Alex Dewhurst
Fitchburg State University
J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece The Lord of the Rings is the culmination of his profound abilities as a linguist, philologist, historian, and literary scholar. His work effectively quenched the thirst of Britons who strived for a seat at the table of the great European mythos. Combined with his skill as a writer and vast influences of past literature of different cultures and eras, Tolkien managed to create the lore that England needed while also telling a story for the ages. His influences stem from his own life experiences as well as literature of cultures like the Norse, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and much more.
Of these major influences Anglo-Saxon and Christian writings play a particularly important role. Specifically, the contents and themes of the poems found in the Old English elegies can be found strewn throughout The Lord of the Rings. Aspects such as the ruins of past civilizations and the connections that those influences have on the characters and the plot are direct references from this literature. Stemming from Tolkien’s inspiration of the Old English elegies, particularly “The Ruin,” it appears that Tolkien uses ruins as a device to implement wyrd, another Anglo-Saxon theme similar to fate, onto the characters and utilizes it to progress arcs and plot lines throughout the story. While some scholars argue that ruins typically represent a warning to current civilizations or simply act as lamentation or appreciation for the past, Tolkien seems to have found an entirely new use for the often overlooked setting of many important scenes throughout his work. During almost every incident where a ruin is involved, a reader can find wyrd right along with it and the circumstances of the characters change dramatically following these points. Wyrd acts almost as an intelligent being that is thoughtfully pushing and pulling the characters to their final destinations. These settings include Weathertop, Moria, Isengard, and Parth Galen. Wyrd is not a commonly found theme in modern day texts but Tolkien uses it throughout his work. While fate is a thematic element regularly observed in today’s literature, Tolkien takes a very different approach with a similar theme.
Wyrd is a concept that can be found in Anglo-Saxon literature and a word that David Pedersen argues can mean “lot” or “fate” when translated from Old English to Modern English in his article “Wyrd de Warmung… Or God: The Question of Absolute Sovereignty in Solomon and Saturn II” (714). However, in most instances the character who is being subjected to wyrd does not know their outcome and the emphasis is on the journey to their fate and the events that lead them there. An important characteristic of wyrd is the inability of beings who are under its influence to disrupt their chosen course. According to Karma Lochrie’s article “Wyrd and the Limits of Human Understanding: A Thematic Sequence in the ‘Exeter Book’,” this is the most crucial aspect of