Wormtongue and Wormtail

The other day I was reading a book that mentioned Wormtongue from Tolkien's classic The Two Towers (book 2 of The Lord of the Rings). When I glanced over it, I thought it had said "Wormtail" (who is a character in Rowling's Harry Potter series)not "Wormtongue".

I immediately re-read it to make sure because I know very few Christian books that would make reference to Harry Potter. I found I was wrong...it was indeed "Wormtongue" not "Wormtail".

However, oddly enough something came to me with those two names; they are basically the same character within two different narratives.

They are both weak men who desire something and fear they are not enough to get what it is they desire...so they sell themselves to one who is stronger than they; the one they sell themselves to happens to be the person of evil within both stories.

Both characters thought little of themselves, both characters desired something: Wormtongue desired Eyowan and Wormtail desired respect. Wormtongue didn't think he was man enough to gain Eyowan so he thought to give himself to evil so he could make her love him. Wormtail knew he was a weak wizard so he sought to align himself with Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard ever to live.

These men were looking for strength, they needed acceptance, they needed love and they sought it out...with perilous results.

Without Wormtail, Voldemort wouldn't have been able to come back to full power. Without Wormtongue Saruman wouldn't have been able to build an army and destroy the woods because Rohan would have stopped him.

The thing is: both of these men neither got what they sought. They were used by evil, tricked, lied to and manipulated and never received anything for it. Both ended up being put on the altar of evil's desires. They sacrificed everything for nothing.

This is the antithesis of the Gospel! Christ sacrificed everything and through his blood, we've gained everything! Satan uses men in this world much the same way that Saruman and Voldemort used these two weaklings.

We are all weak, so I am not saying "had these men been strong they could've conquered evil on their own. We NEED Christ! My point is simply that these two character sought the wrong source of power. The writers of these two great stories used these two men to show the utter stupidity of following evil, how when we are weak, turning to evil will not help us, but make the story of our lives that much worse.

We are in a world where the battle wages just as fierce as it does in the narratives that surround these characters. These stories are glimpses into the war we are all in. When we forget about the waging war, we can become indifferent to the enemy.

We must "keep out heads in the game" and not become a Wormtail or Wormtongue! Christ can use any of us for His Glory and being allowed that honor will be far more fulfilling than the horrible alternative.

Let me remind you that in both of the stories The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter evil was destroyed, beaten down and done away with. Why would we willingly choose the losers side?

When you are looking for strength, look to Christ!