“The Birth of Christ is the Eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the Eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.”
- JRR Tolkien, On Fairy Stories

In his lecture-turned-essay and literary manifesto, “On Fairy Stories”, Tolkien invites his readers to journey into the depths of Faërie: introducing them to its borders, its realms, and its meanings.

We can imagine Tolkien walking through the forests of Middle-Earth beside us: waxing poetic about the history of the fairy-story, struggling to put into words a satisfactory definition of his beloved genre, stopping every few moments to burst into poetry.

Towards the end of the essay, he turns to this question: “what, if any, are the values and functions of fairy-stories now?” Who is meant to read fairy-stories? And what can be learned from them?

And it’s in the answer to these questions that we find the heart of the essay, and the key to understanding how Tolkien’s Catholic faith influenced his life and works.

Tolkien writes that there are three functions of a fairy-story: Recovery, Escape, and Consolation.

• Recovery: regaining of a clear view.

• Escape: a flight into the secondary world.

• Consolation (Eucatastrophe): the happy ending.

Consolation, he proposes, is the highest function of fairy-story. “Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have it... I will call it Eucatastrophe.”

Eucatastrophe is the unexpected grace, the unforeseen turn for the better when all hope seems lost. Anyone familiar with Tolkien’s works will recognize that his stories are full of these sorts of endings, both large and small.

He explains that Eucastastrophe “does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.”

In the epilogue to the essay, Tolkien further expands upon the concept of Eucatastrophe as demonstrated within the context of the Christian Story. He writes that the Gospels “contain many marvels—peculiarly artistic, beautiful, and moving: “mythical” in their perfect, self-contained significance; and among the marvels is the greatest and most complete conceivable Eucatastrophe.”

He continues, “The Birth of Christ is the Eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the Eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy.”

Unlike other fairy-tales which are set in the sub-created secondary worlds of their authors, the Eucatastrophe of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is true in our primary world, a story written by the Divine Author himself. Tolkien writes, “Art has been verified. God is the Lord, of angels, and of men—and of elves. Legend and History have met and fused.”

Such a poignant reflection as we approach the Christmas season. This joyous time marks the beginning of Christ’s life and journey to the Cross, a life of sacrifice set apart for the salvation of the world. We find Joy and Sorrow at one as the newborn Christ lay in his mother’s arms. 

In The Lord of the Rings, we catch a glimpse of this journey in the Ring Bearer, Frodo Baggins — most clearly seen in the fact that he departs along with the Fellowship of the Ring from Imladris on December 25th. Frodo has taken the great burden of the Ring upon himself for the sake of all of Middle-Earth, understanding that this quest will require a great deal of sacrifice — maybe even his life. 

However, Tolkien emphasizes that he did not intend for any one character in The Lord of the Rings to exist as a mere stand-in for Christ. In Letter 181 he writes, “But though one may be in this reminded of the Gospels, it is not really the same thing at all. The Incarnation of God is an infinitely greater thing than anything I would dare to write.”

There is no singular “Christ figure” in The Lord of the Rings, and this excerpt from Tolkien’s letters puts this into perspective. Tolkien held the Incarnation in such reverence that he wouldn’t dare.

Instead, he wove the Beauty and Truth of the Gospels into the very fibers of his great stories. The small, sub-created Eucatastrophes of Middle-Earth will always point us back to the greatest Eucatastrophe of the Gospel. And so as we go forth into the Christmas season, may we hold this truth in our hearts and continue to look forward to the future with hope. 

“All tales may come true; and yet, at the last, redeemed, they may be as like and as unlike the forms that we give them as Man, finally redeemed, will be like and unlike the fallen that we know.” - JRR Tolkien, On Fairy Stories