Return of the King

A major theme of The Return of the King is that evil often destroys itself in the face of goodness and that powerful evil is short-lived. Tolkien shows how traits such as selfishness, greed, violence, and pride internally sabotage the forces of Mordor in time, while the kindness shown by the Fellowship helps them to succeed against all odds.

Several times in The Return of the King, Sauron’s forces are defeated because their tactics unintentionally help the forces of good. The first example of this comes when Sauron sends a cloud of darkness to terrify and demoralize the men of Gondor. However, Éomer realizes that it will help them to slip past the Orcs guarding the road unseen, saying “The accursed darkness itself has been a cloak to us. And now, lusting to destroy Gondor and throw it down stone from stone, his orcs have taken away my greatest fear. The out-wall could have been held long against it. Now we can sweep through” (816). Similarly, Sam is able to rescue Frodo because the greed and violence instilled in the Orcs of Mordor causes them to fight each other. While Sam never could have killed all of the Orcs guarding Frodo, they kill each other in a fight over the mithril shirt. Sam later remarks sarcastically about this tendency for Orcs to turn on each other: “if this nice friendliness would spread about in Mordor, half our trouble would be over” (905). Gimli also points out that the tactics of fear and undead horror that Sauron employs against Gondor ironically are used to save Gondor when Aragorn summons an army of the dead. He emphasizes this subversion of expectations when he says “strange and wonderful I thought it that the designs of Mordor should be overthrown by such wraiths of fear and darkness. With its own weapons was it worsted!” (853). These examples indicate that Mordor’s reliance on darkness and fear, as well as sowing internal conflict to defeat Gondor instead turn against them and help to overthrow Sauron’s power.

In contrast, Tolkien uses the character of Gollum to indicate how seemingly unimportant moments of kindness and mercy are actually critical to the success of good characters. While Gollum is an antagonistic character with selfish motivations who seeks to steal the Ring from Frodo and Sam, he is ironically the character who ensures that the Ring is destroyed and Sauron is defeated. Had Gollum not bitten the Ring from Frodo’s finger, Frodo would have claimed the Ring for himself and inadvertently would have given it back to Sauron. The only reason that Gollum is able to serve in this vital role is because Frodo and Sam have consistently spared his life out of pity. Right before Frodo goes into the Crack of Doom, Sam has the chance to kill Gollum, but does not:

He could not strike this thing lying in the dust, forlorn, ruinous, utterly wretched. He himself, though only for a little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed the agony of Gollum’s shrivelled mind and body, enslaved to that Ring, unable to find peace or relief ever in life again (923).

Sam’s empathy for Gollum results in the destruction of Sauron. Gandalf seems to predict this, having earlier told the hobbits that Gollum would have a role to play in the grander scheme of their adventure. He tells Pippin “let us remember that a traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend” (797), and these words come true when Gollum’s betrayal inadvertently leads to the success of the quest. Ultimately, the powerful tactics of evil only harm the evil, while the seemingly weak acts of goodness vastly improve the world. Tolkien repeatedly suggests throughout The Return of the King and the trilogy as a whole that true goodness will and must prevail in the face of evil, no matter the odds. This subversion of expectations is mirrored in the hobbits’ small stature yet grand role to play in the war against Sauron. Their purity and good-hearted nature takes them farther than brawn would have, just as good always overcomes the darkness.