Lord of the Rings

There’s a classic (?) scene in the movie “Clerks II” in which Randall harshly criticizes his fellow co-worker and customer who are Lord of the Rings fans, whereas he is a Star Wars fan – “there’s only one ‘Return’, and that’s of The Jedi.”  I like them both, and don’t see why they are mutually exclusive; nor, for that matter, are Star Wars and Star Trek.  But I was into Star Wars long before I could bring myself to read the J. R.R. Tolkien classics.  Something about a story focused on Frodo Baggins, a hobbit, could scarcely grab me.  Especially since I had Elric of Melnibone, and his demonic sword Stormbringer, to compare it to.  But eventually I did read the books, long after high school but well before the movies came out.  And I did enjoy them, despite (or more likely, because of) the hobbits.

 Fellowship of the Ring.  Tolkien intended the story to be one book, but the publisher convinced him that it would be too big that way, split it up into 3 separate books, and even suggested the titles.   They were originally published between 1954-55.  The first book sold so well that the publisher advanced the releases of the two subsequent books.  Tolkien lived to see his books develop enormous popularity, unlike H.P. Lovecraft, who was virtually unknown when he died in 1937 and only achieved notoriety posthumously in the 1960s.

            In Fellowship, we get the story which Tolkien started with The Hobbit: the Shire, the quaint little land where the hobbits live, Bilbo declaring himself retired and passing on “his precious”, the Ring, to Frodo.  We also meet Frodo’s best friend Sam Gamgee, and their ne’er-do-well, mischievous friends Peregrin Took, aka “Pippin”, and Meriadoc Brandybuck, aka “Merry”.  Tolkien deliberately made the Shire and hobbits as gay (as in  lame) as possible, to contrast them with the other members of the Fellowship – a point which Randall missed.  Frodo in particular finds strength and endurance in himself he had no idea he had, as do Sam, Pippin and Merry.  We expect Aragorn and the others to perform heroic deeds – that the hobbits manage to be competitive is what makes these books so enthralling.

 The Ring.  Everything centers around this Ring.  It turns the owner invisible when he actually wears it (except for Tom Bombadil), and confers a twisted form of immortality, corrupting the bearer into a perverse shadow of himself.  Even heavy hitters such as Gandalf and Elrond are loathe to take it, fearing they would become tyrants and menaces to the rest of the world (plus, they can see what it did to Gollum).  Eventually they decide the only appropriate course of action is to destroy it, trusting it to Frodo, as the least likely bearer.  This means bringing the Ring to Mount Doom, a volcano in Mordor, which is the evil place where all the bad things live.

            There were lesser rings, given to the Elves, Dwarves, and nine for men.  For some reason the elven and dwarven versions have no discernable effect, but the human ones turned the nine men into hooded wraiths, the so-called ringwraiths or Nazgul, Sauron’s scouts and spies. 

 Hobbits.  ("Hey faggot, they're not gay, they're hobbits!") They live in the Shire.  They’re short, stubby people with hairy feet who enjoy food, beer, and pipeweed (unknown whether this is tobacco, marijuana, or something else).  With the notable exception of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo’s uncle (or adopted father, I was never sure of their exact relationship), the hobbits never leave the Shire.  The Shire is often interpreted to mean Tolkien’s analogy to traditional, agrarian England, under attack from technology, modern capitalism, and industrialism, as most forcefully exemplified by Isengard.

 The Fellowship.            The good guys put together a crack team of volunteers: 

            Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry: the Four Hobbits of the Apocalypse.

            Gandalf.  An old, wise, and powerful wizard, acts as their advisor and de facto leader

            Legolas, an elf

            Gimli, a dwarf – friendly rival to Legolas

            Aragorn, a human – the heir to the throne of Gondor, but currently employed as a shady ranger

            Boromir, a human – son of Denethor, the Steward of Minas Tirith.  Denethor is supposed to be holding the missing king’s slot open for him until the rightful heir (Aragorn) returns, but he has other plans.  Boromir, though, is more or less a beefy Viking type.

             After hooking up in Rivendell at Elrond’s place, they go off through Moria, an underground dwarven empire now overrun by orcs, lose Gandalf to a Balrog (big-ass demon), and get broken up soon thereafter.

 Gollum.  By the way, there’s this creepy guy, Gollum, formerly known as Smeagol, who had the Ring for several centuries before Bilbo tricked it out of him.  He wants it back, and is determined to do what it takes to get it.  After first shadowing Frodo and Sam, eventually they use him as a guide to get them through Mordor, as he’s the only one who knows it well enough – although they don’t trust him, they have no choice but to go along with him.  He tries – unsuccessfully – to trade them to Shelob (a huge female spider) but eventually catches up with them on Mount Doom.  Surely he must know that Frodo and Sam intend to destroy the Ring (“his precious”) but is calculating to steal it from Frodo when the opportunity presents itself.  For his part, however, Frodo starts becoming corrupted by the Ring as well, and is wary that even Sam will take it.  Gollum tries to split the two friends up and play them off each other, with varying degrees of success.

            The good guys have several opportunities to kill Gollum, but for different reasons, hold off on doing so.  Gandalf notes that “even Gollum has a role to play.”  Sure enough, he comes in handy at the very end.

 Saruman.  Another wizard, not to be confused with Sauron.  Saruman believes Sauron will ultimately win, so he sells out to evil and turns his home tower (Isengard) into a base of operations to develop an orc army.  He briefly imprisons Gandalf in Isengard, but the good wizard manages to escape thanks to the Eagles.   

 Orcs.  The orcs are the primary non-human forces of evil, and come from various tribes (e.g. Uruk-Hai) and don’t even speak the same language – so they have to speak Common Tongue among each other.  They’re piglike, nasty, foul, cannibalistic, aggressive, militaristic, combining all the worst features you can imagine in an enemy race. 

 Humans.  Although Sauron has considerable human allies, e.g. the Black Numenorians and a band of pirates, most of his forces are orcs, and most of the humans are on the “good side”.  The primary humans are the Rohirrim of Rohan, a horse-riding tribe most closely analogous to Vikings, and the Dunedain of Gondor, which is the kingless country with its capital, Minas Tirith.

 Minas Tirith.  The closest thing to a “capital city” or human metropolis in Middle Earth.  It lies right across the river from Mordor, not particularly convenient for defensive purposes.  It has concentric circles of walls and a white tree at the top.  In Return of the King it comes under direct attack by the forces of evil at a huge battle.

 Elves.  Mysterious, long-lived, and arrogant.  Their rep in the Fellowship is Legolas, but the hobbits also meet Elrond (old enough to have participated in the battles in which the Ring was captured from Sauron), and Galadriel, a beautiful elf queen who gives the hobbits some powerful magic items (which prove extremely useful later) and gives Frodo a vague glimpse of the future.  Another major character is Elrond’s daughter Arwen, who falls in love with Aragorn, and he with her – she trades her immortality in order to marry him.

 Dwarves.  A band of them persuaded Bilbo to join them on an adventure in The Hobbit (see below) but in LOTR the only dwarf is Gimli himself. 

 The Two Towers.  Part Two of the story.  Much of this is transition; I have a difficult time distinguishing from the end of this story to the beginning of the next one.  Frodo and Sam end up with Gollum, finding their way into Mordor.  Initially captured by orcs, Pippin and Merry escape and wind up with the Ents, huge living trees.  Although tempted to simply bug out and return to the Shire, P&M realize that if they do so, the bad guys will win and eventually wipe out the Shire itself – so they have to do something.  They manage to persuade the Ents to crush Isengard and send Saruman packing, and are rewarded with Saruman’s huge pipeweed stash.  Gandalf reappears, and the Rohirrim are recruited to join the good side.  …And there was much rejoicing!

 Return of the King.  Part Three, in which everything is wrapped up.  The Battle of Pelennor Fields – the climactic battle outside the gates of Minas Tirith between the massed armies of good and evil.  Pippin is in Minas Tirith itself, as a member of the guards, whereas Merry manages to sneak his way to the battlefield among the Rohirrim.  Meanwhile, Frodo and Sam work their way through Mordor, guided by Gollum, and run into Faramir, Boromir’s brother – and eventually find their way to Mount Doom.  All the good stuff happens then, the hobbits return to the Shire, and the top big shots go to the Grey Havens to disappear forever.

 The Silmarillion.  If you liked the Lord of the Rings trilogy, be sure to read this: this is Tolkien’s extensive prequel, giving a voluminous background to how Middle Earth was developed from the beginning of the world up until the time the trilogy takes place.  It really has no narrative and is more historical/mythological background.  The prog band Marillion take their name from this book.

 The Hobbit.  This was a narrative prequel, focusing on Bilbo Baggins.  It explains how he found the Ring and took it from Gollum.  It’s not, strictly speaking, necessary to read this to understand LOTR.

 Animated Films.  Ralph Bakshi, best known for his adaptation of Robert Crumb’s underground comic Fritz the Cat, took a stab at making an animated version of LOTR in 1978, but the project ran out of money about halfway through the story.  His version uses an animation technique which overlays animation over live action, a effect similar to “A Scanner Darkly”.  The remainder of the film was taken up by the Rankin-Bass people, best known for the various animated Christmas specials we used to watch as kids, and they turned it into a goofy quasi-musical version in 1980.  The coolness of the Bakshi version is cancelled out by the lameness of the Rankin-Bass conclusion.  Rankin-Bass also made a similar animated version of The Hobbit in 1977.

 Peter Jackson trilogy.  PJ was determined to do this right, and wouldn’t handle the project unless the studio committed itself to making all three movies – a huge gamble, but it paid off handsomely.  The films were all made at the same time and released year by year (2001, 2002, and 2003).  Big name actors: Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Viggo Mortenssen as Aragorn, Hugo Weaving (the bad guy from “The Matrix”) as Elrond, Sean Bean as Boromir, Liv Tyler as Arwen, Elijah Wood as Frodo, Ian Holm as Bilbo, and Kate Blanchett as Galadriel.  Orlando Bloom was fairly unknown before his portrayal of Legolas made him a star – combined with his role as Will Turner in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy.  The production was fantastic, the actors all did well, and the movie finally did the books the justice they deserved. The third film dominated the Oscars.  The extended DVD versions splice in the extra footage where they would have been in the films, and extend each of the three films by 30-45 minutes.  I borrowed the set from my brother and watched them back-to-back on a day when I was snowed in. 

 Bored of the Rings.  This was a 1969 parody by the National Lampoon people.  Frodo turns into Frito, and the whole thing is ridiculed in a fairly lame way – a weak, meager attempt far beneath the scale and heroism of the original.  I also noted that “Epic Movie”, one of the recent parody movies, made no references to LOTR and focused its attacks on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – which was written by C.S. Lewis, a colleague, contemporary and friend of Tolkien’s.

 Middle Earth.  This is the fantasy world in which the Lord of the Rings takes place.  The map shows one large continent, but the Silmarillion shows much more – neither of which bears any resemblance to our own map, or to New Zealand, for that matter.  The question is whether this is our own Earth or a completely fictional world.  Tolkien himself contradicted himself, but the books themselves tend to point towards Earth, albeit a very long time ago – 6,000 years?  A million years?  Who knows, but it would have to have been a considerable time to allow for continental drift.  Part of the reason for the departure of the elves (+ Bilbo & Frodo) [Arwen, of course, is the exception – staying behind to marry Aragorn] at the Grey Havens was to put these ancient races out of the contemporary picture, although this wouldn’t explain the absence of dwarves or orcs.  Gandalf observes that younger hobbits such as Pippin and Merry are taller than the older generation, implying that hobbits and humans will converge in size and cease to be separate races, but the most obvious means of doing so – intermarriage – doesn’t appear to be going on.  Also, magic was prevalent then, and is no longer possible now.  Moorcock’s explanation (in his Elric books) was that the current world was formed by the Lords of Law (of reason and science); Heinlein would push his characters into alternate dimensions to engage in magic, similar to Zelazny’s approach in the Amber series.  A plausible explanation in the Middle Earth context is that anyone who knew magic – the wizards and elves – is long gone.  In any case, the simplest explanation is usually the best, as it is here: Middle Earth is a fantasy world corresponding to Earth in the extremely distant past in between the dinosaurs and our own time. 

 The Scouring of the Shire.  If there is one complaint I have with the Peter Jackson movies, it’s the omission of this epilogue in Return of the King.  I can’t fault PJ for leaving out Tom Bombadil, as that early segment was strategically meaningless to the story.  While this chapter is also inconsequential to the plot, it was very entertaining.

            Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry return to the Shire after these adventures, laden with armor, weapons, treasure, and an intangible wealth of combat experience.  They find the Shire locked down in terror to a mysterious character referred to as “Sharkey”, who turns out to be Saruman, accompanied by Grima Wormtongue.  After having faced down Gollum, Shelob, orc armies and the worst Mordor had to offer (Frodo and Sam), and participated in the Battle of Pelennor Fields (Pippin and Merry), these four “combat hobbits” are ill-inclined to be intimidated by Saruman.  They quickly raise a local army of hobbits and bring him down.  NOW the story can end.