山姆没有说错,黑暗会过去,黎明终将来到!早在三部曲中的第一部《护戒使者》(The Fellowship of the Ring)里,托尔金就藉着山姆预示了《魔戒》的末世论(注5)。圣战的最终胜负早已决定,魔王索伦侵吞中土的野心无法得逞,整个千疮百孔的生态环境将得以复原。
我想起了《启示录》21章3-5里的新天新地,基督教的生态神学总是带着终末盼望的:
「看哪,神的帐幕在人间!
他要和人同住,
他们要作他的子民。
神要亲自与他们同在,作他们的神,
神要擦去他们一切的眼泪;
不再有死亡,
也不再有悲哀、哭号、疼痛,
因为以前的事都过去了。
坐宝座的说:看哪,我将一切都更新了!」
注:
1.出自J. R. R. Tolkien《书信集》, pp. 288-89
2.」It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of trees in the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien.」 见J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis. pp. 678–679
3.老人柳树(英语:Old Man Willow),托尔金曾在信件中指出:由于老柳的记忆中带有许多创伤,因此它们对在森林中行走生物都是充满敌意的,能够催眠路过的旅人使其昏睡,也能使用自己树枝或树根来攻击对方。
5.原文 「How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.」