Greed and the Nature of Evil: Tolkien versus Wagner

Scholars studying J.R.R. Tolkien have often chosen to ignore the influence of Richard Wagner on Tolkien’s opus. This article starts out with showing how profound this influence was and continues by analysing Tolkien’s and Wagner’s common interest in the Old Norse Mythology of the Vikings. Examining the recently published The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrúnby Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings, the author penetrates and compares the importante themes of greed and evil in these books and in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. The author takes up for discussion the radically different political views of the two artists and indicates how this is important for their respective view of power and greed.