Discussion Questions: Moria (Sept. 25- Oct. 2)

Shippey

1. Discuss the contrast between Aule and Feanor in their different responses to sub-creations that went somehow awry. What are the similarities and differences between Melkor’s fall and Feanor’s? Compare Feanor’s fall to the fall of Adam in Paradise Lost, and the averted fall of the woman in Perelandra.

2. Why do genealogies and distant familial relations play such a large role in the Silmarillion story? Discuss Maeglin’s tragedy.

3. Why is the oath of Feanor and his sons so potent for evil?

4. What do the stories “Leaf by Niggle” and “Smith of Wootton Major” tell us about Tolkien’s attitude toward his own literary work?

Sayers

1. Sayers asserts, “To a creative artist, the (Platonic) archetype is not an apriori theory, but an experience.” Is her claim credible?

2. According to Sayers, the “audience” or “readers” of God’s creation are themselves part of the creation. (p. 128) Does this help to explain why Tolkien included his book within his secondary world (the Red Book of Westmarch)?

3. Sayers claims that love “is the most ruthless of the passions.” What does she mean by this? How does she use this claim as part of a justification for the existence of suffering in the work of a loving God? Is she successful? Can Tolkien’s work be interpreted as offering a similar kind of theodicy?

4. Sayers argues that by reflecting on the creative process, we can perfectly reconcile human freedom with divine predestination. (129-139) “The more genuinely creative he is, the more he will want his work to develop in accordance with its own nature, and to stand independent of himself.” Is development in accordance with our nature the same thing as free will?

5. Sayers seems to suggest that within creation, even within inanimate matter itself, we find two competing “urges”, one to chaos and the other to order. Is this compatible with God’s declaration in Genesis that the completed creation was “very good”?

6. Sayers suggests that the creative artist senses the creature’s “urge” or “insistence” to be created. Does this make any sense? Can anything do anything before it exists? Can God as creator be moved by such pre-existent creaturely urges?

7. Sayers draws a sharp line between Fantasy and the Creative Imagination. How does her use of these terms differ from Tolkien’s? Do they have similar views about the positive effects of fictional art?

LOTR

1. How does Celembrimbor of Hollin (p. 398, “Journey in the Dark”) serve as a line between the Silmarils and the rings of power? Is the creation of the lesser rings simply a recapitulation of Feanor’s creation of the Silmarils? Is there anything in the Silmarillion that corresponds to the One Ring?

2. How does the Balrog help to link the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion? (Note: the Udun is an alternate name for Morgoth’s fortress, Utumno.) What does Gandalf mean when he says he wields the “flame of Anor”?

3. How does the friendship of Legolas and Gimli mirror the conflicts between Elves and Dwarves in the First Age? The alliance between the Elves of Hollin and the Dwarves of Moria?