In which Nick Cole reminds us that he has always been a very good and Christian writer.
Sauron was a werewolf. At first. Then he became a deceiver, sank a kingdom he was so good at telling lies, and finally, almost. conquered much of Middle Earth, twice. He had legions of orcs, hordes of goblins, thundering trolls, mighty fortresses and dark citadels, spies, a leader of the council of wizards turned treacherous, a giant spider descended from the most feared creature of Middle Earth, a ruined land with natural barriers no army could invade guarded by a gate considered impenetrable, and oh yeah, he forged nine powerful rings that enslaved mighty leaders who served him. He had armies, hosts, and dark, dark alliances with many terrible creatures and foul spirits.
Few dared oppose him for long…
And then…
And then there was Gandalf. A wild old wizard who made friends with the unlikely, the forgotten, and the outcasts. And then, forged them into a deadly weapon of fire to fight back at the Dark Lord himself, and not only fight Sauron the invader, but strike right into his very lands, where he was most vulnerable, with his most valuable weapon, The Ring of course, and… never once use it in doing so.
Right now we are being made to feel that some kind of tyranny is inevitable and that we must, eventually, bend the knee to their grim and undeniable will. They have the power, the nukes, the F15s….
“Yield peasants, to my endless power. Gaze upon me and despair” you can almost hear Sauron cry.
They are so Sauron. You get that don’t you?
Gandalf would disagree. Gandalf… fought back. And so would Sam…
“It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end… because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing… this shadow. Even darkness must pass.”
“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
In a world ruled by petty aspiring Saurons, as they dim the lights and chuckle at all their dark plans coming together…
Light a fire. And remember Gandalf. And Sam.