SOURCE: Wytenbroek, J. R. “Apocalyptic Vision in The Lord of the Rings.” Mythlore 14, no. 4 (summer 1988): 7-12.

In the following essay, Wytenbroek locates elements of both the biblical and the Old Norse vision of the end of the world in The Lord of the Rings.

The title of my paper is “Apocalyptic Vision in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings,” and in it I shall refer to both the Christian view of the apocalypse, as presented primarily in the book of Revelations, and the Norse vision of Ragnarok, as presented in both the Prose and Elder Eddas. Both the Biblical and Norse visions of the last days of the world are very sketchy and open to much interpretation, the Norse Ragnarok being even less detailed and wide in scope than the Christian. Thus in discussing anyone's representation of the apocalypse, we need to be aware of the breadth of...