The Eucharist in Fellowship of the Ring, Return of the King, and Two Towers :: Fellowship of the Ring Essays

The communion of the Eucharist in Fellowship of the Ring, Return of the King, and dickens Towers J.R.R. Tolkiens use of waybread takes on the properties of the Catholic Eucharist in The Lord of the Rings. He creates lembas, a special large-minded of dried bread and make it the particular food source for the main characters. This special food is, in accepted ways, a type of Eucharist, as defined by the Catholic church. Specifically, the parralells send away be found in the outward similarities and the surrounding effects. Lembas atomic number 18 a special kind of waybread. Waybread is meant to be taken on long trips, so it must be easily preservable, nutritious, light and with no preparation necessary. Lembas are made in the form of light dried cakes, wrapped in leaves to preserve freshness. It is very tasty and seems to have a special pure tone of instilling zip when the eater has great need of it. Lembas are made by the elves of Lothlorien, a secret and unea rthly race who gift the travel band of heroes with the waybread to help them on their journey (Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring 478). Similarily, the Eucharist is in wafer form, and has the spiritual quality of instilling grace in the soul. It is created in a special ceremony and is a major part of the sacrament of theExtreme Unction. The Eucharist is considered by CatholicChristians to be the actual body of Christ. It is interesting to blood that both lembas and the Eucharist share the title of Food for the Journey(Nicolas 90). In the case of the Eucharist, this is derived from the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. When a person is on the limit of death, a priest is usually summoned to give the person communion to modernise him or her spiritually for death. Since, for the Christian, death is not final, but a portal to heaven, it is considered more like a journey, and not an ending. The Eucharist is given to the decease person much as an athlete is given high energ y food just before a race. Lembas are, from their very name, a kind of food for the journey. Both these light wafers have similar purposes, to feed the traveler during a physical or spiritual journey.