Legends of The Fall
How three sons raised together lived radically different lives and what it tells us about our heart.
Legends of the Fall is a story largely told through the lives of three sons: Alfred, Samuel, and Tristan (from left to right). They were raised by their father, Colonel Ludlow, on his Montana ranch with the help of beloved friend, mentor and spiritual guru ‘One Stab’, an elder of the Cree nation. The Ludlow matriarch abandoned the family, due to the harshness of winter and fear of bears. Each son, for the purpose of this article, represents a state of heart; Prideful, hardened and free. Out of their vastly different heart conditions, their lives forge unique paths.
“He doesn’t speak outside, He speaks within. The heart is the instrument by which we hear (the Lord). We have to unplug, come aside, abide in Jesus and be still.” (Eldredge)
[Abide in Jesus and be still.]
“Early in our experience walking with God we should rely more on wisdom, on the clarity given to us through the word. Wisdom from scripture is the baseline. Wisdom in scripture is not describe as a mastery of principles but rather as a discerning heart…” (Eldredge)
[Wisdom is a discerning heart.]
Samuel
[Condition: Prideful. Stricken with youthful hubris. Delusions of grandeur.]
Sam is the youngest son and most beloved by his older brothers, who are very protective of him. He is a boyish in appearance; he’s tender and well educated, evident by his knowledge of flowers and fluency in German; he prefers casual lawn sports like tennis over rugged endeavors like hunting and taming wild horses. All in all, Sam has a good heart. His greatest detriment is his pride and self-reliance. Sam is fully convinced his good heart will lead him to glory and be his saving grace. His hearts penchant for justice is so great that it leads him to war in another country, for another nation.
“To have a good untrained heart is the most dangerous part of the journey because your good heart will urge you to do things that are not wise to do.” -Eldredge
Sam: Father with my fluent German, I could become an officer.
Colonel Ludlow: yes, and lead other young boys to slaughter and be slaughtered yourself.
Sam: The men who served under you worshiped you.
Colonel: They were damn fools, all of them, weren’t they? I taught you to think for yourselves!
Notice how he answers his father’s brutally honest response with visions of grandeur. Sam’s motivations are clear, even if he himself is ignorant to them. Because on the surface this appears, as Samuel puts it to his distraught fiancé, like “the only honorable thing to do.” However, when we consider Samuel is deciding to leave the woman he is engaged to so he could enter a war his own nation is not involved in, fueled by naïve fantasies of war-glory and titles – well, it starts to look a lot less honorable. Samuel’s letter to his fiancé tells us all we need to know…
“Tonight, as I prayed for the souls of those who’ve died so terribly, yet so bravely, I admit that I also prayed for personal glory. Is that wrong to want to distinguish myself gloriously in combat as my father did? Susanna, I see now not that my father was right but that I was naïve.”
Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty,
but humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 18:12
Mercifully, Samuel’s destruction comes at the hands of a barbed wire fence. When his foxhole comrade is downed he runs aimlessly through a hazy woodland like a frightened gazelle and sprints right in to razor wire repeatedly until he cannot move and becomes a bullet sponge for the opposition. Tristan runs in on the scene with agonizing fury and sorrow. The scene is gut wrenching, a certified tearjerker. However, looking beneath the drama, we see there was absolutely nothing brave or honorable about this death. It was for nothing, he died scared and helpless. His foolish heart sought self-glorification which led him to the jaws of death, a gruesome end for naught.
Lord, I don’t want to be a helpless casualty of my untrained heart. Shepherd me, Jesus. Help me to acknowledge you in all my ways so that my paths may be made straight. Train me to have a discerning heart so I may know intimately the voice of your blessed counsel. Finally, help me to delight in you Father. When your guidance goes against my will, renew my faith in the knowledge of your goodness and mercy. Let my heart be courageous and bold in pursuit of your will for my life. I lay down my will and surrender all to you, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalms 16:11
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalms 37:4
Alfred
[condition: hardened heart. Callous. Conformed to the patters of the world.]
“We are in constant danger of being not actors in the drama of our lives but reactors, to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current happens to be running the strongest.” -Frederick Buechner
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[Romans 12:2]
Alfred joins Samuel to war, with little to no conviction as to why. As the eldest brother, he should be advising Samuel against this fools errand. But Alfred stands for nothing, so he’s liable to fall for anything. No moment emphasizes Alfred’s spineless ways more than when he, stood before his brothers tombstone, professes his love to Susannah (Sam’s fiancé). But let us indulge a little further; Alfred, years later, returns home to his fathers ranch with a gang of politicians.
Alfred: Father, I have come to ask for your blessing. You see, these gentleman and a great many others want me to run for office.
Col Ludlow: And what do you gentleman hope to get out of this? What do you want for yourselves, should my son be elected?
(Alfred, appeases the politicians, dismissing his father.)
Col Ludlow: Do you think these men back you out of patriotism and admiration?
This moment is especially disappointing for the fact that we are told Col. Ludlow fought with the government for years to try and end the oppression of indigenous people. Their refusal to work with him is what drove him out of the service and into the hills of his ranch, to escape the madness of the world. Alfred is not unaware of the corrupt system he is being indoctrinated in. This is willful disobedience masqueraded as some honorable opportunity and Col. Ludlow is having none of it.
Where in our walk are we compromising and conforming to the patterns of this world? Where are we relying on our own strength and our own wisdom? Help us Father, reveal to us where we are relying on ourselves, when we are following the world’s agenda, so we may have the courage and faith to deny ourselves and follow you.
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:35-36
Tristan
[condition: Free. Led by passion and conviction. Full of heart and beloved by most]
The moment where Samuel boldly declares he will go to war is a crucial scene to understanding these three sons. As we have seen with Samuel, he was motivated by pride and the desire for worldly praise; Alfred was easily swayed, taken by any passing wind regardless of its strength – had Samuel not enlisted, Alfred would not have either. Tristan remained silent in the moment. In the end he decides to enlist for the most noble and honorable reason of all- to protect his younger brother. Tristan’s chief aim was to safeguard Samuel, which is what makes the loss truly devastating.
Tristan takes an arrow in the center of his strength when he fails to protect his brother. Once a fierce hunter, after the loss of Samuel he returns to the ranch incomplete. He and Susannah begin a passionate romance and things ostensibly seem to be improving despite a noticeable level of vacancy in Tristan. There’s sweet talk of children and starting a family together, but it is evident that despite Susannah’s passion and sincerity towards Tristan, her love cannot reestablish his heart. Eventually, when Tristan fails to rescue a young bovine caught in barbered wire, his wound is painfully brought to the surface.
“God is fiercely committed to you, to the restoration and release of your masculine heart. But a wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal… God’s initiation of a man must take a very cunning course; a course that feels very odd, even cruel. He will wound us in the very place where we have been wounded.” – (Eldredge)
No doubt the part about our wounds is just as relevant and applicable to women. We have all been wounded, in this fallen world. We must have the courage to ask the Lord “where have I been wounded? Lord, take me through my wound, help me to go through it with you and acknowledge that it mattered, admit finally that it hurt, and then release it to you.” There will likely be a lot of tears when the time comes, but you will find yourself with a lighter heart as a result, and a greater ability to connect with your heavenly Father.
Tristan leaves the ranch and this budding romance with Susannah on an adventure to regain his heart. Through much heartache and many trials, shown to us in a dramatic montage of hunting wild beasts, sailing wild seas, and violently convulsing whilst being held down by exotic tribesman, Tristan recovers his heart once more and returns. Our own personal journeys to discover or recover our hearts will be radically different from one person to the next, but alike in that it relies entirely upon an active, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ; A decision to follow Him, and not an invitation for Him to follow us. Any attempt to rouse ourselves to life outside of His guidance is sure to be in vain.