Hello! My name is Galen Lovejoy. I am a senior in the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and I am a philosophy and history double major, with a minor in English literature. I am also pursing the BPhil degree in philosophical research. I grew up in Squirrel Hill, but I currently live in Lawerenceville. In my free time, you’ll find me painting miniatures, playing DnD with friends, or playing the trumpet.  

For this Spring semester, I am working with Dr. Lorie Campbell-Tanner as a UTA for the Tolkien and Counterculture course in the English Literature department. Thanks to my dad’s love of Tolkien, I was exposed to The Lord of the Rings (both the books and movies) from a very early age. I still remember the time when I hadn’t watched the movies because my dad wouldn’t let me watch them until I first finished the books. While I was indignant at the time, I have come to appreciate my dad’s sternness. Tolkien’s work is not only a personal pleasure (a place that I can return to when I, as Tolkien himself would say, need to regain a clear view on things), but it has also inspired much of my interest in philosophy and philosophical writing.

My project for the CUTF is focused on pursuing my own philosophical writing interests, as well as helping students to find their own writing interests within the field of Tolkien studies. Before being a UTA for Tolkien and Counterculture, I was enrolled in the class my sophomore year. For my final project, I wrote a paper that examined the philosophy of power within The Lord of the Rings books. More specifically, I addressed the issue of power within The Lord of the Rings by analyzing the ways in which Tolkien’s characters do and do not internally struggle with the desire to use the One Ring to dominate the world. These characters’ internal lust for power and control is personified in Sauron through his desire for power for its own sake. Sauron’s intention to bind the peoples of Middle-earth represents one extreme – total devotion to power – but Tolkien also offers his readers the opposite extreme: Tom Bombadil. Tolkien characterizes Bombadil as someone completely disinterested in the pursuit of power, with no desire to dominate the wills of others. This total rejection of power is meant to represent humanity’s ideal relation to power. And yet, just as Tolkien asks his readers to not become Sauron, it is doubtful that anyone can or should live as Bombadil. The complete renunciation of power entails a disconnect from the affairs of the material world – an unwillingness to confront evil. Fortunately, Tolkien offers his readers a synthesis of these two extremes: Aragorn. Aragorn embodies humanity’s internal conflict over its relation to power, but this conflict is a perquisite for investment in the world; he struggles with what it means to use power to serve others but eventually transcends his self-doubt to become a just king. My paper ultimately argued that while Tolkien presents Bombadil as an ideal that should be strived towards in contrast to Sauron, Aragorn acts as a model of humanity’s proper relation to power in a fallen world.

However, the question remains whether this spectrum of humanity’s relation to power is present in and applicable to the rest of Tolkien’s legendarium. I first considered this question when I presented my paper at Mythmoot IX: Remaking Myth, a literature conference, in the summer of 2022. During the Q and A session for my paper, many audience members brought up questions about applying my analysis of power within The Lord of the Rings to other works, such as The Silmarillion, Beren and Lúthien, and The Hobbit. The questions about The Silmarillion were especially relevant given that the book encompasses the foundational myths that comprise Tolkien’s legendarium.

If the spectrum of power present within The Lord of Rings is also present within The Silmarillion, then my initial analysis will not only hold additional argumentative weight, but it will also provide another thematic throughline between the whole of Tolkien’s legendarium. However, I am expanding my analysis not just through personal research, but also through teaching. Throughout the semester, Dr. Campbell-Tanner and I will trade off in-class teaching responsibilities. In preparing for teaching, I not only can conduct personal research, but also practice communicating that research and help students express their own interests within Tolkien studies. Given that I hope to eventually become a philosophy professor someday, this experience will be invaluable. The research experience that comes along with preparing for teaching also gives me the experience necessary to help advise students on how to formulate a research question, how to analyze and incorporate secondary sources, and how to structure literary and philosophical arguments when it comes to time for them to make their final research projects.