“The Lord of the Rings” by J. R. R. Tolkien (post 13): Tolkien said that this novel originated in childhood, which is when multiple personality originates.

Approaching the last hundred pages, I am starting to think about what it all means. And the first thing that occurs to me is that this novel, according to Tolkien, originated in his childhood.

As mentioned in a previous post, Tolkien said the book is based on the imaginary languages, and their associated characters and stories, that he started to imagine when he was a child.

Thus, it is fair to interpret the small hobbits as a metaphor for children in a world of good and evil.

And since it is a hobbit who carries the magic ring through most of the novel, and the magic ring, when you are in danger, can make you invisible, but also makes you feel like a change has come over you, then the question is: What could make a child disappear and feel transformed whenever the child has to escape evil?

That is how multiple personality originates. An imaginative child who is recurrently traumatized learns to switch to an alternate personality whenever trauma is threatened or happens.

Since the evil people don’t know that the personality switch has taken place (alternate personalities are normally secretive and do not acknowledge their presence), the alternate personality is invisible to them and the regular personality is not there to be seen. And the alternate personality feels different (and can either tolerate the evil or feel it is not happening to them).

Of course, the invisibility and transformation are reversible when the hobbit takes off the ring or the child switches back to the regular personality.

It is noteworthy that the character who had had the magic ring for the longest time, Sméagol-Gollum, is the character with the most obvious multiple personality. The magic of the magic ring is the magic of multiple personality.

Of course, Gollum is a cautionary tale about multiple personality. The magic ring (multiple personality) is good to escape danger, but is dangerous if you get addicted to it. Normal multiple personality can become multiple personality disorder if the person cannot put limitations on its use.

I will see what happens with the ring at the end of the novel. So far, it is mainly evil people who want to get it, and the good people who want to destroy it. If that does not change, then the whole novel might be a cautionary tale against multiple personality. But that would be hypocritical for a novelist.