Whoohoo! I finished the whole Lord of the Rings! It's pretty darn good. The final book kicks off with Sam rescuing Frodo, then destroying the ring. It's all pretty much exactly the way it happens in the movie. The destruction of the ring and the downfall of Sauron only takes less than half of the final book. So what else is there? You know how everyone bitched and moaned about how long the final movie took to end? Well, that was the cliff's notes ending. The book has a long extended sequence of Eowyn and Faramir falling in love while they wait for the troops to return. They we go tree hunting, Aragorn gets married, and they we hang out in Gondor for a good long while. Eventually, we start to leave for the Shire, but we stop at every major location along the way on a Middle Earth fairwell tour. "Goodbye Rohan! Goodbye Lothlorien! Goodbye Sauorman and Treebeard! Goodbye Elrond and Bilbo! Goodbye Sauroman again!
When our four hobbits do get back to the Shire, it has been taken over by thugs and hooligans. The trees are being cut down and the shire folk are being crushed under the oppressive new regime. Luckily, our 4 heroes are up to the challenge. with a little help from their friends, the kill a whole bunch of the bad guys dead save the Shire. This is totally missing from the movies. It was one of my favorite parts of the book. This chapter seems to serve several important purposes. First, the Shirefolk are forced to realize how precious their way of life really was. They then get a chance to find out how strong they really are.
Most importantly though, this sequence gives us a chance for Sam, Merry, Pippin, and Frodo to show how much they've grown. For the past 950 pages they've been a major part of the story, but they've had to share the stage with some of the most powerful forces in the world. Here, we get to see that Merry and Pippin have evolved from comedic sidekicks to expert strategists capable of leading an army. Sam, who defeated Shelob in single combat, has become a fearless warrior. And Frodo has become a war weary hobbit who only wants peace. Frodo's exhaustion with violence and death adds a nice layer of depth to what is otherwise a thrilling final adventure. Instead of simply cheering as the hobbits revolt against their oppressors, we are forced to realize the cost of so much death and destruction. Frodo does everything in his power to prevent more bloodshed and fails.
I wonder if Tolkien was using this final battle as a way to better demonstrate Faramir's thoughts on war in Book 4 where he says, "I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend." It is easy to enjoy the battles in Gondor and Rohan because we barely know the people of those lands apart from a few major characters. But the Shire represents home. It is a community in which we've been introduced to many of the characters and we want to protect them. Frodo's need for peace if possible keeps the focus on using force only as a final resort to defend that which he loves. It's a final reminder that the focus of the Lord of the Rings isn't magnificent battles, but the struggle to preserve that which is most precious. It's about the peoples and homelands our heroes defend, not the defense itself.
Sam is the fulfillment of that goal. He heals the Shire and makes it a place fit to raise a family. That last moment isn't the grand departure of Frodo and the elves, it's a small moment of Sam returning to his wife and children. And it's perfect.
The ending. The ending is perfect. The Journey to get there is fabulous, but it has some slow spots.
8/10
And sometimes you wonder if the author is just writing to amuse himself. I mean, how long do we really need to talk about Gimli
and Legolas bro-ing out in the glittering caves and the old forest?
And why do we have to stop every 20 feet to say goodbye to everyone?! Seriously, it's the novel equivalent of trying to leave a family party during the holidays.
And when you think it's finally over, there's like this whole other thing that happens, which is great and all but come on! We dropped the jewelry in the lava pit like 4 hours ago, let's wrap it up already! I don't care what your excuse is! Hire the dang eagles to take you home! What? Yes they will. Don't give me that "It's all about the journey crap." We had the journey and the adventure, what else do you need to know? When I go on vacation, I don't get back and spend 20% of the story telling you how I got home. No, the most you'll get out of me is "We flew back. it was nice." Why couldn't JRR do that?
Ok. I'm done now. For real this time. :)
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