The Symbols of Tolkien

Tolkien user a series of symbols throughout his Lord of the Rings series, and I wish to point out the significance of tobacco, and its function as one of the many religious-based acts of ritual.

The smoking of pipes in The Return of the King lends itself to the sense of enabling, or identification with the hero for the everyman. In Chapter 5 of Apperson's Tobacco History, he states that, culturally, "Tobacco was still the symbol of good-fellowship ... 'He's no good-fellow that's without ... burnt Pipes, Tobacco, and his Tinder-Box.'" Within Tolkiens story, we see how it works as a device to unite not only the characters, but the reader themselves to them.

Additionally, tobacco, being a plant, serves to further illustrate the importance placed on nature in the story. Curiously, however, the use of the plant is typically associated with an establishment of humanity. Perhaps here it represents a convergence of man and nature, and the harmony of "good."

Apperson, George Latimer. Tobacco History: The Social History of Smoking. 1914