A Bad Example of Despair
The character
in The Lord of the Rings who
is the greatest warning to me is Denethor. Denethor represents the failure of
hope, and hope is the theological virtue I most lack. He is not swayed by
Sauron, as Saruman is, and drawn into evil. But he allows Sauron to show him
things which he interprets as meaning that the West is bound to lose. Denethor
despairs, and at the moment of crisis, kills himself and nearly kills his son,
even as Sauron’s first attack on his city is being defeated. As he dies, he
tells Gandalf that while they may win one battle, “against the power that has
arisen there can be no victory.” Gandalf quotes him at the council of war the
next day as speaking the truth--up to a point. Mere force can resist Sauron for
a time, but in the end it will not defeat him. The element that will help them
is the Ring. Denethor thought that too, and wanted Boromir to bring him the
Ring to use as a weapon. In his despair, Denethor can only think of gaining
greater power; but that is not, as Gandalf points out, where the true hope
lies. Something else is going on that is not in the calculations of the
powerful; while the West is preserved by force of arms, it triumphs by
something else.
It might look like the ultimate victory is the result of chance occurrences,
since Frodo’s quest so nearly fails. But it is not mere chance. Reading The Lord of the Rings in the light of
the Silmarillion and Tolkien’s
other writing, we can see that it is not chance but grace. Gandalf himself is
Olórin, an agent of Manwë the Elder King, one of the Powers sent by God to
administer the world from its foundation. He, as he tells Frodo after the
consummation of the quest, has been watching out for him: he struggled with
Sauron when Frodo was tempted on Amon Hen. Frodo only succeeds because of
Gollum; Gollum is only alive to do--inadvertently--what Frodo will not do
because first Bilbo, and later Frodo himself, have shown mercy. Because he has
been merciful, Frodo receives mercy, and is rescued at the last moment from himself. In the end, the West is saved by grace.
It is this that Denethor cannot see. He places his trust in force, and in
possession of the Ring, and therefore in the end he is left without hope. The
proper object of hope is that which is unseen (Rom
[I find the word palantír
interesting. It is a compound of palan
“afar” and -tir-, a root
with the meaning of “watch” (as in Minas
Tirith). In fact, it would be the Elvish
translation of “television.” As the palantír showed Denethor many things that
induced despair, I find that television can do much of the same thing. Of
course, like the palantír, which Aragorn as king is determined to keep, television can also have good uses. It all depends on
who is in control.]
I started thinking of despair, and of Denethor, because I was reading the new
issue of Crisis. Now I like Crisis, but if I read too much at
once, it begins to speak to my lack of hope by revealing the many weaknesses in
the Church and the strengths of her enemies. I am tempted, like Denethor, to
exclaim “Against the power that has arisen there can be no victory!” As the
Psalmist says, “If I had said ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have been untrue to
the generation of thy children” (Ps 73:15). It’s hard, but every now and then I
get a glimpse of what is unseen. For a split second, sensible reality seems a
paltry thing, and some fleeting sight of a reality beyond even the greatest
powers of this world peeps through. If I could maintain that vision, I should
be, I think, psychologically incapable of despair or any other sin. But I can’t,
so I have to struggle with hope, in spite of having no feeling of hope and a my eyes full of the visions of despair. Still, I haven’t
given up yet, and that’s something.