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| Gandalfs be like "YOU SHALL NO PASS" |
The evil Balrog flame creature thing is emerging from the shadows and threatens to engulf the entire fellowship of the ring in a terrifying fire akin to a tanning booth.
An expert on tanning, Gandalf knows that he can't let his team turn orange and embarrass themselves.
Tolkien's tale of the fellowship is quite interesting. Frodo is the simple hobbit who bears the One Ring that has the potential to rule all of Middle Earth through the evil power of Sauron. Sauron is an evil all-powerful being, although for most of the movie trilogy he is just an eye made of flames that sits atop a tower and looks around like a spotlight.
Frodo needs protection. Hobbits are cool, but kinda useless. Enter Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Boromir. He also needs a true friend, enter Sam. And also comic relief. Enter Merry and Pippin.
Gandalf is similar to my previous blog topic, Yoda, in that he represents the sage archetype in literature. Sages often initiate the selection of the hero and the beginning of the quest. They call the hero to adventure, they nurture them, train them, protect them, and die.
Wait, what?
Well from a storytelling perspective, it makes sense for most sages to die. And if you think about sages in popular culture, you will realize that most of them do.
Yoda.
Obi-Wan.
Micky from Rocky.
Gandalf (sorta).
Dumbledore (I think, but I've never actually read it.)
Doc (from Cars.)
Uncle Ben (from Spider-Man not the rice guy.)
Clark Kent's real dad and adoptive dad.
Bruce Wayne's parents (although Alfred replaces them.)
You get the idea. At some point the sage steps off the stage to let the hero move forward. In fact, his still being there means that the hero doesn't really have the incentive to step up to the plate and save the day because the older wiser mentor is there to handle it.
It's kind of like how I viewed my handy-man dad growing up. He knew how to fix anything, so I never bothered to learn. Why did I need to know how to fix stuff? Dad can do that. I'd rather watch television.
Of course, now I no longer live with my dad and I can't fix a thing. When Luke refused to listen to Yoda he lost a hand. When Spider-Man forgot that his uncle told him that "with great power comes great responsibility" he ended up enabling the dude who killed his uncle.
Bilbo and Frodo both benefit from the mentoring of Gandalf. He alone sees of the elder Baggins in The Hobbit, that there is a "great deal more in him than you know and a deal more than he has any idea of himself," as he pitches the incompetent homebody Bilbo Baggins to be a burglar for a group of adventure-seeking dwarves. Sages see our inner potential and they help us realize it.
In the Christian sense, sages understand that every child has been created in the image of God and EVERY KID has the potential to lead, to love, to inspire, to create, and to change the world. And that's something worth cultivating and even dying for.
Gandalf as a sage doesn't technically die, but he disappears frequently in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings series in order to allow for his heroes-in-training to step up and do their job.
In the case of the above mentioned action, Gandalf makes a final stand in the mines of Moria. He knows that he's likely not going to make it out of this alive, but he knows that the real mission is keeping Frodo alive so that he can get that ring to Mt. Doom to save Middle Earth. He dramatically thrusts his staff into the ground and emphatically declares to the Balrog that "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"
The others end up running out of the mines. Gandalf gets pulled down into the abyss with the super huge fire monster.
Frodo and the gang think that this is the end of Gandalf. It is not. He later returns as Gandalf the White, having succeeded in taking down the Balrog and emerging with new power just to finish the job.
In the meantime, however, Frodo grows into his role as a leader because Gandalf the Crutch is no longer there. The same was true of the disciples. Somewhat hapless ne'er-do-wells while Jesus was on earth, after His death, they finally step into the role that Jesus was preparing them for all along. They finally connect the dots. They finally embrace the adventure that Jesus initiated for them.
All of our kids need Gandalfs in their lives. And we need to never put our own adult egos ahead of the heart of a child. Our job as parents and leaders is to lay down our lives to ensure that our children embrace the adventure that God has marked out for them. Kids have this superhero power of a kid-sized faith passion that adults seem uneasy with. The boundless energy and passion of a child is something that us geezers wish we could bottle.
What we lack in passion, however, we can make up for with wisdom and protection.
I love what Moses tells the Israelites in Exodus as the Egyptian army is advancing toward them. He tells them to stand firm and they will see that the Lord will fight for them. That this advancing menacing army that they see today, they will not see again.
Frodo never saw the Balrog again. He stood there while Gandalf fought for him.
God will fight for our kids. The needs will change over time, but our role will not. It is up to us to show them true courage in standing firm in the Lord when scary life-altering things come their way. (For me that is Mr. Peanut.) It's our job to stand in the gap for them like Gandalf and boldly declare to the enemy "YOU SHALL NOT PASS." (Growing a beard and wearing wizard garb is optional.)
You never know what hangs in the balance if you fail to embrace your inner Gandalf. If Gandalf didn't intercede on Frodo's behalf, Middle Earth would have been lost. The kids that we are entrusted with are the Esthers, Moseses, Peters, Pauls, and Davids of their generation. Every Esther needs her Mordecai, every Moses needs his Jethro, every David needs his Samuel or Nathan (depending on your mood.)
Future generations need this generation to rise to the occasion. It is our job to ensure they get out of the mine to safely continue that journey. And what a sacred task that is.
