The most recent issue of Time magazine has a wonderful article about the new Star Wars movie and what drives the magic of that universe. Care to take a guess as to what it is? Hope. To quote the article, "Hope: it's the keystone concept in the Star Wars legendarium. One of the eternal mysteries of Star Wars is that it looks like science fiction, with robots and lasers and such, but at the same time it's set far in the past and has the dustiness and feel of ancient history. It catches you up in a double-reverse, a temporal anomaly subtler than anything in Star Trek, that leaves you with a strange nostalgic longing for the future. And what is hope but a longing for the future?" Y'all. If this does not sum up the magic of The Lord of the Rings as well then I do not know what does. Especially at this point, where now there is but the faintest of hopes. What do you have but to go on, to cling to that hope with all you have?
I have been thinking of hope a lot this past week, with it being the start of Advent. I do not think I have been more aware of how much I need the hope of Christ. Indeed, I almost believe that the Church in America has forgotten in Whom our hope resides. Refugees, terrorism, Syria, France, the political races — all of it serves to cloud our vision, to draw our attention away from the hope we have in Christ, the hope that our world is in such desperate need of. In LOTR the hope is that the Ring will be destroyed, that Sauron will not be able to conquer Middle Earth and usher in unending pain, death, and destruction. Even now, with the armies of Men making a last stand at the Black Gate, there is little hope to be had. It is better, though, to give their lives in a last desperate attempt than to live in the world that will come if they fail. There is no room for apathy or despair or cynicism. The hope of victory is too small to allow room for any of these attitudes because they will overpower hope. One must push aside these and cling to hope, to do the hard things even with only the slightest promise of victory because life under Sauron would be too intolerable to sustain. How different would our own world be if we grabbed onto hope and did not let cynicism or apathy rule our actions, thoughts, and words?
1. Why can Eowyn defeat the King of the Ringwraiths? Is she a likable character?
2. Gandalf tells Denethor that "Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of your death... and only heathen kings, under the domination of the Dark Power, did thus, slaying themselves in pride and despair, murdering their kin to ease their own death". Compare Denethor's actions with Aragorn's. Why are Denethor's actions anathema to some one like Aragorn?
3. Why does Aragorn not come into Minas Tirith as king? Why does he want to wait to claim that title?
4. What is Sauron waiting for? Why does Gandalf want to keep his focus on Minas Tirith and the armies gathered there?
We are starting the last book this week :( Book VI, Ch. I-V. HOPE y'all have a wonderful week!!
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