Saint Augustine said that evil was: “Non-being”; nothing. Tolkien illustrates this idea thoroughly in his characters from The Lord of The Rings – the Ringwraiths.
Ringwraiths were ‘fallen humans’, who were often referred to as shadows. Their love for power brought them their own destruction, and left them continually searching… searching for something they never found. Tolkien comments on how they had no being; that they were cloaked so that they could be seen by mortals, because they were only spirits. Their lust brought them their complete destruction, and left them lost to Sauron.
This is an exact analogy of real ‘fallen humans’, those that die before conversion. Once they chose their ‘god’ — (power) — they were trapped, never to be recovered. Always taunted with the misery of searching, yet never able to find.
It’s interesting also that the rings they received were a gift. Yet, they ended up ‘worshiping’ them. In a way, this mirrors humans and God. The world was created with so much good, and potential good, yet, as an example from Moses’ time, the newly-freed Israelites worshiped a golden calf. This is the same sort of thing with the Black Riders — they fell into temptation, and gave all their love and want of power into their rings. It’s interesting also that they are ‘shadows’, a lack of light; missing something good. They made their bed, and were forced to lie in it.
All in all, the fall into temptation leaves one at the reverse of their true destination. The perfect example of the Black Riders shows the complete misery of being ‘nothing’, when we were created for so much good.
9 thoughts on “Ringwraiths”
Well written.
Thanks for an engaging column.
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Eager to share this with Tolkien friends
I love your analogy to fallen humans as they are trapped searching as they did not recognize the truth before death. Great job on this!