The pages of “The Lord of the Rings” possess some of literature’s most famous heroes and deeds. Upon closer examination, the reader can find the fine gold threads of J.R.R. Tolkien’s morality, philosophy, and values guiding the characters’ every footstep.

The story is simple on its surface. Four small people, the hobbits, go on a journey to destroy a magic ring that gives the wearer great power but can create only evil. The dark lord Sauron, mythical creator of the ring, uses his armies and servants to search for his missing ring and attack the land of men.

The virtues that pushed hobbits Frodo and Sam to Mount Doom, that won the battle of Helm’s Deep, that banished overwhelming evil once more from Middle Earth, are the same virtues that push us to succeed every day. And though we do not fight the forces of darkness as literally as Aragorn, king of Gondor, and the wizard Gandalf might, the fight against our vices are not dissimilar.

Courage in Face of Adversity

One of the striking characteristics of “The Lord of the Rings” are the examples of unwavering bravery. The books are a sequence of valiant deeds and efforts one after another.

The courageous duo, ringbearer Frodo Baggins and his loyal servant and gardener Samwise Gamgee, are the greatest examples of bravery in seemingly ordinary folk put to paper by Tolkien.

The hobbits left the comfortable and quiet Shire on a journey into an unknown world to face an evil that worried even the great and wise Gandalf the Grey and with little hope of coming back.

The trek, covering hundreds of miles from the Shire to Rivendell, then to the enchanted forest Lothlórien and the haunted Dead Marshes, involved courageous efforts on the part of the two little travelers. But the hardest leg of the journey was the last: from the spider’s cave at Cirith Ungol to the fire of Mount Doom.

In the dark passes of Cirith Ungol, Frodo was attacked by the giant demon spider Shelob. Before Sam could intervene, he was grappled from behind by the creature Gollum. After having a violent wrestle with Gollum and driving him off with a staff, Sam immediately rushed to Frodo’s aid.

It was too late, Frodo was stung. The spider wrapped him in her webs as she dragged him to her lair.

“Sam did not wait to wonder what was to be done, or whether he was brave, or loyal, or filled with rage. He sprang forward with a yell, and seized his master’s sword in his left hand. Then he charged. No onslaught more fierce was ever seen in the savage world of beasts,” Tolkien wrote.

The little hobbit confronted Shelob, and was able to do what none had done before. With all his courage and determination, Sam sank his sword into the belly of the beast. Shelob, shocked by the wound, retreated to her hole.

Refuse Temptation

The Ring is a powerful tempter, always showing its target all the good that they could do, or what the Ring would allow them to achieve. All the Ring’s promises are falsehoods, as it can only create evil.

Before Frodo’s journey began, he offered the Ring to Gandalf, seeing the powerful wizard as much more suited for the quest. Gandalf immediately smothered the draw of the Ring’s power.

“Do not tempt me! For I do not wish to become like the Dark Lord himself. Yet the way of the Ring to my heart is by pity, pity for weakness and the desire of strength to do good. Do not tempt me! I dare not take it, not even to keep it safe, unused. The wish to wield it would be too great, for my strength. I shall have such need of it. Great perils lie before me,” Gandalf said.

Frodo offered the elf queen and sorceress Galadriel the Ring for similar reasons as he did Gandalf. Galadriel told Frodo:

“I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands. ... In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”

For all her dreams of divinely ruling over Middle Earth, she chose to take the humble and righteous path.

“‘I pass the test,’ [Galadriel] said. ‘I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel,’” Tolkien wrote.

The small and simple were tested right along with the great and wise.

Sam had taken the Ring off what he thought was Frodo’s corpse, dead from Shelob’s poison. While he trekked through the dark tunnels of the spider’s lair, the Ring gave him visions of what he could be.

“He saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dur. And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be,” Tolkien wrote.

Sam’s love for Frodo and his hobbit humbleness defeated the Ring’s fantasies.

“He knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.”

Had he not overcome the temptation, he would not have found that his master was alive, captured by orcs. The journey would have failed on the last leg.

Characters such as Boromir, Gollum, and Isildur all fail the test of temptation, and cause disasters for themselves and others.

Protect the Weak

The heroes in “The Lord of the Rings” protect the weak and peaceful from the aggressive and violent.

There are many examples of Aragorn showing kindness and compassion toward the weak. Before the War of the Ring, he and his Rangers protected the peaceful lands of the west from incursions by orcs, trolls, and wolves. These lands include the Shire, where the hobbits lived.

The returned king protected hobbits often through his journey. When he met the four hobbits in a tavern in Bree, he dedicated himself to making sure they all reached Rivendell safely, guiding and fighting for them all the way.

When the Fellowship was scattered at Amon Hen, Aragorn decided to pursue hobbits Pippin and Merry, who were captured by orcs. He wanted to save them, because he thought they would surely come to terrible fates.

There are many cases of Aragorn healing the sick and wounded. When Frodo is stabbed by a Black Riders on the way to the elf city Rivendell, Aragorn is able to save him from death long enough to receive Elvish treatment.

After the battle of the Pelennor Fields, Aragorn came to the Houses of Healing and saved Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry from death. He’s able to perform these miracles not only because of his lineage as king of Gondor, but because he chose to protect those who were suffering.

Through his healing, Aragorn completed the Gondorian prophecy, “The hands of the king are the hands of a healer, and so shall the rightful king be known.” Gondor found that their rightful lord had returned.

Being Loyal When It’s Hardest

Samwise is the perfect example of Tolkien’s reverence and appreciation for loyalty. The hobbit is humble and extraordinarily dedicated to his master, Frodo.

Throughout the journey from the Shire to Mordor and back, Sam always puts Frodo first. It’s Frodo’s great duty to bear the Ring to Mount Doom, and it’s Sam’s great duty to to serve Frodo.

Sam’s loyalty does not come just from the duty set upon him by Gandalf, but out of a reverence and love he has for Frodo.

As the hobbits were traveling through the Shire to the city of Bree, Frodo expressed his concern about taking his hobbit companions with him on such a dangerous journey. He feared that none of them would be able to come back.

Sam told him, “If you don’t come back, sir, then I shan’t, that’s certain.”

Sam told Frodo of a conversation he had with passing Elves, “Don’t you leave him! they said to me. Leave him! I said. I never mean to. I am going with him, if he climbs to the Moon; and if any of those Black Riders try to stop him, they’ll have Sam Gamgee to reckon with, I said.”

Frodo would not have made it to Mount Doom without Sam, and Sam nearly didn’t go with him. Frodo attempted to leave behind all of the Fellowship at Amon Hen, seeing the journey as solely his, and not wanting to risk the lives of his friends any more.

Sam, who was looking through for Frodo with the rest of the Fellowship, realized Frodo would try to go off on his own, and ran to the ships that had brought them there. He arrived as Frodo pushed off into the river. Sam jumped in the water after the boat, but began to sink and drown.

Frodo immediately turned his boat around and pulled Sam out of the water. Frodo told Sam he had to go alone, to which Sam responded, “All alone and without me to help you? I couldn’t have a borne it, it’d have been the death of me.”

Through his unrelenting loyalty, Sam convinced Frodo to let him help on the rest of the journey.

And help he did. Sam gave Frodo all the mental and physical help he could. He cheered Frodo on when all seemed hopeless and carried Frodo when he couldn’t take another step. Sam’s amazing dedication and loyalty is one of the pillars that the forces of good’s victory rests upon.

Never Lose Hope

For those that fought for good and peace in Middle Earth, to always have hope was the way forward, and to despair was to lose to the darkness.

King Theoden of Rohan was swamped with despair. His traitorous advisor Wormtongue had kept him in a decrepit and negative state. He could not muster the strength to act and save his people from the invading orc armies.

Gandalf struck down Wormtongue in the king’s dark hall and gave Theoden the choice to take his help and see the light.

“He lifted his staff and pointed to a high window. There the darkness seemed to clear, and through the opening could be seen, high and far, a patch of shining sky. ‘Not all is dark. Take courage, Lord of the Mark; for better help you will not find. No counsel have I to give to those that despair,’” Tolkien wrote.

With Gandalf’s help and his own determination, Theoden was able to reassert his power over Rohan and prepare for its defense. Without hope, Rohan would have fallen to the orc armies of Isengard.

Theoden’s journey continues to be one of not losing hope. At the battle of Helm’s Deep, when the men of Rohan had retreated to the citadel of the fortress, and all seemed hopeless, Theoden did not give up. He decided to lead his cavalry at the front in a final charge out of the gates.

“When dawn comes, I will bid men sound Helm’s horn, and I will ride forth. Will you ride with me then, son of Arathorn? Maybe we shall cleave a road, or make such an end as will be worth a song—if any be left to sing of us hereafter,” he said.

His charge at dawn pushed the orc army from the walls as Gandalf arrived with reinforcements.

Conclusion

Through great works such as “The Lord of the Rings,” we can absorb high principles and virtues and aspire to be better people. Subconsciously, we admire heroes and seek to emulate them.

These were merely five principles. Tolkien’s many golden threads are woven deep and skillfully. Aragorn’s leadership, Sam’s humility, Gandalf’s compassion—all are in the mind of those that choose to pick up the series and give it a read or watch.