Tolkien’s Problematic Fathers

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

One of the more interesting threads I’ve seen around here is Tolkien the Matricide. I had thought that I could simply bump that thread back up with a new post, but my thinking about the topic soon led me away from the initial intent and toward what I think is a new topic: Tolkien’s Problematic Fathers.

There’s no denying that the fathers in Tolkien’s works are better off than the mothers – the dad’s tend not be killed off! But on the other hand, the fathers do tend to be rather bad news for their children, or for their children’s friends and/or lovers. Elrond and Turgon, for example, made things pretty sticky for Aragorn and Beren simply because they didn’t like the idea of their daughters marrying Men. The examples from The Lord of the Rings are even more telling:

Denethor: loves Boromir to the point where his son’s death drives the father mad; does not value Faramir who is, unmistakeably, the worthier son in many ways.

Theoden: his son is killed while he is too busy being seduced or corrupted by Saruman; he ignores his duties to Eowyn and Eomer.

Bilbo: Frodo’s adoptive father lands him into a whole peck of trouble by giving him the Ring.

At the same time, there is a profound emphasis in the tale on the necessity of and for good fathers: Aragorn and Sam really and finally fulfil their roles as heroes when they become fathers. I would argue that Frodo takes on a paternal role toward Gollum in his guidance and protection of him, coupled with the clear mastery that he wields over the person who is, in many ways, an image of Frodo himself. Theoden is redeemed of his mistakes not so much by his reawakening by Gandalf, nor even by his success at Helm’s Deep, but by the way in which he finally reforges his relationship with Eowyn and accepts her as someone whom he can trust to lead his people.

Which leads me to a rather wild theory, but bear with me: the battle between Good and Evil in Middle-earth is in some ways a battle between benevolent fatherhood and patriarchal control. Eru is a good father: he loves his children, gives them guidance and all that they will need to succeed and be happy, and then, when they are ready, he lets them have lives of their own. He feels sad when they make mistakes but he does not interfere, nor does he punish them or help them (except sometimes, when it is clear that they really do need his help, and that this help is deserved and will not diminish their freedom and independence). He is not an absent father, but an involved observer.

Sauron (and before him Melkor), on the other hand, never wants to relinquish control of those he brings into the world; what’s worse, he doesn’t like the idea of anyone being an independent child of his and so he attempts to forcibly ‘adopt’ all the living beings he can. Without opening a whole different can of worms…one of the things that the discussions about Orcs and the possibility of their repenting always brings up is the idea of how much are they effected by their ‘upbringing’ under Sauron. In a way, we can look at the servants of Mordor as abused children who have been so battered that they cannot get out from under the violent patriarchal control of their domineering father: like all abused children they end up internalising the domineering gaze of their father (the “eye”) and even attempt to curry favour with their abuser so as to avoid further abuse.

(I don’t normally draw connections between the text and the author’s biography, but in this case I can’t help but wonder how much of this might be a reflection of the fact that Tolkien began these stories of hobbits for his children, and that he wrote LotR “for” Michael and Christopher?)

All of this might be a way for us to look at the nature of heroism in LotR: the way to be a hero in this world is to start thinking like a good father? Sam begins his journey with Frodo as a gardener and ends it as a father, and not just to the thirteen kids that Rosie has for him, but through the increasingly caretaking role that he adopts for Frodo. Frodo takes on, as I have already suggested, a paternal role toward Gollum. Gandalf acts in a paternal way to both Bilbo and Frodo, by teaching them, advising them and guiding them toward good decisions without forcing anything. Aragorn’s journey too, perhaps, is one from being a son (at his childhood home in Rivendell with his adoptive father Elrond) to becoming a father of Aldarion and of his people.

So what’s going on here? Is the story really about the necessity of good fathers, or about the necessity of some kind of ‘balance’ forged between good fathers and good mothers – this latter idea is interesting in light of the Matricide thread. Is the tale upholding the idea of father-as-god or father-as-king? Is it working within and for a very hierarchical and patriarchal view of society with the father-knows-best authority-figures taking care of their child-like-inferiors? Or is there some other kind of father-child relationship being developed here?

Is it really all about being a good father?