The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."
••••
Lord of the Rings. The Legendary Trilogy. Is it bad that I didn’t bother reading it until this year? At the ripe old age of 23? Sure, I’d read The Hobbit multiple times and even tackled The Silmarillion in high school but I’d never actually taken the time to dive into the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED the movies and, having read other books Tolkien wrote, I knew I LOVED the written world of Middle Earth. I’m just one of those people that, when you know how the book ends, it makes it that much harder to read. And with books as lengthy as these, it took a few years of convincing to finally get around to it. But as a kid, my cousins and I would watch the movies all the time, we’d pretend we were the characters and quote lines from it ALL THE TIME (“What about second breakfast?”). I’d loved the story so much in movie form, why wouldn’t I love it as a book? So, this year I finally did it. I read them all.
The journey started last spring. I was living in a house with three other people when I’d gotten used to living with one, I was an intern that didn’t get a lot of responsibility at work, and I was sick of living in the big city (too many people ALL THE TIME). I needed an escape and what better way to do that then dive into such an elaborate fictional world? It started with The Hobbit of course. No matter how many times I read it, it gets better with each re-read. Once I finished I didn’t want the adventure to end so I continued reading.
Even though it took me quite a while to get through them, these books were a special kind of solace in a turbulent year. So many changes were happening but I found a constant in Middle Earth with Bilbo and Frodo and Sam and so many others.
In reading the books compared to the movies, I had always thought of Frodo as sort of the “main” character. But you don’t even really get his point of view when you read the books. It’s all Sam. Sam is the hero. Yes, you know this by the end of the first movie but he has so much more depth and importance in the books. He saved Middle Earth. And he was the kindest-hearted soul. He was always my favourite but I developed a newfound respect for him after reading of the hardships he had to go through in getting Frodo to Mordor.
Another comparison, Arwen and Aragorn’s love story was always so romantic to me. Maybe it was the plotline/star-crossed love story, or maybe it’s because I had a HUGE crush on Viggo Mortensen at the time but they were the ultimate relationship goals to 8-year-old me. And, unpopular opinion: I strongly disliked Eowyn because of that fact. Reading the books turned my opinions upside-down. Eowyn is such a strong character and more fully developed in the books than Arwen. She’s been through so much and does everything she can to fight alongside her people. She won’t be benched or belittled. Her fiery spirit hooked me in. Her relationship with Faramir also gave me second thoughts on my favourite LOTR couple. They were so sweet, falling in love in the aftermath of the battle while their loved ones were still away at war. The books gave such a depth to their story that the movies barely even touched on.
All in all, it was a great experience and I’m glad I finally decided to read these marvellous books. I should have known that if The Hobbit was so good, of course the Lord of the Rings would be too, no matter that I already knew the ending. Now that it’s over I’m mourning that it is finished and “I think I’m quite ready for another adventure.” –Bilbo Baggins
Until next time,
-Taylor