The Return of the King: A Mythological Example of Individuation ...

I ask that you use your own personal discrimination when reading this article, and set aside any words, aspects or concepts that do not resonate with you. For I recognise your freedom to choose what is right for you, and would not wish to violate your freewill, but rather, I would act only as a resource for your seeking.

Not an original title for this piece, but a catchy one, nonetheless. So, what was Tolkien really talking about from a symbolic perspective, when he titled the last book of the trilogy, The Return of the King, in his classic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings (LOTR)? The following demonstrates the power of the myth, to narrate the individuation process, through animated symbolism, which talks to us at a deep level, pulling us into a sacred realm, which typifies the struggle that the Ego experiences as it comes into conscious relationship with not only the four archetypal energies (King, Magician, Lover and Warrior), but the central archetype of the Self, the primordial fountain, the Source, or intelligent infinity. Like all myths, and there can be no doubt that the story is mythic, LOTR is an aspect of wholeness, arising from the Collective Unconscious, communicating with us beyond the relative, abstract level of the Human world, allowing us to be suffused with its symbolic power.

The film trilogy (and to a lesser extent, the books) of Lord of the Rings, is probably the most significant and complete mythic narrative of our modern age. The trilogy is the most award-winning franchise there is, collecting more Oscars than Marvel, Harry Potter, and Star Wars combined! Why is this so? This myth portrays a fairly complete symbolic representation of the great battle between the forces of light and dark, and the process of what Carl Jung called Individuation. The setting of Middle Earth is diverse, rich and all-encompassing. The variation of its characters encapsulates a wide range of archetypes, from trolls, to elves, hobbits, men, dwarfs, orcs, Ents, etc. I suspect, we can all find a type or character in the myth with which we can identify. It has widespread appeal to all ages and races. The arc of the plot and the character development is maybe as good as anything else out there. The myth is life-giving, affirming gallantry and courage, commitment and determination, fellowship and participation in group endeavour. It inspires us to be our best selves, to have the chance to test our mettle, to evolve to a new level. In short, it has a magic which holds us in a spell so engrossing, that we project our unowned shadow selves into it, idealising, idolising and transferring our dreams and aspirations directly onto it, wishing we were there. Some say it's escapist - I posit that it is psychologically satisfying, generating inner meaning and purpose, releasing anxiety and suffusing us with levels of containment and regulation. Some would say that its impact upon humanity, cannot be underestimated.

The Return of the King refers to one of the central characters of the myth called Aragorn, who came from the race of Men, and was the heir of Isildur, the founder and King of Gondor, who fought Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance, cutting the One Ring from his hand with a sword named Narsil. He therefore comes from a lengthy line of Kings, and accordingly his personality is principally rooted in the Royal sector of the psyche. Aragorn carried the shame of his lineage, knowing that Isildur had succumbed to the power of the One Ring, which symbolically means that he was grossly inflated with the archetypal energy of the King, identifying himself entirely with it, to the partial exclusion of the other three archetypes. The One Ring represents the power of archetypal grandiosity to possess Humans, to precipitate flooding within the psyche, causing those who come near it to desire to possess it, because of its great numinal power. Little did the Men of Middle Earth know that the One Ring is the possessor, not those who wear it - Aragorn was a sufficiently good Magician to know this. Isildur could have destroyed the One Ring by throwing it into the fire of transformation (Mount Doom) and thus sacrificing (to make sacred) his grandiosity, as advised by the Magician, Elrond. But he did not, because "men above all else desire power." He was possessed by the Archetypal energy of the King, fully identifying with it, believing that he could wield its power, which (as is always the case in such instances) caused his downfall and ultimately his untimely death.

Aragorn’s statement that ‘the same blood flows in my veins, the same weakness,’ tells us that he was aware of the symbolic weakness of the Royal sector to become grandiose. Not wishing to become inflated with archetypal King energy, Aragorn has imposed exile upon himself, alienating his Kingship, becoming a Ranger of the wild, living far from his homeland, with no fixed abode. If he is not fully owning his King archetype, he certainly displays to us through the tale how developed and balanced he is in the other archetypes; his great Lover capacity is exhibited with not only Arwen, the daughter of a Magician, no less, but also to all those that he comes in contact with, especially the Hobbits. He is a formidable Warrior, whose aptitude as a fighter extraordinaire, is nearly beyond belief at times, considering the number of foes he singlehandedly faces and defeats. On many occasions, his Magicians’ knowledge is shown to us, displaying his great access to magic. Aragorn has every opportunity, just like Boromir, to take the Ring, but refuses to take it, constantly declining to take the easy route of becoming inflated in the King Archetype. He knows that he is not yet ready to become the Sovereign power, as he still in the process of balancing the archetypal energies (albeit unconsciously within the presentation of the story).

Eventually, after many trials, without taking any shortcuts, he proves his worth to himself, which allows him to take up the reins of the King bit by bit. This is a crucial point in the Individuation process. It is not others who consider that we are worthy but ourselves, through working with our trauma, our shadow and anything else that inhibits us from knowing the beauty and splendour of our true selves. He is wholly admirable, kind-hearted, gentle, gracious, courageous, gallant and above all, is unflinchingly dedicated to the task at hand - and for this we love him unreservedly. We do this to such an extent, that some of us men, through idealising projection, transfer our own Kingship onto him, placing outside of ourselves, access to our own Royal sector, for fear that we will not be as good as he represents himself to be. Aragorn is deeply balanced with his own Magician, externally represented as Gandalf, to whom on occasion he gives great and pivotal counsel ('What does your heart tell you?'). He is the fulcrum of the Fellowship, his charisma interfaces with every person he meets, every event, meeting and battle. Even the dying Boromir eventually proclaims he is the rightful King:

"I would have followed you, my brother... My captain... My king."

To become the King, Aragorn has to fully balance the Royal and Magical sector of the psyche, along with the Lover and the Warrior, so that the crucible of his Human personality reaches its zenith, where all four energies are recombined into the One, in the centre, forming the Axis Mundi (World Axis or the Navel of the World). Only at this point does he become the generative Human Centre, re-ordering the Kosmos of Middle Earth including all its inhabitants, both light and dark, which is a symbol of the psyche. Only then is the Kingdom and its peoples (parts of the Ego complex) replenished. Sauron, the Dark Lord (read Lucifer, the Devil or the Prince of Darkness), is the archetypal grandiose King, which is Aragorn's unowned Ego opposite working in the shadow. This shadow King aspect desires to dominate, to control and subjugate, 'bending all to [its] will'; who 'does not share power.' Sauron is continually and excessively inflated in the King archetype, with no access whatsoever to the Lover sector. He is totally in service to his Ego self. He mistakenly believes he is the Great Self, the Centre, the primordial fountain. He is the active independent, the psychopath and megalomaniac, all rolled into one ball of raging evil, bent on destroying anything and everyone that obstructs his path of personal aggrandisement (total chaos and non-being). This is the power of unconscious, and inflated identification with the King and the Great Self Archetypal energies, aligned with the inflated Warrior and Magician, which is not being contained and regulated by the Lover sector. This potent and destructive combination has been at work in Humanity's history since the beginning of civilisation and probably before. This tripartite of archetypal domination is ubiquitously at work in our modern age perhaps more aggressively than ever before, with grandiose prime ministers, presidents, CEOs and the criminal fraternity, running amok in greedy power-hungry archetypal possessions.

The symbolism of Saruman represents the inflated Magician, who has lost connection (if he ever had it) to the Lover and to the King Archetypes. He is preoccupied in the Magician's alchemical tower, detached from the external world, only interested in saving his own skin, conjuring up an army of dark forces, capable of fighting in the light of day. When the Ego becomes inflated in the Magician archetype, then deconstructionist agendas spring forth, co-opting the Dark Warrior to deliver diabolical outcomes, which ravage nature and the peasantry to achieve their end. Such inflation considers it appropriate to form alliances with the Dark Shadow King, blinded by the miasma of its own survival, to the knowing that they will have to eventually subjugate themselves to the higher power, which will ultimately gobble them up. Théoden’s possession by Saruman, represents the suppression of the balancing King archetype by the Magician, declining to give way to its sway, for fear of losing the supremacy of the Magician sector. It is only through the purity of the White Magician (Gandalf), can the control of the Dark Magician be thrown off, allowing King Théoden to return to his normal balanced self. To become Gandalf the White, Gandalf has to battle and defeat the Balrog, a demon of the ancient world, in the Mines of Moria. This deed is required to completely purify Gandalf the Grey, so that he can fully rise to his uninflated, incorruptible self, capable of defeating Saruman and supporting the free peoples of Middle Earth to defeat Sauron. The Balrog symbolises the shadow aspect of the Magician, which needs to be defeated, before purged purification can take place. Note that Gandalf only uses his great magical power against foes of equal stature to himself, such as the Ringwraiths and Saruman. At other times, it is his great Warriorship which enters the various battles and conflicts.

The reforging of the Shards of Narsil into Anduril, Flame of the West, represents the gift of the Magician (Elrond again) to the King-elect. It symbolises the final part of the Individuation process, the pinnacle which enables Aragorn to win the Battle of Pelennor Fields, using the Ghost Army, which symbolise the ultimate Warrior capacity, which can't be defeated, because they are already dead. Aragorn is able to do this because he is the true King, offering the Ghost Captain freedom by enabling them to finally honour the oath they took to the false King Isildur. Let’s be clear, if the Battle of Pelennor Fields is not won, regardless of the fate of Frodo and the Ring, Mordor would have probably overrun Middle Earth. It is a crucial fulcrum in the story, which underpins the need for the Ghost Army. We have all probably seen the seemingly logical error in the myth surrounding the reforging of the Shards of Narsil. Why didn’t Elrond do it earlier? Well, we need to look at the symbolism in more detail. The reforging symbolises that Aragorn's inner Magician considers that the Ego organisation of itself has reached a sufficient level of integration, that the Magician sector is able to fully pass power to the Royal sector. If Arwen is prepared to sacrifice her immortality for the sake of her love for Aragorn, thus proving his integration of the Lover archetype to her Magician father, then perhaps he is ready to approach the throne of power, becoming in Elrond's eyes, the proper King elect, worthy of such power. The gift of the Sword is the final blessing and gift of the Magician, symbolically bestowing secret, arcane knowledge of how to manipulate the universe, in the service of the good. The Magician is thus integrated into the King, bringing with it all the power of the Magician Archetype. Anduril, Flame of the West is the sword of light, and is the shadow opposite of the One Ring itself. They have the same level of power; therefore, its forging is a necessary balancing action in the myth, to counteract the sway of grandiosity.

When the King has truly found his Centre, then his power is unstoppable. Again, it is Aragorn's last stand against the forces of Mordor, at the Black Gates, leading an outnumbered army, through the most rousing of motivational speeches, which draws Sauron's vision away from Mount Doom, enabling the final destruction of the Ring in the fiery 'chasm from whence it came.' This final achievement tells us that the individuation process for Aragorn is nearly complete, since all chance of inflated grandiosity, has now been transformed by fire. Ultimately, Gandalf the great white (non-Elvin) Magician passes power to Aragorn, in his coronation in Minas Tirith, where his first act of gracious humility, is to bow to the smallest members of the victorious army, the four Hobbit's, displaying that he is not in any way like Sauron.

Interestingly, even Frodo, symbolically portraying Aragorn's inner child, being more innocent than most, and closer to the Archetypal Self, succumbs at last to the power of the grandiose Ring, refusing to surrender it just like Isildur in the bowels of Mount Doom. This chamber is the crucible of transformative change and is a special space where potent dynamics are at work. The desperate greed of Gollum for the One Ring is more potent than any other character in the myth. Without Gollum, the Ring will not be destroyed; he is the last part of the great jigsaw puzzle, which executes its final destruction, if inadvertently. He is always present on the fringes of the story, until he fully appears in the Two Towers (a symbol of the continual dualism at work in the psyche). The meeting between Frodo and Gollum signifies that Frodo is coming into direct contact with his own grandiosity, as he draws closer to Mordor, as the Ring becomes heavier to carry. This entanglement allows Frodo to project his grandiosity onto Gollum, allowing him to carry it, until he reaches Mount Doom. He controls his urge to become inflated by privileging Smeagol over Gollum, but this does not last as we draw closer to Mordor. However, as soon as we are in the fiery chasm, Frodo's alter Ego or shadow self fully appears for us to see, no longer projected; this is not the Frodo we know; it is his shadow opposite. The fight between Frodo and his shadow self is externalised within the mythic presentation of the tale, as the fight with Gollum for the Ring. Frodo is battling with himself, coming face to face with what has always been in his shadow, which is his inflated grandiose opposite. He has to acknowledge this aspect if he is to overcome it. It is only through the final fight between Frodo and his own shadow opposite, as represented by Gollum, does Frodo throw of the hitherto hidden inflation of archetypal possession. His shadow complex wins the doomed and fatal fight for grandiosity, as it always does, but in doing so devours itself, and burns up in the fire of transformation. We know that Frodo is ashamed of this display of archetypal grandiosity, which takes place in Mount Doom, because of how tepidly he greets Sam, when he wakes up in Minas Tirith.

The myth of LOTR is a universal motif of Individuation, resulting in the Sovereign Centre being established in the Kosmos of psychic space. Only when we sacrifice our own grandiosity, balance the archetypal energies and banish the old tyrant King, at work in our shadow, does the Return of the King (or Queen) take place. Aragorn's journey is more than the Hero's Journey, it is an example of fierce intent, valour, openheartedness and determined focus upon the prize of establishing a conscious Ego-Self axis at all costs. Aragorn is our role model, which exemplifies the possibility of us all taking and completing the Individuation process, bringing about what Robert Moore called a 'Forest of Kings' (and Queens), covering the face of Earth, giving rise to the New Epoch, which is upon us.