The Catholic Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings | Prof. Paul Gondreau

[@Philosopierer]

A very nice overview, thank you very much! I've never seen the aspect of sharing a meal together in the course of the story from an Eucharistic perspective like this before! But I have to strongly disagree on one point. It doesn't seem appropriate to name Boromir in the same line as Sauron, Saruman and Denethor. For my part, I would actually see Boromir as my favourite hero in the entire Lord of the Rings. Boromir does indeed fall, but it is also THE ONLY character who feels true remorse and repents(in opposite to Sauron, Denethor, Saruman). The dedication of his life to Merry and Pippin and his final words to Aragorn underpin the beautiful ‘conversion’ of Boromir, who incidentally realises his own mistake immediately after he threatens Frodo and tried to steal the ring. Gandalf says of Boromir in the chapter ‘The White Rider’: ‘So he escaped in the end.’ Boromir is probably the strongest example of a Christian who falls, repents and finds his calling.

[@jamesjohngarner]

Pardon me, but if anyone here is interested in Cardinal Newman's vision of Purgatory in "The Dream of Gerontius" (compare with Tolkien's "Leaf by Niggle") an illustrated version is at kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4erm36chc1rrrs

[@CamiloSoares87]

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