Return

In all narratives there is the idea of return. The form of return and its outcomes may include restitution, in which what was lost is recovered; reformation, in which what was worn out, old, broken or obsolete is remade; reintegration, in which what was exiled or discorporate becomes incorporate again; and renaissance, in which what seemed doomed comes back to sparkling new life.

There are many such forms and outcomes; most of the narratives seem to require that the protagonist is not the same at the end as he was in the beginning, because most narratives are progressive or spiraling, and not purely cyclic. The reason for that is of course that literary narratives generally mirror life in that time's relentless chariot or inflexible arrow are always aimed in one direction, and therefore the minimum change is one of age if not progress.

Tolkien's Lord of the Rings contains several examples of such narrative strands. Frodo leaves the Shire as a confused and somewhat naïve middle-aged hobbit; he sustains a wound at Weathertop which never really heals; he goes through the War of the Ring and returns an injured hero who never quite reintegrates. His friend Sam is forced to watch discorporation and loss, the narratives of others becoming legends in their own time, while he himself takes a deep breath and strives for normalcy; he establishes his return by telling his family, "I'm back." Meanwhile, at the other end of the world, Aragorn the king returns to his people, the sword that was broken wielded in his righteous hand and his hidden lineage revealed. In the end though, most will go 'across the sea'.

Last night, at a meeting of the wyvern clan, I saw with satisfaction the signs of return. Perhaps not renaissance, entirely, but some sort of regrowth towards restitution. We have never really lost as much as we seem to believe; we have really always made some sort of gains. But there are signs that the Dark Ages are almost over.

Just as the period of history we call the Dark Ages were not really dark across most of the world and in most of civilisation, so also can we see our times as the foundation period for the changes that are to come. There is seldom stagnation, there is always development. It sometimes takes a very optimistic view to see this, but it is nearly always true.

The world spirals forward into its redemption. Those who are faithful will survive. Those who are hopeful will find hope vindicated. And among all that is considered virtue around us, world without end, the greatest of what abides will still be love.