On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue with Tolkien and Lewis
by  Louis A. Markos, Peter Kreeft (Foreword)

5 out of 5 stars

This book explores the classical virtues and vices through the lens of Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia. Although they may be fantasy, these stories guide us to live a life of virtue. As the characters in fiction represent virtues such as courage and faith, we can be inspired to follow in their footsteps in our own life stories. They teach us to fight for justice, to cling to hope, and live with temperance.

This book does include spoilers for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and all of the Chronicles of Narnia, so you have to have read those books before diving into this study.

The first section of this book talks about the “lure of the road” and how each of us begins our own adventures. Just as Frodo has to choose to take the Ring to Mordor, we must choose how we want to live and what sort of moral compass we will follow. We might be tempted to follow some other dark road, but we must continually choose to stay on the path of righteousness even when things look grim. The characters in fantasy quests are willing to let go of all that is familiar and strike out into the unknown, and that is where their transformation begins as they mature and grow into the best version of themselves.

The second section of the book deals with the classical virtues from Greco-Roman traditions: courage, temperance, wisdom, justice.
Courage is not just the bravery to get the job done in the face of danger, but also the fortitude to endure day after day of boring responsibilities, just as the hobbits in Lord of the Rings had to endure miles and miles of boring hiking and then also have the courage to stand in battle. Courage is when you are overwhelmed with the strain of your duties, but you continue to do them anyway.

Temperance is not just self-control, but also finding a balance in all things. People sometimes think of temperance as not being allowed to enjoy anything for fear of overindulgence. Temperance is not about denying yourself any pleasures, but about not letting pleasures control you. You need temperance to balance all the facets of life. If courage is too rash and reckless, that is just an unbalanced as having no courage at all. Proper courage is temperate and wise. All the virtues work together in a well-balanced personality.

Wisdom is all about discernment and using knowledge properly to make good decisions. All the villains in Lord of the Rings are very smart, but they make poor decisions because they don’t apply their knowledge correctly. They become fools because they can’t discern the value of the people in the world around them. When Frodo looks into Galadriel’s mirror, she tells him that she thinks he will have the wisdom to interpret what he sees. Just having the knowledge is not enough; you must also correctly judge between what is right and wrong.

Justice is not about perfect equality or even fairness, but about what is right and harmonious. True justice brings people and things into their proper relationships with the world around them. A balanced society will have a harmony of justice that mirrors the justice and mercy of God, just as Aragorn’s reign at the end of Lord of the Rings brings both healing and rightful punishment.

The next section explores the theological virtues: Friendship, Faith, Hope, and Love.

C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien considered friendship to be the purest form of love, and their books certainly reflect that. We see the unlikely friendship between Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf, whose peoples have been at war for hundreds of years. Despite their differences, they find healing and devotion in their friendship. Merry and Pippin and Sam refuse to be left behind when Frodo goes on his quest, because their loyalty compels them to support their friend.

Faith and hope work very closely together to fill a heart with trusting confidence in a higher purpose and a higher power that is working for their good. Those who are faithful in their calling have hope that no matter how dark the road may seem, there is light and reward at the end of that journey. However, Boromir lost his faith in Frodo’s quest, and his fear made him grasp to get the Ring for himself. But Sam kept his hope alive, even in the darkness of Mordor. Sam knows that he himself may never live to see the stars again, but the fact that the starlight still remains gives him hope for the world beyond his own small experience. He has faith that there is a happy ending waiting for him, either in this world or the next.

Love is the epitome and crux of all the virtues together. In this section the author talks about how Frodo and Bilbo show pity to Gollum, who is not at all deserving of pity or kindness. The merciful love that they show to Gollum says more about their own hearts than it does about Gollum, who is utterly unlovable. The author says that “Love is the movement out of narcissism.” The reason that Frodo and Bilbo can show compassion to Gollum is because they can vaguely imagine what it must be like to be him. They can imagine his misery and his slavery to the magic of the Ring, and so they show sympathy for him as they move out of their own experience and imagine the experience of another. That demonstration of love changes the entire story and drives the fates of every character.

The last section deals with the lack of virtue and what consequences we might see in our own lives if we fail to cultivate the virtues. The author explores the temptation of forbidden fruit and how modern society has romanticized the Byronic hero who succumbs to temptation in defiance of all moral codes. Their lust for power and autonomy makes them cast out all that is good and embrace evil, just as Boromir and Saruman and other fallen heroes do in Lord of the Rings. But the true heroes choose humble obedience and set aside their own desires to do what is righteous and embrace what is best.

Evil does not exist in a vacuum. It cannot create anything original; it can only corrupt and poison things that were good, twisting them for its own deviant purposes. So we see that Sauron cannot understand anything that is good; he cannot imagine that anyone would want to destroy the Ring, so he is blinded to the true nature of Frodo’s quest. Just as the White Witch hates Aslan’s beautiful song of creation in The Magician’s Nephew, evil cannot abide the light and chooses to turn away blind rather than allow the light to expose and cleanse the corruption within.

I really loved that this book brought in many Christian examples and Bible verses to further explore each virtue in its purest form in the person of Christ. It brought so much depth to each subject and really solidified the eternal meaning of living a life of virtue.

The writing is compelling and inspiring! I loved how the different subjects are organized and how each chapter builds on the previous ideas until you have a comprehensive picture of how all the virtues work together and how the stories of Lewis and Tolkien are saturated with Christian imagery and beliefs.

It was especially interesting to see the comparisons between Greco-Roman moral traditions and the morality of the Bible, and then see how those moral codes are further explored and demonstrated in Lewis and Tolkien’s fantasy stories.

I found this so inspiring that I looked up the author on Youtube and found several interviews and lectures to listen to, and I really want to read some of his other books!