Lecture #6: Lord of The Rings (LOTR) Background – Norse to Arthurian

Course: Fantasy & Religion

Lecture #6: Lord of The Rings (LOTR) Background – Norse to Arthurian

NOTE: Text in Highlight is Optional

Disc 3 of LOTR: Fellowship, JRR Tolkien: Background and movie-20min

Disc 3 middle earth atlas - enter mgs // 13min

I hour For Clips of LOTR -- Show 1st hour

BACKGROUND TO THE LORD OF THE RINGS: 2nd hour

Tolkien once described how the discovery of the ring in a cavern by Bilbo Baggins was as much a surprise to him as it was to his hobbit hero. How the discovery of the ring as a simple vehicle of the plot in The Hobbit became the central image of his epic tale The Lord of the Rings has a several thousand-year history or, I might say, pre-history.

Remarkably, in the 20th century, the symbolic rituals of the ring quest remain intact in one of its most elemental forms among the nomadic tribes of Lappland and Siberia.

In a ceremony witnessed this century by anthropologists, the shaman or wizard of the tribe places a brass ring on a head of a sacred drum. The designs on the drum head are a map of the cosmos of the human and spirit worlds. The shaman chants and taps the rim of the drumhead with a drum hammer, making the ring move and dance.

The ring's progress is the journey of the human soul. As the ring moves around the cosmic map, the shaman sings the tale of the soul's perilous journey thru the human and spirit worlds.

In his Ring Trilogy, Tolkien awoke something deep in human consciousness thru the universal language of mythic images drawn from the early history of humankind. His epic tale made him the heir of an ancient story telling tradition that used the common symbolic language of myth to create the largest body of invented myth in the history of literature.

Tolkien once wrote in a letter: "I am interested in mythological invention, and the mystery of literary creation. I was from early days grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country: it had no stories of its own, not of the quality that I sought, and found in legends of other lands….”

This was Tolkien's life ambition. His great passion and grandest ambition were focused on the creation of an entire mythological system for the English people. In large part, Tolkien's invented mythology in the popular imagination has definitely become that of England.

In Tolkien's mythology, the events in The Lord of the Rings takes place some 37,000 years into the history of the world after the creation of Arda (as discussed in the section on The Silmarillion) After the War of the Ring, many millennia pass before leading on 'eventually and inevitably to ordinary history.'

In a letter Tolkien estimates our own historic time was some 6000 years after the third age, which he suggested, put the 20th century in the fifth or sixth age by Middle Earth's system of reckoning. Thus, Tolkien's War of the Ring is somewhere between 4000 and 5000 BC.

Tolkien's world of Arda did not come out of nowhere. It was a composite of all Tolkien was: creative author, philologist, historian, folklorist, mythographer, philosopher and artist. It could be said that everything he read, knew, dreamed and believed of Western history and culture went into the creation of his world of Middle earth and the undying lands.

Thus, these coming classes will attempt to be a broad investigation into the myth, history, folklore, and other ideas that inspired Tolkien in the creation of Middle Earth, and more particularly, The Lord of the Rings.

Central to Tolkien's creative effort was the attempted illusion that Middle earth was a world of archetypes that survived in the racial unconscious of the English people. Throughout his fictional writing, Tolkien's favorite literary device is inventing a kind of 'prototype story' which we are encouraged to accept as "the true event" that would plausibly explain later, well known legends of many nations.

Tolkien's creation of the sinking of his mighty island kingdom of Numenor was a deliberate attempt to write the 'true story' behind the myth of Atlantis. In Aragorn's kiss which awakens the sleeping princess Eowyn, we are meant to see the origin of the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.

One of the most profound aspects of Tolkien's genius as an author was his ability to combine a natural story tellers’ ability and inventiveness with a scholar's capacity to draw from the deep well of myth, legend, literature and history. He breathed life into ancient traditions that, but for him, would have remained unknown to millions of modern readers.

In these next weeks we will look at other rings and ring quests and see where many elements of his epic tale were provoked into existence. However, never mistake Tolkien's creative process as a mere cobbling together of ancient lore. Rather, The Lord of the Rings is a highly realized and originally conceived trilogy that has renewed, invigorated and finally reinvented the ring quest for the twentieth century.

THE RING: was there a tradition based on the symbol of the ring than runs parallel to the tradition of the symbol of the cross within Christianity? Is it possible to trace that tradition and understand where and why and how it maintained its force and power through centuries of suppression?

THE ANSWER is that the ring was actually the primary symbol of a tradition that the church saw as being in conflict with orthodox doctrines of Christianity. The most reasonable supposition is that aspects of pagan religions survived Christian conversion.

In fact, a common tactic in the conversion of pagans was absorption of many aspects of pagan worship into the gospel of the church. At other times, however, as they became more powerful, the church simply crushed pagan practice.

If these surviving pagan beliefs were to be represented by any single image in the way that Christianity is represented by the Cross, there is no doubt that the single image was the ring.

The ring was the dominant symbol of all the pagan Teutonic tribes. It was especially the dominant symbol of the Viking warrior culture, which was Christian Europe's greatest scourge at the end of the first millennium.

Above all, the Vikings one eyed sorcerer god, Odin, was "the God of the Ring" and was Tolkien's primary source of inspiration for his sorcerer Sauron, The Lord of the Rings. In the same way as the worship of Christ was symbolized by the Cross, the worship of Odin was symbolized by the ring.

After the collapse of the Roman empire, European Christian settlements, churches and monasteries experienced centuries of relentless Viking terror. It is little wonder that in the simplest terms the church saw in the symbol of the ring the greatest threat to the authority of the cross.

It is much more complicated than this, of course. The ring was a much older symbol of authority than Christianity, and the church itself adapted its authority in many forms. The Pope (and other bishops) wear rings as the symbol of office.

Christian marriages were enforced by what amounted to the pagan custom of swearing an oath upon a ring. Nuns were 'wed' to Christ with a gold ring. And in the old Celtic Cross, the image of the ring and the cross were even united as an image suitable for worship in a Christian church.

When King Olaf, the Viking, was Christianized and then converted the chieftain, Sigmund Brestesson, to the new faith but discovered he refused to give up his sacred ring, Olaf demanded it be given to the church. When Sigmund refused, Olaf, knowing the significance of the ring, had him murdered in his sleep.

The ring was also the symbol of the alchemist. The alchemist's ring--in the form of a serpent swallowing its tail, or the uroboro--represented eternal life and a quest for knowledge that was forbidden by the church.

Because of constant persecution, alchemists cloaked their studies in secrecy and wrote up their experiments in codified records. These studies were transmitted mystically. There was a secret language such as found among alchemists, shamans, secret societies and among mystics of the traditional religions.

The dominance of the symbol of the ring in pagan religions--and in all shamanistic tribal cultures who use metal--is related to the ring's alchemical origins.

The secret of the ring is in its making. Thus, the secret language of the alchemist symbolized by the ring was the knowledge of metallurgy. Ultimately this secret was of the smelting and forging of iron, which is believed to have been discovered around 1000 BC in the region of the Caucasian Mountains. It was the atomic secret of its day, a secret that was closely guarded.

Those who possessed the secret conquered and sometimes exterminated those who did not. The hero who won the alchemist's ring in the form of the secret of iron-smelting literally saved his nation. This was true of David in Israel, who learned the secret from his time among the Philistines

The symbolic language of the ring quest, at its most profound, is concerned with the 'spiritual' consequences of the Bronze and Iron Ages which changed forever the human condition and perception of the world.

Before changing the face of the world, the Iron age engendered a large number of rites, myths and symbols which have reverberated throughout the spiritual history of humanity. If one looks at the ring quest myths of most cultures, there are certain constants for the hero in his pursuit of the ring: The magician, the smith, the warrior, the sword, the dwarf, the maiden, the treasure, the dragon. These all relate originally to the rites and processes of metallurgy.

OUROBOROS: which means "tail biter" was the symbol for eternity that is found in scores of mythologies. In many cultures, the serpent is the first form to emerge from chaos. It then encircles the void and creates time and space by forming a ring.

We see this celestial serpent ring in the Babylonian serpent Ea, the Greek Ophion, the Hindu Seshna, the Chinese Naga and the Norse Jormangand. It is a symbol of the alchemist’s quest.

To the alchemist the ring shaped like or engraved with the 'eternal' serpent and made of 'immortal' gold was the symbol for universal knowledge. It was, one may say, the 'One Ring" by which all others are ruled.

The power of the alchemist evolved thru a combination of natural science and supernatural wisdom which are embodied in the crafts of the shaman, magician and the smith. These are derived from the symbols and mysteries of metallurgy and are ultimately emblematic of the physical and spiritual mastery of fire. The alchemist employs both physical and spiritual fire to transform the natural world.

In The Lord of the Rings the ultimate evil alchemist is Sauron who is both a magician and a smith. He was originally a good fire spirit apprenticed to the Valarian god, Aule the Smith. He betrayed his master and became a disciple of Melkor, the Dark Sorcerer. His perfect weapon is the One Ring of power.

Many races fell quickly under the spell of the One Ring, but those enemies of Sauron who were not immediately enslaved were resilient chiefly because they too possessed elements of alchemical power. These were the Noldor Elves, the Dwarves and the Numenoreans.

The greatest of these were the Nolder Elves who were already gifted with "elven magic" before they became the students and disciples of Aule the Smith. Nolder is elvish for knowledge.

As you recall it was Feanor (meaning 'spirit of fire") the greatest of the Nolder elves who forged the famous Silmarils that were stolen by Melkor and over which wars were fought in the first age.

It was Feanor's grandson, Cerlebrimbor, who forged the Rings of Power over which the wars of the second and third ages were fought.

DWARVES were also known as great smiths, especially Telchar, whose weapons had such power that one was used to cut a Silmaril from Melkor's iron crown, and another to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand.

NUMENOREANS and their descendants on Middle earth learned their alchemical skills from the Noldor elves and the dwarves. The men of the north and the men of Gondor were descendants of these and chief inheritors of ancient wisdom which gave them power to resist evil. These people were seen by Sauron as the chief obstacles to his dominion of Middle earth.

WIZARDS OR ISTARI: were sent by the Valar as adversaries of Sauron the Ring lord. Yet, of the five sent, only Gandalf was able to stand against Sauron uncorrupted.

Saraman is a good case and point. He intended to learn Sauron's crafts, his alchemy, in order to counteract it. But his fate bares out Elrond's warning: "It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the enemy, for good or ill."

Saruman's knowledge and power over the minds of others are appealed to and perverted by the similar qualities he finds in the mind of the enemy he studies. Before long he is trying to forge another ruling ring. After that come hypocrisy and treason.

In Tolkien's estimate, the desire for knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Sauron seduces by this same Faustian thirst the elven smiths who forged the rings, and seeks unsuccessfully to corrupt all the Eldar.

Knowledge is not a good in itself. It is not allowed to remain neutral on Middle earth, but is good or ill depending on the use to which it is put.

Gandalf was wearing Narya--the elf 'ring of fire"--who best understood the alchemical nature of the conflict with Sauron. It was Gandalf who discovered and translated the 'secret language' of the One Ring which was 'written in fire'.

Gandalf's elf ring and Sauron's One ring were both symbolic of the control of alchemical fire, but alchemical fire of different types. The evil alchemy that made the one ring commanded the dark satanic fire out of the bowels of the earth (this is why Sauron put up his dark tower right by Mt. Doom). This power transformed the material world, or gave the illusion, and the illusion of worldly power.

The good alchemy of Gandalf's Elf Ring commanded the celestial fire of the spirit. This good alchemical fire has no power over the material world, but it does have the power to impassion and uplift the soul because ultimately its source is the sacred 'Flame Imperishable' of Eru the One who gave all things life.

Gandalf understood that ultimately the only way to defeat Sauron and his evil One Ring was not to attempt to overthrow him or to seize its power, but to undo the alchemical process by which the Ring of Power was made.

Just as common folklore tells us one can undo a spell by reciting it backwards, so Gandalf understood that the only way the One Ring could be destroyed was to reverse the process by which it was made.

This was the reason for The Lord of the Rings' 'backward' ring quest. The One ring had to be taken back to the crucible where it was made. Only there in the fiery furnace of the 'Cracks of Doom' where it was forged could the one ring be unmade and Sauron's power destroyed.

In its creation, Sauron's one ring was the ultimate heresy against the alchemical tradition, an evil opposite of the Ouroboros.

It is essential to recognize that the Ouroboros was also the symbol of the early Christian religion and philosophy known as Gnosticism. This believed that one was saved by KNOWLEDGE, mainly self-knowledge, not by the sacrifice of Christ.

In its doctrines, Jesus tells Mary (Magdalen?) "The Outer darkness is a great serpent, the tail of which is in its mouth, and it is outside the whole world, and surroundeth the whole world.'

Gnosticism also taught that the serpent and the Christ were interchangeable figures, and that both were saviors or 'redeemers'.

By the first century AD Gnostic and the western alchemical doctrine, part of the hermetic tradition from Egypt, were largely indistinguishable. This was unfortunate for the older tradition of alchemy for later Christians so ruthlessly suppressed Gnostic teachings that the possession of an Ouroboros ring was sufficient grounds for the charge of heresy and sorcery.

The result was that even after the virtual extermination of Gnosticism by the sixth century, Christian fanatics tended to view the alchemist's ring as a satanic relic. The early Christian opponents of Gnosticism were primarily fundamentalist and anti-intellectual in nature.

Christian archbishops proudly burned ancient Greco-Roman libraries, closed universities and drove scholars into exile. Many scholars had to flee to Baghdad and other parts of the Moslem world. Indeed, had it not been for the tolerance and intellectual enlightenment of the leaders of Islam at the time, much of the art, science and literature of the ancient Greco-Roman civilization would have been lost forever.

The madness and paranoia of fundamentalist Christianity emerged again and again throughout the Middle Ages and inevitably resulted in the persecution of anyone with intellectual pretensions who was not directly under the protection of the church. So it is easy to see how charges about alchemists and other scholars 'speaking with devils' imprisoned in rings could gain currency.

Alchemists and Gnostics were also known to have used other oracles involving serpents. This was the most highly developed by the gnostic Ophite sect. All Gnostic sects used the Ouroboros ring as their symbol, but the Ophites serpent was especially regarded as the master of all knowledge and the father of all arts and sciences.

To simplistic Christian zealots this use of the ouroboros for a highly developed meditational technique was a clear example of snake worship and 'satanic practice.' To the gnostic and the alchemist, the Ouroboros serpent ring held the secret of life itself.

Looking at the tradition of the alchemist in the history of the ring we can see in Sauron the Ring Lord something of the Christian world's dark vision of an evil alchemist using a 'ring of power' to destroy or enslave life. Granted, some rings have been used for evil but for the most part the ring lords of the 'true' alchemical tradition commanded and worshipped a ring of exactly opposite nature.

Atlas of Middle Earth

Fellowship of The Ring @ 12 min

Two Tower @ 12 min

Return of The King – F&S = 10min, Merry 11 min, Gandolph & Pippen.

NORSE MYTHOLOGY

VIKINGS:

No people in history were more obsessed with the power of the ring as the Vikings. The ring was wealth, honor, fame and destiny to these warrior people. Their gods were ring lords of the heavens, and their kings were ring lords of the earth.

No earthly king or earl who was not a 'ring giver' held power long. For by these gifts of wealth and honor, the warrior expected his reward for his faithfulness. From looted gold, the king's smith would fashion heavy engraved finger rings, massive arm rings and great neck rings of woven gold. These were all symbols of nobility, wealth and fame.

In the ring quest myths of the Vikings we see one of the primary sources of inspiration for Tolkien's fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings. Even though the symbol of the ring was widespread in most cultures, it was the Norse who brought the ring quest to its fullest expression, and to the very heart of their cultural identity.

Virtually all subsequent ring quest tales in myth and fiction are indebted to the Norse myths, with Tolkien's work no exception. In Norse myths as well as Tolkien's tales, guardians of treasures and ring hoards take many forms: damned spirits, serpents, dragons, giants, dwarfs, barrow-wights, and demon monsters.

THOR:

The rings of Norse mythology--like Tolkien's --were commonly magical rings forged by Elves. In the great pillared temple of Thor was housed a very important ring. This was the alter ring that was sometimes called the "oath ring of Thor”, the emblem of good faith and fair dealing.

On the sacred alter was a silver bowl, an anointing twig, and the Oath Ring. It weighed more than 20 oz. Thor's statue, mounted on his goat drawn chariot, dominated the sanctuary. When an oath was to be taken, an ox was brought in and slaughtered and the blood sprinkled on the ring. Then the man laid his hand the upon ring and faced the people and said aloud: 'I am swearing an oath upon the ring, a sacred oath; so, help me Freyr and Njorthr and Thor the almighty."

For the Vikings, such an oath was legally binding, and when the world's first democratic parliament, the Althing, was established in Iceland in 930 AD the temple priests brought out the Oath Rings to reinforce its law.

ODIN AND THE NINE WORLDS:

The greatest power was in the ring on the hand of Odin, the magician king of the gods. Odin as the Allfather, Lord of victories, wisdom, poetry, love and sorcery. He was Master of the nine worlds, and thru the magical power of his ring was, quite literally, "the Lord of the Rings."

Odin was not always almighty and his quests for power and his magical ring were long and achieved at great cost. He traveled throughout the 9 worlds and hid himself in many forms, most often appearing as an old man: a bearded wanderer with one eye. He wore a grey or blue cloak and traveler’s broad brimmed hat. He carried only a staff and was the model for the wandering Wizard and Magicians from Merlin to Gandalf and Sauron.

THE NINE WORLDS:

Before going further into the myths of Odin, we need to take a broad overview of Tolkien's Middle Earth and compare it to the lands of Norse mythology. The most immediate parallel is that the world of mortal men in both have the same name: "Midgard" literally translates to "Middle Earth."

In both systems the gods live in great halls or palaces in a world apart from mortal lands. The Aesir live in Asgard which can only be reached by crossing the Rainbow bridge on the flying horses of the Valkyries. Tolkien's Valar live in Aman which can only be reached by crossing the 'straight road' in the flying ships of the Elves.

Norse cosmology was more complex for Asgard and Midgard were just two of its “nine worlds.” However, Tolkien's worlds are far more cosmopolitan and most of the inhabitants of the nine Norse Worlds are recognizable within his two.

Besides Asgard and Midgard, Norse myths tell of the worlds called Alfheim and Swartalfheim: the realms of the Light Elves and the Dark Elves. these correspond to Tolkien's two races: The Eldar (light) and Avari (dark elves.)

Dwarfs were given their own world in Norse myth called Nidavellir, which was found beneath Midgard, where the Dwarfs constantly worked their mines. In Tolkien's work, both Dwarves and Elves are more highly defined and individual, and their genealogies are far more complex.

Tolkien took the names for most of his Dwarves directly from the 12th century Icelandic text, Prose Edda. This gives an account of the creation of the dwarves then lists their names. All the Dwarves in The Hobbit appear on this list. Ironically, one of the dwarf names was Gandalf, which means 'sorcerer elf' and appealed to Tolkien when choosing a name for his wizard.

The Norse gave two worlds to their giants: Jotenheim, the home of the cave-dwelling Rock and Frost Giants, which in Tolkien became the stone trolls and snow trolls. Muspellsheim though, is made up of Fire Giants. Undoubtedly these are personifications of volcanic subterranean powers. In Tolkien, we see something of these in his creation of the Balrogs, the fiery 'demons of might.'

The world of Vanaheim, home of the second race of gods, the Vanir--nature spirits of earth and air who are also magicians capable of casting terrifying spells. They seem to resemble Tolkien's Valar in their early manifestations.

And finally, the deepest world of all was Niflheim, the dark and misty land of the dead. In this cold and poisoned land was the great walled citadel of Hel, the goddess of the dead. In Tolkien's Silmarillion this is Angband which is ruled by Morgoth, the god of darkness. Within are imprisoned many elves who were hideously tortured and transformed into a race of damned beings called Orcs.

By the time of the War of the Rings, Morgoth's disciple Sauron attempts to recreate Angband in his dark and evil Land of Mordor.

As to the end of the world, in Norse myth Ragnarok ended with the destruction of all the Nine worlds when Loki led the giants against the gods. Tolkien's Great Battle resulted in the total destruction of Morgoth and his evil kingdom of Angband, but it also tragically caused the beautiful Elvish realms of Beleriand to sink beneath the sea.

Both Norse myth and Tolkien promise that out of these conflicts that the ending is also a transition: a newer, better and more peaceful world is to be reborn form the violent old one.

ODIN:

The fundamental difference between Norse myth and Tolkien's stories is that the Norse mythic world is essentially amoral, while Tolkien's world is consumed by the great struggle between the forces of good and evil.

Consequently, the attributes of the world's greatest wizard, Odin, are necessarily split in two in Tolkien's morality tale: The "good" aspects of Odin are found in the Wizard Gandalf, and the 'bad' aspects are found in the Wizard Sauron.

The entire epic tale of the Ring Trilogy is primarily about the struggle for control of the world by these conflicting powers as embodied in this duel between the white wizard and the black wizard.

Tolkien's single great message--which would be entirely inexplicable to the philosophy of the Norsemen--is that 'power corrupts.' Tolkien's tale is about the corruption implicit in a quest for pure power, and how the pursuit of power is in itself evil.

Even if the power is sought for reasons that appear 'good', it will necessarily corrupt the quester. We see this in Saruman who was originally a good wizard. In his attempt to overthrow the forces of the 'evil' Sauron, Saruman gathers forces that in themselves are just as evil and is himself corrupted by this desire for power.

Unwittingly, Saruman becomes a mirror image and ally of the evil being he initially wished to overcome.

In the 'good' wizard Gandalf, we see his wisdom and strength of will in his refusal to take possession of the One Ring for a single moment, for fear of his own corruption. He knows full well that he would be morally destroyed by it as surely as was Saruman.

In the myths of the Norse, all these particular dilemmas did not exist. These morally conflicting aspects are all embodied in the single figure of Odin the Wizard in his quest for dominion over the Nine Worlds.

The lonely figure of Odin the Traveler who had nothing but his wits to acquire the power he desired. In his wandering years, we see that his life ultimately was a ring quest for his own "One Ring". This was the magical ring called 'Draupnir' whose acquisition was a proclamation to all that Odin had become the "Ring Lord of the Nine Worlds."

In the process of searching for wisdom and roaming around the 9 worlds, Odin was wounded by a spear and hung upside down for 9 days from the tree called Yggdrasil, the great Ash tree, whose mighty limbs support the Nine Worlds. Yggdrasil's top is in the heavens above Asgard, and its roots are beneath Hel.

Besides supporting the nine worlds, Yggdrasil is a means of journeying between the worlds. The word Yggdrasil literally means, the steed of Ygg or Odin.

While Odin hung from this tree in great pain, he maintained a state of meditation on the markings cut in the stone by Yggdrasil's roots. By the ninth night Odin deciphered the marking and discovered the secret of the magical alphabet known as 'runes.’

Line drawing of Odin hanging upside-down among the branches of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, illustrating his self-sacrifice to gain the secret of the runes.

By the power of the runes his own resurrection was achieved. From Yggdrasil he cut the limb he was hung from and made his magician's staff. By the magic of the runes Odin could cure, make the dead speak, render weapons powerless, gain women's love and calm storms by land and sea.

Ever thirsting for more knowledge, Odin went to drink form the Fountain of Wisdom at the Yggdrasil's foot. The price for this was the sacrifice of one eye. without hesitation, he drank and became the one-eyed god.

In Gandalf the Grey's seemingly fatal battle with the Balrog we see something of Odin's rite of passage. This conflict and a subsequent mystic inner journey eventually results in the resurrection of a supercharged Gandalf the White. Gandalf, who already knew how to read runes, rapidly demonstrates many new powers, the least being the ability to render weapons powerless.

With the evil Sauron, we see a wizard insanely obsessed with the acquisition of power. Sauron becomes the one-eyed lord because he sacrifices everything but that one evil eye. Nothing remains of his spirit and soul but that one fiery evil eye.

In Norse myth, after the ordeal on Yggsdrasil, Oden ascended to Asgard where the other gods saw his might and wisdom, and all acknowledged them. Similarly, in Tolkien, all the 'Free peoples' of Middle earth recognized the might and wisdom of the resurrected Gandalf the White, and the forces of darkness recognized and accepted the dominion of Sauron in his final resurrection as the EYE.

The ultimate manifestation of the wealth and power of the magician king, Odin, was the ring called 'Draupnir'. In Tolkien's tale, all the skill of the Elf Celebrimbor, the most wondrous smith of Middle earth, and all the wisdom of Sauron went into the forging of the Rings of Power.

In Norse myth all the skill of the Elfs Sindri and Brok, the greatest smiths in the Nine Worlds, all the wisdom of Odin were invested in the forging of the ring "Draupnir."

"Draupnir" means 'the dripper', for this magical golden ring had the power to drip eight other rings of equal size every nine days. Its possession by Odin not only gave him dominion over the nine worlds but gave him a source of almost infinite wealth. In his capacity as the King of the Gods, Draupnir gave him the greatest ring-hoard and allowed him to become the greatest ring giver in the nine worlds.

Odin maintains the order of the other eight worlds from Asgard by his gift of the rings to chosen heroes and kings. The ring on his hand is the ultimate source of all magical rings and all wealth. Thru his control of Draupni, Odin literally becomes the "Lord of the Rings.”

The major legend dealing with the ring concerns the death of Baldar, Odin's favorite son. After Baldar was slain, he was placed on a huge funeral ship. So great was Odin's grief that in a frenzy of despair he placed Draupnir on his son's breast just as the ship was set alight and entirely consumed in flames.

This was a tragic mistake, for without the ring Odin's mastery of the nine worlds was in danger of being challenged by the giants. Fortunately, the ring didn't perish in the flames, but went with the spirit of Baldar into the dark realm of Hel, the place of the dead.

Odin had to make a journey down the cosmic tree to find the ring. He mounted his 8-legged horse Sleipnir and rode to the deepest realm of Hel. They leap over the hound of Hel, seize the sacred ring, and ride back. Once Draupnir is restored to Odin in Asgard, peace and order are restored to the Nine Worlds.

In Tolkien's Ring Trilogy we have exactly the opposite scenario in Sauron the Ring Lord's evil quest to recover his One ring. Sauron is master of a domain of the damned--the hell on earth called Mordor--when the One Ring is taken from him.

The Ring should then have been consumed by the flames of Mount Doom, but instead it is taken out of the kingdom of the damned into the mortal world where it is lost. Once Sauron returns to Mordor, he sends his Dark Riders into the living world in an attempt to recover the One Ring.

It is obvious that if his ring quest is achieved and the One Ring restored to Sauron in Mordor, the result will be exactly the opposite of Odin's tale. Chaos and war would certainly consume and destroy all of the world.

This is why, as has been noted many times, Tolkien's tale involves an anti-quest, the getting rid of the ring in Mt. Doom.

THE VOLSUNGA SAGA

The Volsunga Saga is the most famous ring legend of the Norse and includes heroes of both the Volsung and Nibelung dynasties. The fates of these two dynasties was tied up with a magical ring called 'ANDVARINAUT'. This ring once belonged to the dwarf, Andvari.

Its name means 'Andvari's loom' because it 'wove' its owner a fortune in gold, and with wealth, power and fame. This tale has become the archetypal ring legend and is concerned with the life and death of the greatest of all Norse heroes, Sigurd the Dragonslayer.

The legend is a collection of over 40 linked but individual tales. It is told in Wagner's opera The Ring of the Nibelung thus I will not do that tale but give the basics of this one, emphasizing the ring. Later, we will compare it and others to Tolkien's work.

THE VOLSUNG SAGA:

Sigi, the mortal son of Odin, becomes king of the Huns. His son Reric finally has one son, Volsung, who stays in his mother’s womb 6 years before being released by a midwives knife. He is the most powerful of the Hun kings and has 10 sons and one daughter.

One day a grey bearded stranger walks into the hall, goes to the tree Branstock and drives a sword into the tree. He then disappears. They all know it is Odin. Only Sigmund, one of Volsungs sons, can withdraw the sword so all know he is the chosen warrior.

Sigmund becomes a great warrior, but tragedy befalls the Volsung family. Sigmund's sister's father-in-law murders Volsung at the wedding feast then kills all the sons one by one. On the 10th night, with his sister's help, Sigmund kills the werewolf responsible for the death of his brothers.

Signy (Sigmund’s sister) wants revenge so much she disguises herself and goes to Sigmund, make love, and she has a son, Sifjolti who, when grown, is sent to Sigmund so together they can avenge Volsung's death.

They exact their revenge, slaying the Goth king and all his kin and then Signy confesses the price she has paid for revenge, including incest with her brother, and leaps into the flames.

Sigmund and his son return home where he rules successfully for many years, though his son is poisoned. When two armies of Vikings ambush Sigmund he does well till an old man enters the fray. When he strikes the old man’s spear, his sword shatters and Sigmund knows his doom has come. This is Odin, and Sigmund's enemies kill him.

He does not despair for he knows his queen will have a son so he tells his wife to take the shards of Odin's sword to be reforged for his son. She flees the battle and finds refuge in a Viking court of the Danes. She bears Sigurd and raises him in secret under protection of the Danes.

The Dwarf Smith Regin fosters Sigurd, who is quick and eager to learn. When wandering in the forest one day, Sigurd meets Odin as an old, one eyed, man who tells him he can pick whatever horse he wants from his herd in the meadow. He picks a horse called Grani, the son of the immortal Sleipner, Odin's 8-legged horse.

Soon after, Regin calls Sigurd and tells him a tale. Regin tells him that he was born before the first men entered the spheres of the world. He tells of the gods Odin, Honir and Loki going on an adventure thru Midgard.

Loki kills an otter who had just taken a salmon, with a stone. When they offer the skin and fish to Hreidmar the Magician, they are immediately chained by the Magicians 2 sons, Regin and Fafnir, for Loki had just killed the magician's favorite son, a shape shifter named Otter, after his favorite shape.

Instead of killing them, the Magician was willing to accept payment in weregold. Because Loki had been the killer, he was sent to the dwarf Andvari, who was renowned for his wealth. Loki was warned that Andvari was also a shapeshifter, who mostly took the form of a pike and hid under the waterfall, so be careful.

Loki finds him as a pike, drags him on shore where he becomes a dwarf, and twisted him till he was willing to give up his treasure to Loki. He asked if he could keep only the ring. Guessing at the importance of the ring, Loki grabbed it and hurried on his way.

This one ring named Andvarinaut, was worth more than all the rest of the treasure put together. The dwarf called after him, "I curse you for this, the ring and the treasure it spawned will carry my curse forever. All who possess the ring and its treasure for long will be destroyed."

Loki returned, filled the skin of the otter with gold, and covered it with gold. One whisker was left uncovered, so Loki let the ring cover it, though he had intended to keep it for himself. The king put on the ring, loaded the gold in chests and released the three gods.

Fafnir desired the ring so much that he killed his father while he slept and went to his brother, Regin, and threatened him. He had to help drag the treasure to a cavern under a mountain deep in the Mirkwood.

Fafnir's outer form now matches is inner evil and he had become a serpent, a huge dragon, the mightiest of this age.

SIGURD'S DESTINY: Sigurd saw his destiny to take of Regin's challenge and slay the dragon, win glory and bring the share of the weregold to Regin. He is promised the ring if he does this.

He has Regin reforge his father's sword which can now slice thru the smithy's iron anvil without dulling. Thus, Sigurd and Regin ride together on their quest. They found the heath that was now a wasteland on the edge of the evil forest, Mirkwood. The Dragon Fafnir left his lair only once each day at dusk to drink at the foul pool.

Sigurd begins digging a hole so when the dragon slides over it, he can thrust his sword into his soft underbelly. While doing this, the same old man appears and says to him, "small wisdom, short life, the dragon's blood will sear your bones. Dig several pits and hide in the one to the left so the poison blood falls into another pit."

The plan works, the dragon Fafnir is slain, and Regin tells Sigurd to build a fire and roast the dragon's heart. While doing so, the juice splatters on his fingers. As he licks them, he at once can understand the language of the birds in the trees about him. They speak of how Regin will gain great wisdom and bravery by eating the heart and how he plans to kill Sigurd in his sleep and steal his horse and sword.

Hearing this, Sigurd moves fast, cuts off Regin's head, eats the heart himself, and sets to work clearing out the dragon's lair. He has loads of gold, and the ring on his finger and goes out for many other adventures. He finds the body of a warrior on a bier, but when he removes the helmet, it is a woman of warrior's stature, but a woman's grace. It is Brynhild who was once a Valkyrie.

They fall in love and within the ring of fire, thru which he passed to get to her, he learns what 20 lifetimes might never teach a mortal man. However, in Brynhild many things are put to sleep, and filled with the unknowing of mortals.

Sigurd knows he must leave Brynhild and go back into the world of men where he might earn glory enough to be worthy of his bride. He leaves while she sleeps, but puts the ring of Andvari on her hand as a token of his eternal love and a promise of his return.

When Brynhild awakes, she remembers nothing of Sigurd, or Odin, or any of her past before that day. She sees the ring on her finger but has no clue why it’s there. All she knows is she must await the coming of a warrior.

In his adventures, Sigurd comes to the King of the Nibelungs. He is welcomed and in time Sigurd and the king's three sons become closest friends. Because he has brought wealth to the kingdom, the queen, who is also a powerful witch, puts a spell on Sigurd to cause him to marry her daughter. She knows he loves another, but the spell works and he marries Gudrun.

Years pass and tales of a strange and beautiful maiden in a ring of fire reach them. Sigurd has no memory of this, but Gunnar, his closest friend, wants to go win her so Sigurd and he ride off. Gunnar's horse refuses to go thru the ring of fire, so he begs Sigurd to go in his place. He uses Grimhild's (the queen) potion to look like Gunnar.

He breaks thru and Brynhild, with no memory but an intuition that something is wrong, embraces Gunnar the Nibelung. Thus, Brynhild embraces him and places her gold ring of Andvari on his finger. She goes to bed with him for three nights but Sigurd always places his sword between them as he doesn't want to make love till they get back to the halls of the Nibelungs.

The real Gunnar marries Brynhild and things go along till the two wives begin quarrelling. Brynhild boasts that Gunnar is the greater warrior because he passed thru the flames. Guddran will have none of it and Sigurd has foolishly told his wife what really happened, so she tells Brynhild the tale.

She even shows Brynhild the ring which Sigurd had given to her. Brynhild is crushed, and verifies the truth of what Gudrun says. She can only think of vengeance. She hounds and threatens her husband.

Finally, Gunnar says, "Sigurd shall die, then. Or I shall,” he swears. But he has neither the heart nor courage to act himself and slay his friend. He convinces his younger brother, Guttorm, to kill Sigurd. He kills Sigurd in his sleep, but he awakens in his death and flings his sword, Gram, at his slayer cutting him in half.

That same night, Brynhild takes Sigurd's sword and slays herself. True to her Valkyrie passion, she resolves that if she cannot be wed to Sigurd in life, she will be wed to him in death. They are together at last on the same funeral pyre with Odin's sword between them.

THE RING: The ring remains on Gudrun's hand and the treasure is taken by her brothers and hidden in a secret cavern on the Rhine river.

Her brothers send her to Atli, the king of the Huns, for marriage, though she does not want to, but she obeys and becomes his queen. Atli becomes possessed with desire for the treasure and every time he sees the gold ring, he can think of nothing else but this treasure.

Godrun gives the Hun king two sons, but he finally acts. He invites the Nibelungs to a feast but while feasting, they are surrounded and slaughtered by a huge army of Huns. Even though the Nibelungs slay ten for everyone they lose, finally they are overwhelmed and all murdered, save for the two brothers, Gunnar and Hogni. These are bound as captives.

The brothers are slain by Atli without ever revealing where the treasure was hidden. Gudrun is filled with grief at her brother's deaths and the obliteration of the Nibelungs.

Although Andvari's treasure is lost, Andvari's ring still carries the Dwarf's curse while it remains on Gudrun's hand. And Gudrun, as the last of the Nibelungs, resolves to have bloody retribution for Atli's treachery.

While the King Atli has a victory feast prepared, though he lost a great deal in his battle with the Nibelungs, Gudrun makes her own preparations. She murders her own two children, Atli's sons. From their skulls she makes two cups. Their innocent blood she mixes with the wine and their hearts and entrails she spits and roasts as his meat. She serves this all to Atli at the feast.

Late that night, while he sleeps, she cuts his throat, creeps out, bars all the doors and sets the hall on fire. All of Atli's soldiers and vassals perish in their sleep in that fire.

Gudrun stands and stares with mounting madness, the flames bringing back terrible memories. She flees the Hunlands and wanders until she comes to a high cliff overlooking the sea. She looks one more time at the glinting gold ring of Andvari on her hand, then with a sigh she fills her apron with stones and leaps into the sea.

ARTHURIAN LEGENDS

In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's heroes Aragorn and Gandalf are most commonly linked in the popular imagination with the tales of King Arthur and Merlin the Magician. This is without doubt because Arthur is Britain’s most famous legendary hero. The stature of Arthur has made him the very embodiment of British virtues and strengths.

Historically, the legends of King Arthur were almost unknown until the 12th century but with Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur the cycle came into the English language. Most before this time had been in French.

The historical basis for King Arthur is very slim. The likely model for Arthur was probably a Romanized Celt, Ambrosius Aurelianus, known later as Artorius. Between AD 493 and 516, Artorius was said to have led the Britons against Saxons in twelve great battles.

In time the warrior king figure of Arthur attracted the oral traditions of both Celtic and Saxon bards as a symbol of a brief romantic age of order and stability. When in 1066 William the Conqueror and his Norman knights invaded Britian, the figure of King Arthur grew even greater.

Arthur was the chosen, ancestral hero of the British people who saw in him a noble king who ruled a courtly, idealized world to whom the British could look back with pride. What is often not clear to many is that the Arthurian romances are themselves largely based on earlier Teutonic myths and legends.

Although the Arthurian legends make their own unique contributions, in many respects it is even more important to see the connection between Aragorn and Sigurd, and Gandalf and Odin.

The creation of a medieval King Arthur and a court based roughly on Christian moral principles resulted in considerable re-shaping of many of the fiercer aspects of the pagan hero tradition. Sigurd is a wild beast of a warrior who clearly would not be welcome at Arthur's round Table.

Though Tolkien's world is a pagan one, his hero requires quite as much reshaping as Arthur because of his concept of absolute good and evil. Although Tolkien's Aragorn is a pagan hero, he is often even more upright and moral than the medieval Christian King, Arthur.

If we compare the three heroes--Arthur, Sigurd and Aragorn--we see the power of archetypes, for certain life patterns are identical: They are all orphaned sons and rightful heirs to kings slain in battle.

The most obvious difference between King Arthur and Sigurd is the object of the quest. The great quest tradition usually associated with King Arthur is the Grail, though this is a late association, again dating to the 12th century.

What Wagner recognized was that the Grail Quest was a Christianized retelling of the ring quest. In his Opera, Parsifal, the Ring mysteriously ascends and is transformed into the Holy Grail.

In the ring quests of both The Lord of the Rings and The Volsunga Saga there is a sense that those who possessed these rings were destroyed by their own desire for earthly wealth and power.

The Ringwraiths in Tolkien acquired their rings of power by selling their souls. What happened with the quest for the Holy Grail was the opposite. The Grail quest was essentially a spiritual journey by a soul which could only be completed if all the corrupting influences of the body and the material world were rejected.

No being can exist on a purely spiritual level and still remain in the mortal world. Consequently, the seeking knights took on aspects of a saint and the result was a disaster that all but destroyed Arthur's mortal kingdom.

If the ring quest required a pact with demons at the cost of one’s immortal soul, the Grail quest was a pact with angels at the cost of one's mortal body. Simply stated, The Grail quest is the medieval Christian image chosen to show the spiritual aspect of the ring quest.

The Arthur legends do have a quest for a ring which is critical to the survival of Arthur's kingdom. The ring of Arthur's quest is the gold marriage ring of Guinevere. To make himself a worthy suiter, he slays 12 troublesome giants and conquers 12 feuding kings. They are wed and an oath sworn upon the marriage ring.

Around the round table (part of Guinevere's dowry) an iron ring of knights is forged by swearing of oaths to the king and queen. It survives only as long as the oath sworn upon the gold marriage ring remains unbroken.

In The Lord of The Rings, the One Ring is evil, in The Volsunga Saga, the Ring of Andvari is cursed. In the Arthurian tradition, the gold ring is good so long as the oath sworn is true. However, whatever the origin of the rings, false oaths sworn on them don't go unpunished.

In The Volsung and Nibelung sagas, downfalls result directly from Sigurd's unwitting violation of the oath he swore to Brynhild when he gave her the ring of Andvari as a pledge of eternal love. Same with Arthur and Guinevere, chaos and anarchy are let loose.

In the Lord of the Rings, the ring is evil and Saroun deceives the elves into helping him forge the rings of power, than he secretly goes to Mt. Doom with lies and false promises to get the One Ring forged which will enslave the world. He builds his dark tower of Mordor thru the power of the ring. But when the ring is destroyed in Mt. Doom, the illusion of power vanishes and the Ring Lord and his servants are reduced to ashes as the Dark Tower collapses into a heap of rubble.

The heritage of the sword of the warrior king is naturally enough critical to all three heroes. Arthur has to draw out his sword from a stone in a contest. The other two heroes, Aragorn and Sigurd, receive broken swords which must be reforged.

However, all three swords break again. Sigmund's (Sigurds father) and Aragorn's sword breaks in battles with supernatural opponents, while Arthur's sword breaks when he makes an unrighteous attack on Sir Pellinore. It seems the Christian sword has a moral conscience.

Arthur is saved from death by the appearance of Merlin but Sigmund is slain when his weapon broke. Arthur undergoes a spiritual resurrection when saved by Merlin, and --in a sense--Sigmund is resurrected in his son Sigurd, and Elendil is resurrected in his descendent Aragorn.

The nature of Aragorn's sword owes something to both the Arthurian and Volsung traditions. Aragorn's sword was originally named Narsil, meaning "red and white flame', and was forged by the greatest of all Dwarf smiths, Telchar. It is reforged by the Elves of Rivendell for Aragorn and renamed 'Anduril', meaning "flame of the west.", and its blade glows red in sunlight and white in moonlight.

In the VOLSUNG tradition, the sword Odin drives into the tree and Sigmund wins was forged by the greatest of the elf smiths of Alfheim, Volund, whom the Saxons called Wayland. It has no formal name until it is reforged by the Dwarf Regin for Sigurd. It is then named Gram.

Arthur is simply given a sword by Vivien, the Lady of the Lake, who is comparable to Galadriel of Lothlorien, the elf Queen in the Ring Trilogy. Galadriel's gift to Aragorn is not a sword, but a sheath that makes the sword blade unstainable and unbreakable.

The most telling connection between the three heroes is displayed in the similarity of their mentors: Merlin, Odin and Gandalf.

Gandalf is more like Merlin than Odin, who was an immortal god. Originally Merlin was likely an old Celtic god who similarly visited mortals in this wizard form. Gandalf's origins are as a demi-god who is chosen as one of the five Istari to come to Middle earth to live among mortals.

In many of his powers Gandalf is far more like Odin. In his use of runes, incantations and wizard powers. Even his horse, Shadowfax, is Norse. But Tolkien uses both by having Gandalf with a double fate.

As Gandalf the Gray, after the battle at Moria with the Balrog, he falls into the bowels of the earth where he remains until resurrected as Gandalf the White. He meets his second end on Middle earth, when he sails on an elven ship to the immortal kingdom of the gods in Aman over the western sea.

This ending to The Lord of the Rings has one very important difference to the Arthur legends: It is not Aragorn as the wounded king who is taken to the land of the immortals, he is left in the mortal world. Rather, the 'wounded king' is Frodo the hobbit and ring bearer who sails on the Elf Queen Galadriel’s ship across the western sea. He is rightly the real hero of The Lord of the Rings.

In the end, it is the human qualities of the Hobbit that are finally what is required to prevail in the quest, or rather, anti-quest. At times it seems the Hobbits are a comic foil to the larger, heroic personalities of Men and elves, but nearly all the greatest deeds are achieved, or are caused to be achieved, by the Hobbits.

In the end, the Hobbits are the real heroes. It is humble Frodo Baggins, not the noble Aragorn, who achieves the ring quest. He does so at the cost of his health. The wounded Hobbit--like the wounded Arthur--is taken to be supernaturally healed. It is not Aragorn the King, but Frodo the hero of the heart, who is chosen to sail to the land of the immortals.