Accidental Aesop: Difference between revisions

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] claimed to despise allegory, which didn't stop people seeing the One Ring in ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' as an allegory for the atomic bomb. The key difficulty with this and any other theory that takes ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' as an allegory for [[World War II]]: the major plot details were planned out well before the war even started. Also, as Tolkien himself noted, if it ''had'' been about [[World War II]], they would have ''[[Downer Ending|used]]'' the Ring.

** This is why Tolkien made such a distinction between ''allegory'' and ''applicability''. You can ''apply'' as many meanings as you like; you just can't presume to [[God Never Said That|put them in the author's mouth]].

** It's also a very popular theory that Gandalf was an allegory for Jesus, as he died while fighting against sin for the good of his fellow man (and hobbits, dwarves, and elves), only to be resurrected in a "pure" form. This was specifically denied by Tolkien in a letter, who considered it offensive, and said Gandalf's death and resurrection were as relatively unimportant as Lazarus' beside that of Christ.

[[Category:YMMV Trope]]

[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]

[[Category:Accidental Trope]]