Lord of the Rings | Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring

In J. R. R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, Obertino examines Gandalf s sacrifice and its relation to the bible.

The death of Gandalf is a moment of transcendent heroism in The Fellowship of the Ring, yet Celeborn, reflecting on it later, remarks, "And if it were possible, one would say that at last Gandalf fell from wisdom into folly, going needlessly into the net of Moria". An understanding of the strongly overdetermined etymology of Moria helps to clarify the significance of Gandalf's death and the question of his fate and folly. Moria's roots would have to include mors (Latin for death), as well as Moira (Greek for...

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