Arrows emerged from the darkness of Helm’s trenches as the vast army of the evil Uruk-hai stormed the gates defended by the cowering army of Rohan. Nevertheless, the minuscule army unsheathed their swords and stood their ground against impending defeat. The defenders of Rohan have been convinced that Sauron, Tolkien’s symbol of totalitarianism and evil, is too strong to defeat, therefore becoming susceptible to Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “permanent lie” in which totalitarianism blinds groups from reality and allows for the regime to take control over the masses and become the dominant power, a tool which leads to the rise of regimes and which must be resisted. Solzhenitsyn describes his experiences with the permanent lie in the Soviet Union, where a “collection of ready-made phrases, of labels, [and] a selection of ready-made lies”(647) governed literature and language of society, forming a false reality where lies become the truth, just as Sauron has fabricated lies about the scale of his power. By emphasizing the power of the Uruk-hai, Tolkien highlights the scale at which a permanent lie can exist but also uses those defending Helm’s Deep, a small army in comparison to the Uruk-hai, to illustrate that it is a necessity to fight back against these lies. The permanent lie can also apply to a modern context, where technology can create a wave of misinformation to control the public, making Tolkien’s symbolism prevalent in present-day society. 

Ladders poured over the walls of Helm’s Deep and the Uruk-hai crossed the walls and watched as the army of Rohan slowly dwindled. Despite the imminent defeat of Hornborg the army of Rohan prepared for battle, therefore symbolizing Roger Scruton’s theory of oikophilia in his book How to Think Seriously About the Planet which offers a means to resist totalitarianism and the permanent lie. Scruton describes how one’s “love and feeling for home”(10) guides the decisions process, making “whatever sacrifices will be required for the sake of future generations”(9). It is this motive that Scruton entitles oikophillia. Rather than back down, Èomer encourages his army to “drive through such foe”, fighting the Uruk-hai so that “Hundreds may lie hid” in the safety of the mountains. By looking at the decisions of Èomer and Theoden during the battle of Helm’s Deep, they make the necessary choice to fight for both their home and future generations, demonstrating a form of resistance using oikophilia. It is this oikophilia that Tolkien produces as a way to combat totalitarianism and the permanent lie, encouraging individuals to resist evil changes in society.

The gates of Helm’s Deep now lay crumbled on the ground with each piece supporting the thousands of Uruk-hai soldiers who stormed toward Hornborg. The seemingly successful regime of the Uruk-hai is not incidental but rather a product of techniques of totalitarian conditioning, and because of this represents the ideas of philosopher and holocaust survivor Hannah Arendt in her book The Origins of Totalitarianism where she describes how totalitarianism arises. Arendt describes her image of totalitarian minds as “atomized, isolated individuals”(317) whose mind becomes malleable to the evil philosophies of totalitarianism, as it offers a solution to the problems derived from isolation. In Lord of the Rings, Saruman, the commander of the Uruk-hai, epitomizes the theory of the isolated mind as he lived alone in the tower of Orthanc. While residing alone, Gandalf describes how Saruman’s mind slowly becomes “persuaded from afar” and “daunted when persuasion would not serve”(198) by Sauron, a perfect example of how an isolated mind can be manipulated. Arendt continues her philosophy to say that once the isolated mind is corrupted “the disturbing alliance between the mob and the elite”(330) forms which ensure the success of a regime, just as the Uruk-hai, a symbolism for the mob, and Saruman have created their alliance. Arendt bases her ideas in part on Solzhenitsyn’s permanent lie, as both are an explanation of the changes in perception of reality under a totalitarian regime.

The white-cloaked wizard towered over what seemed like a victorious Uruk-hai army but watched as they frantically scrambled into the ominous forest. When entering the forest, the Uruk-hai were greeted by an army of Ents, an ancient tree species that Tolkien uses to symbolize nature, therefore paralleling an idea crucial to Shoshana Zuboff in her book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism as she believes nature is a fleeting resource in both the rise of totalitarian regimes and in the modern era. Zuboff warns about how “nature could be translated” from an ideology that provides a fundamental meaning of life “into the market and reborn as ‘land’ or ‘real estate”(70), using nature as a tool for profit rather than a way of living; destroying the natural way of life. Zuboff argues that totalitarian regimes are against nature as it directly opposes the wants of any regime, which is for complete control and autonomy; an idea that nature opposes as nature symbolizes a free and spiritual life. Sauron’s plan for power includes the desolation of nature, having forests be destroyed in pursuit of his utopia, a symbol of how totalitarians seek the destruction of nature, just as Zuboff warned. As the Uruk-hai fled into the shadows of the forest, “none from that shadow were ever seen again”(138), engulfed by the ents who were waiting for them. Tolkien uses the Ents siding against the Uruk-hai as a way to showcase how nature has the ability to fight against totalitarian regimes, using the natural order of life as a combatant to evil.  Tolkien uses the Battle of Helm’s Deep to convey a message about ways to resist totalitarianism. Although Tolkien was not a believer in allegory, he still used The Lord of the Rings as a guideline for how these regimes both rise and how they should be combated. Tolkien combines the various ideas compiled by authors such as Solhenitizen and Arendt to create a symbolic image of the different factors that are the foundation of a totalitarian regime. The Army of Rohan represents the permanent lie of those who are conditioned to live in fear from the strength of a regime, which is juxtaposed against the isolated mind and the mob of Sauron and the Uruk-hai, both of which allow for the success of a regime by silencing other viewpoints. Although this book symbolizes the rise of Communist regimes such as the Nazis and the Soviet Union, as those were prevalent in Tolkien’s era, the symbolism is still applicable to a modern context. Zuboff writes about her fear of technology in the future, coining the term Big Other, a reference to George Orwell’s sinister governing entity in 1984, as the surveillance and manipulation of modern society via technology. Zuboff contends that “The more that is known about a person, the easier it is to control him”, which leads to “human autonomy” by “permitting some concealment of information”(127), creating a mob mentality just as Tolkien warns via the symbolism of the Uruk-hai. Due to the ability of technology to create another regime, it is imperative to heed Tolkien’s advice in the resistance of totalitarianism as it can arise once again through technology in the modern era.