On Grace and Free Will in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Bilbo exercised his free will throughout his adventure, but he also unconsciously corresponded with the grace he was given. He received this to aid him, not to force him into doing anything. It is clear that he goes against his own self (at least his Baggins side) in choosing paths of peril, but he receives the strength that we do all to enable us to do things we could not do on our own.

            The use of free will and the role of divine providence are two of the great themes throughout The Hobbit and more obviously in The Lord of the Rings. I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive, interfere with each other or diminish the choices of the one who chosen to receive grace. Rather, they go hand-in-hand, and grace strengthens the chosen one to freely embrace what they may not have otherwise. Bilbo could have chosen not to run down to the Green Dragon that fateful morning after the dwarves came so unexpectedly to his doorstep. He could have turned around when the trip grew miserable. He didn’t have to yell out when he saw the goblins coming through the crack in the cave. He was not compelled to pick up the Ring in that dark tunnel. He could have picked it up and thought ‘what do I need that for?’ and left it on the ground. He could have refused to give into his pity and stabbed Gollum instead. He could have chosen not to aid his dwarven companions after they were bound by spiders or captured by the Elves. The list goes on and on. Frodo could have refused his vocation at Bag End, at the Council, or at any time along the Road to the Fire. Gandalf could have refused death in Moria or refused to choose Bilbo as the last member of Thorin’s party. In The Two Towers movie, Sam could have said, “I’m out of here” after Frodo /the Ring nearly skewers him with Sting. But none of them do this. On some level, completely conscious or not, they accept that they have been chosen for particular roles and paths and they freely decide to walk upon them despite their terror. Gandalf and Frodo both speak of being chosen for their roles in “The Quest of Erebor.” Gandalf says “I dare say [Bilbo] was ‘chosen’ and I was only chosen to choose him; but I picked out Bilbo” (Unfinished Tales 331). Frodo says, “Though I suppose that, whether meant or not Bilbo might have refused to leave home, and so might I. You could not compel us. You were not even allowed to try” (330).

            The aid of grace does not lessen the courage and will of Bilbo or Frodo. It was such aid that gives them the strength to choose pity, compassion, and love so great that they are willing to sacrifice themselves to save others. Frodo’s courage and will was not lessened because he felt that the will of another was speaking through him at the Council. Rather it was enhanced, for he could have chosen to remain silent and not let that other will speak, but he did not. So much of what happens depends on a person’s free decision to choose actions that may be very contrary to one’s own desires but decided upon because it was the right thing to do. Grace strengthens them to say yes to traveling upon perilous roads that they would never chosen on their own. Frodo’s journey very much reflects this. So does Aragorn’s recognition that he goes on a path already set out for him as he freely decides to tread upon the Paths of the Dead, a road he was loathe to use before he discovered it was Ilúvatar’s will for him. It is this potent combination of the use of free will to embrace the divine will even at great cost to oneself that makes this tale resonate with how we should live our own lives. “We choose to be chosen” as Cheryl Forbes said in an article about Frodo’s choice (Christianity Today, December 19, 1975).

            Tom Shippey speaks of this too when he notes that not only can the Road symbolize life, but it could also be

an image of Providence. After all, Bilbo is right about the road outside Bag End leading all the way to Mordor. On the other hand there are on that road, which Frodo takes, thousands of intersections, as also thousands of choices to be made or rejected. The traveller can always stop or turn aside. Only will-power makes the road seem straight. Accordingly, when Bilbo and Frodo say they will pursue it, eagerly or wearily, till it is intersected by other roads, lives, wishes, and will then continue into the unknown, if they can, they are expressing a mixture of doubt and determination – exactly the qualities that Gandalf so often recommends. This has become much stronger and clearer with Frodo. (Road to Middle-earth, p. 188; italics in original)

            In the barrow, Ralph C. Wood notes the use of the “passive voice to indicate that Frodo is being graciously acted upon, even as he himself courageously acts: ‘He found himself stiffening’ (1.151)” (Gospel According to Tolkien, 122).

            Fleming Rutledge also notes this intertwining of destiny and free will when she speaks of the coming of Rohan’s warriors to Gondor.

Were the Rohirrim destined to come just at that moment? Yes. Were they free people? Yes. Were they more or less free because they were . . . riding . . . into their destiny? More. If God has prepared good works for us for walk in (Ephesians 2:10), then it is a joy and a wonder to walk in them. If God is working in us both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), then it is our delight and our fulfillment to realize that we are doing exactly what was planned for us to do all along. (Battle for Middle-earth 285; italics in original)

It is clear from these quotes that the paths of all these people have been already set out and only await the free decision of the chosen ones to travel upon them.

Works Cited

Rutledge, Fleming. The Battle for Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Divine Design in “The Lord of the Rings.” Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004.

Shippey, Tom. The Road to Middle-earth: How J. R. R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology. Revised and expanded ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1980.

Wood, Ralph C. The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-earth. Louisville, KY: Knox, 2003.

This was first published in the December 2012 issue of Beyond Bree. It has been slightly modified since then and adapted in good part from my book, Moments of Grace and Spiritual Warfare in The Lord of the Rings (WestBow Press, 2012), which also includes a chapter on The Hobbit. For more details and to order the book, please visit http://ow.ly/ez2dT.