In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s heroes Aragorn and Gandalf are most commonly linked in the popular imagination with the tales of King Arthur and Merlin the Magician. This is in part because King Arthur is without doubt Britain’s most famous legendary hero. The stature of Arthur through many popular retellings has made him the very embodiment of British virtues and strengths.
Historically, the legends of King Arthur were almost unknown until the twelfth century, but they abounded throughout the courts of Europe by the fourteenth century. Among the first books ever printed in Britain was the Caxton-Malory Le Morte d’Arthur, which brought the Arthurian cycle to the English language in written form - for although many other authors wrote various legends of Arthur in manuscript, most did so in the official court language of French.
The historical basis for King Arthur is very slim. The likely model for Arthur was probably the Romanized Celt, Ambrosius Aurelianus. By later accounts he was known by the name Artorius and the Roman title of Dux Bellorum. Between ad 493 and 516, Artorius was said to have led the Britons against the Saxons in twelve great battles, culminating in the victory of Mons Badonicus. In time, the warrior-king figure of Arthur attracted the oral traditions of both Celt and Saxon bards as a symbol of a brief romantic age of order and stability. When order and stability of a particularly stern and ruthless kind was established by William the Conqueror and his Norman knights, the figure of King Arthur grew to even greater stature. Arthur was the chosen ancestral hero of the English people, who saw in him a noble king who ruled a courtly, idealized world. In King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, the English looked back in pride to a past age of greatness.
English-language readers of The Lord of the Rings frequently register the undeniable connection between Arthur and Aragorn, and Merlin and Gandalf. However, what is often not clear to many is that the Arthurian romances are themselves largely based on earlier Teutonic myths and legends. Although the Arthurian legends make their own unique contributions, in many respects it is even more important to see the connection between Aragorn and Sigurd, and Gandalf and Odin.
Although the archetypal figures of hero and wizard are clearly similar in pagan saga, medieval legend and modern fantasy, the context for all three is very different. The creation of a medieval King Arthur and a court based roughly on Christian moral principles naturally resulted in considerable reshaping of many of the fiercer aspects of the early pagan hero tradition. The saga hero Sigurd is a wild beast of a warrior, who clearly would not even get a dinner invitation to Arthur’s courtly round table. Curiously, although Tolkien’s world is a pagan, pre-religious one, his hero requires quite as much reshaping as Arthur because of his concept of absolute good and evil. Although Tolkien’s Aragorn is a pagan hero, he is often even more upright and moral than the medieval Christian King Arthur.
The comparison of the three heroes - Arthur, Sigurd and Aragorn - demonstrates the power of archetypes in dictating aspects of character in the heroes of legend and myth. If we look at the lives of each of these three, we see certain life patterns that are identical.
Arthur, Sigurd and Aragorn are all orphaned sons and rightful heirs to kings slain in battle. All are deprived of their inherited kingdoms, and are in danger of assassination. All are the last of their dynasty, and their noble lineage will end if they are slain. All are raised secretly in foster homes under the protection of a foreign noble who is a distant relative. Arthur is raised in the castle of Sir Ector; Sigurd in the hall of King Hjalprek; and Aragorn in the house of Master Elrond Halfelven. During their fostering - in childhood and as youths - all three achieve feats of strength and skill that mark them for future greatness.
All three heroes fall in love with beautiful maidens, but all must overcome several seemingly impossible obstacles before they may marry: Arthur to Guinevere, Sigurd to Brynhild, Aragorn to Arwen. Each of these lovers is to some degree tragic heroines: Guinevere becomes a nun and dies in a convent, Brynhild loses her supernatural Valkyrie power and commits suicide, and Arwen sacrifices her Elven immortality and dies a human death. The most obvious difference between King Arthur and Sigurd appears to be the object of their respective quests. The great quest tradition usually associated with King Arthur is not the Ring, but the Quest for the Holy Grail. The ‘grail’ is the chalice that was used by Christ at the Last Supper, and also the same cup with which Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood that flowed from the side of the crucified Saviour.
The story of the Grail is a very late addition to the Arthurian romance cycle. It has been said that it was Richard Wagner’s genius to recognize the Ring as the Grail Quest of his race. In fact, the reverse is true, as Wagner himself recognized when he wrote his Grail Quest opera Parsifal. Wagner found that the Holy Grail was a Christianized retelling of the ring quest. In Parsifal, the Ring mysteriously ascends and is transformed into the Holy Grail.
Both Richard Wagner and Alfred Lord Tennyson in his epic Arthurian poem ‘Idylls of the King’ saw the Holy Grail as the exclusively spiritual aspects of the ring quest. The Grail Quest became a disaster for those who pursued it for the opposite reasons to those determining that the Ring was a disaster for others.
In the ring quests of both The Lord of the Rings and The Volsunga Saga, there is a sense that those who possessed these rings were destroyed by their own desire for earthly wealth and power. Tolkien’s Ringwraiths, for instance, acquired their Rings of Power to make themselves rich and powerful, by selling their souls. Ultimately, however, the ring’s mastery of the world is an illusion. The ring eventually comes to enslave its owner. It is the old moral question: ‘What does it profit a man to win all the world, if he lose his soul?’ You can’t own anything if you don’t own your soul.
What happened with the quest for the Holy Grail was the opposite. The Grail Quest was essentially a spiritual journey by a soul, which could be completed only if all the corrupting influences of the body and the material world were rejected. The problem is that no being can exist on a purely spiritual level, and still remain within the mortal world. Consequently, when the Round Table’s knights took on a quest requiring the spiritual virtues of a saint, the result was a disaster that all but destroyed Arthur’s mortal kingdom. If the ring quest required a pact with demons at the cost of one’s immortal soul, the Grail Quest was a pact with angels at the cost of one’s mortal body.
Simply stated, the Grail Quest is the medieval Christian image chosen to show the spiritual aspect of the ring quest. One might illustrate the point by saying that the gold ring which ascends to heaven becomes a halo, while the gold ring that descends to earth becomes a crown. The exclusive pursuit of either aspect ends in tragedy: the needs of the spirit and body must both be satisfied. One cannot survive without the other.
The Grail Quest aside, the Arthurian legends do have a quest for a ring which is critical to the security of Arthur’s kingdom. However, the medieval Christian and chivalric tradition somewhat changes its nature. The ring that is the object of Arthur’s quest is the gold marriage ring of his beloved Queen Guinevere. To make himself a worthy suitor, Arthur slays twelve troublesome giants and conquers twelve feuding kings. To give his Queen a worthy realm, Arthur reclaims his rightful kingdom, and makes alliances with all other worthy barons and knights of the land as well.
This achieved, King Arthur and Queen Guinevere are wed and a sacred oath is sworn upon the marriage ring. It is a marriage of true love, but it is also a political marriage. Emblematically, Queen Guinevere brings the Round Table as part of her dowry to Camelot. Around this great table, an iron ring of knights is forged by the swearing of oaths to the King and the Queen. The iron ring will survive as long as the oath sworn upon the gold marriage ring remains unbroken.
In The Lord of the Rings, the One Ring is evil; in The Volsunga Saga, the Ring of Andvari is cursed. In the Arthurian tradition, the gold ring is good so long as the oath sworn on it is true. However, whatever the origin of the rings, false oaths sworn on them do not go unpunished.
The Volsung and Nibelung downfalls result directly from Sigurd’s unwitting violation of the oath he swore to Brynhild when he gave her the Ring of Andvari as a pledge of eternal love. When Sigurd unknowingly breaks that oath, disaster consumes them all. Similarly, the breaking of the sacred oath sworn on the marriage ring of Arthur and Guinevere - through the Queen’s adultery with Sir Lancelot - results in the break-up of the Round Table. The iron ring of the knights is broken. Chaos and anarchy are let loose, and the kingdom destroyed. Both traditions read the curse of the ring in the same way: the house built on a lie cannot survive.
In The Lord of the Rings, the One Ring is itself evil. A master of disguise, Sauron goes among the Elven-smiths of Eregion with many false promises about creating rings of good virtue and enchantment. So completely does Sauron deceive the Elves that unknowingly they help him forge the Rings of Power. Only then does Sauron secretly go to his smithy in Mount Doom. There, using all the false promises and lies invented by sorcerers since the dawn of time, Sauron forges the One Ring with which he seeks to fetter and enslave the world.
The centre of Sauron’s evil empire is the Dark Tower of Mordor, and the massive foundation of the tower is built through the power of the One Ring. However, when the One Ring is destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, the illusion of Sauron’s power vanishes. Sauron’s ‘house’ in the form of the Dark Tower is built on the monstrous lies of the One Ring and cannot survive. The foundations crumble. The Ring Lord and all his servants are reduced to smoke and ash carried away on a desolate wind. The Dark Tower collapses into a heap of rubble and dust.
Beyond the ring quest motif itself, there are many other points of comparison between the saga, the romance and the fantasy. Tolkien’s hero Aragorn in many ways resembles both Arthur and Sigurd; in some ways, one or the other.
The heritage of the sword of the warrior-king is naturally enough critical to all three heroes. Arthur proves his right to the sword in a famous contest: he alone is able to pull the sword from the stone. This is an act that duplicates the contest in the Volsunga Saga, when Sigurd’s father Sigmund alone can draw the sword Odin has driven into the oak tree, Branstock. However, neither Sigurd nor Aragorn are presented with such contests. They are both given their swords as heirlooms; their problem is that both swords are broken, and neither may use the swords and reclaim their kingdoms until they are reforged. In Sigurd’s case, the sword was broken by the Wizard Odin in his father Sigmund’s last battle, while Aragorn’s sword was broken by his ancestor Elendil in his last battle with the Wizard Sauron.
Like the heirloom swords of Sigurd and Aragorn, Arthur’s sword is supposedly unbreakable; but through special circumstances, all three are broken. Sigmund’s and Aragorn’s swords break in battles with supernatural opponents, while King Arthur’s sword breaks when he makes an unrighteous attack on Sir Pellinore. It seems the Christian King’s sword is endowed with a moral conscience. Sir Pellinore is on the point of killing Arthur when Merlin appears and puts Pellinore into a deep swoon. Thus, Arthur’s weapon is broken but he is not slain as Sigmund was when his weapon broke. Arthur is saved by the Wizard Merlin; he undergoes a spiritual resurrection. The penitent and reformed Arthur is reborn; as - in a sense - Sigmund is resurrected in his son Sigurd; and Elendil is resurrected in his descendant Aragorn.
Once Sigurd reforges his sword Gram, he sets out at once to reclaim his heritage. He does this by avenging his father’s death and reclaiming his kingdom by conquest, slaying the dragon Fafnir and winning the monster’s treasure and golden ring. Sigurd then goes on to win his beloved Valkyrie princess Brynhild. To some degree, although the ring quest is different (the aim being destruction rather than winning), Aragorn’s life mirrors Sigurd’s. Once Aragorn’s sword Andúril is reforged, he sets off to reclaim his heritage. He avenges his father’s death, reclaims his kingdom by conquest, and after the destruction of the One Ring, wins his beloved Elven princess Arwen.
The dragon-slaying element of the Sigurd tale is not present in The Lord of the Rings, but is taken up by Tolkien in The Hobbit. Although the dragonslayer is rather secondary to the main characters in the story of The Hobbit, the heroic pattern is almost identical to the tale of Sigurd the Dragonslayer. The dispossessed exile, Bard the Bowman, is a descendant of the Kings of Dale, whom the dragon Smaug the Golden slew and robbed of their gold. Bard has no sword but a black arrow as an heirloom. Understanding the language of birds, Bard learns the secret of the dragon’s unarmored belly and pierces his heart with his black arrow. Bard avenges his father and ancestors, slays the dragon and wins the treasure. He then re-establishes his kingdom and marries his queen.
The nature of Aragorn’s sword owes something to both the Arthurian and Volsung traditions. Aragorn’s sword was originally named Narsil, meaning ‘red and white flame’, and was forged by the greatest of all Dwarf-smiths, Telchar the Smith. Narsil is broken by Elendil at the end of the Second Age, and is reforged by the Elven-smiths of Rivendell for Aragorn. It is then renamed Andúril, meaning the ‘flame of the west’, and its blade glows red in sunlight and white in moonlight.
In the Volsung tradition, the sword Odin drives into the tree and Sigmund wins was forged by the greatest of the Elf-smiths of Alfheim, Volund, whom the Saxons called Wayland the Smith. This sword of Odin has no formal name until it is reforged by the Dwarf-like smith Regin for Sigurd. The sword is then named Gram and its blade is distinguished by the blue flames that play along its razor edges.
King Arthur differs from Sigurd and Aragorn in that he does not have his broken sword reforged. The sword is simply replaced by another, even more extraordinary sword. Arthur is given his new sword Excalibur by the enchantress Vivien, who is also known as the mystical Lady of the Lake. In The Lord of the Rings, Vivien is comparable to the Elf Queen Galadriel of Lothlórien. The Elf Queen’s gift: is not a sword, but a jewelled sheath that makes the sword blade unstainable and unbreakable.
Excalibur also has a jewelled scabbard, but it is blessed with a spell to the effect that, so long as Arthur wears it, he can lose no blood, no matter how badly wounded. The blade of Arthur’s Excalibur is equal to the other weapons and glows with supernatural light. In battle, it is said to give off the light of thirty torches. Like Gram and Andúril, it can cleave through iron and stone, yet maintain its razor edge.
Perhaps the most telling connection between the three heroes is displayed in the similarity of their mentors: Merlin, Odin and Gandalf. All to some degree fit the archetypal form of the Wizard. All are non-human beings gifted with supernatural powers and prophetic skills. All are counsellors of future kings in peace and war, yet have no interest in worldly power themselves. In a sense they are all vehicles of fate, who guide the hero. All are similar in appearance: vital, old wanderers of great learning with long white beards. They all carry a Wizard’s staff and wear a broad-brimmed hat and long robes.
In many aspects of his personality, Gandalf is rather more like Merlin than Odin. Odin was, of course, an immortal god who went among the mortals of Midgard as an ancient traveller. Originally Merlin was in all likelihood an old Celtic god, who similarly visited mortals in this Wizard form, although later traditions claimed he was the offspring of a mortal and an Elf or Demon. Gandalf’s origins are as a demi-god who is chosen as one of five Istari, or Wizards, who come to Middle-earth to live among the mortals.
In many of his powers, however, Gandalf is far more like the Nordic Odin than the Celtic Merlin. To begin with, his name comes from the Prose Edda, and literally means ‘Sorcerer-Elf’. In his use of runes, incantations, and even his Wizard powers, Gandalf is more comparable to Odin. Even Gandalf’s horse comes directly from Norse traditions. ‘Shadowfax’ means ‘silver-grey’ and closely resembles Grani, ‘the Grey’ steed of Sigurd. Grani, who understood human speech, was the silver-grey offspring of Odin’s supernatural eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. Shadowfax, who also understands the language of Men, is one of the Mearas, a race of horses descended from the god Oromë the Hunter’s supernatural horse, Nahar.
Once their work as mentors and advisers to the heroes is done, all the Wizards mysteriously depart. All three Wizards - Odin, Merlin, Gandalf - pass out of mortal realms rather than die. Odin, after advising his heroes, wanders out of the mortal world, and (after a pilgrimage to Hel) finally ascends the Rainbow Bridge to the immortal kingdom of the gods in Asgard. Merlin wanders away on a solitary pilgrimage, never to return, for he is caught up in an enchantment and lives in a dreaming trance in - according to varying traditions – a tomb, a tree, or a tower on an island in the western sea.
Tolkien’s Gandalf takes elements from both Odin’s and Merlin’s tales by having a double fate. As Gandalf the Grey, after his battle with the Balrog of Moria, he falls into the bowels of the earth where he remains in a death-like, yet dreaming, state. When he is resurrected as Gandalf the White, he meets his second end on Middle-earth, when he sails on an Elven ship to the immortal kingdom of the gods in Aman over the western sea.
The end of Gandalf on Middle-earth with the departure of the Ringbearers in the white Elven ship from the Grey Havens is also the end of Tolkien’s epic novel. In looking for Arthurian elements in The Lord of the Rings, there can be no doubt that the novel’s bittersweet ending is consciously modelled on the tales of Arthur’s death.
It is an ending that is derived from the Celtic side of King Arthur’s tradition, rather than his Teutonic one. After his final battle, the mortally wounded Arthur is taken on a mysterious barge by a beautiful Faerie Queen. The barge carries the wounded king westward across the water to the faerie land of Avalon, where Arthur will be healed and given immortal life.
This end to Arthur’s mortal life is very like the end of The Lord of the Rings. However, it is important to point out that this is not Aragorn’s end. Aragorn remains to die within the mortal world. The supreme reward of this voyage into the land of immortals is reserved for another. The ‘wounded king’ who sails on the Elf Queen Galadriel’s ship across the western sea, past the Elven towers of Avallónë, is not Aragorn. It is Frodo the Hobbit Ringbearer, who is rightly the real hero of The Lord of the Rings.
Frodo’s adventures appear at first to be a foil to Aragorn’s great deeds. The diminutive Hobbit is too frail and all too human to appear initially as a likely candidate for the occupation of questing hero. Aragorn, on the other hand, is large, strong, bold - and almost inhuman in his bravery and virtue. However, in the end, it is the human qualities of the Hobbit that are finally what is required to prevail in the quest. The deep wisdom of compassion found in the human (or Hobbit) heart succeeds where heroic strength cannot.
Curiously, throughout The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, although they appear to be a comic foil to the larger heroic personalities of the Men and Elves, nearly all the greatest deeds are achieved, or are caused to be achieved, by the Hobbits. Bilbo’s adventures result in the death of Smaug the Dragon and he finds the One Ring. Meriadoc kills the Witch-king of Morgul, and with Peregrin motivates the Ents, who destroy Saruman’s Tower. Samwise mortally wounds the giant Shelob the Spider and, most important of all, Frodo (with Gollum) destroys Sauron and the One Ring in Mordor.
In the end, the Hobbits are the real heroes. It is humble Frodo Baggins, not the noble Aragorn, who achieves the ring quest. He does so at the cost of his health through the loss of a finger and a poisoned wound that will not heal. The wounded Hobbit - like the wounded Arthur - is taken to be supernaturally healed. It is not Aragorn the King, but Frodo - the hero of the heart - who is chosen to sail to the land of the immortals.
