The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3)

“One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the final installment of the well known trilogy. Like the previous two parts, this one continues with the intrepid group of heroes still moving forward with their individual quests. Filled with drama, adventure and plenty of cliffhangers, The Return of the king is a worthy climax of this epic saga. Like the Two Towers, here also the book runs in two parts; one explaining the adventures outside Mordor, and the other describing the adventures of Frodo and Sam.

41KGl2FqeALTo give a brief summary about the plot, Gandalf and Pippin are making their way to Minas Tirith to try to convince Denethor, the city’s Steward to join their fight to defeat Sauron. Frodo and Sam along with the treacherous Gollum as their guide, are continuing their long journey to Mount Doom, where they hope to destroy the Ring, once and for all. Aragorn accompanied by Legolas and Gimli is taking the legendary Paths of the Dead to Gondor, with the hopes of recruiting an enormous army of Sleepless Dead. Simultaneously, Lady Eowyn and Merry lead their forces against those of Mordor. And After improbable struggles where odds were always stacked against them, the evil Sauron is defeated by the forces of good. The book ends with Aragorn, now King and Arwen join in marriage and usher in a new age of peace and prosperity whereas the Hobbits return to the Shire to rebuild their beloved home against fading might of Saruman. The final chapter has Frodo deciding to leave the Shire and his friends and sailing away over the Great Sea with Bilbo, Gandalf, and the other Ring bearers to the beautiful and peaceful paradise in the West.

I just loved this series. The final installment is the most fast paced of the three books. The quality of Tolkien’s writing is so high that you can’t help but feel immersed in the book and can actually feel yourself travelling along with the hobbits, experiencing every bit of peril and hopelessness that they too must have been feeling on the final stages of their trek to Mount Doom. As with the first two books, I find it extremely difficult to write a review that actually does justice to the magnificent detail of the plot, the characters and the world of Middle Earth in general.

Return of the King is a fitting finale of this hugely engrossing saga. Written at a very high standard, I would strongly recommend this series to anyone who is able to commit to a book, interested in fantasy and looks forward to complicated ideas and vocabulary. This book is relatively shorter than the previous two but what really makes up for it is detailed specific details of each category; Hobbits, Elf, Dwarves, Men etc at the end of the book. So many new similar sounding names can often be confusing but that’s the fun part. J.R.R.Tolkien is a master storyteller, and it really shows in this fantasy trilogy of deceitfulness, faith, courage and heart. What really appeals to your reading sense is the writer’s relentless narration of quest, the heroic journey, the Numinous Object, the conflict between Good and Evil while at the same time satisfying our sense of historical and social reality. To create an imaginary world of such magnitude is no mean task. Once you finish this trilogy, perhaps you would be knowing more about different aspects of Middle Earth than you would be knowing about the actual world you are living in. It’s not just fantasy; its sheer intelligence and brilliance. A must read         

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2)

The Two Towers’ is part 2 of Tolkien’s epic trilogy and comprises of ‘books’ three and four.

Book three follows the adventures of the fellowship after Frodo and Sam depart. At the end of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ the orcs have attacked. Aragorn is up at the high seat where Frodo and Boromir conversed before he tried to take the ring from the hobbit. Aragorn hears Boromir’s horn, but arrives too late. Boromir is hanging on to life and after a few words, he dies in Aragorn’s arms. Gimli and Legolas show up and they discover that Merry and Pippin have disappeared. Aragorn tells them that the orcs have them and they make quick pursuit.

They follow the orcs (who were slain by Éomer and company) to Fangorn. In the forest, they discover that Gandalf is still alive and that the hobbits are alive and well. Gandalf goes with the trio to Edoras to meet with Théoden, King of the Mark. There they find the king’s mind poisoned by Wormtongue. Wormtongue’s hold is destroyed and he flees back to Isengard, to Saruman.

It is decided to go to Isengard and strike down Saruman and end his evil campaign. On the way, they are detoured to Helm’s Deep where a massive battle ensues. Miraculously, the armies of Isengard are defeated and then destroyed by the mysterious forest (a horde of Ents) that appears.

They leave Helm’s Deep and continue on to Isengard where they find it ravaged. After the armies had left, other Ents attacked and trapped Saruman and Wormtongue in Orthanc. They also find Merry and Pippin quite safe and sound. After they had escaped the slaughter of the Orcs, they had ran across Treebeard (Fangorn is his forest) who took them with him to a council of ents were they decided to go to war against Isengard.

When the company finally go and speak with Saruman, Gandalf destroys Saruman’s staff. Then Wormtongue nearly hits Gandalf with an orb he threw from one of the higher windows. What he threw was a palantir, one of seven stones used for communication many centuries prior (and how Saruman communicated with Sauron). On their way back, Pippin lets his curiosity take over and holds the orb. He communicates with Sauron, but doesn’t give anything away. They see one of the Nazgûl and Gandalf instructs the others to go to Helm’s Deep, while he takes Pippin and leaves for Minas Tirith.

Across the river, Sam and Frodo are trying to make their way to Mordor. Before they get out of Emyn Muil, they capture Gollum (also called Sméagol) who they thought they’d lost. Gollum leads them across the dead marshes and to the Black Gate, but it is closed, guarded, and has too much foot traffic. Gollum tells them of a secret way further south near Minas Morgul. Sam (who doesn’t trust Gollum) isn’t keen on the idea, but Frodo knows there really isn’t another choice.

As they pass through Ithilien, they meet with Faramir (Boromir’s brother) who takes them with him and his soldiers. Once he learns of their mission, he allows them to go (and doesn’t kill Gollum). They continue down through Ithilien and eventually pass Minas Morgul and up through Cirith Ungol. Gollum then leads them through the tunnels and his betrayal is learned when they are attacked by Shelob, a giant spider. Sam and Frodo get separated and when Sam finds him again, Frodo appears to have been killed. He takes the ring to continue the journey, but some orcs appear and he learns that Frodo is still alive. He follows the orcs to where they take him, but arrives too late and is stuck standing outside the gate.

I was considering watching the film again to make sure I correctly mentioned some of the scenes, but got annoyed so I turned it off. It is a no brainer that the book is better than the film. As I’ve been reading the three books, I’ve been amazed at the liberties Peter Jackson took when making the films. When they first came out, I remember people saying how close they were to the books. Sorry to say, but not really. I’ll highlight some of the major scenes as citing them all would take ages.

Alright, here are some changes from book 3. So the whole scene about how the Ents were going to war was totally incorrect. Sure their meeting took a long time, but they were keen on going to war and already knew about what Saruman had done to the trees. Next, Théoden wasn’t being controlled by Saruman. His mind was poisoned by Wormtongue. Then the whole scene at Isengard was so wrong that it would take ages to convey all the differences (for one Saruman never dies). Book 4 had tons as well. Gollum never started to become good. He pretended. Frodo wasn’t bothered by the ring until they passed Minas Morgul. The interaction with Faramir was totally different and they were never taken to Osgiliath. And Frodo wasn’t poisoned against Sam whilst climbing Cirith Ungol. They’ve been cool the entire time.

I’ll just straight into my qualms with the characters. Faramir is such an amazing character and Jackson made him into a joke. When I read about him, all I could think about was how noble a person he was. The ring was within his grasp and he knew taking it was wrong. He knew that even with good intentions the ring would bring about evil. The people loved him because he was wise, kind, and a great leader. He was none of those things in the film. It was so infuriating. Not to mention that Frodo is so much stronger in the books than the films. They turn him into a weakling as well. It is so aggravating. The characters are so great and unique. There was no need to change them.

I found the book very exciting. My problem was that it was more interesting following Frodo and Sam than the rest of the fellowship. There is a lot of description going on with the fellowship and everything they are doing. With the hobbits it is much more linear. I found it easier because you were following feelings and journey of two people rather than the goings on of a large group. It is more intimate. Plus their journey is wrought with more danger (and who doesn’t like reading about dangerous adventures).

Overall, of course I think you should read it. It is an epic fantasy that has earned that classification. Yes, it can be difficult to get though and some of the sentences will need to be reread a couple times as they can be quite confusing (some seriously don’t actually make any sense). But if you can get through it, you will be glad you did. It is worth the read. Enjoy

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

Bilbo, after the events from The Hobbit, has settled down to a nice slightly eccentric life. He adopts one of his nephews, Frodo, as his heir and begins to write his memoirs. On his One Hundred and Eleventieth birthday, Bilbo disappears and leaves everything to Frodo. Only Gandalf knows that Bilbo has gone to Rivendell.

Several decades later Gandalf visits Frodo and reveals that the little gold ring that allowed Bilbo to turn invisible, and that he left to Frodo, is actually a ring of great power, possibly The One Ring that was made by Sauron to control all the other rings of power. Gandalf tells Frodo he needs to go to Rivendell to take counsel and that he, Gandalf, will return in a year to help guide him there.

A year passes and no word of Gandalf. Frodo has been preparing and his cover story is that he is moving to Buckland, another settlement of hobbits. Two of his cousins, Merry and Pippin, along with Frodo’s gardener Sam, have all been helping him move. On the way to Buckland, Frodo runs into a black rider that inspires complete unreasoning terror in his heart. No longer knowing who to trust, Frodo and his companions begin their trek to Rivendell.

Having several adventures, the hobbits meet up with Strider, a human ranger who Gandalf trusted. They all head for Rivendell, doing their best to avoid the attention of the Black Riders, who Strider reveals are Ringwraiths, Sauron’s powerful underlings. The Group makes it to Rivendell and Gandalf shows up. He tells them that the head of the Wizard’s Council, Saruman the White, has been corrupted by a lust for power. Now the world must deal with Sauron and Sarumon, both who want the One Ring for the power it contains. Elrond, the elven lord of Rivendell, tells that the Ring will corrupt any being who uses it and that it must be destroyed. The only way to destroy it is to cast it back into the fiery Mount Doom from which it was created.

A Company is gathered. They set out. Hindered in many ways, they must eventually decide what they are going to do with the Ring. Gandalf perishes defending them from a Balrog, a being almost equal in power to Sauron himself. Eventually, one of the Companions, a human named Boromir, falls under the influence of the Ring and tries to take it from Frodo.

Frodo flees, along with Sam and heads off on his own towards Mt Doom. The book ends with the Fellowship breaking apart and heading their own ways.


My Thoughts:

This is going to be a lot shorter of a review than my 2012 one.

I enjoyed this but was not raving about it. A thoroughly good story that is at once personal and cozy and yet epic in scope all at the same time. It is no wonder that this trilogy ended up spawning the Fantasy Genre as we know it today.

The reason this doesn’t get more than 4stars from, and never will, is all the blasted songs and poetry. Sometimes they contained pertinent information to the current story and other times they were simply a history lesson and at others they were just an expression by the character. You never knew which. I ended up just skipping them, plot points be forsaken.