metonymy4u

One of the recurrent themes in Tolkien’s mythology is the idea of invisibility. On the one hand the ring of power confers mechanical invisibility which is the power to disappear from the world and thereby increase control over the world. This is the artificial invisibility of technology that points towards the world as standing reserve laid open for manipulation and impersonal transformation by an invisible puppet master. On the other hand we can also note the more naturalistic invisibility of creatures like the hobbits who tread so lightly that they often are not heard (and thus make perfect thieves in the night), and men like Aragorn, who utilize the cunning and skill of their communities to remain hidden until the opportune moment. Aragorn and the hobbits represent Tolkien’s idea of skillful invisibility. It is the invisibility of communal talent and connection to the natural world. Far from seeing the world as standing reserve to be transformed and shaped at will, the naturalistic approaches see the world as ally, as resource, as partner, perhaps even as lover. Remember that scene upon Cerin Amroth when Frodo and Aragorn, caught up in the sublime beauty of the place, together share a vision of the heart of Elvendom and Aragorn’s true love? No ring of invisibility could ever replace for them the incredible surrender of their passion in that moment. This, then, is why Frodo and Aragorn can both withstand the power of the ring in ways that other men and hobbits cannot (remember that Gollum was of a race related to the hobbits). They replace the invisibility of individual, selfish power and technology with the invisibility of surrender to something more beautiful than ourselves. And so in Lórien must our hearts dwell ever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we tread, you and I.