Video Fridays: The Problem of Evil in Middle Earth & The Power of the Smallest

While I’m working on various LEGO builds I usually have a podcast playing in the background or a YouTube video going and this one popped up in my feeds and being a huge Lord of the Rings fan I gave it a listen. I’ve appreciated how much work “Jess of the Shire” must put into the videos and her careful analysis of both fantasy series like the Lord of the Rings and Sci-Fi, like the Dune series is also much appreciated. Like I said, I’m usually working on something so I’m not always looking at the screen when I play her videos, so I was a bit surprised at her “goth” look in this video, but given her theatrical/literary approach to her presentations, it makes perfect sense.

But the reason for me sharing this particular video is the analysis on how Tolkien looked at the problem of evil, why does evil exist if the world was created by a “good god,” and her references to Augustine, Tolkien’s Catholicism and various myths and philosophies that have wrestled with the problem over the centuries. I like that the conversation went from the genesis of evil to a question of what one should do given the existence of evil and in particular that the Lord of the Rings, that world was “saved” by the efforts and bravery of the smallest, most inconsequential creatures in that world. It was not the intervention of the gods or powerful men who turned the tide against a world-threatening evil, but the efforts of a small group of halflings that did the trick.

That’s something important to remember in these evil days, that the kindness that we continue to extend to one another, the care we offer to the stranger, the willingness to acknowledge others and listen when we want to speak, that is something important that we can do every day. Like an avalanche, some of the biggest changes in our times may begin with the movement of just a few small, inconsequential rocks. Have a wonderful weekend, y’all.