The Hidden Prophecy of the Lord of the Rings (part 2)

In The Hidden Prophecy of the Lord of the Rings I discussed some of the symbolism of Lord of the Rings, which contains within it evidence of precognition of future events. There are in fact other cases where fictional novels turned out to contain quite a bit of foresight and precognition - some going beyond the realm of coincidence. For example, the fictional story entitled Futility predicted the disastrous sinking of the Titanic years in advance:



Was the author aware? Probably not. Philip K. Dick, the author of numerous novels that have been made into movies (e.g., Blade Runner, Total Recall, A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, Paycheck, Next, Screamers, The Adjustment Bureau and Impostor) reported that this would constantly happen to him - he would put in odd details in his novel, and then months later, he would encounter real life situations where he saw what he just put down in his novel being played out in real life. He was completely surprised by this. Some authors, seeking inspiration, perhaps go more deeply into their creative side, and open up their mind to suggestions from the spiritual world from where they derive their inspiration, on a subconscious level.

For J.R.R. Tolkien, it was probably similar. He had a recurring dream of being drowned by a tidal wave on a sinking island, and would always wake up from the dream gasping for air. He took this dream, and put it in the story of the book entitled the Silmarillon. As it turns out, Tolkien was highly interested in precognitive dreams and time travel. He possessed a copy of the book An Experiment of Time by J.W. Dunne which discussed precognitive dreams, published in 1927. It was highly influential for him, and he often spoke of entering the "realm of the Faerie" where time does not exist, where things are shown that are true (for a deeper discussion of this, see the book A Question of Time by Tolkien scholar Verlynn Flieger). He told C.S. Lewis that myths are lies that speak the truth. And here we have this epic modern myth, Lord of the Rings. So is this epic just a great story, or is there also a hidden story behind its symbolism?

So, as discussed in The Hidden Prophecy of the Lord of the Rings, does the Lord of the Rings contain a hidden reference to the attack of 9/11 or is that just a clever number game? Once one understands some of the symbolism, a lot of things in the story start to fall in place. For example, the battle against Sauron in the opening scene of the movie Fellowship of the Ring, which at first just looks like a hack and slash battle:



You have here a battle, elves and men on one side, orcs on the other. In Notes On Fairy-Stories I mentioned this quote by Tolkien on elves:

"…if elves are true, and really exist independently of our tales about them, then this also is certainly true: elves are not primarily concerned with us, nor we with them. Our fates are sundered, and our paths seldom meet. Even upon the borders of Faerie we encounter them only at some chance crossing of the ways. [Footnote: This is true also, even if they are only creations of Man's mind, "true" only as reflecting in a particular way one of Man's visions of Truth.]"

What truth is Tolkien talking about? Constantly he is talking about how the story he wrote is a portrayal of the truth. From a symbolic perspective, we can surmise that elves represent angelic beings or spirits from the realm of Faerie, and orcs represent evil spirits or demons. That this is so, is shown in the entymology of the name "orc" originating from Latin Orcus, deity of the underworld, thus synonymous with our word "ogre" and an Old Norse word meaning "hell devil." Thus orcs can only thrive in the darkness, darkness a symbol of falsity. So in the above video, we have a great spiritual battle between angelic beings and demons. What spiritual battle is Tolkien speaking about? At one key moment, the dialogue says the following:

It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword...

So, who is Isildur? He was part of a long line of Kings, from whom Aragorn had descended. Before the battle at Mount Doom Isildur had discovered that Sauron planned on cutting down Nimloth, the White Tree of the Undying Lands. Disguising himself he managed to take away the fruit of the Nimloth, but without first getting badly injured from those who guarded it. He replanted the tree, but by the time of the story of the Lord of the Rings we find the White Tree at Minas Tirith, just about dead, where everyone was waiting for it to rebloom:

A group of men decided not to join Isildur in the fight against Sauron, so he cursed them until they should fulfill their oath. These are the ghosts who haunt the paths of the dead:

After defeating Sauron and recovering the one ring, he has a chance to destroy it once and for all in the molten lava of Mount Doom:

But, driven by power, he decides to keep the ring. This leads to his ultimate death - ambushed by orcs, the ring slips away from his finger as he tries to swim away from them, and is struck by arrows:

So, what is that White Tree of Gondor? Perhaps the tree of life of the Garden of Eden? And here is what Jesus said in the book of Revelation:

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Rev. 2:7)

And what of the sword of Elendil which becomes broken at the battle with Sauron? We have this:

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. (Matt. 10:34)For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12)

A sword represents truth, for one fights by truth. For it to become broken means some truth destroyed - which began to happen early on with the Christian Church, after Jesus was crucified. And what of the men cursed by Isildur, who become ghosts to haunt the paths of the dead? After the crucifixion, Jesus made a descent into hell and released some spirits caught between heaven and hell:

[Jesus] went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient (1 Pet. 3:19-20)

And why does Isildur die in a river? We have this:

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out (John 19:34)

Isildur is thus a symbolic representation of Jesus, just as King David of the Old Testament is a symbolic representation of Jesus, which happens to be well known with those who study Biblical prophecy. Tolkien himself said that Lord of the Rings was primarily a Catholic work. It is thus highly ironic that certain Christians call Lord of the Rings a work of the devil. You have that on one side, and on the other a ton of Lord of the Rings fans who don't want anyone messing around with a great epic story. The story is in fact a modern myth - and a myth is a lie that tells the truth. But what of Isildur's battle with Sauron at the foot of Mount Doom? This is a symbolic portrayal of the battle Jesus took on against all of Hell during his life, which is in fact how he saved humanity. But the mystery here is why does Tolkien not have Isildur destroy the ring, but instead keeps it? Within the Catholic Church, one of their greatest visionaries was a nun known as Catherine Anne Emmerich. Her visions were recorded, and she happened to give a detailed account of Jesus' descent into hell following the crucifixion. I had discussed this earlier in Jesus the Shaman - Descent into the Underworld, but here is a portion of her account:

"And thus I saw the Redeemer passing rapidly through these numerous abodes and freeing the souls therein confined. He did a great many other things, but in my present miserable state I am unable to relate them.
"At last I saw Him, His countenance grave and severe, approaching the center of the abyss, namely, Hell itself. In shape it looked to me like an immeasurably vast, frightful, black stone building that shone with a metallic luster. Its entrance was guarded by immense, awful-looking doors, black like the rest of the building, and furnished with bolts and locks that inspired feelings of terror. Roaring and yelling most horrible could plainly be heard, and when the doors were pushed open, a frightful gloomy world was disclosed to view..."

Does this remind anyone of the black gates of Mordor?

In addition to that, pay attention to what Emmerich then says later:

"When the gates were swung open by the angels, one beheld before him a struggling, blaspheming, mocking, howling, and lamenting throng. I saw that Jesus spoke some words to the soul of Judas. Some of the angels forced that multitude of evil spirits to prostrate before Jesus, for all had to acknowledge and adore Him. This was for them the most terrible torment. A great number were chained in a circle around others who were in turn bound down by them. In the center was an abyss of darkness. Lucifer was cast into it, chained, and thick black vapor mounted up around him. This took place by the Divine Decree. I heard that Lucifer (if I do not mistake) will be freed again for awhile fifty or sixty years before the year 2000 A.D. I have forgotten many other dates that were told me. Some other demons are to be freed before Lucifer, in order to chastise and tempt mankind. I think that some are let loose now in our own day, and others will be freed shortly after our time."

And here you have a prophecy of the outbreak of World War II decades in advance. J.R.R. Tolkien was a devout Catholic, highly interested in prophecy, and I would be surprised if he was not aware of he visions of Catherine Anne Emmerich. This passage explains why he has Isildur not destroy the ring once and for all in Mount Doom, but to be dealt with at a later date - the date of the events of Lord of the Rings of course. And here is the clincher - Isildur's battle with Sauron takes place at the beginning of the Third Age, in the same way our Gregorian calendar begins counting years from the time of Jesus. Tolkien, to keep the meaning of his myth hidden (or implicit), adds a thousand years to the chronology. So when Bilbo's birthday party is dated to September 22, 3001 of the Third Age, this would correspond with the date of September 11, 2001 - after which war after war begins against the Middle East (see The Hidden Prophecy of the Lord of the Rings). When one understands the symbolism, one can see how Lord of the Rings is primarily a Catholic work, containing prophetic events probably influenced from some of Tolkien's own dreams. What better way to portray the truth of what Jesus did between the time of the crucifixion and the time of his resurrection? In the visions of Emanuel Swedenborg, he was shown at the time of Jesus' coming there was a threat that all of humanity would be lost due to the growing power of hell, and without his coming, all would be lost. Did Tolkien not only have dreams of the future, but that of the past as well?