I watched all six of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies last week. After spending several days immersed in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, I found myself thinking less about the fantasy itself and more about the philosophy underlying the story. Tolkien was a devout Catholic, and while The Lord of the Rings is not a simple Christian allegory, it is hard to miss the Christian moral vision that permeates the entire narrative.

At its most fundamental level, Tolkien presents something modern philosophy sometimes seems reluctant to acknowledge: there is such a thing as good and evil. Evil is not merely a difference of opinion or a competing political ideology. Sauron represents something much deeper—the desire to dominate, to possess absolute power over others and to bend the world to one’s will. But perhaps even more important is the way evil operates. Evil divides. It isolates people, appeals to their pride, exploits their fears, and persuades them that they can achieve something good through morally corrupt means.

That is the Ring’s genius. It doesn’t simply tempt people with evil; it tempts them with power—the power to accomplish good. Boromir doesn’t want the Ring because he wants to become evil. He wants it because he believes he can use its power to save his people. That is one of Tolkien’s most profound observations about human nature: we can convince ourselves that immoral means are justified because we believe our ends are morally superior.

This is where........

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