Food and Corruption in Lord of the Rings

So I was going to do a Valentine’s day themed blog post, like I did last year. But a few things - there’s not that much variety when it comes to Valentine’s day unless I start getting into the logistics of romantic comedies. I’m not against doing that, but I just wasn’t prepared for that because the most recent rom-com I watched was Falling for Christmas, which felt more Christmas, less Valentine’s, and a whole lot of mess.

Instead, we’re going to focus on one of the ultimate loves of my life. Not my husband, but my literary husband - J.R.R Tolkien. Tolkien is my problematic fav. So we’re going to do a fun romp into the world of Tolkien and one of my favourite elements from Lord of the Rings: the relationship between food and evil.

Tolkien lives in a somewhat classic good vs evil dynamic. There are, however, some alterations to this structure. Some of those who are ‘good’, for example, do not always easily remain good, nor is it clearly obvious. Boromir, for example, is a character who starts good, but is easily corrupted by the ring and acts a bit evil, and then comes to and dies in the service of good. Likewise, characters like Gollum are not always necessarily all evil, but have some elements of good within them. In some ways, for Tolkien, the good/evil dynamic is less a dichotomy and more a sliding scale.

Tolkien points to this in his own writing, when the hobbits reflect that perhaps evil people would look and speak nicely - that not everyone who looks fair is good, or looks gross is evil. This is mostly a reference to the origins of Sauron, who when in Middle Earth crafting the rings looked fair and spoke nicely, presenting gifts as if in love to those around him, when really the goal of them were to corrupt absolutely.

One of my favourite things about the world of Middle Earth is that this sliding scale of good to evil is also reflected in a scale of food consumption. Elves are the closest to the gods, the first beings created and those who lived for some time with the Valar. Elves are vegetarian. In contrast, Orcs are the closest to evil, and who regularly comment on being cannibals.

There is, of course, a sliding scale between those who are evil and good, and likewise in the ways people eat. Humans are easily corruptable, our lovely Boromir is an example of this. Humans are very meat focused in their dining. While they do eat vegetables, it’s not as clearly present. While they aren’t cannibals, their meat consumption is still a bit high. In the movies, the Steward of Gondor has that really gross eating scene while Pippin sings - I know it’s movies versus books, but I think it’s a pretty good example of gross human eating and gross human activity.

But hobbits are perfectly situated in the middle of everything. While they can be corrupted, it is often a very slow process. But hobbits - they love to eat. They’ll eat anything. They do eat meat, like men, but it’s not like United States meals that preference the steak over the side potato. Hobbits like both the potato and the steak, and the side of sprouts. And of course they’ll have a piece of cake as a dessert, followed by cheese and crackers as an evening snack. Hobbits just eat, they enjoy the process of eating food. Food is not just a means to an end, nor is it a process of finding or delivering pain. It’s a part of life to enjoy.

They’re enjoyment of life in general reflects much of their position in regards to evil and good. They’re indifferent, perfectly in the middle. They can be swayed, but that’s not their natural inclination. Sam, for example, is never tempted by the ring. When shown acres of gardens he can control and have people working on under him, he rejects it because he only wants the garden he can tend on his own. His own little life is all that matters, and its perfect the way it is.