The Lord of the Rings

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I was confused about whether I should start this mammoth of a work. For, I am a grown up now and the innocence of childhood withered away from me. I was not sure if I will enjoy this.

I plunged in, and what a great decision that was! It is in the highest tier of high-fantasies and complete with lores, myths mingled forgotten histories, songs, and wisdom— which in present may seem like folly but will stand the test of time spanning millennia. One of those wisdom Gandalf confided to Frodo:

The Lord of the Rings

‘But this is terrible!’ cried Frodo. ‘Far worse than the worst that I imagined from your hints and warnings. O Gandalf, best of friends, what am I to do? For now I am really afraid. What am I to do? What a pity that Bilbo did not stab that vile creature, when he had a chance!’
‘Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need. And he has been well rewarded, Frodo. Be sure that he took so little hurt from the evil, and escaped in the end, because he began his ownership of the Ring so. With Pity.’
‘I am sorry,’ said Frodo. ‘But I am frightened; and I do not feel any pity for Gollum.’
‘You have not seen him,’ Gandalf broke in.
‘No, and I don’t want to,’ said Frodo. ‘I can’t understand you. Do you mean to say that you, and the Elves, have let him live on after all those horrible deeds? Now at any rate he is as bad as an Orc, and just an enemy. He deserves death.’
‘Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.

This conversation sets the mood of this book's protagonists. The sanctity of life has been established. And, when they started their journey to save people of middle-earth it cannot be done through violence uncalled-for.

Another thing I have noticed that Denethor and Faramir have been quite downplayed in the movie. But movie is rather short and to pack a proper punch Denethor may have to be more typical of a villain. But, Faramir… it is nothing like the book's Faramir. That's a shame.

I really liked the Ents, and in particularly, the idea of the language Old Entish. Treebeard explained it like this:

For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to.

This is marvellous! That is the reason they don't make songs, for example, in the occasions when they remember their long-lost Entwives. Instead, they just chant their names.

The Rings of Power

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.

The rings of power are power made corporeal, tangible. They are not abstract symbol any more. Here are some aspects I noticed. All the rings doesn't contain much power in themselves. Instead, they allow magnifying a person's hunger for power at great cost. In that effect, for Frodo and Bilbo it was merely a way to become invisible. For more powerful one's it can do much for. That is the reason Gandalf refuses to even touch the ring and Galadriel avoided corruption with much willpower.

So, the rings corrupt and the One Ring corrupts more. For it contains much of Sauron's power and intensity. This corruption is analogous in many ways to the corrupting ability of power in the real world around us. Indeed, it requires no magic to corrupt. The power itself, magical or not, is able to corrupt anyone.

This corruption in question is often subtle. For example, take Boromir. Boromir wanted the ring for greater good. But it was quite obvious that eventually it may have meant worse for the middle-earth.

But, Frodo was not ambitious. He was not seeking for fame or glory. Indeed, throughout the journey he wanted to destroy that ring, that power. But if we follow him carefully, we can see that under the guises of good-natured sense of duty, he was slipping into covetousness akin to Gollum and guarded the ring jealously. And, in the very end, he was unable to throw away the ring. This also, we often see in the real world. There are people who want power for power's sake. They often live austere, even exemplary life, and doesn't use the power to gain other things.

Power, over the time wear us, tire us, and eventually make us its slave:

A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the Dark Power that rules the Rings. Yes, sooner or later – later, if he is strong or well-meaning to begin with, but neither strength nor good purpose will last – sooner or later the Dark Power will devour him.

Notes and Highlights

The Lord of the Rings

About The Lord of the Rings by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

This work has been labelled both a heroic romance and a classic of fantasy fiction. By turns comic and homely, epic and diabolic, the narrative moves through countless changes of scene and character in an imaginary world of great detail. This one-volume reset edition contains new maps.