Tolkien's True Myth & Tropes In Fiction

All pictures in this post are my own...and don't have much to do with the actual subject. :)

[Edited to add: This is the first post I'm contributing to February Is Fantasy Month!]

Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories" is an absolute gem, through and through. Would highly recommend reading it. But the part which struck me most while reading it recently was the part where he talked about God's story--Salvation History and the Gospels--as being stories themselves. He goes on to note that God made us to love these stories, so that we would ultimately love the True Myth, in Jesus Christ. That our love of story is part of the God-shaped hole in ourselves. Even before Jesus was born, everyone had this love of story, and this yearning for it. 

I can't really say it better than he does, so here's part of what Tolkien says about it: 

The Gospels contain a fairystory, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories. They contain many marvels—peculiarly artistic, beautiful, and moving: “mythical” in their perfect, selfcontained significance; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable eucatastrophe. But this story has entered History and the primary world; the desire and aspiration of sub-creation has been raised to the fulfillment of Creation...This story is supreme; and it is true. Art has been verified. God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves. Legend and History have met and fused.

But he's especially careful to note that since man was made to love stories: 

Redeemed Man is still man. Story, fantasy, still go on, and should go on. The Evangelium has not abrogated legends; it has hallowed them, especially the “happy ending.”

Okay, so humans love Story because that's how we're made by God...in order to appreciate Jesus's coming as the True Myth. 

So it was a logical next step for me to start wondering what common conventions and tropes in fiction might come from this love of story, and have parallels in Jesus's life! (I may or may not have started wondering about this during Mass. I admit nothing.) So I came up with a list of some of the most common tropes in fiction, and how they align with the life of Christ, so they especially come into our love of story! 

Two quick notes:

1. We don't love every single element of story because it's in Jesus's life/the Bible/etc. That would be a semi-ridiculous claim.
2. For any non-Christian readers (do I even have those? I don't know. But just in case...), there's going to be quite a bit of Christian theology. Just be warned. :)

Story Structure

The actual structure of the stories we love mirrors the Gospels or, if you want to look at it that way, is mirrored by and realized in the Gospels. 

Think about it--typical story structure: Exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action. This structure is the structure of, I would venture to say, every fiction book that has ever been written. (I can think of maybe one or two exceptions. That's it.) So obviously, something about this structure is inherent in our being. As humans, this is how we like story. 

So Jesus, relating to us in every way, and trying in every way to get His message across, has a story like this. 
Exposition: The story of His conception, the infancy narratives 
Inciting Incident: The wedding feast at Cana (one could also argue that it's his birth. Either one works. ;))
Rising Action: His ministry, His miracles, His teachings, His travels, going up to Jerusalem for the Passover, Judas arranging the betrayal
Climax: The Last Supper, the Agony in the Garden, His Passion, Death, and Resurrection 
Falling Action: His appearances to His disciples, His Ascension. 

One could also look at the whole of the Bible in this way:

Exposition: Creation, life in Eden
Inciting Incident: The Fall
Rising Action: Bible history, from fallen Adam to the Maccabees
Climax: Jesus's life, death and resurrection
Falling Action: The history of the Church

Of course, Tolkien also adds to our concept of story the concept of the "eucatastrophe", the sudden turn for the good, which gets our hearts beating. ("The eagles are coming, the eagles are coming!") 

And of course, God's story either way you look at it has quite literally the greatest eucatastrophe of all time: "He is not dead; but He is risen!" 

As Tolkien says: "The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation...There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many sceptical [sic] men have accepted as true on its own merits."

Foreshadowing

Obviously most books make use of foreshadowing. But there are only a few that I would recommend going back and reading the whole thing again after you finish, to catch all the hints and foreshadowing and everything.

The Queen's Thief series.

The Westing Game.

Most mysteries.

And...the Bible!

There are SO MANY references to Jesus in the Old Testament--the Psalms, Isaiah, Moses being a Christ prefigure, I could go on and on and on and on. Hints about what He was going to do for His people. Hints about how He was going to do it. The Jews at the time didn't catch on, but it's extraordinarily obvious in retrospect.  So, once you read the New Testament...go back and read the Old Testament again, so you can get all the hints! XD

Good vs. Evil

The most compelling story that we can tell, as humans, is the story of good fighting against pure evil. And I'm not talking about a small struggle--I'm talking about an epic battle.

Lord of the Rings.

Harry Potter.

The Green Ember. 

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. 

It's no accident that these books are some of the most loved books of recent years. 

This is the story, or, if you will, the trope, that as humans, we are designed to love.

Why?

Because it's true. The epic battles between good and evil that we read about are just an echo of the true battle between good and evil that's being waged in our world. 

But in this case...the good has already won. 

Save The World

Have you noticed how often "saving the world" comes up in fiction? Especially fantasy and sci-fi?

Harry Potter, saving the world from Voldemort.

The Lego Movie: "put the thing on the thing...and save the world". 

Every Percy Jackson book ever has the characters facing a bigger and badder threat to the entire world, that they have to save it from. 

*cough* Marvel *cough cough* 

Could this be because there was One who by His death quite literally saved the world? 

The Chosen One

Okay, time for one of the tropes people complain about alllllllllll the time: The Chosen One. 

Yes, this trope is pretty common: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Cinder, Eugenides, Fitz (from the Assassin's Apprentice trilogy), Sophie (Howl's Moving Castle), Peter Nimble & Sophie Quire, Chess (The Fog Diver), Chase (The Lost Planet (which I definitely need to reread one of these days...)), Alice (Futhermore), Luna (Girl Who Drank The Moon), Emmett (The Lego Movie), and debatably Aragorn and Frodo. And that's just a handful. 

These are all people who are the only ones who can complete the quest, save the world, whatever. 

But while having an abundance of Chosen Ones can get a little old sometimes, there's a reason why this trope became popular, a reason why it tickles our imaginations and makes us happy. Actually, two reasons. (This is rapidly turning into a Defense of Chosen Ones. XD)

Reason one: Not everyone can do everything. I think that part of the reason people object to Chosen Ones is that our culture likes to believe that anyone can do anything. But in real life, people have limits. Men can't have babies. Not everyone has perfect pitch. So women are the Chosen Ones for having babies because they have that ability, and people with perfect pitch who practice are more or less the Chosen Ones for musical competitions. That's just the way it is. Not everyone has the same abilities, and Chosen Ones just ratchet it up a notch.
And we like that. Because in general, everyone has a thing they can do that not everyone can...like having babies, or perfect pitch, or having a mind made for knitting, or instinctually herding animals, etc., etc., etc.
And in some ways, the idea that we don't have to do everything, sometimes someone else has to do the hard things, appeals to us, too. 

Reason two: Here we get back to the main point of this post--the parallel between True Myth and fictional tropes. There is a Chosen One. Only, He wasn't chosen--he chose. Jesus was the only one who could possibly effect our salvation, just like Harry Potter was the only one who could defeat Voldemort, and Aragorn was the only true king in his time. They could chose not to do these things--to try to defeat Voldemort, to be king--but they didn't. They chose to do so, and in doing so, saved others. Jesus chose to come to earth to save us, all of us, because He was the only one who could do it. And that's why we love this trope. 

Group of friends

This is perhaps the most common trope in fiction...because most people have friends. And there are so many books where groups of friends band together, save the world, etc. Often, but not always, they're amalgamated around a Chosen One. 

A few examples...

Harry, Ron, and Hermione

Luke, Han, and Leia

Taran, Eilonwy and Fflueder Fflam (from the Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander)

The Fellowship (Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas, Gimli, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Gandalf)

This is often used in fiction, but I don't know if we often think about how Jesus had a group of friends like this as well. The apostles! They traveled with Him, helped Him in His ministry, and ultimately spread the word of the gospel, after His ascension. So while this isn't a major trope, I thought it was worth mention. 

God-Human Hero

This trope is extremely common in Greek mythology and literature (as well as Roman, to some extent, and now the Percy Jackson books). The Greeks were very "into" the whole concept of half-human half-god heroes, aka demigods. These demigods were usually the ones in charge of extraordinary quests, challenges, battles, etc. 

I could probably keep going with this list forever, but: Hercules, Achilles, Aeneas, Chiron, Orpheus, Perseus, Theseus, Romulus, and Remus are some examples! 

Well. Jesus is, like, this trope to the perfect max. Because he's not quite the same--he is 100% God (with a big 'g'), and 100% man, and Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, etc. So he's not a demigod. But He is the perfect union of God and Man who can heroically save His people in a very extraordinary event. :)

Blood Has Power

One interesting parallel between Jesus and common fiction tropes is the idea that blood is powerful. Blood has power. Even independent of death. 

As good ol' Isaiah says, "by His stripes we are healed"...Jesus's whole passion is salvific, even if the whole thing including His death is needed to save us. And even apart from that, the phrase "saved by His blood" comes up a lot. So. 

But we also see this in fiction! The two examples which come first to mind are Harry Potter and Will Turner (from Pirates of the Caribbean). 

In Harry Potter, there are actually several instances of this. One of them is how, when Voldemort uses Harry's blood to come back, he can then touch Harry. Harry's blood gives him that power.

Then when Harry and Dumbledore are on their little trip in Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore has to give some of his blood to open the door. A crude bit of magic, as Dumbledore says, but effective. 

Then. Then! In PotC, Will's blood is literally needed to *spoiler* bring all the pirates back from zombification. But more than that...the pirates think that it's Elizabeth's blood that's needed. So Will, by offering himself, will save Elizabeth as well. *end spoiler* His blood has power in two ways, even.

Self-Sacrifice: Pain

I'm separating the two types of self-sacrifice, because they're different in my mind, and also, I have so much to say that I wouldn't have enough space in one segment. 

So, what I'm talking about right now is a character sacrificing their comfort and enduring pain in order to help or save other characters. 

There are so many examples of this. And I love it so, so, so much! For two reasons:
1. We were made to love it, as is the point of this post :)
2. It means that while my favorite characters are doing altruistic things, they aren't dying. XD 

Some of my favorite examples (I apologize in advance for the fact that 2/3 of them are major spoilers. I just happened to only think of book examples of this from books with unreliable narrators. XD): 

Gen in The Thief *highlight for major spoiler* getting himself in prison in order to serve his queen and save his country *end spoiler*. 

Queenie in Code Name Verity *highlight for major spoiler* withstanding torture in order to protect her friends from being captured in Nazi-occupied France *end spoiler*. 

Natasha Romanoff in Captain America: The Winter Soldier shocking herself very, very hard in order to leave the way clear for the good guys to take down the bad guys.
Also Natasha Romanoff getting shot in the shoulder to distract the bad guys.
(This trope happens to her a lot, I feel like? IDK.)

Looking at reason #1 why I love this...we love this trope because it happened in the life of Christ. As Isaiah says: "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus suffered a lot during His Passion, even before His death, and all of it was salvific, kind of like what these characters do...only, of course, on a much grander level.

Self-Sacrifice: Death

Warning: Spoilers for Harry Potter, the first two Captain America Movies, Avengers, Lord of the Rings, Ranger's Apprentice, and Sweep. I'm sorry, but the spoilers are what this whole trope hinges on, so I can't really hide the whole section...hence the warning. 

This is probably the most obvious parallel between tropes and Jesus, but I just love it so much. Both in fiction and in True Myth. :) 

Obviously, Jesus died to save us. His death is our hope, His death redeemed us, His death saved us. In the eternal sense. God therefore made us so that this would affect us. We care that this happened. And we care when it happens in fiction. 

I love this trope. It gives me the best kind of feels. (Usually the sad kind! Although not all of these examples are people dying, in fact many of them are people who are willing to die, so sometimes it's almost-sad feels.)

Harry Potter in Deathly Hallows. I just...*sobbing* He dies to give his friends a possibility of defeating Voldemort and I cannnnn'ttttt eeeeeveeeeennnn deeeeeallllll. 

Captain America in both First Avenger and Winter Soldier. Though he doesn't die either time, he is willing to, and thinks he is going to, both when he pilots the plane into the ice (saving the world) and when he tells Hill to blow up the hover carrier with him on it (saving 20 million people). Gah, I love that man. 

Tony Stark in Avengers "lays down on the wire" to send the nuclear bomb into space and in the process accepts that he's probably going to die when the portal closes, and I will just be over here sobbing about how much I love that, and how worried I am every. time. I. watch. it. (Like, actually. Legolas can attest.)

Alyss in Ranger's Apprentice (book 12) runs back into a burning building to rescue a child, and thus comes to her death, and I. Just. Can't. She. Is. The. Best. 

Gandalf in Lord of the Rings sacrifices himself for his friends in the Mines of Moria, to give them enough time to get away. (And technically, he does actually die.) 

Charlie from Sweep by Jonathan Auxier, who literally sacrifices himself (his self) to save his friend and I am just going to be over here in the corner crying, now. 

Resurrection

(Warning: spoilers for The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and Iron Man 3)

Everyone complains about this trope. But honestly, I think we secretly love it. What I'm talking about is--when a character dies and then comes back, or was not dead in the first place. When your favorite character dies, don't you have a moment of hope that they'll come back? Isn't there a brief second where you're in denial? And then if they do...no matter how overdone you may think this trope is, there is a moment of joy. 

A few examples: 

Gandalf, from LOTR, who almost literally comes back from the dead after saving his friend with his sacrifice, might be seen as an exact parallel to Jesus, however, Tolkien himself says "But though one may be in this reminded of the Gospels, it is not really the same thing at all. The Incarnation of God is an infinitely greater thing than anything I would dare to write." :)

Harry Potter hands himself over to Voldemort in order to save his friends, and finds himself in a strange place, which resembles King's Cross railway station (King's Cross, guys). He then makes the decision to come back and finish the battle, and the moment where his friends realize that he's not actually dead is one of the better eucatastrophes in that whole series. 

Aslan's death and resurrection is probably the most obvious parallel with Jesus, as he gives himself up in order to save Edmund, is literally killed by his enemies while attached to a particular object (the table in this case), and rises again. Lewis had fewer qualms about writing things like the Incarnation than Tolkien did. XD

Now on to the less salvific but no less joyful resurrections! In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury seems to die in surgery (in front of Natasha and Steve. And that scene in the morgue...*sobbing*). His friends keep on with his mission while grieving his death...until it turns out that he's actually alive!

In Iron Man 3, Tony fails to catch Pepper as she falls into a huge gas fire from a height, and yes, now I'm crying. I totally though she was dead, guys. But then she's not! Because of stuff the bad guys did! And she saves Tony's life! And it's really, really sweet. 

This is one of the tropes that we're most obviously made to love, because this is how Jesus saved us, through His death, and His resurrection, which, as Tolkien says "is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation", which is the eucatastrophe of human history. Is it any wonder we love it so much?

Have you ever thought about the Gospels as stories? What's one of your "Chosen One" abilities (something you can do that not everyone can)? What about your favorite character death?