text ì The Lord of the Rings Ò J.R.R. Tolkien

One Ring to rule them all One Ring to find them One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind themIn ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven smiths and Sauron the Dark Lord forged the One Ring filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others But the One Ring was taken from him and though he sought it throughout Middle earth it remained lost to him A Considering that The Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular books of the last century it's surprising to see how few reviews there are here I get the impression that many people feel guilty about liking it It's a phase you go through and the less said about it the better I think this is unfair to the book which I am prepared to argue is a whole lot better than it's generally made out to be; I don't think its huge success is just evidence that people have no taste It's something that can be read at than one level and before dismissing it let's take a look at what those levels might be On the surface it's a heroic fantasy novel and uite a good one It's a gripping well realized story with an interesting fantasy world as background Under the surface story it's also clear that there's a moral discourse It's not an allegory; as Tolkien points out in the foreword he hated allegory and we certainly don't have an in your face piece of Christian apology by numbers None the less the author has constructed some inspiring and thought provoking symbols The Ring confers great power but the only way to defeat Sauron is to refuse that power and destroy it even at great personal cost Frodo's self sacrifice is uite moving I also think that Gandalf is an unusually interesting Christ figure; sufficiently so that many people refuse even to accept him as one though at least to me the argument on that point seems convincing He comes from Valinor obviously the Heavenly Realm to help the Free Peoples of the West A central part of his message is the importance of mercy as in particular shown by the memorable scene near the beginning when he rebukes Frodo for wishing that Bilbo had killed Sméagol when he had the opportunity As we discover Sméagol is finally the one person who can destroy the Ring And let's not miss the obvious point that Gandalf is killed and then returns reborn in a new shape I find him vastly sympathetic than CS Lewis's bland Aslan and he is the book's most memorable characterBut I don't think the morality play is the real kernel either What makes LOTR a uniue book and one of the most ambitious experiments in literary history is Tolkien's use of names All authors knows how important names are and use them to suggest character; though when you think about what is going on it is rather surprising how much can be conveyed just by a name Proust has a couple of long discussions about this describing in great detail how the narrator's initial mental pictures of Balbec Venice and the Guermantes family come just from the sounds of their names Tolkien goes much further Most of his names are based on a family of invented languages linked by a vast complex of legends and histories the greater part of which are invisible to the reader and only surface occasionally The astonishing thing is that the techniue actually works The interrelations between all the invented names and languages make Middle Earth feel real in a way no other fantasy world ever has When some readers complain that characters and locations are hastily sketched I feel they are missing the point Tolkien was a philologist He loved languages words and names and tracing back what the relationships between them say about their history In LOTR he's able to convey some of that love of language to his readers You have to read the book than once but after a while it all comes together To give just a few obvious examples you see how hobbit is a debased form of the word holbytla hole dweller in the Old Norse like language of Rohan how the mor in Moria is the same as the one in Mordor and morgul and how Arwen Undómiel's name expresses her unearthly beauty partly through the element it shares with her ancestor Lúthien Tinúviel There are literally hundred things like this most of which one perceives on a partly unconscious level The adolescent readers who are typically captivated by LOTR are at a stage of their linguistic development when they are very sensitive to nuances of language and programmed to pick them up; I can't help thinking that they are intuitively seeing things that sophisticated readers may missPerhaps the simplest way to demonstrate the magnitude of Tolkien's achievement is the fact that it's proven impossible to copy it; none of the other fantasy novels I've seen have come anywhere close Tolkein's names lend reality to his world because he put so much energy into the linguistic back story and before that worked for decades as a philologist Basically he was an extremely talented person who spent his whole life training to write The Lord of the Rings In principle I suppose other authors could have done the same thing In practice you have to be a very unusual person to want to live that kind of lifeWriting this down reminds me of one of the Sufi stories in The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mullah Nasrudin The guy is invited to a posh house and sees this incredibly beautiful smooth lawn It's like a billiard table I love your lawn he says What's the secretOh his host says It's easy Just seed water mow and roll regularly and anyone can do itAh yes says the visitor And about how long before it looks like thatHm I don't know says the host Maybe 800 years

J.R.R. Tolkien Ò The Lord of the Rings kindle

The Lord of the RingsFter many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo BagginsFrom Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor his power spread far and wide Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominionWhen Bilbo reached his eleventy first birthday he disappeared beueathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and Writing a review of this masterpiece is impossible I can’t do it There’s too much to talk about and I love it far too much to articulate my thoughts in a normal way So instead I’ve picked one element of each book that I liked the most taken from my list of ten on each review and added them here It’s the best I can do though I know many goodreads users share my difficulty when reviewing this book Anyway here’s my top three1Finding your courage The Fellowship of the RingNot all the party have been fully tested With them travel four young hobbits the most unlikely of companions for such a journey They are the overlooked the forgotten about the race that is casually discarded and considered insignificant in the wider world And perhaps this has been the downfall of society in middle earth previously The forces of darkness exploit everything they can get their hands on from giant spiders to rampaging trolls from dragons to orcs from men of the east to the undead Sauron tries to wield it all This is something the forces of good have not fully considered until recently Within the bosom of the hobbit beats a strong heart of fortitude and resilience “My dear Frodo’ exclaimed Gandalf ‘Hobbits really are amazing creatures as I have said before You can learn all that there is to know about their ways in a month and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you at a pinch” They carry with them the key to destroying the dark Bilbo showed them how he could resist the ring The hobbits are an almost incorruptible race and because of this they are Sauron’s doom It is something he has overlooked “It would be the death of you to come with me Sam said Frodo and I could not have borne thatNot as certain as being left behind said SamBut I am going to MordorI know that well enough Mr Frodo Of course you are And I'm coming with you” 2 Gandalf the White The Two Towers “Do I not say truly Gandalf' said Aragorn at last 'that you could go whithersoever you wished uicker than I And this I also say you are our captain and our banner The Dark Lord has Nine But we have One mightier than they the White Rider He has passed through the fire and the abyss and they shall fear him We will go where he leadsGandalf the Grey was charming and uirky; he was everybody’s friend and advisor But he was also a great wonderer and a great uester He was an unearther of dark secrets and mysteries And Middle Earth no longer needs such a figure darkness is now on her doorstep; it is no longer hidden So Middle Earth needs a man or Istari with far sight that can unite the scattered forces of Rohan and manipulate events in order to ensure that the King does indeed return It needs a methodical man of great wisdom and intelligence; it needs a stagiest it needs a new white wizard now that Saruman has changed his colours And he has come 3Girl Power The Return of the King “What do you fear lady Aragorn askedA cage Éowyn said To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire”There have not been many moments for women to show their strength in this story Arwen’s moment in the films was non existent in the book Frodo was saved on the river by an Elf lord called Glorfindel So when Eowen battled the Witch King it is the first major moment Tolkien gave to a female hero In a vastly male dominated genre it was great to read this scene If I have one criticism of Tolkien it’s that we didn’t see of such things And here's a gif I like