It turns out Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia wasn't just based on Jesus Christ (spoiler warning)

[Helm]

He really was Jesus Christ in a lion form...

More spoilers contained in the post below.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They actually died in a train crash and were with Jesus in the afterlife the whole time. Would you agree that C.S Lewis took his religious themed story a little too far there? I think it's fine to put a subtle religious undercurrent in a childrens story but that's a whooping megaton hammer blow of Christianity delivered directly into childrens faces there. So it's a strange tale where fantasy meets...well more fantasy from my point of view.

[cottontail]

He really was Jesus Christ in a lion form...

More spoilers contained in the post below.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

They actually died in a train crash and were with Jesus in the afterlife the whole time. Would you agree that C.S Lewis took his religious themed story a little too far there? I think it's fine to put a subtle religious undercurrent in a childrens story but that's a whooping megaton hammer blow of Christianity delivered directly into childrens faces there. So it's a strange tale where fantasy meets...well more fantasy from my point of view.

Well, he basically wrote the books to be a Bible in lite for children, not to be a fantasy universe all of its own. That was what Tolkien was for.

[Col. Tartleton]

And even Tolkien realized later that he was basically putting a Nordic Anglo Saxon spin on large parts of the Bible. It's undoubted the best Science Fiction meets Sword and Sandal crossover ever written...

Ecclesiastes 1:9

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

In short it's an authors note saying "You'll never write anything as good as this and you'll die before you finish if you try."

[Copperknickers II]

Indeed, not having read the books I did not see that coming in the film which ends with a similar revelation. What was most upsetting for me is that Narnia wasn't even real, it was just a creation of Aslan's in the childrens' heads, ie a dream. What kind of an ending is that? I'll stick with LotR from now on.

[Helm]

I suppose Gandalf may have stood in for Jesus in the Lord of the Rings as he also came back from the dead much like Jesus and Aslan after being killed by the Balrog, but that was subtle and doesn't obviously need to have anything to do with the Christian myth as some pagan gods resurrected themselves as well. Sauron was Satan perhaps but all fantasy stories need a powerful arch villian, so again not too blatant, even if he probably was.

[Col. Tartleton]

I suppose Gandalf may have stood in for Jesus in the Lord of the Rings as he also came back from the dead much like Jesus and Aslan after being killed by the Balrog, but that was subtle and doesn't obviously need to have anything to do with the Christian myth as some pagan gods resurrected themselves as well. Sauron was Satan perhaps but all fantasy stories need a powerful arch villian, so again not too blatant, even if he probably was.

Exactly. He didn't do it consciously but he was smart enough to see his mind created those parallels subconsciously. Gandalf was based on Odin but there are aspects of Christ in him. From what I recall he had trouble with the Silmarillion because he could never quite get it where he wanted it to go. He was about to go through his notes and rewrite it before he died if I recall. Tolkien and Lewis were close friends. Lewis was a very religious man and Tolkien less so but still Christian. Lewis set out to write allegories. Tolkien couldn't help it.

[Pontifex Maximus]

Its just a classic archetype. The sacrificial hero. Lots of stories have them it just so happens the most infamous one is Jesus.

[conon394]

Sauron was Satan

Nope not even close. Morgoth filled that role

Gandalf was based on Odin but there are aspects of Christ in him

I am hard pressed to see any aspects of either odin or Christ in Gandalf - Merlin maybe. but I like to see to make a case for either. In particular the Jesus comparison simply does not hold water - Aslans death is. an explicit sacrifice Gandolf did not intend to die he did not even intend to leave the bridge.

[cfmonkey45]

Nope not even close. Morgoth filled that role

I am hard pressed to see any aspects of either odin or Christ in Gandalf - Merlin maybe. but I like to see to make a case for either.

He sacrifices himself to save the Fellowship in Moria. Dies. Then is resurrected some time later.

He also uses miracles occasionally to defeat darkness and reveal who he is.


Odin is often revealed as a wandering old man, and Tolkien admits to imagining Gandalf the Grey as an "Odinic Wanderer"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Exactly. He didn't do it consciously but he was smart enough to see his mind created those parallels subconsciously. Gandalf was based on Odin but there are aspects of Christ in him. From what I recall he had trouble with the Silmarillion because he could never quite get it where he wanted it to go. He was about to go through his notes and rewrite it before he died if I recall. Tolkien and Lewis were close friends. Lewis was a very religious man and Tolkien less so but still Christian. Lewis set out to write allegories. Tolkien couldn't help it.

Not to be a nitpick, but Tolkien was described as Lewis' primary influence and means to come to Christianity, although he became Anglican instead of Tolkien's Roman Catholicism. Tolkien was also described by his family as a deeply pious man.

I vividly remember going to church with him in Bournemouth. He was a devout Roman Catholic and it was soon after the Church had changed the liturgy from Latin to English. My grandfather obviously didn't agree with this and made all the responses very loudly in Latin while the rest of the congregation answered in English. I found the whole experience quite excruciating, but my grandfather was oblivious. He simply had to do what he believed to be right.

-Simon Tolkien

[Genius of the Restoration]

He sacrifices himself to save the Fellowship in Moria. Dies. Then is resurrected some time later.

The nature of his death isn't really similar to the story of Jesus. He fights and is defeated, he doesn't go willingly to save the rest of the world. His resurrection also isn't important as it is for Jesus. His resurrection isn't an action that is dwelt upon, but acts as a plot device for the transition of the Gandalf character so he can come back and be more of a fighting, active influence in the world than he was before when he was passive and led by others. Death and resurrection is not always just about Christianity. As Phier said, it's a good versus evil struggle, of course there will be similarities to other stories in a similar vein.

He also uses miracles occasionally to defeat darkness and reveal who he is.

Come on, it's magic. What next? Gandalf is not really a wizard, because he doesn't use magic, but a saint. Miracles, please.

[cfmonkey45]

The nature of his death isn't really similar to the story of Jesus. He fights and is defeated, he doesn't go willingly to save the rest of the world. His resurrection also isn't important as it is for Jesus. His resurrection isn't an action that is dwelt upon, but acts as a plot device for the transition of the Gandalf character so he can come back and be more of a fighting, active influence in the world than he was before when he was passive and led by others. Death and resurrection is not always just about Christianity. As Phier said, it's a good versus evil struggle, of course there will be similarities to other stories in a similar vein.

Come on, it's magic. What next? Gandalf is not really a wizard, because he doesn't use magic, but a saint. Miracles, please.

Look, I never said it was a direct parallel or allegory, and Tolkien explicitly avoided that. Regardless, parallels between him and Christ are still too similar to ignore.

[Phier]

Look, I never said it was a direct parallel or allegory, and Tolkien explicitly avoided that. Regardless, parallels between him and Christ are still too similar to ignore.

Please list them.

[Ciabhán]

Regardless, parallels between him and Christ are still too similar to ignore.

The same can be said of many gods as Jesus has many parallels to other older deities.

[Helm]

Gandalf was probably meant to be based on Odin but think a little bit of Jesus rubbed off on him as well, he came back to life as "Gandalf the White", when Scandinavia was Chritianised Jesus was known as "The White Christ" so a possible connection there.

[Monarchist]

Well, Lewis was a believing Christian who wrote dozens of apologetic tracts and books. What do you expect from a person with such conviction? In the third book of the series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan specifically informs one of the girls that he is known by another name in the human world. It's pretty explicit, and never meant to be hidden at all.

[Col. Tartleton]

He sacrifices himself to save the Fellowship in Moria. Dies. Then is resurrected some time later.

He also uses miracles occasionally to defeat darkness and reveal who he is.


Odin is often revealed as a wandering old man, and Tolkien admits to imagining Gandalf the Grey as an "Odinic Wanderer"

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Not to be a nitpick, but Tolkien was described as Lewis' primary influence and means to come to Christianity, although he became Anglican instead of Tolkien's Roman Catholicism. Tolkien was also described by his family as a deeply pious man.

My mistake then. I knew he was Catholic but I wasn't sure he was particularly religious. That bit about the Latin is amusing though not surprising. He clearly loved history and he wasn't going to break with tradition.

Well, Lewis was a believing Christian who wrote dozens of apologetic tracts and books. What do you expect from a person with such conviction? In the third book of the series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Aslan specifically informs one of the girls that he is known by another name in the human world. It's pretty explicit, and never meant to be hidden at all.

Exactly. I was shocked after I read it and found out (I was a young kid then), but going back it made perfect sense. I felt like it jumped the shark, but it was the final book so it didn't really matter if they revealed it or not.

[Phier]

Does that make Boromir into Judas?

Tolkien connection to the Bible would be the kind of thing that people really really really have to work hard to fabricate.

[Squiggle]

Does that make Boromir into Judas?

Tolkien connection to the Bible would be the kind of thing that people really really really have to work hard to fabricate.

Well, no. Morgoth has obvious and explicit connections to satan. I havent read my lotr in a while so I dont remember all the terms, but Orcs were created in mockery of the uh...hm, whatever the immortal humans were called? Anyway, that fills the basic Christian concept of Evil. Evil does not exist unto itself, it is the absence of Good. Morgoth could not create, he could only mock proper creation, etc. But yes I agree, that outside of that trying to attach Jesus to Gandalf or anything else is just silly. Are there similarities? Of course. But this was a epic fantasy series, any series is going to have characters who do similar things and say similar phrases to someone in the bible, or someone in Islam, etc. Its the nature of any art in general, there will be trivial half broken meaningless similarities. Morgoth is definitely legitimate though, Tolkien says so himself.

[Monarchist]

My mistake then. I knew he was Catholic but I wasn't sure he was particularly religious. That bit about the Latin is amusing though not surprising. He clearly loved history and he wasn't going to break with tradition.

He had a deep sorrow at the results of the Second Vatican Council. Anyway, he visited Mass every day and received the Eucharist every day. Whenever he fell into mortal sin and could not get to confession, his letters show a deep sorrow at being unable to receive Communion. He and Lewis stand together as great pious men, regardless of what they wrote.

Exactly. I was shocked after I read it and found out (I was a young kid then), but going back it made perfect sense. I felt like it jumped the shark, but it was the final book so it didn't really matter if they revealed it or not.

The end of the last book (The Final Battle) really did me in. I was utterly bowled over by the great connections between Aslan and Christ, and the obviousness with which Lewis made them. No one who has read the Gospels can fail to see Jesus in Aslan after the seventh book on Narnia!

Does that make Boromir into Judas?

Tolkien connection to the Bible would be the kind of thing that people really really really have to work hard to fabricate.

Tolkien was not interested in allegory, as you probably know. He hated allegory with all the passion of a philologist and a Medievalist. According to him, too much had been made of allegory - as opposed to symbolism. He deeply valued symbolism, and the Silmarillion establishes the symbolic connection between Illuvatar's divine 'music' and the orders of Heaven in Christian theology. It's not meant to be direct allegory, but a symbolic understanding of Heaven from long before written history. What a man!

Actually there is a lot of religion in Lord of the Rings as well, just not explicit. In fact more or less everyone in Middle Earth is supposed to be a worshipper of a monotheistic God, or 'The One'. Having said that, he was not writing some sort of allegory for Christianity, it was just a story in which people were religious.

I don't believe God is much mentioned at all in the four books comprising the final arch of the Ring. The explicit references to the "Emperor over the Seas" in the Narnian Chronicles are certainly more obvious than anything Tolkien inserted.

[Scipio Africanus Maximus]

I seem to recall reading once that Lewis created the world of Narnia, then asked himself "How would Jesus reveal Himself to a world of talking animals?" Thus came Aslan, the Great Lion. And Coppernickers, they weren't in a dream the whole time. During the last book, in our world, the Pevensies, Eustace, Jill, Polly, and Diggory were travelling on a train to meet the Pevensies parents when it crashed. They all died, though Eustace and Jill were sent to Narnia to help King Relian (I think). Narnia was intended to be a real world parallel to our own, not just some children's imaginary land.