I’ve been thinking a lot about Tolkien.

It is often remarked that a central thesis of his books is that evil provides the means of its own defeat. Sauron crafted the One Ring that killed him, Shelob impaled herself of Sam’s blade, Smaug exposed his belly to Bilbo and let him see the weak point.

I think it is less often commented on that the corollary to that is that good must still act to use those weaknesses. The Ring did not cast itself into the fires of Mt Doom but was brought by the Hobbits. Shelob was only able to impale herself because Sam kept his arm strong and held it out. The black arrow still needed to be shot into Smaug’s belly.

And a final point that I don’t see often enough is that Tolkien clearly believes good only loses if it surrenders to hopelessness. Denethor’s suicide driven by fear would have broken Minas Tirith if not for the Fellowship, Frodo would have fallen to despair if Sam had not been there to carry him, if Bilbo had seen the shot as hopeless then he never could have warned of the weak spot.

But because in those cases someone provided hope, good triumphed.

I don’t know. I’ve just been thinking about that a lot lately for some.

@estrogenandspite As long as there is Hope, there is Light. I think Tolkien wrote to show there is always a Way to move on. Whatever happens do not give up.

@estrogenandspite @zakalwe We have to do the journey ourselves — there are no eagles coming.

@estrogenandspite hobbit was one of the good we had at primary school… i wish we had such things later too and not only "how they were suffering in auschwitz/russian gulags"… jeez 🙄

@estrogenandspite I mean, Frodo and Gandalf and Aragorn get all the hubbub, but the real GOAT of lord of the rings is Samwise Gamgee. My dude is just a gardener who likes cooking and hanging out with his best bud - and goes into the most dangerous and scary places facing down the undead and giant monsters because he won’t let his pal down. His undefeatable optimism is the only reason Frodo gets up that damn mountain and the ring is destroyed. And he comes out the other side of the war with the resiliency to still live after all the trauma they endured.

We need more Sam’s in the world

@estrogenandspite One of the biggest losses in the Lord of the Rings movies is how explicitly clear the books make it that despair and hopelessness are weapons for evil. And they are the most dangerous weapons.

@estrogenandspite At the risk of summoning a lot of haters haha you might even say "That's how we're gonna win: not fighting what we hate, but saving what we love.." This is evident in Sam especially but really in every hobbit-as-hero.