The lord of the rings. The tale and the unfolding wisdom of lawyers

This essay aims to explore the political and legal philosophical layers of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece. First, it demonstrates the ambivalent feature of power and authority appearing in The Lord of the Rings. The second part gives a reading of Tolkien’s philosophical anthropology. Next, it is shown how Tolkien’s concept of law can be placed in the framework of a Lockean political theory. Finally, the paper discusses the educational potential of this literary work in the process of moral and legal socialization of the “lawyers-to-be”