Wounds That Cannot Be Wholly Cured

But by a new road or a secret gate

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Wounds That Cannot Be Wholly Cured

‘Alas! there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured,’ said Gandalf.

‘I fear it may be so with mine,’ said Frodo. ‘There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?’

Gandalf did not answer.

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 989.

There is no real going back

I’ve never known grief as strong or wounds as deep as I have been through this year. In January, my youngest brother died unexpectedly. It has been a season of loss and heartache that far surpasses anything that I have yet experienced.

One thing that has helped me process the trauma and sorrow of this loss has been writing. I’ve written more in the last month than I have in years. I’ve written poetry, a eulogy, journal entries, and essays. And all of them have helped me to examine my feelings and process my experience in their own ways. And so when it came time to write a longer essay again for the newsletter this month, my thoughts turned to what Tolkien had to say through narrative about the topic of wounding, loss, and grief.¹

I was helped along in this direction by the following observation about The Lord of the Rings I came across on twitter this past week by Rev. Tom Emanuel:

LOTR has been called an anti-quest, not to obtain a magical artifact but rather to get rid of one. I might think of it as an anti-pilgrimage too: rather than seeking a sacred site in hopes of transformation, Frodo trudges into hell and comes home wounded, not healed.

The assumption by both the characters like Sam within the story and by many readers as well is that once the Ring is destroyed, the Dark Lord is defeated, and the Shire has been retaken that our hobbit protagonists will be able to go back to their old homes, recover from the wounds they took and losses they incurred during their travels, and return to the life they had before all this adventure.

And though the Scouring of the Shire throws a major wrench in those plans initially, once Saruman is ousted from the Shire a return to normalcy is indeed what happens for Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Not only do they return to their former lives: they live out an idealized version of their former lives that their adventure made possible. Sam marries Rosie and they move into Bag End with Frodo. Continuing to dress in their mail and finery, Merry and Pippin hold the rest of the Shire spellbound with their songs and tales of their journeys.

But the same does not occur for Frodo, who after acting as Deputy Mayor for a time slowly begins to fade from public life in the Shire. In his struggle with wounding, his eventual fate, and Sam’s sudden experience of the grief of Frodo’s departure, I believe we can find some truths about loss and healing to take with us for help and encouragement.

wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden