I just received the DVD of the second movie in
the Lord of the Rings trilogy and am preparing
to go to the theater to see the last, “The Return
of the King.” The popularity of this work of fantasy
stirs some thoughts with me about the archetypal
themes that play out in the story. It struck me
as I heard the third movie advertised that the
very title is archetypal. Since prehistoric times
in one way or another, in various cultures and
religious practices, mankind has looked for the
return of the king that would restore peace, order
and goodness to the realm. We need only to hearken
back to the legends of the fisher king or to the
customs of ancient Egypt to be reminded of the
archetypal significance of the king. And perhaps
at this period in history when kings as actual
rulers are a bit out of fashion, we turn to fantasy
to fulfill some need for an archetypal experience.
The Jungian study
group to which I belong has just been studying
“Rex and Regina” in Jung’s Mysterium Coniunctionis.
This work is concerned with the later stages of
the alchemical process, the sacred marriage. Since
Jung saw alchemy as symbolic of the individuation
process, he saw great significance in the coniunctio.
This is the integration of opposites. Earlier
stages of alchemy represent the necessary precursors,
the separating out and recognition of the opposites.
But after the long work or preparing, the coniunctio
is like a culmination of the process.
However, in this
article, I want to concentrate on what the “rex”
or king part of the sacred couple represents.
I went first to The Penguin Book of Symbols.
So just what does the idea of king denote? In
ancient cultures the king was the intermediary
between Heaven and Earth or mankind. To the ancient
Egyptians, he was the incarnation or embodiment
of the god. In far eastern cultures he was identified
with the world axis, the hub, the center of the
wheel. Thus, the role of the king was one of initiating
and regulating; his duties involved establishing
justice, peace, balance and harmony on earth.
In Celtic culture
the king was a warrior but was closely associated
with the druids and carried out the will of the
druids, the priestly group of the society. His
color was “white” which in the Indo-European world
indicated a religious significance and sacred
character. It may be from this background that
later European kings came to the idea of “the
divine right of kings.”
However far removed
from the original notion of the king, the idea
of king still carries with it an ideal, “a projection
of higher ego” (Chevalier, 569), making the king
an archetype of human perfection. In Arthurian
lore the idea of the land falling into darkness
and decay when the king died or was not well represents
for us what happens in the absence of the ideal.
Indeed, if we look at the Lord of the Rings
trilogy, we find exactly this scenario played
out. The rings as symbols of power, which have
the power to corrupt, have fallen into the wrong
hands, and all Middle Earth is enshrouded in the
shadow of evil. It is an unlikely band of lowly
heroes whose task it becomes to destroy the evil
power and restore the rightful king to the throne.
Tolkien’s hobbits, dwarf, elves, and other creatures
could be seen as various aspects of a person or
a society. All the elements have been differentiated
at the beginning of the trilogy, and at first
they are not so willing to work together. Some
even are desirous of stealing the ring and having
the power. But it is in the coming together of
all the unlikely partners that it is possible
for the group eventually to restore the king.
So it is in the course
of the individuation process. The parts of ourselves
that may begin as enemies must come together if
the ideal of the king within ourselves is to be
reached. Parts that are at odds and don’t like
each other – the earthy dwarves and the more magical
elves, the peace-loving hobbits, and easily tempted
men – have to become integrated into an inner
“fellowship” to achieve the ultimate goal.
Today in a world
where division, polarization of opposites and
fragmentation threaten our well-being, the idea
of the return of a king may carry a deeper significance
than we realize. Somewhere within us we all could
be looking for the restoration of the archetypal
king to restore some order, justice and peace
in a world where, to paraphrase the words of William
Butler Yeats from almost a century ago, “the center
[seems not to be able to] hold” (Yeats). But we
may have to follow the difficult path individually,
like Frodo, and find it in ourselves one by one
in order to bring the archetype of king to world
and restore the land.
References and
Suggestions for Further Reading:
Chevalier, Jean and
Gheerbrant, Alain, Dictionary of Symbols.
Trans. by John Buchanan-Brown. London: Penguin
Books 1996
Jung, C.G., Mysterium
Coniunctionis. Vol. 14 of The Collected Works.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1963
Tolkien, J.R.R.,
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Yeats, William Butler,
“The Second Coming”