Echoes of Easter and Eucatastrophe

Reflections for Easter Sunday

At the End of all Things. Illustration by Matěj Čadil (2022)

After the One Ring is destroyed and the Eagles bear Frodo and Sam from the slopes of Mount Doom, Sam wakes in a soft bed under a canopy of trees with a sweet scent in the air.

In wonder he asks aloud, “Where are we?” To his surprise, he is answered by Gandalf, whom he last saw plummeting to certain death into the depths of Khazad-dûm alongside the Balrog.

But instead of the familiar Gandalf the Grey, he is greeted by Gandalf “robed in white, his beard now gleaming like pure snow in the twinkling of the leafy sunlight” (The Return of the King, 246).¹

Astonished and “between bewilderment and great joy,” Sam is struck speechless. But at last he gathers himself and says:

Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world? (Ibid.)

“A great Shadow has departed,” Gandalf says, and then laughs. The sound falls upon Sam’s ears “like the echo of all the joys he had ever known.”

Credit: New Line Cinema

But instead of laughing, Sam bursts into tears. He wept as he fled from Moria for the grief of losing Gandalf, and now he weeps again finding Gandalf alive and waiting for him as he wakes.

These tears clear the way for his own laughter “as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer.” For then Sam’s “tears ceased, and his laughter welled up” (246-7).

We see this same mixture of grief and love, tears and laughter a few pages later. The Host of the West (the victorious armies of Gondor, Rohan, and their allies) is gathered together on the Field of Cormallen. To celebrate the victory over Sauron and honor the Ringbearers Sam and Frodo, a minstrel sings the song of “Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom.”

Hearing the name of the song that will be sung, Sam “laughed aloud for sheer delight, and he stood up and cried: ‘O great glory and splendour! And all my wishes have come true!’ And then he wept” (249).

He is not the only one to laugh and weep, for all the assembled host do as well:

And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness. (249-50).

Of course, everything sad has not really “come untrue” in this tale. Gandalf did in fact actually still die, and many other sorrows and hardships followed. But Providence worked these sad events into a glorious greater good: the defeat of Sauron. “A great Shadow has departed,” as Gandalf put it. And there is great joy and rejoicing in the aftermath.

In Gandalf’s resurrection, the passing of the Shadow with the fall of Sauron, and the conclusion to The Lord of the Rings we find echoes of another Fairy Story and the greatest “eucatastrophe,” or “sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears” (Letter 89) there ever was:

The Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story – and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love.
—Letter 89

As Gandalf fell in his battle to overcome the Balrog, so Jesus became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. As Gandalf was raised by the Eru Ilúvatar himself and sent back to complete his mission in a new and glorified body, so the Father raised Christ from the dead on the first Easter Sunday. As Gandalf revealed himself to Sam the gardener and shared the good news that he has returned and the Shadow has been defeated, so Jesus revealed himself to Mary Magdalene in the Garden (where she mistook him for a gardener) with the Good News of his return and triumph over Sin and Death.

As we ponder these echoes of the gospel story, we may ask along with Sam, “Is everything sad going to come untrue?” The answer is yes and no. Everything sad will not be undone as if it never happened. The risen Christ still bore the scars of his crucifixion on his resurrected body. But everything sad will be redeemed, made new, and worked for the ultimate glory of God and good of his people.

In the Easter story, we see that the restoration and redemption of all things has already begun. The power of Sin and Death are broken. The way to God through Christ is open. The Love of God, displayed on the Cross, is available to all who would believe.

But though the process has begun, many sad things remain true. While their power is broken, we still struggle with the presence of Sin and Death. Despite the abundant joy to be found in this life, there is much sorrow that remains as well.

While we may not see the resolution or reconciliation of sad things being made new—worked “together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” as Romans 8:28 says—in our lifetimes, we trust that are sure to see it in the next.

For now we wait, commemorating Christ’s triumph and resurrection each Easter Sunday with our own mixture of joy and sorrow, tears and laughter, while we look forward to the day when Christ will wipe every tear from our eyes and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.

Is everything sad going to come untrue?

The one seated on the throne in heaven answers, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

Happy Easter, friends. He is risen!

Interested in More on LOTR and Easter? Here’s a few of my past newsletters on the connections:

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1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King (New York: Del Rey, 2018).