Reading Between the RingsDiscovering How Tolkien’s Faith Quietly Shapes His StoryBy Luis Gonzalez for The Last WireI spent part of my vacation doing something most people would consider odd. I read Tolkien and
about J.R.R. Tolkien. I took notes, looked up letters and articles, and followed threads I had never taken the time to chase before.
Not plot points. Structure.
I was looking for something other than hobbits and wizards. Something that gave this story its "legs". Something that's kept it vibrant and relatable, as far as stories about dragons and elves can be, for all these years
What struck me wasn’t hidden symbolism or coded doctrine. It was how Middle-earth behaves. There are no churches, no priests, no sermons. Yet mercy consistently changes outcomes. Power always carries a cost. Evil never creates anything new. It only twists what already exists. Small acts of restraint matter more than heroic displays of force.
That moral coherence is not accidental. And it is not decorative.
In
Reading Between the Rings, I write about what I came to see during that time away. Tolkien did not argue people into belief. He built a world where belief already made sense, where moral law operates like gravity, unseen but unavoidable. Faith is not announced. It is assumed. The reader is not instructed. The reader is shown.
That choice explains why The Lord of the Rings still feels true across cultures and generations, including to readers who do not share Tolkien’s faith. The world convinces you by how it holds together.
This piece is the result of that time spent reading, thinking, and paying attention in a way I usually don't. It was spent looking for deeper meaning and coherence from a story that's given me so much rich entertainment for so many decades.
Read on at The Last Wire
