Social Class in Middle Earth

This post contains SPOILERS for the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (mostly the books). You have been warned.



Tolkien's fantasy world Middle Earth is so meticulously built that you discover new things each time you read it. There's so much detail in there, so much imagination, and so much that you can learn about the time in which these books were written. In my late4st re-read I noticed some very interesting things about the portrayal of class in the Lord of the Rings series.

It's no secret that the relationship between Frodo and his gardener Sam is one of master and servant. Sam is the loyal unquestioning servant whose only care in the world is his master's well-being and comfort. He has his own personality of course, and doesn't shy from expressing his views, but he's always staunchly behind Frodo even when Frodo does something that Sam believes to be inadvisable. He also doesn't get enough gratitude in my opinion, but you could argue that that is the Ring's influence on Frodo affecting the relationship. Either way, it's clear that Sam's relationship to Frodo is not an equal one. It isn't the same, for example, as the relationship between Frodo and Merry or Pippin who aren't servants but friends. But this is only the most obvious of the ways in which class in handled in the book and there are many other strange examples.

In the trilogy everything from Aragorn the Northern ranger who is descended from the line of Kings and ends up taking his "rightful place" as King of Gondor down to the horses and trees has a lineage. And I don't mean the Ents - the walking, talking tree-herders that have minds and a society of their own. No, I'm talking regular trees that stay in one place and bear fruit. The White Tree in Gondor is supposed to be a special tree and it represents the rule of the men of Numenor so it goes hand in hand with the lineage of the Kings that the tree itself also has a lineage and Tolkien harps on and on about this for quite a while in the books.

We also get many layers of this social order represented in the books. For example, Denethor, the Steward of Gondor who ruled in the absence of a King was of a "lesser" lineage and - surprise, surprise - he ends up going crazy at the end. Contrast this with his son Faramir who is portrayed as being quite awesome and is described as somehow showing a more true connection with the blood of Numenor.

So it's not only that there's a social order presented in the books and in middle-earth's society, it's also clearly portrayed as being linked to whether someone is good, noble, etc, which is a little bit problematic in today's understanding.

It gives a very interesting window into the ideas and social environment in which Tolkien - an educated British man - lived when he wrote these books and built this world. It would take too long for me to bring out each and every example of the many things that are given lineages in these books, but there are many. Of course, the members of the fellowship mostly get along well and this issue of social class doesn't really come in to play a role in major events until the very end, so it won't be the most important thing or the first thing you notice, but look for it next time you read these books.