\n<\/p>\n
A recent episode of the ThoughtCrime podcast set conservatives on X abuzz.<\/p>\n
The spark that lit the flame: conservative firebrand Jack Posobiec declaring that\u00a0J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d is not only not Christian, but in fact \u201covertly pagan.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n.@JackPosobiec<\/a>: Lord of the Rings is overtly pagan. pic.twitter.com\/OiNMWC7HbP<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Human Events (@HumanEvents) March 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Tolkien has returned to mainstream conversation\u00a0after reports<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that the Trump Derangement Syndrome patient and former comedian, Stephen Colbert, is helping develop a new Middle-earth film with Peter Jackson\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Posobiec, no stranger to controversial takes, made the following case:<\/p>\n
\n\u2018Narnia\u2019 and \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019 were, you know, kind of, kind of written almost not, you know, concurrently in a sense. And Tolkien always said that he didn\u2019t like Narnia because he thought that it was too overtly Christian. And I\u2019ve heard people try to make the argument that \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019\u00a0is overtly Christian. And I hate to burst the bubble, guys, but you\u2019re just wrong. There\u2019s nothing overtly Christian about \u2018Lord of the Rings.\u2019 There\u2019s no church in it, there\u2019s no faith in it. There\u2019s no Christ figure. There\u2019s none of these things. And honestly, \u2018Lord of the Rings,\u2019 if it\u2019s anything, \u2018Lord of the Rings\u2019\u00a0is overtly pagan.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Posobiec is right about one thing: \u201cThe Lord Of The Rings\u201d doesn\u2019t have a Christ figure. It has three.<\/p>\n
Tolkien distributes the threefold office of Christ between Gandalf, Frodo, and Aragorn: prophet, priest, and king.<\/p>\n
Gandalf (not a wizard, actually) is an angel sent, literally from the heavens, to Middle-earth to counsel its people. He meets death and returns transformed and renewed. Frodo bears a burden of suffering he did not choose but accepts for the salvation of others. Aragorn is the self-exiled king whose healing hands and rightful claim to a throne can restore a fading kingdom and fallen world.<\/p>\n
Yes, a\u00a0fallen world<\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 where could that concept come from?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s also consider that Frodo\u2019s journey to Mount Doom begins on December 25th and concludes on March 25th, the Feast of Annunciation, the date of Christ\u2019s crucifixion, and the beginning of death\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n
Tolkien\u2019s monarchist vision of the good is something of a modern fixation amongst conservative Catholics, weary of liberal democracy\u2019s slow decline into Denethor-level despair and unwillingness to \u201cconserve\u201d anything in the face of evil rising in Mordor.<\/p>\n
But Posobiec prefers C.S. Lewis\u2019s \u201cChronicles of Narnia\u201d series, as do I. There the Christian imagery is more overt. Aslan is not<\/span><\/a> even a \u201cChrist figure,\u201d but Christ himself operating in a multiverse with layer upon layer of reality waiting to be peeled back like an onion. What the heroes of Lewis\u2019s story learn is that London is an echo of Narnia, and Narnia is but an echo of another place even more glorious.<\/p>\n
For his part, the irascible Tolkien didn\u2019t care for Narnia. But Lewis very much cared for Middle-earth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe value of the myth is that it takes all the things we know and restores to them the rich significance which has been hidden by \u2018the veil of familiarity,\u2019\u201d Lewis said of his friend\u2019s world. Tolkien dips Christian truth in a stew of medieval mythology, indeed drawing on imagery from pagan stories and making them submissive to Christian belief.<\/p>\n
Posobiec mistakes the absence of overtly Christian imagery for the lack of Christian themes. But just because no one takes the Eucharist in Gondor does not mean Tolkien\u2019s world must be pagan. Quite the contrary. Middle-earth in all its strangeness speaks to the imaginative hunger of people\u2019s hearts, calling them to see with fresh eyes the Truth they so often take for granted.<\/p>\n
In Western books and films, Christian morality and themes are the default setting \u2014 we often become \u201cnose-blind\u201d to it in the same way you can\u2019t smell the distinct odor of your own home until you return home from vacation. In that way, Tolkien and Lewis both favored dressing stories in ways that lower the defenses of the reader and free our God-given imaginations to know Him in different contexts. It\u2019s a beautiful idea.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Stephen Kent is a conservative commentator and host of\u00a0<\/i>Geeky Stoics<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on YouTube. Follow him\u00a0<\/i>@StephenKentX<\/i><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n