Forgive Us Our Trespasses: How Frodo’s Pity Draws from Jesus’ Most Famous Prayer
The Influence of the Lord's Prayer on The Lord of the Rings
Frodo stands above the Cracks of Doom, just a heartbeat away from the defeat of the Dark Lord Sauron and the salvation of Middle-earth. He has journeyed all the way from the Shire to the very fires of Mount Doom and is on the cusp of succeeding in his quest. But unexpectedly, he hesitates. And our excitement and joy as readers and viewers changes to horror and disbelief as catastrophe strikes. The hero who came so close to succeeding fails in his quest, claiming the Ring as his own and vanishing.
Then, out of the jaws of defeat: an unexpected turn! We catch our breath and tears may even fill our eyes as Gollum snatches the Ring from Frodo and falls into the fires by accident. The quest is completed! A eucatastrophe has risen from the ashes of catastrophe! Victory is won and joy fills our hearts.
The climax of The Return of the King is hardly your archetypical one where the hero succeeds in their quest and defeats the villain by their skill, luck, or some combination of the two. Instead of triumphing, Frodo fails. And salvation comes from one of the unlikeliest sources imaginable: Gollum.
How did Tolkien decide upon this sequence of events? Why confound our expectations in this way? Did these ideas originate solely within his imagination or were there any specific outside influences on the shape of the narrative?
You would probably not be surprised to hear that, as a Catholic, J.R.R. Tolkien’s faith influenced his work, including The Lord of the Rings. And you also might not be surprised to hear that Tolkien was familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. It’s one of the most famous prayers ever to be prayed, the example Jesus gave his disciples when he taught them how to pray during the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. But did you know that two specific petitions of The Lord’s Prayer directly influenced this particular scene from the climax of The Return of the King?
Found in chapter 6 of the Gospel of Matthew, the whole prayer is as follows:
This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done,
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.’
—Matthew 6:8-12
The influence of this prayer on the narrative of The Lord of the Rings is not made explicit anywhere within the text of the story itself. But in a draft of a letter Tolkien explains just how the Lord’s Prayer influenced the shape and course of the narrative.
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Speaking about the climactic scene, Tolkien writes:
“the 'catastrophe' exemplifies (an aspect of) the familiar words: 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'”
…there are abnormal situations in which one may be placed. 'Sacrificial' situations, I should call them: sc. positions in which the 'good' of the world depends on the behaviour of an individual in circumstances which demand of him suffering and endurance far beyond the normal even, it may happen (or seem, humanly speaking), demand a strength of body and mind which he does not possess: he is in a sense doomed to failure, doomed to fall to temptation or be broken by pressure against his 'will': that is against any choice he could make or would make unfettered, not under the duress.
Frodo was in such a position: an apparently complete trap: a person of greater native power could probably never have resisted the Ring's lure to power so long; a person of less power could not hope to resist it in the final decision.…
The Quest was bound to fail as a piece of world-plan, and also was bound to end in disaster as the story of humble Frodo's development to the 'noble', his sanctification. Fail it would and did as far as Frodo considered alone was concerned….
But at this point the 'salvation' of the world and Frodo's own 'salvation' is achieved by his previous pity and forgiveness of injury. At any point any prudent person would have told Frodo that Gollum would certainly* betray him, and could rob him in the end. To 'pity' him, to forbear to kill him, was a piece of folly, or a mystical belief in the ultimate value-in-itself of pity and generosity even if disastrous in the world of time. He did rob him and injure him in the end – but by a 'grace', that last betrayal was at a precise juncture when the final evil deed was the most beneficial thing any one cd. have done for Frodo! By a situation created by his 'forgiveness', he was saved himself, and relieved of his burden. (Letter 1811)
After saying that the climax (“catastrophe”) of The Lord of the Rings exemplifies the phrases “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us” and “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” Tolkien further describes the ideas of temptation and forgiveness at play in this excerpt from Letter 181. He begins with the idea of ‘temptation,’ noting that Frodo was likely the ideal candidate to carry the Ring, saying: “a person of greater native power could probably never have resisted the Ring's lure to power so long; a person of less power could not hope to resist it in the final decision.” Anyone stronger of will and might would not have been able to resist claiming the Ring for themselves before making it to Mount Doom; anyone weaker of might and will could not have hoped to cast away the Ring unto destruction.
Having journeyed long through increasingly severe trials, Frodo is then led into a “‘sacrificial’ situation” where the temptation he faces is beyond his powers of mind and body to resist. Despite how well suited he was for the task of carrying the ring, Frodo still fails in the end. He claims the Ring for himself, proving that the quest was in fact foolishness from the start. “Fail it would and did as far as Frodo considered alone was concerned.”
But crucially, Frodo was not alone in Mount Doom. Both Sam and Gollum were there with him, with Gollum’s presence there due in large part to Frodo’s pity for him. And perhaps even more significantly, there was another, hidden Presence influencing the events.
When Frodo and Sam finally come face to face with Gollum in the Emyn Muil in The Two Towers, Sam suggests tying Gollum up and leaving him behind. But Frodo hesitates, knowing that Gollum has not yet done them harm. As Gollum’s fate hangs in the balance, Frodo recalls the conversation he and Gandalf had in Bag End before he set out on this adventure:
“What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!”
“Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.”
“I am sorry,” said Frodo. “But I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for him…He deserves death.”
“Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. I have not much hope that Gollum can be cured before he dies, but there is a chance of it. And he is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or for ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many–yours not the least.” (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Chapter 2, “The Shadow of the Past,” 85-6)2
Inspired anew by Gandalf’s words, Frodo tells Sam “I will not touch the creature [Gollum]. For now that I see him, I do pity him” (The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter 1, “The Taming of Sméagol,” 262).3
From a purely logical or rational perspective, this is a foolish choice on Frodo’s part. “At any point any prudent person would have told Frodo that Gollum would certainly* betray him, and could rob him in the end,” Tolkien observes in Letter 181. And indeed, Sam does tell him this! Though Frodo says that Sméagol has done them no harm, Sam exclaims, “Oh hasn’t he!” He adds: “Anyway, he meant to, and he means to, I’ll warrant. Throttle us in our sleep, that’s his plan” (The Two Towers, 261).
And yet Frodo still pities Gollum.
So even though the quest is doomed to failure when Frodo is considered in a vacuum, his compassion for Gollum sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Frodo’s salvation and therefore the salvation of Middle-earth.
In another Letter, Tolkien expands more on this salvation:
“Frodo had done what he could and spent himself completely (as an instrument of Providence) and had produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved. His humility (with which he began) and his suffering were justly rewarded by the highest honor; and his exercise of patience and mercy towards Gollum gained him Mercy: his failure was redressed.” (Letter 246)
Although he himself failed, being overcome by the power of the Ring and succumbing to its temptation, Frodo’s mercy towards Gollum “gained him Mercy.” There is a clear motif of reciprocity in the way Tolkien interprets the petition for forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer and applies it to the circumstances in The Lord of the Rings.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive our trespassers.
This interpretation is not without merit. Jesus himself adds a coda to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6 that expands on the reciprocal nature of forgiveness as found in the prayer. “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV).
Frodo receiving Mercy for the mercy he showed Gollum exemplifies this pattern. Mercy sown is mercy reaped.
As Jesus put it earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7 NIV).
There’s another thread here to explore: that of the role of Providence in the outcome of the climax. Tolkien refers to Frodo as “an instrument of Providence” in Letter 246. Many times Gandalf alludes to the reality that several Powers are exerting influence over the course of events in Middle-earth: the Dark Lord Sauron’s will is not the only great Power working in the world. In Fellowship, while talking to Frodo in Bag End, Gandalf notes that “There was more than one power at work, Frodo…it [the Ring] abandoned Gollum. Only to be picked up by the most unlikely person imaginable: Bilbo from the Shire!”
He continues:
“Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and not by its maker. In which case you also were meant to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.” (Fellowship, 81)
And though “the wise cannot see all ends,” Gandalf comes close to guessing the importance of the role fate had for Gollum to play when he tells Frodo later in the same conversation:
he [Gollum] is bound up with the fate of the Ring. My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet, for good or for ill, before the end; and when that comes, the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many—yours not the least. (Fellowship, 86)
Describing how this fate came about, Tolkien explains in letter 192 that
“the cause (not the ‘hero’) was triumphant, because by the exercise of pity, mercy, and forgiveness of injury, a situation was produced in which all was redressed and disaster averted. Gandalf certainly foresaw this…Of course, he did not mean to say that one must be merciful, for it may prove useful later – it would not then be mercy or pity, which are only truly present when contrary to prudence. Not ours to plan! But we are assured that we must be ourselves extravagantly generous, if we are to hope for the extravagant generosity which the slightest easing of, or escape from, the consequences of our own follies and errors represents.”
Frodo’s will and power were just enough to bring the Ring to the fires of Mount Doom, which is more than almost anyone else in Middle-earth could have done. It was at that critical moment, Tolkien continues, that the final hidden Presence exerted its influence: “[t]he Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself)....”
Yes, Frodo fails. But the One, Eru Ilúvatar, who has already employed Frodo as his instrument up to this point of the story, does not. He steps in, using the very mercy that Frodo extended to Gollum to return mercy back to Frodo, while at the same time accomplishing the object of Frodo’s quest and the salvation of Middle-earth. Providence accomplishes what mere mortal will could not. Though Frodo is led into a temptation he could never hope to resist, Ilúvatar delivers him from evil. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
So what do we take from this, then? We cannot simply be merciful for the express purpose of earning future mercies. We should not attempt to “game the system” of Providence to create a storehouse of mercies we can redeem when the need arises. As Tolkien says, it would not then really be mercy or pity! Rather, it seems that if we too believe there is an Unseen Power working behind the scenes of history, One who works all things together according to his will for the good of those who love Him,4 then we should seek to be characterized by mercy.
Christians, Tolkien included, believe that each and every individual has, like Frodo, failed in their quest to do good. There is no effort or power strong enough available to those who would seek to accomplish their own salvation. We have all failed, fallen short. But God has not failed. In forgiving our sins, God has shown great mercy on each person who believes.
More than that, the Writer of the Story has entered the story and has himself snatched victory from the jaws of death, eucatastrophe from the ashes of catastrophe.
The Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story…Of course I do not mean that the Gospels tell what is only fairy-story; but I do mean very strongly that they do tell a fairy-story: the greatest. (Letter 89)
How could those who have been shown a great mercy such as this fail to themselves show mercy to others? So let us be merciful, “extravagantly generous” as Tolkien put it, as Bilbo and Frodo were merciful. Let us forgive those who trespass against us. May we be delivered from evil, reaping mercy from what we have sown.
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There and Back Again
Since this is year two of Jokien with Tolkien, I’ll start linking back to the previous year’s essay for paid subscribers just in case you haven’t gotten that far back in the archives or you want to read it again if you’ve been here for the whole journey!
Here’s January 2023’s Extended Edition Essay:
To Discuss:
Do you remember your first reaction to reading or watching this scene in The Return of the King play out? How did you respond to watching Frodo fail but then Good still triumph?
Were you aware of this connection between the Lord’s Prayer and The Lord of the Rings? What do you think of it?
Have you ever been in a situation where you gave mercy or forgiveness and saw it come back to you in a way?
Appendices
Last time I had one of these polls I asked what the general topic I should write about in a future essay and “Amazon’s The Rings of Power” received the most votes. So in this poll I’d like to drill down even further. What topics about The Rings of Power would you like to see in a future Extended Edition Essay ?
Please sound off in the comments if you have specific suggestions, hopes, or input!
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Tolkien was writing to Michael Straight, the editor of New Republic, who was going to review The Lord of the Rings and had sent some questions to Tolkien about the story. All citations of the letters come from the Revised and Expanded edition of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (New York: Ballantine Books, 1965).
I have quoted the actual conversation that Gandalf and Frodo have in Fellowship, but the actual words that Frodo recalls in The Two Towers are slightly different:
“What a pity Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!”
“Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need.”
I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death.”
“Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give that to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.
“What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!” (The Two Towers, 262).
This version of the conversation is more concise. Gone are the comments about Bilbo beginning his ownership of the Ring with Pity, Frodo’s apology and sharing he is frightened, and Gandalf’s comments about Gollum being caught up with the fate of the Ring. Perhaps most interestingly, instead of remembering Gandalf saying “Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment,” Frodo recalls Gandalf as saying “Do not be too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety.”
Tolkien took such care with his work that it’s hard to imagine this being an error. If it was intentional, it’s interesting to speculate what is going on here. Is it simply a comment on the fallibility of memory? Is it just whittled down to not be so long? Or is there more going on?
If there’s an “official” answer, I’m unaware of it. But I think at least the change from “judgement” to “justice, fearing for your own safety” may be Frodo—even subconsciously—taking Gandalf’s general warning and applying it to the specific instance he is in with Gollum.
Tolkien, The Two Towers (New York: Ballantine Books, 1965).
Never heard of the Lord's prayer connection. That is interesting. Tolkien goes deliberately for a kind-of divine intervention, which today is considered weak storytelling. I think he employs it quite well but I also remember thinking that it was a little convenient for Gollum to just get the Ring and then accidentally fall in the novel, which is why I preferred the change in Jackson's adaptation.
Despite having lost his finger, Frodo resumes fighting Gollum for the Ring, like a man possessed. Here then, the Ring's destruction is somewhat less accidental and results more directly from the main character's actions. Thus, Frodo still fails but his failure is more obviously successful.
Excellent article! Great food for thought.