Lord of the Rings: Apocalyptic Prophecies

[Elizabeth]

     The thirst for revolution and the desire to put an end to the ancient monarchical order of Europe, and indeed of the Church, did not stop with France. Years earlier, the American Revolution had already commenced with the Signing of the Declaration of Independence referring to the (Deist?) God of Nature a few months later after Weishaupt founded his New Order in 1776. While the founding fathers of the newly fledged United States simply wished for independence and did not set out to dispatch their monarch, their new image of the republic advocating the separation of church and state was decidedly Masonic. Many of America’s revolutionary heroes were or became Freemasons, such as Benjamin Franklin,  George Washington, Robert R. Livingstone and Paul Revere. In fact, Washington encouraged his soldiers to become Masons with the result the ideals of Freemasonry became the new ‘image’ of their nation.88 Millar observes:

“... America was not only looking to build its communities,

it was also looking to represent itself visually. With public displays
of Washington, first president of the United States, (laying the
cornerstone of the Capitol building in full Masonic regalia), such
an enthusiasm for Masonic symbolism was inevitable, because it
sent the message that the morals and ideals of the newly
independent America were synonymous with those of
Freemasonry.”89

     It is difficult to discern the extent of which Illuminism may have influenced American politics, but we find a curious set of symbols represented on the reverse side of the dollar bill that appear to be a tribute to Weishaupt’s ideals: a Masonic lodge or temple represented in the shape of an Egyptian pyramid, the base displaying the year 1776 in Roman numerals, the year of the American Revolution and the foundation of the Illuminati. Over the temple hovers the All-Seeing Eye, above which we see a scroll, ‘Annuit coeptis’, ‘He has smiled on our undertakings’, while under the pyramid’s base we find ‘Novus order seclorum’ ~ New Order of the Ages.

     While America gained its independence and was busy establishing its new identity as a democratic republic, there were many upheavals in French politics for decades to come, particularly after Napoleon placed the crown on his head as Emperor in 1804 and foisted upon France a rival bloodline to the throne. A triple clash raged for decades with certain factions demanding a republic, opposed by other parties and their efforts to restore the French throne under the legitimate surviving descendants of the Bourbon Kings, contended by those who wanted to reestablish Napoleon’s descendants as rulers of France. Eventually, the royal line of the Bourbons became extinct with the death of the Count of Chambord in 1883, which ultimately secured the establishment of Third Republic, hence it was thought that any hope or possibility of restoring the absolute, or even a constitutional monarchy in France was quashed once and for all, the new revolutionaries in the Chamber of Deputies at that time going so far as to propose that the government auction off the crown jewels as one deputy declared, “Without a crown, there’s no need for a king,” which was done in 1887. With the royal jewels scattered, the republicans succeeded in keeping the current democratic form of government and hoped that they had put an end to any further hopes of an absolute monarchical restoration, forgetting the ancient tradition of the heaven-blessed blood-line in thatthe French king makes the crown, the crown does not make the king. This turn of events with several contenders in France may have inspired Tolkien’s inclusion of the Stewards’ guardianship of Gondor in Lord of the Rings. As we recall, the  Stewards skillfully prevented the legitimate kings of the Northern Scion from taking  the throne of Gondor by persuading the people to enthrone a distant relative of Isildur’s eldest son from the Southern scion. Lacking in support and in order to keep the peace, the Northern line directly descending from Isildur's second son does not press its claim, yet the Stewards do not relinquish their guardianship of therealm when the Southern Scion eventually becomes extinct. For centuries the Stewards arrogantly rule like kings despite their status as mere stewards, much like the Presidents of the French Republic who are viewed as temporary kings, but do not have any royal blood or a legitimate claim to the kingship of France. 

88 Angel Millar, Freemasonry: A History (San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2005), p. 205-209.
89 Ibid. pp. 211, 216.

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The Great Seal of the United States on the reverse side of the one dollar bill.

(Here is a link to an article that explains the symbols on the American Dollar: http://americaslastdays.blogspot.com/p/hidden-symbolism-of-dollar.html)