Anarchy in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Hobbit Laws Emphasize Free Will and Less Government

Jul 5, 2009

Hobbits might appear to have little in common with anarchists. Yet, Tolkien places hobbits in a self-governing society which avoids power and focuses on freedom.

J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of the famous trilogy The Lord of the Rings, maintained that the story was a myth, and not a reflection of politics or events of the modern age. Nevertheless, many readers find that the story does resonate with modern concerns. One such example is the allusion to anarchy.

A Shire without a Government

In the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s section 3 describes “Of the Ordering of the Shire.”

Tolkien wrote: “The Shire at this time had hardly any ‘government.’ Families for the most part managed their own affairs.”

This phrasing would have pleased America’s founders, who based the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights on the notion that a big government can result in oppression of the citizens.

Thus, Tolkien created a shire where the officials were mostly figureheads, and with the hobbits managing their own affairs.

Laws of Free Will

Tolkien continues to note that hobbits had an ancient tradition of a king, though there had been no king for a thousand years. Yet, a king had enacted just laws which the hobbits kept. “For they attributed to the king of old all their essential laws; and usually they kept the laws of free will, because they were The Rules (as they said), both ancient and just.”

The Reluctant Ruler

In the character known as Strider and Aragorn, Tolkien portrays a man who does not want to be king. In this portrayal, Tolkien illustrates the type of man who would make a good ruler: the man who does not want power. The philosophy is similar to that expressed by Benjamin Franklin, in his speech during the Constitutional Convention, where he warned against paying the President a salary, as it would create a position combining wealth with power, a receipe for a tyrant.

Frodo's Battle against Absolute Power

The ring that Frodo volunteers to carry to Mount Doom is a source of trouble and fascination to the hobbit, as well as to those around him. Throughout the trilogy, the ring threatens to entiice and destroy whoever begins to covet power. As the ringbearer, Frodo must guard the ring from not only enemies, but his friends, who could fall under the ring's spell and try to take it for themselves, the way Boromir did.

However, Frodo's biggest battle is with himself, fighting his own inclination to succumb to the ring, and be destroyed by it. This is the same battle described by the founders of the United States and by anarchists, basing the governmental framework on the idea that all people are flawed, and no one person can be trusted with all the power.

Tolkien the Anarchist

According to Patrick Curry in his book Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien, Myth, and Modernity, “…Tolkien himself can be classed as an anarchist…”

Tolkien noted his leanings toward anarchy in a 1943 letter to his son Christopher. “My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning the abolition of control, not whiskered men with bombs)…”

The small folk known as hobbits might appear to live in a quaint fantasy land. But their system of government, which means hardly any government at all, was a reality that Tolkien supported.

Tolkien in Tehran, July 2009

With the Iranian populace marching in the streets in June and July 2009, the Iranian government is attempting to pacify the people by showing Peter Jackson's film adaptation of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Yet, one commentator, Christopher Knight, noted that the effort could backfire, with Tolkien's message of "even the smallest person" being able to overcome tyrants. It is unclear at this point if the Iranian government realizes that they are showing the Iranian people a story written by an anarchist.

Curry, Patrick. Defending Middle-earth: Tolkien, Myth, and Modernity. New York: St. Martin’s. 1997

Knight, Christopher. "Iranian Government Using Lord of the Rings to Stifle Protests." The Knight Shift.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981.

The copyright of the article Anarchy in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in Activism is owned by Teresa Knudsen. Permission to republish Anarchy in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.