In honor of Memorial Day, I’m going to delve into the idea of fighting for freedom in fiction.
It’s a commonly explored theme and for good reason. It deals with situations we can all relate to and moves us on a deep level.
I can think of numerous examples that deal with the idea of defending the kingdom, country, or city from the advances of the enemy or fighting to gain freedom from oppression:
- Hunger Games
- The Dark Knight Trilogy
- Robin Hood
- Avengers
Those are all great, but I want to focus on one of my favorite stories of all time. That’s right, Lord of the Rings.
Fighting for Freedom in Lord of the Rings
Having fought in WWI and witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, Tolkien had ample experience to draw from when creating Lord of the Rings.
It’s a poignant story on many levels and the idea of freedom is easy to miss amid the epic battles and personal struggles, but it’s there all the same, the unseen foundation that holds the story up.
At the end of the day, the quest is about the need to preserve freedom for the races of Middle-earth and prevent the tyranny of Sauron from ruling. He has slowly grown in power and influence until the entire worlds teeters on the rink of being engulfed by shadow.
Bordering Mordor, Gondor has taken the full brunt of Sauron’s onslaught. They’re engaged in a fight for their lives. Their plight is summed up in one of Boromir’s lines during the council of Elrond scene:
Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe.
You can hear the pain and sorrow in his voice at the sacrifice demanded. Gondor stood against the enemy but the light of their freedom has died to a flicker. Yet in spite of the price, Gondor endured because they understood the value of freedom. They saw the waves of tyranny rising up to drown them, but they would rather die defending themselves than surrender their freedom.
As the story shows over and over, from Helm’s Deep to the final stand at the Black Gate, to the book’s depiction of the hobbits reclaiming the Shire once they return, freedom is something people are willing to fight and die for. It’s that important.
From Fiction to Real Life
It’s amazing how often fiction applies to real life. Stories are like mirrors, taking what we know about the world and reflecting truths and themes through the tales of the characters.
In American, it’s easy to take our freedom for granted. The danger and conflict is halfway across the world, distant enough that it doesn’t present a daily threat beyond what we see on the news. We get distracted by more pressing issues and tend to forget just how priceless our freedom is.
Maybe stories like Lord of the Rings will help us remember. When we watch the armies of the west battling at the threshold of Mordor and see the valiant men falling to preserve the freedom of their lands, we can picture ourselves as those who stayed behind safe because someone else is in danger.
We enjoy lives of relative ease and comfort, lives of freedom, because brave soldiers are willing to sacrifice all for the love of their country. That’s the story of Lord of the Rings. It’s the story of America and many other countries.
It’s the story of freedom.
