metaphysical dwelling in Death. While the elves and dwarves are "under" and "in," men are "doomed."  While the elves and dwarves live under sky and in stone, it is as if men live above all else in death, ever in its shadow.  Indeed, this is the same shadow of death that Sauron uses to manipulate and persuade the men of Numenor to set sail West to make war upon the Valar, and so bring them to their first downfall.  It should be no surprise, then, that the rings most easily and successfully found and bound by "the Dark Lord on his dark throne / In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie" are the Nine of Mortal Men, who after all aspire to their own meager lordships wherever they can find them and who live already in the shadow of their mortality, of which Mordor is a physical manifestation, albeit a warped and corrupted one; remember that in Tolkien's mythos, death is the "Gift of Iluvatar," the One, the Creator.  How fascinating, then, that Sauron first gives the rings of power under the guise of a gift-giver, with his One Ring that binds a mockery of the One who frees.  If the epigraph represents Sauron's incantation and curse--his cruel aspirations for the Ring--then the whole novel that follows is its response and proof against its inevitability.



"Tolkien 365" is a (hopefully) daily reflection on a quote from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, beginning with The Lord of the Rings and branching into his other writings as opportunity and inspiration allow.  Comments are especially welcome.