| INTRODUCTION: From Hopeless Courage, Part I
The theme of hopeless courage is one of the most memorable aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings. The characters in this story are courageous, even jovially so, but they tend ultimately to expect the worst. ... In Middle-earth despair does not depend on a failure of hope, but rather the failure of courage and/or cheer. ... Courage—without the illusion of hope—is what keeps despair at bay as Frodo and Sam plod on towards Mount Doom...
TWO KINDS OF HOPE: AMDIR AND ESTEL
It is worth noting that Tolkien defined two kinds of hope: amdir, "an expectation of good which though uncertain has some foundation in that which is known"; and estel, "a trust which is not defeated by the ways of the world". Amdir is hope as commonly understood, based on some level of reason, while estel goes deeper, often in defiance of reason—a "fool's hope" based on the irrational or the radical.
The distinction between amdir and estel surfaces in a First-Age debate between the elf Finrod and the woman Andreth, recounted in Morgoth's Ring. In a world where hope is foolish, one wonders about the ultimate destiny of people's souls. Is Tolkien's "Blessed Realm" of Valinor like Valhalla, a temporary paradise (for elves) until the end of the world, when everything returns to darkness and chaos? What about men, who never even go to Valinor? Finrod and Andreth
debate answers to these questions, but before considering their discussion it is necessary to understand the following background which conditions elvish and human thought:
 (1) Elves are immortal, and even if they should be killed their souls go to Valinor and reassume bodily form. But despite their immortality, they cannot see beyond the "end of the world", whereupon, it would seem, their bodies must end and they will certainly die. Men are ignorant of the "shadow ahead" which conditions elvish thought,
and they tend to envy elvish immortality.
(2) Men are mortal, and when they die their fate remains unknown (they do not go to Valinor). But they were once immortal, in a time and place long forgotten, until something horrible occurred resulting in an estrangement between them and Eru, the deity of Middle-earth. The result was that men lost the privilege of their immortality. Elves are ignorant of this tradition (for men do not speak of it with other races), and they believe human mortality is natural.
So elves have a shadow ahead of them, while men have a shadow behind them. Does either race have any hope?
Enter Finrod and Andreth.
 When Finrod asks if men have any hope, Andreth, assuming amdir is in view, says no: men have no hope for their fate, for they do not go to Valinor after death. Finrod then asks if they have any deeper hope (estel), any trust that whatever happened in the past, Eru will not forsake them since they, like the elves, are his
own "children". This is the hope kept by some of the elves when contemplating the end of the world and (presumably) the death of their bodies—that whatever happens, Eru will somehow provide for his children. Andreth replies that for the most part, men have no more estel than they do amdir, for they believe that they have been cut off entirely from Eru and that Melkor dominates their fate as the "Lord of the World". Yet she acknowledges that there are a few (very few)
of her race who cling to estel in an "old hope" that Eru will someday actually enter the world in order to heal the mysterious estrangement between himself and humanity (anticipating the Christ event).
From the common viewpoint of amdir, both races are without hope, conditioned by darkness ahead and/or darkness behind. But from the quasi-taboo viewpoint of estel—"fool's hope"—there may be redemption, though most men avoid even considering this possibility. Humans have a thoroughly Nordic view of Melkor: in their eyes, he is the evil and most powerful Vala ("god"), the "Lord of the World", more powerful than the other Valar combined, and he will have the final
say over their fate. So both elves and men, but especially men, have a hopeless view of their fate. Estel is entertained rarely as a desperate fool's hope that somehow things will "work out" in the end, against all the evidence.
 Estel happens to be Aragorn's moniker, the name given him by the elves in Rivendell. Aragorn is a living paradox, described thus in the appendices:
He became the most hardy of living men, skilled in their crafts and lore, and was yet more than they; for he was elven-wise, and there was a light in his eyes that when they were kindled few could endure. His face was sad and stern because of the doom that was laid on him, and yet hope dwelt ever in the depths of his heart, from which
mirth would arise at times like a spring from the rock.
Aragorn is the inverse of hobbits like Sam Gamgee, who "because of cheer need no hope". The ranger is "sad and stern" and clings to hope. Why does Tolkien characterize Aragorn in such an anti-pagan fashion here? Is hope a virtue in Middle-earth after all?
Like Sam's epiphany in the Morgai Vale, Aragorn's moniker is the exception which proves the rule. I should draw an analogy with a student I taught in Africa, whose name was Mohlouoa, meaning "Ugly" in the native tongue.  He was indeed unattractive to behold. I inquired about this, more than a little curious about parents who would so name
their child. It was explained that a pejorative name was a paradox designating someone considered unique enough (or loved enough) to be capable of rising above the negative trait. Mohlouoa would transcend his ugliness so that it would "become his beauty", so to speak. Estel should be taken with the same irony. He is the fool's hope; he must transcend hope and make it his courage. In his own unique case, he will embrace something taboo and "make it work".
Both Arwen and Gilraen, Aragorn's mother, are willing to fuel Aragorn's foolishness for the sake of a destiny he needs to embrace without reservation. Note the ironical-negative in Gilraen's linnod, as she retracts hope immediately:
| Arwen: |
Dark is the Shadow, and yet my heart rejoices; for you, Estel, shall be among the great whose valour will destroy it. |
| Aragorn: |
Alas! I cannot foresee it, and how it may come to pass is hidden from me. Yet with your hope I will hope. And the Shadow I utterly reject.
...
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| Aragorn: |
There may be a light beyond the darkness; and if so, I would have you see it and be glad. |
| Gilraen: |
I gave hope to the Dúnedain, I have kept no hope for myself. |
Of course, Elrond knows that Aragorn's hope is bound to fade. Even the return of the king can bring only temporary happiness, the loss of Arwen's immortality and place in the Undying Lands, and the Fourth Age destined to become progressively bleak:
| Elrond: |
My son, years will come when hope will fade... Even our victory can bring only sorrow and parting—but to you hope of joy for a while. |
So Aragorn's elvish name does not undermine Tolkien's theme of hopeless courage. With irony and paradox, it reinforces it.
 But does estel ever surface in the actual story of The Lord of the Rings? Not explicitly, for Tolkien would not reflect on the amdir/estel distinction until much later in life. But while amdir is almost always in view, there appear to be three exceptional occasions in which estel surfaces, implicitly,
in defiance of what can be reasonably expected: Gandalf's remark to Pippin, Arwen's letter to Aragorn, and Sam's epiphany in the Morgai Vale. Let us revisit these cases in turn.
Gandalf and Pippin We have seen that while Gandalf occasionally counsels amdir in relation to the future's uncertainty, he shows his true colors when alone with Pippin. He never really had hope (amdir) for Frodo's success, "just a fool's hope" (estel). There never was any reasonable hope that Frodo could make it all the way to Mount Doom and resist being claimed by the Ring. It was plainly a fool's trust (estel)
in such a mission against overwhelming odds. Only after Gandalf learns that Sauron's forces have begun to empty Mordor does he allow himself a small and genuine degree of amdir which he will counsel publicly (ambiguously-positive) at the Last Debate.
Arwen and Aragorn Arwen's letter to Aragorn reads, "Either our hope [estel] cometh, or all hopes [amdir] end." She refers, of course, to Aragorn himself. From the viewpoint of amdir, Aragorn has an entirely hopeless role to fulfill. He stands in the shadow of Isildur, a failure, and has no chance of leading a military victory against Sauron. Trust in the return of the king must be a fool's hope, since Gondor cannot possibly
prevail against Mordor. The race of men must embrace estel, since they are required to relinquish amdir.
 Sam It is clear that Sam never had hope in Frodo's quest. Yet in the Morgai Vale, as he gazes into the night sky, "hope returns to him". One may wonder how hope can "return" to someone who never had it. The point is that while Sam never had amdir, estel has remained latent inside
him until triggered by an overpowering epiphany in the middle of the worst place on earth. This epiphany results in a radical hope which goes beyond even the fool's hope expressed by Gandalf. Sam's estel is not only for Frodo's quest, but for (someday) a final triumph of good over evil.
It is no accident that estel surfaces when things become darkest—in The Return of the King—and on all three sides of the story: Gondor (Gandalf), Rohan (Arwen's letter), and Mordor (Sam). When amdir is doomed to fail, estel makes the best of a bad situation. Given its foolish and radical nature, one can understand why hopeless courage prevails as the ultimate virtue in Middle-earth.
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