Richard Wagner and J.R.R Tolkien The Forgers of their Rings

i have just finished an excellent online Tolkien course through the University of Wales in Cardiff: (Tolkien Myth and Middle Earth in Context) by Dr Dimitra Fimi -author of a key work of Tolkien Scholarship Tolkien, Race and Cultural History . I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in an in-depth exploration of Tolkien and his legendarium.

For this course I wrote a paper focusing on Richard Wagner (another one of my passions) as a sub-creator like Tolkien and tried to find some "common ground" between these two incredible artists of the 19th and 20th century. This is an attempt to move the dialogue beyond the oft-quoted remark by Tolkien (made in a fit of anger!) "both rings are round and that's where the comparison ends" (Letters, 237).

The original paper was over 6,000 words long (double the requirement!) and several sections had to be omitted from the final paper. I would like to get the final paper in shape for potential publication. I will be posting to this blog some excerpts from the paper focusing on several thematic areas of shared common ground. I welcome any thoughts and comments. I will also be adding to the paper as I discover new material. For example, the recent excellent book Middle Earth Minstrel had some new intriguing material on Wagner and Tolkien

We will start at looking at the very specific item at the centre of both legendarium's - THE RING itself










"solang er lebt,
sterb' er lechzend dahin,
des Ringes Herr
als des Ringes Knecht!"

















"Ash nazg durbatuluk,
Ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi kimpatul"









"A specific shared item of evidence for common ground is found in the actual item of Wagner and Tolkien’s ring. In his prose sketch The Nibelungen Myth, Wagner outlines the earliest origin for his ring:

“Alberich stole the clear and noble Rhine Gold, carried it away from the depths of the waters and forged from it with great cunning and art a ring that gave him the highest power over the whole race, the Nibelungs: so he became their lord, forced them from that moment to work for him and collected the immeasurable hoard of the Nibelungs. “ (Edward Haymes, 2010, p. 44)

The ring as sketched here is an item that gives the owner power and dominion. Based on the primary Norse sources Wagner would have known, there are several stories about magic rings. There are two major magic rings mentioned in the Eddas: Odin's ring Draupnir and the dwarf Andvari's ring Andvarnaut. Regarding the later, in Volsunga Saga, Andvari is forced to ransom his ring to the god Loki and he sets a curse on it.” (Finch, 1965, p. 67) From these and perhaps other sources, Wagner forged his own ruling ring – a ring that grants world domination, unlimited power, wealth and is also cursed.

As T.A. Shippey states “none of the ancient sources give the Ring the central place that Wagner does....It was Wagner who, in very Tolkienian fashion, noted the gaps of the ancient tradition and wrote his version of the story determinedly into them.” (Shippey, 2006, p. 106)

Turning to Tolkien, how did he forge his Ruling Ring? It is important to remember that the role of the ring in Tolkien went through many changes from the time it was first found in the dark by Bilbo in The Hobbit to its later manifestation as the Ruling Ring- “For Bilbo's Ring is not the same as Frodo's in its nature nor its powers...Bilbo and Gollum's Ring is a simple ring of invisibility with rather limited power.” (Rateliff, 2007, pp. 174-5). Indeed, Tolkien’s early concept of the ring is much more like Wagner’s tarnhelm - the magical instrument (either a helmet or chain mail) which has the power, among several, to make you invisible. The other main characteristics of Wagner’s ring – greed, dominion and a curse are not evident in Bilbo’s ring. However, as Tolkien started to work on the much demanded sequel for The Hobbit, he did explore the idea of incorporating the slightly nefarious concepts of greed into the potential plot line for his new Hobbit. In the first sketches of the opening chapter, The Long Expected Party, Bilbo is to leave the Shire to look for more dragon-gold having spent his share of the treasure he received from his activities in The Hobbit. (Shadow, pp. 19-34) In a fourth version sketch Bilbo says, “Now I have spent all my money which once seemed to me too much and my own has gone after it. And I don't like being without…in fact I am bring lured.” (Shadow, p. 41) Later in the same sketch, he asks Elrond what he can do to heal his “money wish and unsettlement. “ (Shadow, p. 41) As Tolkien developed this idea he wrote “The Ring: whence its origin. Necromancer? Not very dangerous when used for good purpose. But it exacts a penalty. You must lose either it our yourself .” (Shadow, p. 42) Tolkien eventually connects these earlier ideas of greed and lust and the curse with the nefarious attributes of the Ruling Ring.

Thus, in the development of the ring it changes from a useful ring of invisibility (more akin to Wagner's Tarnhelm) to the One Ring (more akin to Wagner’s Ring of the Nibelung). Now certainly Tolkien could have arrived at this through synthesis of the same type of sources that Wagner found in Old Norse works. Shippey states that if Tolkien did take anything from Wagner it was perhaps no more than the idea that something could be done with the idea of the Ring of Power, something more laden with significance, than anything in an ancient source but at the same time and very definitely not what Wagner had done with it.” (Shippey, 2006, p. 113). However, Michael Scott Rohan in his paper Was Tolkien the Real Ring Thief states that there is nowhere else Tolkien can have come by it; no dark passages in which his hand rested on an enigmatic Ring. (Rohan, 2005, p. 151 ). In his piece The Ring and the Rings, Alex Ross goes even further stating that it is clear that Tolkien used Wagner to develop his ring and accuses Tolkien of being a closet Wagnerian and brandishing his walking stick as Nothung Siegfried's reforged sword! (Ross, 2003).

One item which Ross focuses on in his analysis are the similarities in the actual curses put on the ring by Alberich and Sauron (both included above) In the final libretto for Das Rhinegold, Alberich curses the ring “Forfeit to death, faint with fear shall he be fettered; the length of his life he shall long to die, the lord of the Ring as the slave to the Ring.” (Wagner, 1876). Which is interesting to compare to Sauron's curse “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to Bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.” (FR, p. 49) Clearly, each ring carries a curse that is bound up with themes of slavery and dominion over all who dare to bear it. “Wagner's fundamental message is, in short, a warning against the curse of covetousness and hunger for power.” (Bjornsson, 2003, p.276)

The same could certainly be said of Tolkien's One Ring as well."

So that's the first instalment - Next time we will look at some evidence of shared ground in character and fates of Wagner and Tolkien's final Ring bearers.

Happy YuleFest to all!!!



REFERENCES

Works Cited by J.R.R. Tolkien

The History of the Hobbit: Part One Mr. Baggins, edited by John D. Rateliff. (London: HarperCollins, 2007)
The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter with the assistance of Christopher Tolkien. (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1981)
The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One, edited by Christopher Tolkien. (London: Harper Collins, 2002)

Other Works Cited

Bjornsson A (2003) Wagner and the Volsungs: Icelandic Sources of Der Ring des Nibelungen. London: Viking Society for Northern Research
Finch, R.G (1965) The Saga of the Volsungs. London: Thomas Nelson
Hammond, Wayne G. & Scull, Christina (2008), J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide vol. 2 Companion London: HarperCollins
Haymes, E (2010) Wagner's Ring in 1848: New Translations of The Nibelung Myth and Siegfried's Death. New York: Camden House
Rohan, M (2005) 'What Story I Wonder?” said Gandalf....” Was Tolkien the real Ring-Thief', in Sarah Wells (ed.) The Ring Goes Ever On Proceedings of theTolkien 2005 Conference vol. 2, Tolkien Society, Coventry England, pp. 147-155
Ross, A. (2003) The Ring and the Rings. Available at http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/04/wagner_tolkien_1.html (Accessed on
4th December 2010)
Shippey, T (2003) The Road to Middle Earth. London: HarperCollins
Shippey, T (2006) Roots and Branches: Selected Papers on Tolkien. Walking Tree Press
Wagner, R (1898) 'A Communication to My Friends (Eine Mittheilung an meine Freunde)', in The Art-Work of the Future: Richard Wagner's Prose Works Vol 1, Translated by William Ashton Ellis. London: The Wagner Library, pp, 230-344.
Wagner, R (1876) Der Ring des Nibelungen. Librettos available at http://www.rwagner.net/libretti/rheingold/e-t-rhein.html (Accessed on 5th December 2010)


Posted from Andrew Higgins IPAD asthiggins@me.com

I've discovered the works of Edward Plunkett The 18th Baron of Dunsany

He's been on my reading list for some time and now thanks to the holiday break I have been exploring some of the great works of fantasy of Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957) known as Lord Dunsany

Over the weekend I read his early works The Gods of Pegāna and
Time and the Gods which is an epic tale of a pantheon of great and lesser gods in the world of Pegana. There are certainly some evidence of Tolkien's Valar peering out. There is an interesting God of Mirth and Melodious Minstrel called Limpang-Tang which reminds me of Tolkien's Tinfang Warble from the Book of Lost Tales. Behind the Pantheon of Gods there is the mysterious figure of Mana-Yood-Sushai who sleeps while the lesser gods play and again has some interestng parallels to Tolkien's Iluvatar.

Lord Dunsany also wrote some really witty tales which combine primary and secondary worlds. In his short story Miss Cubbidge and the Dragon of Romance a rather prim Victorian lady is whisked away to another world on the back of a
Dragon. In The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap a rather ordinary man sub creates a world and then actually starts to live in it an become the king of the world. In "The Wonderful Window" a piece of glass becomes a magical window into another world.








Dunsany was a bit older than Tolkien and came from very aristocratic background. Both Tolkien and Dunsany fought in World War One.

I have heard that his best book is The King of Elfland's Daughter and look forward to reading this one and then will do some more postings on this very interesting sub-creator of secondary worlds,


There is also a book about Lord Dunsany on Google books


Posted from Andrew Higgins IPAD asthiggins@me.com

Layers upon Layers

Recently back for Portugal were we had a great time visiting some of the most historical sites of its history including the founding city in the north Guimares (a name derived from a Germanic based word meaning the "the rich ones" because that is where all the wealthy land owners lived - which is what made it very attractive to the Spanish. We stayed in a beautiful 12th century monastery that was converted by the government (called a Passada). It was there in the 12th century that the warlord Don Alfsono Henriques defeated his own mother in the Batalha de S.Mamede and started the foundation of Portugal. In Coimbra (the Oxford of Portugal) we say the great Library of Joao V as well as the fascist like statues the dictator Salazar has erected at the University of Coimbra. We also toured one of the largest Roman sites - Conimbriga (a Roman summer resort with one of the largest bath houses in the area). Going further back we went to the Celtic site of Britarieos which was excavated in the 19th century and has some of the most extensive pre-Roman Celtic remains including many foundations of Celtic round houses. The site also contains Roman and Medieval remains (perched a high on a hill it became a place for hermits in the 10th century (I go down to the moors, collect me berries, chastises myself - sorry lapsed in Monty Python...). Also returned to Lisbon (where we had been before) and took a trip back to Belem - to have their speciality Pastleis de Belem and a dinner in the Barrio Alto of Bacchaleu (Salt Fish). In Lisbon, we stayed in a hotel right above the famous coffee house - The Braseliera - where the famous 20th century poet Pessoa used to sit and write (and where after a drinking bout he apparently died). There is nothing like a bica in the morning.

So I have fallen in love with the country and the language which I am learning - there is so much great Portuguese literature and very little in translation and the other interesting thing I find is the amount of literature on the Knights Templar who found refuge in Portugal towards their end - and when we return I want to go to Tomar - one of their major strongholds. So in the coming months I hope to dig into this wealth of literature and of course, eventually, read Lord of the Rings in Portuguese.

On another front I am getting increasingly interested in this concept of "The Great Chain of Reading" which Nagly put forth in the recent book on Tolkien and the Middle Ages. I am interested in studying authors who did what Tolkien did in terms of developing an "original" piece of connected literature out of a series of layered stories, annuals, chronologies,etc - I am currently re-reading Roger Loomis's volume on Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages and seeing the many layers of stories that make up what eventually became the stories of King Arthur and the Round Table has "fixed" in Malory and Tennyson - another interesting one that I picked up while reading the excellent book Lord of the Rings and the Western Narrative Tradition is the Hellenistic poem The Argonautika by Appollinious of Rhodes who was himself a librarian and had access to many sources of books on the gods and heroes that make up the story of Jason and Medea (and what of Homer and the layers we can find in that - could the Cretan lies of Odysseus in the later books of the Odyssey be an earlier layer of the story? All very much worth investigating.

Of course, life is busy and my partner and I have of late been doing marathon Lord of the Rings Online games (I'm a level 17 elf - he a level 20 hobbit) - eats up time but its fun - anyone interested in joining a fellowship quest into the great barrow of Ongenthow (thought that was Beowulf's father??).

Will be at the UK Tolkien conference next week - and will report on next week.