The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien | Review

"Three Rings for 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 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." 

It's been a long time coming, and now the it's finally here. My spoiler filled review of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. 

So, what exactly is The Lord of the Rings? To really answer that, I'd be here for ages, describing the history and lore of Middle Earth. But since I'm not looking to be here for the next month trying to explain this world to you, I'll take the easier road. 

The Lord of the Rings begins with the Shire, and a hobbit known as Frodo Baggins. He inherits a magic ring from his uncle Bilbo, which unbeknownst to him is actually a semi-sentient symbol of the Dark Lord Sauron's power. Now Frodo is sent on the quest of a lifetime, to venture into the heart of Sauron's domain of Mordor, and destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. With Frodo on this quest are eight others: three hobbits like him (Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took), the wizard Gandalf, two Men (Aragorn son of Arathorn, and Boromir son of Denethor), an Elf (Legolas Greenleaf of Mirkwood), and a Dwarf (Gimli son of Gloin). This Fellowship embarks from the Elven land of Rivendell, and journeys across the entirety of Middle Earth. 

The Fellowship of the Ring

          

Map of Middle Earth

     

Still with me? Good. 

Technically, The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy of novels. However, the copy I have is a bind-up of the series (it's the 50th anniversary edition), making it a grand total of 1200 pages. Easily the longest book I've ever read. It took me three weeks to complete, which in actuality isn't all that bad, since that equals about a week per book. Now, while this was technically a reread for me, it's been years and years since I had first read it, plus I don't think I actually read the entire story all the way through. There were so many parts that I didn't remember. 

I'm so glad I decided to pick it up this year, though. I grew up with the movies (as in, when the last movie came out in theaters, my parents called me and my older sibling out of school so we could go and watch it) and have done a full rewatch of the extended editions at least once a year if not more (and I'm currently in the middle of yet another rewatch right now), so I know this story like the back of my hand. But while the movies are fantastic and you should absolutely watch them if you haven't, they lack so much of the nuance that is in the books. 

Take Legolas and Gimli's friendship, for one. To me, they are the absolute definition of soulmates, platonic or otherwise (I won't be discussing anything that isn't canon, so don't worry about me talking about ships). They don't go anywhere without each other. After the Ring is destroyed, Gimli takes Legolas to the Glittering Caves of Helm's Deep, and Legolas takes Gimli with him to Fangorn Forest to walk amongst the trees. And when Legolas is ready to leave Middle Earth for the West, he literally builds his own boat to take Gimli with him across the sea, because the Elven boats wouldn't accept a Dwarf on them. They quite literally sail to paradise together! How could anyone say that they aren't best friends?

The best scene between Gimli and Legolas

Frodo's struggle with his humanity is another thing that the movies don't get quite right. In the books, Frodo really goes through it. He's stabbed, impaled, trampled, starved, poisoned, drowned, and tortured more times than I could count. And through it all, he strives to remain merciful and kind. And he actually retains that kindness and selflessness through nearly the entire story. It's only when he's at the edge of Mount Doom that he falls under the power of the Ring. Think about that: the Ring corrupts everyone it comes into contact with, even those who don't touch it or look at it (see Boromir), except for Bilbo and Frodo. The amount of goodness you have to have inside of you to remain incorruptible is practically Christlike: and Tolkien had even said that Frodo is akin to Jesus, and the Ring represents sin. I do think the movies do a good job of showing Frodo struggle against the Ring, but they lack some of the empathy that he has, which makes it a little harder to really root for him. Especially when it comes to Gollum/Smeagol. We're told right out that Frodo wants to help Gollum because he is afraid that the Ring will corrupt him in the same way, so saving Gollum would prove to Frodo that he, too, can be saved. But the movies don't tell us that, and so it makes Frodo look naïve and easily manipulated, which just isn't him at all. 

“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.”

Okay, enough analysis. Surprisingly, I think The Two Towers (book two) is my favorite in the series. I say this is surprising because it's my least favorite of the movies. I put The Return of the King at the number two spot, and my least favorite book is the first one, The Fellowship of the Ring. Of course, I say least favorite but it's still absolutely incredible. Just not the same level of amazing as the other two books are, in my opinion. And y'all are free to tell me if I'm wrong and why. I'd love all kinds of LOTR discussion in the comments! (For the record, I have my movie ranking as 3, 1, then 2.)

As I have mentioned before, my favorite characters are Pippin, Sam, and Aragorn. They all mean so much to me, but I am pleasantly surprised at how much I love Frodo as well (again, this is probably due to the movies making him so unlikeable, but Frodo is a badass, guys!). And I think Aragorn is the one the movies changed the most. He's far more spiritual and prophetic in the books. He has strong foresight, and he's much more mysterious and Elven in the books. The movies definitely depict him more as a solid man with a mighty destiny, like the "reluctant Chosen One" trope. But he's much more willing to accept his crown and kingdom in the books. Either way, he's strong and brilliant and incredibly skilled. 

Aragorn being Aragorn

Something that I didn't really notice until this reread was all of the symbolism that Tolkien added into the novels. The biggest being, of course, industrialism vs. naturalism. To Tolkien, rural England (the Shire) was the best place on Earth, where you work with nature and live off the land properly, while London (Isengard) is practically hell. Tolkien despised industrialism and the destruction of nature. We have to remember that this man was a WWI veteran. He was in the trenches, and saw the devastation first hand. There's a reason why Isengard ripped all of the trees down and created all of its forges and started mass producing weapons. Tolkien wanted us to see the direct connection between war and deforestation. And I think he did it perfectly. 

“I want to be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.”

(Which just makes me even angrier when I think about Amazon creating a LOTR based story, spending 1 billion dollars on it, and completely erasing Tolkien's messages, but I digress.)

Overall, despite this story being nearly 75 years old, it's still so relevant and influential today. Tolkien really is the father of fantasy, even if he didn't invent the genre. He revolutionized it. 90% of fantasy novels wouldn't be around today without The Lord of the Rings. Yes, even your favorite series. We should all keep that in mind when we pick up a new fantasy book. Without Frodo and the Ring, the world as we know it would be entirely different. 

I gave The Lord of the Rings a CAWPILE score of 9.57, which of course comes out to 5 out of 5 stars. 

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Okay, I'm going to stop before I end up rambling way too much. There's still so much I could talk about, but I'll leave that for future posts (maybe). 

I want to know: if you've read the books, what's a scene that you wish was put in the movies? For me, I do really wish that they added Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. I just think they're so cool, living their best lives away from everyone else, and protecting their forest. I loved reading their chapters this time around! Plus I do think the movies could have benefited from adding the Scouring of the Shire. It was such an important part, but I understand why they didn't. 

Let me know your answers in the comments below, or tweet at me @AllyEmReads. 

Until next time, friends!