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Halloween, Tolkien, And The Victory of Grace

Halloween, Tolkien, And The Victory of Grace

Last updated on: October 19, 2026 at 1:51 am by Henry Karlson

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Halloween, Tolkien, And The Victory of Grace 2026-10-19T01:51:13-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Halloween has us engage and explore the horror associated with evil in the way Tolkien believed is done in literature. Picture: Álvaro Fernández González: Depiction of the Nazgûl in Tolkien’s universe / Wikimedia Commons

If I had to choose a favorite month of the year, it would be October. Almost everything about it appeals to me. It is right at the beginning of Fall, my favorite season of the year. The temperature tend to be mild, not too hot, but not too cold. The leaves on the trees are changing color, and keep coming down throughout the month, showing a natural beauty which is to me second to none. I have fond memories of October from when I was young. I loved trick-r-treating, going around door to door, having my bag filled with a full variety of candy. I remember various school activities we did, which sadly, no longer seem to be done, from drawing haunted houses in art class, visiting the local haunted house while in grade school, and having Halloween parties which helped give the change of pace I needed to keep myself interested in my studies. Halloween is especially an important part of this. I loved, and continue to love, the spooky nature of Halloween, and have done so ever since I started watching classical monster films (that is, those connected with Universal Monsters, including but not limited to, Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, and the Mummy). As I grew older, I found my interest in horror films developing and expanding, as I watched various modern classics, such as Phantasm, Nightmare on Elm Street, and of course, Halloween. I truly took on and embraced the horror genre, not just in film, but in the stories I read. I certainly didn’t (and now don’t) desire to imitate the evil presented in such stories. Rather, not only do they give me a sense of the evil which is possible in the world, and the horror such evil can create, they give me a sense of hope, hope that evil can be stopped, hope that people overcome great challenges and thrive afterwards. And so, thanks to my past, but also my present sentiments, to me, October is the month of Halloween, the month of looking into the horrors which surround us, the month which we both take such horrors seriously, but also the month in which we find ways to limit them by lampooning them because nothing deflates evil more than finding a way to laugh at it.

Every year, usually starting in September, I read several horror or horror-adjacent novels and short stories until the end of October, even as I try to find new horror movies (or horror-based television shows) to watch. It is rare for me to be terrified by such horror. I can think of only a couple movies which left me with a sinister feeling after watching them. But that is fine, since I am not interested in the horror genre to become afraid. Rather, the opposite. I see the genre as a way to expose evil, bringing out into the light the hidden demons that threaten us all. Or, as J.R.R. Tolkien explained, horror in literature gives us a much needed perspective to deal with and understand the evil we find in the world, a sentiment which I find is also true with cinematic horror:

But if lit. teaches us anything at all, it is this: that we have in us an eternal element, free from care and fear, which can survey the things that in ‘life’ we call evil with serenity (that is not without appreciating their quality, but without any disturbance of our spiritual equilibrium). Not in the same way, but in some such way, we shall all doubtless survey our own story when we know it (and a great deal more of the Whole Story). [1]

We are to take evil seriously, but we are not meant to let it frighten us, “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (2 Tim. 1:7 RSV). We are to look directly at evil, and see it for what it is: a parasite which lives on and thrives on the good, a parasite which in the end, will destroy itself as it destroys everything around it, if it is free to fulfill its every desire.

Evil does not like to be exposed. It wants to remain hidden in the darkness. It does not like to be ridiculed. It does not want us to see the limits of its power. It does not want us to see how much of that power is an illusion. It wants us to believe it is all powerful. Thus, by examining evil, by exploring various ways it can manifest itself, we can learn how to confront it and take it on. The goal is not to let it corrupt or destroy us and our noble character, but to see through its charms, to see through all its bluster, to see through all its lies, so that we get beyond its power and resist it. Even if it kills us, we can stand victorious against it by not letting it destroy our character, which is exactly what the martyrs of old show us, the martyrs which Halloween, being the eve of All Saints, has us remember. We are shown that evil might have its victory, at times, but that victory is at best temporary, and not as great as it would have us believe. For, if it does not destroy our spirit, we are the ones who prove victorious. If we resist it until the very end, we are victorious. And it this that Tolkien wanted to highlight by having “mere hobbits” stand up against the horrors of the world and overcome them:

Evidently I have managed to make the horror really horrible, and that is a great comfort; for every romance that takes things seriously must have a warp of fear and horror, if however remotely or representatively it is to resemble reality, and not be the merest escapism. But I have failed if it does not seem possible that mere mundane hobbits could cope with such things. I think that there is no horror conceivable that such creatures cannot surmount, by grace (here appearing in mythological forms) combined with a refusal of their nature and reason at the last pinch to compromise or submit.[2]

With grace, there can even be victory in defeat. Tolkien showed us this with Frodo. Frodo, in the end, gave into temptation, and claimed the Ring for himself. His quest ended in personal failure. But what he did along the way opened him up to a victory beyond the defeat, exemplified, especially, in the mercy he showed Gollum. By granting Gollum mercy, by offering Gollum a chance to repent, Frodo made sure Gollum was there with him at the very end. While Gollum betrayed Frodo, and took the Ring from him, for Gollum, his victory led to his own defeat, and with it, the destruction of the Ring. If Frodo had not shown Gollum mercy, if Frodo did not have Gollum with him, Gollum would not have been there to take the Ring from Frodo and become the instrument by which the Ring was destroyed. It was Frodo’s mercy which opened up the possibility, even as it opened up for Frodo himself the possibility that he can be forgiven for his own failure. Frodo was able to receive the grace he needed, a grace which not only helped Frodo, but also made sure his take was fulfilled, showing us how grace perfects nature: it can complete for us the good which we start, even if we find our ability to finish it is not in and with us.

It is important to look to the horror around us, to see the evil and the horrors it can produce, but we should do so when we are ready, when doing so won’t lead us into despair, but help us find the hope we need. Indeed, when the time is right, we must take a good look at hell itself, and the many ways its power of destruction can be manifested amongst us. When we do so, we will also find it is not all-powerful. It has been vanquished by Christ. We don’t have to see hell as a fate for us or anyone else; we don’t have to believe it when it tries to make us fall into the pit of despair so that it can consume us in its never-ending rage against existence. We can rest on hope, the hope that Christ gives us, the hope found in the resurrection. The sting of death, that which gave hell its greatest power over us, is no more. Now we can look into the abyss and not be consumed by it:

Divine hope uplifts the heart, but fear of Gehenna crushes it. The light of the mind gives birth to faith; faith gives birth to the consolation of hope; hope fortifies the heart. Faith is the unveiling of the understanding. When the mind is darkened, faith is hidden, fear holds sway over us, and our hope is cut off. It is not the faith that comes from instruction which frees a man from pride and doubt, but the faith that is beheld and dawns in the understanding; this is called knowledge and the revelation of truth. As long as the mind perceives God as God by His being revealed to the understanding, fear will not approach the heart. When we are permitted to be in darkness and we lose this perception, then fear will assail us until we are humbled and we draw nigh to humility and repentance. [3]

When dealing with the horror genre, when examining it in fiction, and watching it at the cinema, we must remember, the genre itself comes from, and heightens our awareness of, the horrors of the world around us. The genre might sometimes exaggerate those horrors. It might sometimes concentrate, or exaggerate, those horrors, showing us how powerful they can become if we ignore them, or worse, give into despair. But, in the end, we are exposed to various horrors so that we can come to terms with them, realize they are there, and that we must do what we can to confront them. We must have hope, hope that they can be overcome. The horror genre shows us that this is possible. It helps prepare us so that if great tragedy happens, if some manifestation of evil gains power and causes great amounts of destruction in the world, we are ready, ready not only to resist and overcome it, but to do more to make sure such evil does not have to have a place with us in the future. Indeed, every time we confront such horrors, we find ourselves given an opportunity to make changes so that things can and will become better:

The horrors of the century – form the Holocaust to Rwanda – point to a level of moral perversity that is unimaginable. There is widespread recognition by all but the most indifferent and cynical that these evils amount to something more than a violation of mere social custom, aesthetic taste or sentiment. These horrors have led governments, religious institutions and humanitarian organisations to call for a level of philosophical backing for human rights that carries stronger moral authority than conventional treaties.[4]

October has us bring to mind the darkness, and what lies hidden in it, as we find the daylight we have lessening every day; it has us consider the reality of death by the way it is around us with the leaves which fall down and cover the ground. October has us perceive the way the two, darkness and death, can come together, allowing some form of evil to manifest itself in the world. Evil uses the darkness to hide itself, while the death which comes in its wake reveals it is awake and active, causing pain and sorrow wherever it is present. Darkness hides the threat, and death reveals the outcome of that threat. But, as October does not last, so we find evil does not last; it is temporary. Fall will give way to Winter and then to Spring, when life will once again emerge victorious. Death does not have the final say. Life does. And, this is even seen in October; even in the midst of the darkness and death, there is all kinds of beauty around us, beauty which gives us comfort and joy, affirming that even in the darkness, grace is at work and we should not be afraid. The trees might seem to lose everything, but they stand strong, and they will come back more glorious than ever in the Spring. Our dead might lie in the ground, but when we look at them, we find many of them died with such a nobility of character, they leave behind a beauty which reflects the divine glory that worked in and through them during their lives. It is this beauty which Halloween commemorates; it does not point to the darkness, having us focus on it, but rather it points to the light which the darkness has not been able to overcome, the light of the saints, the reflected light of grace shining through those who did not let the darkness win. We are told to “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Eph. 5:11 RSV). And this is exactly what I see happens with Halloween, but also with the way the supernatural and horror is engaged throughout October. Halloween is not a celebration of evil; it is a celebration of the victory over evil, allowing evil to expose itself and show us its weakness. Indeed, we learn that it is, by nature, nothing, and when we learn that, we do not have to be frightened by it ever again:

The defilements do not dwell in objects, nor in the collection of the senses, nor in the space between. There is nowhere else for them to dwell, and yet they churn up the entire universe. This is but illusion! So, heart, free yourself from fear, devote yourself to striving for wisdom. Why, quite needlessly, do you torment yourself in hells? [5]

[1] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Revised and Expanded Edition. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter and Christopher Tolkien (Broadway, NY: William Morrow, 2023), 152 [Letter 94 to Christopher Tolkien].

[2] J.R.R. Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Revised and Expanded Edition, 174 [Letter 109 to Stanley Unwin].

[3] Saint Isaac the Syrian, The Ascetical Homilies of Saint Isaac the Syrian. Trans. Monks of the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Rev. 2nd ed (Boston, MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 2011), 384 [Homily 51].

[4] Stephen J. Pope, “Natural law and Christian ethics” in The Cambridge Companion to Christian Ethics. Ed. Robin Gill (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 92.

[5] Śāntideva, The Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra. Trans. Kate Crosby and Andrew Skilton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995; repr. 1998), 29 [4.47].

* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

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