Racial Politics in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Power and possessiveness beget corruption. Such is an underlying theme in modern politics. This thought has been widely expressed in literature, but this text will focus on this theme in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Each race and every person in Lord of the Rings each had their own characteristics, especially in terms of power. What makes them unique and interesting is how their specific power is wielded to propel their causes or create their downfall. One overall theme in Lord of the Rings is that through the desire of possession, power lessens in those who seek it.

The first striking example is the dark lord Sauron, the seemingly omnipresent antagonistic ruler of Mordor. Sauron wishes his power to grow until he alone has control of all of Middle-Earth. While Sauron exerted great power, had mighty forces that exuded immortality, and numerous forces, the dark lord was unable to see that three small individuals had snuck into his stronghold-city to defeat him. Sauron had an air on omnipotence about him that spread fear among the complacent. When the riders of Rohan and soldiers of Gondor stood up to his forces, they fell hard.

As others saw that Sauron's seemingly omnipotent forces began to fall, they too joined the cause and fought back against the dark lord. Against the many united smaller forces and the two hobbits that cast the one ring into the volcanic pit of Mt. Doom, Sauron had no counter. Sauron could only find the ring when someone wore it, but until then he could only sense that it existed. There was great power with this ring as Sauron had placed most of his own dark power into it. This same dark power would inevitably corrupt the person who possessed it with the exception of Sauron. Sauron's connection to the ring was so strong that when it was destroyed in Mt. Doom, what remained of the dark lord was destroyed with it. While Sauron flexed the muscle of omnipotence, it was the united forces of elves, men, dwarves and hobbits that exhibited true power.