I can’t remember how old I was; I was sitting on my mother’s lap as she read The Hobbit to me. The tales of dragons, dwarves and hobbits transfixed me. And treasure. The image of Tolkien’s map of Middle Earth, with the mountains, rivers and a huge dragon were magical. I was always drawn back to this.

Later, when I was older, I re-read the Hobbit on my own and then tackled The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s 3 volume 6 book sequel to the Hobbit. This was not the same. The Lord of the Rings is not a children’s book and I struggled to get through it. The themes are deeper and adult in nature .

I have since re-read the Lord of the Rings and everything else Tolkien wrote about Middle Earth, as an adult and here is what I have learned. Before I dive into this however, I do have to say that with every re-reading I do learn more, such is the depth of the writing.

1. Good and evil in the Lord of the Rings

The simplest theme in the series is the battle between good and evil. You have the good guys vs the bad guys. The Fellowship versus Sauron’s forces and hobbits versus orcs. You know straight away whether each character is on the good side or the evil side.

However, this is overly simplistic. You also get to see the internal struggle within the characters, as they fight the power of good and evil within them. The One Ring is the perfect metaphor for the desire for power and earthly riches, which can corrupt. This journey from innocence to evil can be seen when we compare Frodo to Bilbo and to Smeagol (Gollum).

Each of these hobbits, in turn, has borne the ring for a time. Frodo, who has the ring for the least amount of time, fights the power of it to corrupt him, whilst he journeys to destroy it forever. Bilbo, who held the ring for decades, after stealing the ring from Smeagol, is being ‘stretched thin’ by the influence of evil. He must give up the ring to Frodo and leave the Shire for the safety of the Elves of Rivendell. Smeagol originally stole the ring, from his friend Deagol, hundreds of years before and it so utterly corrupted him, that he is no longer the same. He is now the base creature Gollum, who lived in a cave, guarding his ‘precious.’

In the real world, no one is born evil, but we can be corrupted to evil. It is our daily internal struggle over our base habits and thoughts, which will determine where we finish up.

2. Friendship or Fellowship

The most stirring part of the Lord of the Rings, for me is when the Fellowship of the Ring first bands together. The four hobbits, two men, a dwarf, an elf and the Wizard are tasked with destroying the one ring ‘in the fires of mount doom.’ Each of the nine has different personal reasons for joining the quest, but they all have one united aim. When they first come together, they are not all known to each other and there is tension between for instance Gimli the dwarf and Legolas the elf. Elves and Dwarves were once allied but are now hostile. Likewise, the Hobbits are suspicious of the Men. The one aim unites the Fellowship until the reverse is true. Gimli and Legolas become fast friends and the hobbits come to love the men, especially Aragorn. It is friendship or fellowship that helps the company win.

3. Loyalty

Loyalty and disloyalty are both themes that run through the Lord of the Rings. We see how Saruman the white wizard, is quietly scheming to find the One Ring himself, showing disloyalty to the order in which Gandalf also belongs. Eventually, he becomes overtly disloyal, forming an army of Orcs to help him become the new Dark Lord.

Alternatively, there is a prime example of loyalty in Samwise Gamgee, Frodo’s gardener. He agrees to go with Frodo on his mission and sticks with him, from the perils of the Barrow-wights right through to the fires of mount Doom, without shirking his duty. There are many times where lesser people would have said ‘Master, this is too much for me’ I’m going back home to my garden.

But he remains loyal to the cause and his good friend. He is rewarded in the end, as Frodo bequeaths his estate to Sam. Sam becomes an upright citizen in the Shire and ends up being the Mayor of the Shire.

4. Persistence

If ever there was a story of persistence in the face of insurmountable challenge, The Lord of the Rings is it. The band of four hobbits set off on their journey, without even knowing what the end would be, but they knew they had to travel, to keep going. It is only at the Council of Elrond, where they agree the purpose of the quest – to destroy the Ring. You would think that defining a task would make it easier, but the task now seems impossible or at least unfinishable. But they proceed anyway. Despite not really knowing if they would be successful or not, they persist.

I’m often struck by this in life, with lofty goals especially. How many times do we settle for easy goals and the humdrum existence because our vision seems impossible. Why bother starting. Or we do start and when the task becomes too difficult, we just give up because its impossible. Then I remember those small hobbits, they continued anyway, even in the grip of despair. I can’t go back now.

The path doesn’t need to be clear, just keep moving forward one step at a time.

If you have lofty goals, I congratulate you. Keep them in mind always. Don’t try to plan every step. Just like Gandalf, who had a vague idea of how things should pan out, he didn’t know every step. Take the first step, then the second step will become obvious. Many people do not start on their purpose in life because they don’t know how. But you just need to keep moving forward in the general direction.

I’ve written more about how you can become successful in my post Is Goal Setting Important. In this post I give you a very quick method to achieve long term goals, which will help you be persistent.

5. Leadership

Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, is the King in waiting. Although he is the heir of Isildur, when we first meet him, we know him as Strider, a course Ranger of the North. In the story we don’t know his full identity until much later. We first see his inherent leadership qualities when orcs chase the Fellowship out of Moria. The band is now leaderless and they grieve at the apparent death of Gandalf. As they rest, after their escape from the orcs, Aragorn realises that the danger still hasn’t passed. He quickly orders the others to move on. Some protest, saying can they not rest and grieve, but Aragorn is authoritative and decisive. They obey him. Without any agreement taking place, Aragorn is now their de facto leader.

In life some people are raised to levels of power and authority, but you can tell they lack leadership. Leadership is not a title, it is inherent. Sometimes you meet a person who exudes quiet authority. Outwardly they may look humble and act modestly, but when the moment for leadership is required, they naturally take the mantle.

Another trait of leaders is that they can be ruthless but also kind. Unlike the sociopath who revels in his power, the true leader is ruthless only when it is required and they don’t necessarily enjoy it.

6. What the Lord of the Rings says about greatness

What makes someone great? Is it the large event that they succeed in? No, it’s the little things, the simple acts of kindness, they show every day. It is also seen in the moments of crisis, when everyone panics, looking around to see who will lead them. Its then that the leader takes charge, decisively directing people. The leader often doesn’t know where their leadership comes from.

You don’t have to be a leader to be great. You don’t have to have titles and be large in stature. Many people quietly go about their business, without fuss, silently pursuing their goals and fulfilling their duties. The silent majority. Just like the hobbits they’re not famous, they don’t perform great deeds, but their greatness comes from their everyday actions. Quietly moving forward, never giving up, until one day out of nowhere, it seems, they achieve recognition. We’ve all seen the ‘overnight successes,’ but we’ve not seen the decades of doing the right thing, when nobody noticed.

The little guy can win in the end, you are stronger and greater than you think. Life is an adventure.

Be the hero of your own journey.

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