Hobbits in Heaven

The following is the second essay coming from a thought process that's very much still in progress, and I'll return to the topic at times during 2003, the year of J.R.R. Tolkien's 111st birthday. To read the first essay in the series, click here.

Tolkien's short story "Leaf by Niggle" (found in The Tolkien Reader and Tree and Leaf) is suggested background reading for these essays--although I didn't plan it that way.

Is Middle-earth Real?

II. Are There Hobbits in Heaven?

Anyone who's read some of my other essays knows that the title often doesn't make sense until halfway through the piece (at least). This one's another example. So, to begin with a story of one of those times someone said something to me that's stuck with me a lot longer than the person expected--

When I was, oh, about nine years old, I suffered from a malady that strikes a lot of girls when they're, oh, about nine years old: equine lust. I was less severely afflicted than some, as "all" I wanted was a pony, not a horse (I'd never been on a horse, but had ridden a pony a couple of times on my great-aunt's farm). But even a pony isn't too practical when you live in a cramped house with a postage-stamp-sized yard, and there's no money for boarding it somewhere else--to say nothing of actually buying and maintaining the animal.

In other areas of life, I understood and (generally) accepted the limits of what we could afford. But equine lust knows no reason or rationality. I lobbied for that pony with the same fervor I'd earlier used (unsuccessfully) to get a little sister--hey, that wouldn't cost anything, would it? After awhile my frustration over the pony made me a bit peevish about it, and when--at last--I accepted the finality of my mother's "no," it was not done with good grace. Although I don't really remember, I'm sure I was trying to make her feel guilty when I asked, "Will I have a pony in heaven?" (Well, we're starting to connect this with the title...)

I realize now that my mother's answer came out of frustration (with me!) as much as my question had, but she happened to say something very wise--something that has never left me. She said that in heaven I would be perfectly happy, and that if I needed a pony to be perfectly happy, I would have one.

So, it's not too much of a leap to go from that story to saying I absolutely expect to share heaven with Hobbits--is it? When put next to seeing God face-to-face, that might not seem like something very important to perfect happiness. But for me, the two are connected. Yes, really. Heaven is all about love, and love is all about unity--not just between me and God but between you and God and between you and me, and taking in every "you" who has ended up there since primates reached the age of reason. As individuals. All at once. Completely. Perfectly. No, I can't imagine it either; that's why, as with so many concepts beyond our reach, we try to find a way to bring it within our understanding by using images and stories. That's what Niggle's Parish and the mountains are all about in "Leaf by Niggle."

"Leaf by Niggle" as a whole isn't mainly about heaven, of course. It's about Tolkien's view of his subcreation and of himself as a subcreator. It's about his combined sadness and hope in realizing he'll never complete his creation, but that doesn't have to mean it will die. On the contrary, while we marvel at the one leaf he tried to paint perfectly, his view takes in the primary reality he knows is behind it, but which he didn't have the time or the ability to show us--as Niggle knew the trees and the mountains were there but was never able to paint them.

I always think of Tolkien when I'm watching It's a Wonderful Life and Clarence the angel says, about the long-deceased Mark Twain, "You should see the book he's writing now!" And Niggle's story gives me hope that the mystery of Middle-earth continues to unfold in the midst of the primary reality it represents, which I'm very much looking forward to seeing more clearly. Will some of those "you's" I become united with in heaven be three-foot-six and have curly hair on their feet, and will one of them be missing a finger on his right hand? I have no idea but, if not, the reality that gave rise to those characters I love will be there. One "you" will be Tolkien, and where he is we find his secondary creation, and where we find his secondary creation we find the primary creation he saw behind it--his equivalent of Niggle's Parish, and even of the mountains beyond. Where Tolkien is, there are Hobbits, even though I--literally--can't imagine what form their reality will take.

And where there are Hobbits, there just might be ponies...

_______________________________

For Links to Movie-Related Items at Amazon.com, Click Here.