During periods in which Saturn and Pluto make significant angular relationships to one another, the global situation, it would appear, makes it greatest polarizations, with each faction declaring the other corrupt or evil and each camp holding its own claim to truth, morality, and righteousness. Like in the world of The Rings, there is little ambiguity between "good" and "evil" during Saturn-Pluto configurations. During the 1914-16 Saturn-Pluto opposition, Europe split itself between a battle of "the Hun" and the "Barbarians" of Germany as troops of the Fatherland fought against the Allied forces. Under the 1939-1941 Saturn-Pluto Square, the final solution was devised as the "Master Race" intended to annihilate an entire people. As the Cold War peaked under the 1981-1984 Saturn-Pluto conjunction, "The Evil Empire" that was the Soviet Union threatened the solidarity and freedom of the Western world. And currently in our own time, under a Saturn-Pluto opposition, the world once again divides itself into "good and evil," as each side in the multiple global conflicts see themselves as the bearer of all that is good and true with the opposing force as the sum aggregation of all evil. (For more about Saturn-Pluto themes in the twentieth century, read the essay entitled, September 11, 2001 and the Saturn-Pluto cycle of the 20th Century).

More than just a brilliant exposition on the themes of Saturn-Pluto configuration, the look, feel, and experiential quality of The Lord of the Rings is highly indicative of the archetypal tenor of Saturn and Pluto in combination. There is both an incredibly dark, heavy, and "steely" experiential quality to Saturn and Pluto as there is also a deep and penetrating infernal sense to the combination. This is the archetypal combination of fire and brimstone; grotesque monsters, killing machines, and terminators; "heavy metal"; puritanical authority; steel and concrete; bricks and mortar; dungeons and armor; impenetrable fortresses;sweatshops and slave labor; "do or die" confrontations, Battle Royale a la Armageddon. With Saturn and Pluto, eroticism, seduction, evolutionary power, and life force (Pluto) collide with lead, darkness, density, and gravity (Saturn); this is indeed the heaviest experiential combination in astrology and imagery of this type pervades throughout all of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: the satanic mills of Saruman, the mysterious evil of the Dark Riders, the demonic Balrog, the powerful face-off between Gandalf and Saruman, the dense and colorless architecture; the substantial ale steins, battle axes, and steely chainmaile.

Perhaps, however, the single greatest expression of Saturn-Pluto in The Lord of the Rings is the ring itself. Forged in the bowels of Middle Earth, the ring glows with a mysterious, dark, and gothic eroticism that holds an incredible seductive force through its mere presence. This concentrated power, however, promises two things: one, the corruption, emptiness, and destruction of those who choose to wield its power, or two, ultimate redemption and freedom by those who transcend and destroy its force. In the ring, we see the bipolar, or two-sided, nature of the archetypal combination: the all-consuming destructiveness of a certain type of power and the promise of moral strength, character, and heroism if the temptation to use the power falsely is avoided.