Victims of obsession, like Bilbo, struggle to see reality clearly, and even more to make the necessary choices. The exorcist, like Gandalf, helps the victim recognize what he or she is doing that enables the diabolical activity—in this case, keeping the ring—and to renounce whatever it is.
“He said that it was ‘growing on his mind,’ and he was always worrying about it; but he did not suspect that the ring itself was to blame…. Thin and stretched he said. A sign that the ring was getting control.”
This description of the first hero of The Lord of the Rings gives all the signs of a diabolic obsession—a phenomenon short of full-blown possession where the demon gains considerable power over his victim’s mind. As the occult becomes more and more prominent in our post-Christian American culture, and events like what happened to Bilbo become more and more common in people’s lives, it’s worth seeing what we can learn from the story of this hobbit.
Of course, The Lord of the Rings is not a theological work, and the story of Bilbo is not the story of a “real” exorcism. But as Rod Dreher recently showed in his review of the new Nosferatu, even secular tales can boast accurate demonology. And, while not a work of theology, The Lord of the Rings is hardly secular. It’s a Christian book, written by a Christian man, who—as Joseph Pearce shows in his biography, Tolkien: Man and Myth—had an unusual but profound sense of the meaning of “myth.”
For Tolkien, a “myth” is a true story, not because it “really happened,” but because it conveys truth powerfully to the human imagination. Plato understood this; the greatest pagan philosopher set his philosophy in the form of imagined dialogue, so that story was its medium. What’s more, he often indulged in myth-making to drive home his points, or at least to drive errant certitude away from his audience.
In this sense, the story of Bilbo’s obsession and his deliverance by Gandalf is a “myth”: It’s a true story, because what happened to Bilbo is true, and can happen in “the real world.”
We’ll recall, then, that—aware of the “ring’s getting control” of Bilbo—Gandalf confronts Bilbo about the ring in the moment of his departure from the Shire. Gandalf has to do this, because Bilbo becomes uncharacteristically shy and even more uncharacteristically sly about his ring.
When first challenged, Bilbo “stammers” and becomes impatient with Gandalf, his dear friend. As their discussion continues, he becomes angry, and “his kindly face grew hard.” He then causes Gandalf to become even more “alarmed” by referring to the ring as “My Precious,” the way Gollum had done long ago.
In this exchange, Bilbo is showing evidence of having had his mind, and even his personality, twisted in knots: He knows the ring is changing him, making his life harder to bear, and he also knows that Gandalf is much wiser than he, and has his best interest at heart. But, in the moment, he can’t see these things: He only sees something dear to him, and someone trying to take it. He has become possessive of—if not possessed by—the very thing that is tormenting him, in a way that defies reason and good sense. Gandalf is “alarmed” because this is a sign that the obsession is very deep indeed, deeper than Gandalf himself appears to have suspected.
Faced with the ring’s deep grip on Bilbo, Gandalf proceeds to frighten Bilbo by changing his appearance, growing “tall and menacing.” This appears to bring Bilbo’s mind back to reality; he admits, “I am sorry… but I felt so queer.” He then admits, “It would be a relief in a way not to be bothered with [the ring] any more…. Sometimes I have felt it was like an eye looking at me…. I found I couldn’t rest without it in my pocket. I don’t know why. And I don’t seem able to make up my mind.”
In response, Gandalf says, “Then trust mine. It is quite made up. Go away and leave it behind.”
Bilbo, after a moment of indecision, appears to make the momentous decision to follow through on his preconceived plan to give up the ring. He admits that the whole business of the Long-expected Party was to do just that. But “it hasn’t made it any easier in the end.”
But, suddenly, it’s obvious that someone—perhaps Bilbo, perhaps the ring itself—has actually been attempting to deceive Gandalf. For Bilbo doesn’t take the ring out of his pocket, but makes as if to leave, still carrying it. Is Bilbo actually deceiving his friend, or is the obsession still twisting his mind, causing him to forget that he’s still carrying the ring?
The latter seems more likely. It’s clear, in context, that Bilbo’s resolve to give up the ring when challenged by his friend was at least partially sincere. Unlike the first exchange, when Gandalf challenges him a second time, Bilbo does not bristle or become angry. Instead, he says, “You had better take it and deliver it for me.”
Here, Bilbo wants to be free, but is finding the actual task of giving up the ring incredibly difficult. So, instead of giving it up, he proposes to have Gandalf take it from him.
Gandalf refuses to take the ring. As we’ll see, his reasons are more than fear of what the ring and its temptation would do to him. Instead, he directs Bilbo to leave the ring on his mantlepiece.
Bilbo then takes the decisive step: Taking the packet containing the ring from his pocket, he prepares to set it by the clock. His hand then jerks back, and he drops the packet. Gandalf then, and only then, seizes the packet and puts it in its place. “A spasm of anger passed swiftly over the hobbit’s face again. [But] suddenly it gave way to a look of relief and a laugh.”
If we read this “myth” closely, we notice that the decisive factor here was not Gandalf’s presence, or his frightening change of appearance, or his gathering the packet from the floor. The decisive factor was Bilbo’s decision to give it away.
Gandalf later confirms this: “[Bilbo] gave it up in the end of his own accord: an important point.” He later on adds that Bilbo is the only mortal ever known to have achieved this feat.
In this light, Gandalf’s physically taking the ring from Bilbo would have done nothing to solve Bilbo’s real problem. This, above all else, is why he refuses to take the ring.
Transitioning from myth to the “real world,” all the great exorcists insist that the chief element in deliverance from diabolic obsession is the victim’s own resolve to be free, and his faith in Christ who can free him. Don Gabriel Amorth, the chief exorcist of Rome, stated many times that most of the victims who came to see him—and theirs were the most difficult cases from all over the world—were delivered after making a general confession and renunciation of their sins. These confessions and renunciations were enough, in these cases, to break the bonds by which the demons had ensnared their victims.
From this, it becomes clear that someone who has reason to suspect diabolic vexation (lower-level torment) or obsession in his or her life should, before all else, examine his or her conscience and make a good, solid confession. John Bergsma, in his book Jesus and the Jubilee, relates that this method obtained even during his ministry as a Protestant pastor. He describes how confession was far more effective than what he called “power encounters,” the direct confrontation between the demon and the Christian deliverance minister or exorcist.
Looking back at the “myth,” we see Gandalf in precisely this role as exorcist. He challenges Bilbo to do what Bilbo alone can do; if we can correlate Gandalf’s frightening change of appearance to a kind of minor exorcism, what he does there is bring force to bear to clear Bilbo’s mind, so that Bilbo himself can see clearly and make the right decision. This, according to Don Gabriel, is the role of the exorcist, even in a “power encounter” where the solemn rites of exorcism are employed: The exorcism will not work unless the victim chooses to be free, and the whole purpose of the rites is to bludgeon the demon into letting go just enough to enable the victim to make that choice.
Victims of obsession, like Bilbo, struggle to see reality clearly, and even more to make the necessary choices. The role of the exorcist is, in varying degrees, to help the victim do these things. The exorcist, like Gandalf, helps the victim recognize what he or she is doing that enables the diabolical activity—in this case, keeping the ring—and to renounce whatever it is. If it proves hard for the victim to act on this knowledge, exorcisms are employed to help the victim make the difficult, but ultimately free and personal, choice to achieve liberation.
Bilbo gave up the packet of his own accord; the draw was so great that, without help, he would have probably picked it back up again. This also shows the need for care and moral support for those suffering from diabolical influence. As Gandalf later relates, Bilbo “needed all my help” to make and to keep his renunciation… but the renunciation was his.
This “myth” helps us see hopeful, if challenging, truths that relate to our culture as, more and more, the influence of the devil is appearing openly in people’s lives. This is a sign that the diabolical legions believe that the Christian religion is weak and discredited enough to make an open play for the souls of men and women—something they have usually avoided during the centuries of Christendom. This fact should be deeply alarming, so that it is necessary to remind ourselves of the basics; namely, that it is “our faith” that makes us well (cf. Matt 9:22). In contrast, it is “little faith” that permits the demons to retain control (cf. Matt 17:14–20).
In the Bible, “faith” translates the Greek word pistis, which is best translated as “fidelity”—in other words, less an intellectual judgment and more a personal commitment. “Faith” is a decision, one within the power of everyone to whom God offers salvation to accept. It is up to us, not someone else; the choice is ours, not someone else’s. This is, of course, challenging, but also liberating: If the choice is ours, then nobody can take it from us. While we may, and often will, need help to walk in the freedom of God’s children, this is emphatically something we can do.
As darkness once again hovers over the world, we can have this truth as hope and consolation. The myth of Tolkien lives on and conveys truth that can set us free.
The author recommends the Youtube videos featuring Fr. Vincent Lampert for further, reliable information on matters related to extraordinary diabolical activity.
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The featured image is “Over Hill (Bilbo and Gandalf)” by Joel Lee. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
