I am one who loves The Lord of the Rings. Many other people have fallen in love with the work of Tolkien, especially "The Lord of The Rings". What many people do not know is that the Faith of Tolkien had a major role to play in his writing.
Tolkien was a devout Catholic, daily communicant (for Non Catholics who are not familiar with what that means, it means that he was one who lived the faith all through and through and who went to daily Mass and received Jesus in the Blessed Eucharist every day)
His Mother was a convert to the faith while he was very young, and when her family found out about her decision, they essentially abandoned her, withdrew any financial support they had provided when Tolkien's Father died a few years earlier. It was very hard for her to raise and take care of her 2 boys. Eventually she died a few years later. Tolkien called his Mother a martyr. (see About Tolkien) She was the example for him and he would have made her proud in matters of his faith if she had lived to see him grow up.
Tolkien has been misunderstood my many and still some get confused when they hear that The Lord of The Rings is a "Catholic" story. I think some are confused at what allegory is and what Tolkien believed it was. A good comparison is The Lord of The Rings verses The Chronicles of Narnia. If you are not familiar with the books (see Tolkien's friends) something very obvious in C.S Lewis' books is the character Aslan who is a lion. Now he is meant to be a "Christ figure" In Tolkiens books, there is no one who is to represent solely "Christ" The different characters at times mirror Christ, for example when Gandalf falls into shadow with the Balrog, he has a kind of resurrection/transfiguration afterwards. Frodo at times mirrors Jesus in his carrying the cross and other virtues and such. But no one is to represent solely Jesus.
The Character of Galadriel is my personal favorite in the Lord of the Rings, for many reasons, but mainly because when Tolkien made her in the books, he had Mary our Blessed Mother in mind. She was not meant to be "Mary" but Mary was who he had in mind when he made her character pure, humble, gentle and such, characteristics of Mary. Really cool!
If you want more details about Tolkiens Faith, go get The book called "Tolkien Man and Myth" by Joseph Pearce. You can get the books from Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Ignatius press, basically at any book store. I am half way through this book and loving it. It is very detailed and enlightening and far more better than me trying to put in my own words what I read. *smile*
