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Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many
Illuminating the central struggle in The Lord of the Rings to deepen understanding of the whole of Tolkien’s legendarium In this remarkable work of close reading and analysis, Thomas P. Hillman gets to the heart of the tension between pity and the desire for power in J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. As the book traces the entangled story of the One Ring and its effects, we come to understand Tolkien’s central while pity is necessary for destroying the Ring, it cannot save the Ring-bearer from the Ring’s lies and corruption. In composing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien explored the power of the Ring and the seeming powerlessness of pity. All the themes his mythology had come to encompass―death and immortality, fate and free will, divine justice and the problem of evil, power and war―took on a new dimension in the journey of Frodo Baggins. Hillman’s attention to specific etymologies and patterns of words used in the text, complemented by his judicious use of Tolkien’s letters, earlier drafts of the novels, and Tolkien’s essays, leads to illuminating and original insights. Instead of turning his interpretation to allegory or apologetics, Hillman demonstrates how the story works metaphorically, allowing Tolkien to embrace both Catholic views and pagan mythology. With this fresh understanding of familiar material, Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring will ignite new discussions and deeper appreciation among Tolkien readers and scholars alike.
- GenresNonfiction
320 pages, Paperback
Published December 19, 2023
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124 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 16, 2023
Outstandingly thoughtful and profound. Well done, Tom. I will be recommending this book to anyone who ever suggests that Tolkien doesn’t care about subtle characterization.
July 20, 2025
This book can be challenging. It is extremely detailed and in-depth. Its audience is those who want to go deep into the story, characters, and themes contained in The Lord of the Rings. However, if that is you, this book is one of the most thorough journeys through what is going on behind the text. It is not a light read, but it does follow details of theme and characterization all the way down to word choice, drafts, and intent without losing the heart of the story. In fact, putting that heart on full display for those willing to go on the journey with the author.
January 10, 2024
The author is a classicist who has spent a half-century reading and re-reading The Lord of the Rings. The result is a thoughtful and engaging close reading and argument, with plenty of wit and Shakespearean allusions. What's not to like?
January 17, 2024
An ambitious book that explores the theme of pity throughout the entirety of The Lord of the Rings by focusing on Frodo and Gollum primarily. It also touches on material from The Hobbit and The Silmarillion and other works by Tolkien, but Frodo’s pity for Gollum and its relationship to the One Ring is the main through line of the book. Some excellent interpretations and close readings make this book well worth the read for Tolkien scholars and fans.
October 18, 2025
In Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring, Thomas Hillman did a deep dive on one of the most important themes in the Lord of the Rings (LoTR). He painstakingly analyzed the text of the LoTR from the first chapters through to the bitter sweet end. Along the way, he brought in quotations from Tolkien's letters and other works of Tolkien.
"The real theme for me is about something much more permanent and difficult. Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race "doomed" to leave and seemingly lose it, the anguish in the hearts of a race "doomed" not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete." (Tolkien Letters no. 186)"
Tolkien used the word "Pity" many times throughout the LoTR. It is clear from early on -- in the Shadow of the Past -- that Gandalf, at least, believed that those whose hearts were compassionate would be protected from the worst effects of the Ring. Yet, even there, the Ring could turn that desire to do good to something evil.
"The desire that one would seek to gratify through the Ring -- whether it is Gandalf's "desire of strength to do good," Galadriel's and Boromir's desire to defeat evil and to rule, or even Frodo's to destroy the Ring itself and save the Shire -- is the substance, the mass, as it were, on which the Ring exerts its pull."
The point is that the Ring is corrupting. For someone who desired power to do good, it would seem to offer them the power to fulfill those desires. The only real solution from the standpoint of the mighty was to turn down the power the Ring offered.
"This, I think, is a problem faced often but by no means exclusively by scholars who examine the Lord of the Rings from a Christian perspective, not always successfully. By focusing too narrowly on how Frodo suffers and sacrifices to save the Shire and destroy the Ring, we can develop a simple image of him as saintly or even messianic. Yet, the longer Frodo has the Ring and the closer he comes to the source of its power, the more both darkness and light grow within him and advance his weary feet. Without the chiaroscuro the shadow of his faults brings to his nobility, our understanding can only be incomplete."
There is a long discussion of Tom Bombadil and the seeming lack of the Ring to have power over him. Since Tom has no desire to rule over anything, the Ring has no hold over him.
"Because he is his own master, the Ring has no power over Tom; and he is his own master because the desire to dominate or possess is not in him."
Later on, Hillman posits Shelob as almost an anti-Bombadil -- a creature fully evil, but indifferent to power. Instead, she only desired to consume and grow her own destructive essence.
When Frodo pulled the Lady's Glass from his pack to reveal its light shining in the darkness, it also revealed him.
"What the light reveals, however, is not Earendil or Beren. Rather it is "Frodo, hobbit of the Shire," hardly a heroic epithet to match Beren One-Hand or even Earendil the Mariner. Yet it is not mockery. For they are all part of the same tale..."
Hillman brings a bit of Tolkien's analysis of The Battle of Maldon, an Old English poem -- perhaps the last one composed before the Norman Conquest. Sam is like these Anglo-Saxon men, defeated at the battle and yet different too.
"As Hammond and Scull have noted, the hardening of Sam's will as he wearies beneath the burden of the Ring is a clear echo of the famous lines in the Old English poem, The Battle of Maldon, lines which Tolkien rendered as "Will shall be the sterner, heart the bolder, spirit the greater, as our strength lessens."
"Love of his master and plain hobbit sense allow his humility and his reason to shrink the hero back down to a terrified halfling gardener. Thus, unlike Beorhtnoth whom ofermod moved to make a grand and foolish choice, Sam, can in this moment see through the lies of glory and renewal grown from his fantasies by the power of the Ring. He rejects the choice of Beorhtnoth as he had previously done that of Beorhtnoth's heorpwerod."
I could put a dozen more quotes in here. Tolkien was a master of figuring out after the fact what his work actually meant and his letters and other writings are able to be mined.
It seems that Tolkien realized that Frodo failed in his quest and this failure, along with the loss of the Ring, left him a shell of himself. Anyone with greater power would never have gotten so far along the path without claiming the Ring for himself, but on the other hand, only Bombadil would have had such a lack of desire for the Ring in order to attempt its destruction.
I hesitate to know whether to recommend this book. It is a scholarly book that draws on many sources. Maybe it helps the reader to understand some of the themes better of this wonderful work, but maybe, through deep analysis, it steals some of the joy of the story.
Gandalf told Saruman that "He who breaks something to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom." This is true and at the same time, if we understand how Pity and the Ring's Power play across this great story, we will understand the beauty of what Tolkien created here.
"The real theme for me is about something much more permanent and difficult. Death and Immortality: the mystery of the love of the world in the hearts of a race "doomed" to leave and seemingly lose it, the anguish in the hearts of a race "doomed" not to leave it, until its whole evil-aroused story is complete." (Tolkien Letters no. 186)"
Tolkien used the word "Pity" many times throughout the LoTR. It is clear from early on -- in the Shadow of the Past -- that Gandalf, at least, believed that those whose hearts were compassionate would be protected from the worst effects of the Ring. Yet, even there, the Ring could turn that desire to do good to something evil.
"The desire that one would seek to gratify through the Ring -- whether it is Gandalf's "desire of strength to do good," Galadriel's and Boromir's desire to defeat evil and to rule, or even Frodo's to destroy the Ring itself and save the Shire -- is the substance, the mass, as it were, on which the Ring exerts its pull."
The point is that the Ring is corrupting. For someone who desired power to do good, it would seem to offer them the power to fulfill those desires. The only real solution from the standpoint of the mighty was to turn down the power the Ring offered.
"This, I think, is a problem faced often but by no means exclusively by scholars who examine the Lord of the Rings from a Christian perspective, not always successfully. By focusing too narrowly on how Frodo suffers and sacrifices to save the Shire and destroy the Ring, we can develop a simple image of him as saintly or even messianic. Yet, the longer Frodo has the Ring and the closer he comes to the source of its power, the more both darkness and light grow within him and advance his weary feet. Without the chiaroscuro the shadow of his faults brings to his nobility, our understanding can only be incomplete."
There is a long discussion of Tom Bombadil and the seeming lack of the Ring to have power over him. Since Tom has no desire to rule over anything, the Ring has no hold over him.
"Because he is his own master, the Ring has no power over Tom; and he is his own master because the desire to dominate or possess is not in him."
Later on, Hillman posits Shelob as almost an anti-Bombadil -- a creature fully evil, but indifferent to power. Instead, she only desired to consume and grow her own destructive essence.
When Frodo pulled the Lady's Glass from his pack to reveal its light shining in the darkness, it also revealed him.
"What the light reveals, however, is not Earendil or Beren. Rather it is "Frodo, hobbit of the Shire," hardly a heroic epithet to match Beren One-Hand or even Earendil the Mariner. Yet it is not mockery. For they are all part of the same tale..."
Hillman brings a bit of Tolkien's analysis of The Battle of Maldon, an Old English poem -- perhaps the last one composed before the Norman Conquest. Sam is like these Anglo-Saxon men, defeated at the battle and yet different too.
"As Hammond and Scull have noted, the hardening of Sam's will as he wearies beneath the burden of the Ring is a clear echo of the famous lines in the Old English poem, The Battle of Maldon, lines which Tolkien rendered as "Will shall be the sterner, heart the bolder, spirit the greater, as our strength lessens."
"Love of his master and plain hobbit sense allow his humility and his reason to shrink the hero back down to a terrified halfling gardener. Thus, unlike Beorhtnoth whom ofermod moved to make a grand and foolish choice, Sam, can in this moment see through the lies of glory and renewal grown from his fantasies by the power of the Ring. He rejects the choice of Beorhtnoth as he had previously done that of Beorhtnoth's heorpwerod."
I could put a dozen more quotes in here. Tolkien was a master of figuring out after the fact what his work actually meant and his letters and other writings are able to be mined.
It seems that Tolkien realized that Frodo failed in his quest and this failure, along with the loss of the Ring, left him a shell of himself. Anyone with greater power would never have gotten so far along the path without claiming the Ring for himself, but on the other hand, only Bombadil would have had such a lack of desire for the Ring in order to attempt its destruction.
I hesitate to know whether to recommend this book. It is a scholarly book that draws on many sources. Maybe it helps the reader to understand some of the themes better of this wonderful work, but maybe, through deep analysis, it steals some of the joy of the story.
Gandalf told Saruman that "He who breaks something to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom." This is true and at the same time, if we understand how Pity and the Ring's Power play across this great story, we will understand the beauty of what Tolkien created here.
April 18, 2024
A thoughtful and deep dive into the main themes of not only The Lord of the Rings, but J.R.R. Tolkien's entire legendarium. Hillman not only does a razor close reading of the text, but brings in Classical, linguistic, and religious background to give some wonderful insights about Frodo, Bilbo, Gollum, and the Ring. Hillman also connects with other Tolkien scholars and lovers, bringing as many voices as possible into his discussion.
The highest compliment I can give a book about Tolkien is that it made me want to immediately start rereading all the books, and 'Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring' gave me that feeling from the first chapter.
The highest compliment I can give a book about Tolkien is that it made me want to immediately start rereading all the books, and 'Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring' gave me that feeling from the first chapter.
May 27, 2024
This presents many different ideas about the power and effect of the ring. Many ideas were new to me. I had never considered things in this light. Good research among Tolkien’s papers and letters. Very interesting and insightful.
February 11, 2025
Here's my review: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/....
May 16, 2025
Tom is amazing in the way he gets the reader to think more deeply about Tolkien, the LotR, and the entire legendarium. Read this book.
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June 25, 2025My review is available here: https://brill.com/view/journals/rart/...
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October 29, 2025An excellent study of some of the themes most central to Tolkien's magnum opus.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews