Bookworms: The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J.R.R. Tolkien
“There’s a book you’ll really like, it’s called the Lord of the Rings, my brother read it when he was a kid…” – my Mother, 14 years too late
Lord of the Rings
Like many people, I was introduced to the world of Middle Earth twelve years ago through the fantastic film series the Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson. I first heard about the fantasy saga through the teaser trailer for the Fellowship of the Ring. When I got really excited about this awesome new movie, my mother told me that the stories were actually books, and I could actually go read them right now! She took me to my favorite place in the world, the local library, and together we scoured the shelves until we found the three volumes that comprised the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I had never heard of a hobbit. I had no idea what these books were about. To be perfectly honest, I was a little skeptical. If my mother was excited about it, it definitely couldn’t be that cool.
Boy, was I wrong!
Hidden in the Behind the Scenes on the Fellowship DVD, there was a little moment that would change my life. The venerable, and everlasting film star Sir Christopher Lee, who portrayed the wizard Saruman, stated in an interview that he had met J.R.R. Tolkien, and read the books when they were first published, and had read them every year since. I vowed then and there to do the same thing. I was appalled that my mother knew such wonderful stories existed and never bothered to tell me about them. I have been reading since before I could walk [Author’s note: my mother remembers this differently] and I was the ripe old age of 14 before I ever read Tolkien’s masterpiece. I wanted to make up for lost time.
The Lord of the Rings tells of the epic quest of a very small, yet very good person against a very large, and very evil, opponent. Small, brave, timid hobbit Frodo Baggins takes his uncle’s heirloom, a magic ring, which is the incarnation of the highest living evil, and seeks to destroy it at the end of a long, dangerous, fool’s errand. He is accompanied at first by three close friends, two brave warriors, a stalwart dwarf, an elf, and an aged wizard. Through strife, war, and treachery, he loses all but his closest friend and together the two smallest heroes in the history of Middle Earth triumph where the mightiest of champions had failed.
It is astounding to me that J.R.R. Tolkien invented and explored such a vast and rich world simply to provide a history for a language and a people that he had invented. Tolkien, after growing up in South Africa and surviving World War I, was a professor of the English language and literature at Oxford. He was fascinated both by linguistics and mythology. He created the Elvish language of Sindarin, and necessarily, the race of beings who spoke it: the Elves. His entire life he devoted to writing the mythology of this ancient and magnificent race. In 1937 he published the Hobbit, a child’s tale written for his children, set in the world of Middle Earth, which the Elves inhabited. It was an unexpected hit, and a sequel was commissioned. Over ten years, and through World War II, Tolkien wrote the Lord of the Rings. Originally he meant for it to be as lighthearted as the Hobbit, but as Tolkien delved deeper into his broader mythology, the Lord of the Rings became darker and more grown up.
The Lord of the Rings is split into three volumes: The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Tolkien internally divides the narrative into six books. The first two (contained within Fellowship) tell the story of Frodo Baggins and his eight companions. The company is split, and for the remainder of the story, the books alternate between telling the tales of Frodo Baggins and his companion Sam Gamgee, and the rest of the Fellowship exclusive to each other before they reunite in the triumphal ending to the saga. Thus, while the reader knows how the story is progressing for most of the characters through the first half of each book, they are unaware of how events are impacting Frodo and Sam until Tolkien moves back in time to fill in the plot. In this way tension is continually built for the reader concerning the War of the Ring and the Quest until the very end.
The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest stories ever written. The breadth, the depth, and the richness of Tolkien’s invented world is not to be underestimated. Few other works of fiction rival the fullness of development that Tolkien weaves into what is essentially the timeless Hero’s Journey and the endless conflict between Good and Evil. There is history, and age, to be felt. There are colors to be seen, aromas to be smelt, and songs to hear. Tolkien’s descriptions and attention to detail immerse the reader in the world the characters inhabit. While reading, you feel the wind on your face, the chill in your heart, and steel of your sword. You sink in despair, you rise in triumph, you tremble at the majesty before you. Peter Jackson has done a commendable job in his film adaptations, but the real magic is in Tolkien’s words.
I have read the entire saga thirteen times to date, and each time I find little bits that I have forgotten year to year, and discover greater insight into the philosophy and ideology of Tolkien. Woven within his fantasy are powerful themes and strong statements about the world and way good people should live within it. Each reading yields insight and understanding. I have grown up and matured with these books, and as I have, so has my appreciation of them. In The Two Towers, the dwarf Gimli discovers a wonderful network of caves in the realm of Rohan and is so enamored with their beauty that he tells Legolas the elf that he wants to bring many more dwarves to mine the caves. Legolas misunderstands his meaning, and responds contemptuously that the dwarves would destroy the beauty of the caves, but Gimli clarifies: “We would tend these glades of flowering stone, not quarry them. With cautious skill, tap by tap…so we would work…and display far chambers that are still dark, glimpsed only as a void beyond fissures in the rock.” That is why I read again and again: I tend the caverns of Tolkien’s words with cautious skill and love of the beauty within to see more and more each year.
Sometimes my heart stirs, and I am caught up in the heroism of Aragorn, fighting for his throne, or of Theoden, King of Rohan, riding to his death before the walls of Minas Tirith. Other readings fascinate me with the dedication and strength in the hopeless and overwhelming task that lies before Frodo and the impossible burden of the Ring. Often I wonder at the small glimpses of the corners of Middle Earth: Tom Bombadil and the River-Daughter; Treebeard and the Ents; even the Haradrim, the cruel men allied to Sauron. As he stood over the dead body of a foe to Gondor in The Return of the King, Sam Gamgee wondered “what the man’s name was and where he had come from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace”. Few books give space to ponder over characters without name or conversation. This foe dies at Sam’s feet, and instead of the story passing him by, he is given a moment of contemplation in the thoughts of Sam, and the reader, as to the nature of evil and shared humanity of all. This dead soldier represents the futility of war, Tolkien’s experiences in both world wars, and the condition of the world all in a paragraph in a much larger narrative. That is the wealth to be mined in the Lord of the Rings.
Some books can be grasped in a single reading. Their story is worthy, but exhausted quickly. Others have substance, and give back with a second, or third perusal. The Lord of the Rings is a book that gives endlessly and rewards careful study and constant attention. It is not without fault, nor is it light reading (or short) but it is dense with flavor, not filler. I suggest watching the film adaptations first. They are an excellent introduction and overview. If you love them, and love reading, then dive in without reservation to the books and don’t stop in the middle. It is worth your time. You will read of the courage of the weak and of heroes worth following.
While you are at it, check out a review of the Hobbit (prequel to the Lord of the Rings) by fellow NerdSpan contributor Lauren Markham.