Writing about The Lord of the Rings feels a bit like writing about my oldest friend (although I met Ellie a bit before I met Tolkien). I do not think I can overstate the impact that J.R.R and his work have had on me (be it writing or outlook). LOTR has been a constant in my life. In 2001, my Mum and my Aunty Morag took Max and me to see a little indie flick called The Fellowship of the Ring, and my love for it has only deepened with time. At the end of Fellowship, Frodo and Samwise find themselves at the foot of Mount Doom with nothing but each other (and some lembas bread). Boromir is dead, the Fellowship has been broken, and we want to know how they’ll get out of this one. To this day, Mum recalls how she was just getting cosy and wanted the next part straight away. Naturally, after this visit to the cinema, I couldn’t wait a year to find out what happened next. I had to read all the books (a trilogy, or 7 parts, depending on who you talk to), and listen to the audio-books. It was later on that I discovered The Hobbit, a book that I would save from fire or flood. I have even read The Silmarillion, although I’m still not entirely sure what it is about.
Peter Jackson’s trilogy cemented my obsession with film. I’d always liked films, but after this discovery I began to put more thought into how they were made. I read all the companion guides, and I even watched ‘making of’ specials (one of the few bonus features I will gladly watch). To this day, it stands up as an incredible feat of film-making. The trilogy took 438 days to make. 438 days!!!! I am still in awe of the craft that went into this film; weta workshop’s prosthetics still blow my tiny mind all these years later.
Pre-lock-down I had started to re-watch the films with some friends. We never got to finish them (thanks corona). My family like to revisit these films every so often, and as they bring us joy, this current pandemic seemed like a good time to pick them up again. I always watch the extended editions, because there is more to love.
Part of the reason that these stories have endured, and are so beloved, is because of the central themes. Chiefly, they are about the battle of good and evil (Sauron is about as evil as you can get). They also cover more complex ideas, most of the characters are flawed in some way (although Samwise is a perfect angel). Look at Boromir, who is tempted by the ring, or Theoden, who is hesitant to help his allies (‘where was Gondor’). You could say that most characters are sinful in some way (even Gandalf –that’s kind of the point). It would take a lifetime of scholarship to cover every theme in LOTR (and many more devoted than me have tried). To me, the most important motif is friendship. These films explore how friendship will (quite literally) save you, and help you to overcome the most powerful odds. The most obvious examples of this are the hobbits and their unquestioning loyalty to each other. Merry and Pippin are captured by Uruk-Hai to give Frodo a head start. Sam storms an Ork stronghold, faces down Shelob, and in one of my favourite scenes he physically carries Frodo up Mount Doom:
I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you.
I love the pairing of Legolas and Gimli -whose peoples are not natural allies –and how they are openly hostile to each other at first. But their friendship and love for one another grow with each film.
Gimli: I never thought I’d die fighting side by side with an elf.
Legolas: How about side by side with a friend?
Gimli: Aye. I could do that
NB: In the Appendices, they end up travelling to Valinor (the Land across the sea) together.
I am a person with a strong faith (although I am currently between religions). Death is not the end in this stories. As shown with the re-birth of Gandalf (Grey — White). I also admire how LOTR depicts grief, and the enduring love that we have for those who leave us (the scene with Theoden at his son’s graveside stays with me. Also look at the direct contrast with how Theoden and Denethor deal each with the loss of a beloved son). I tend to love any text that asks questions about what happens after we die.
As usual, Gandalf says it best:
End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
Lord of the Rings is a fantasy series, but it covers all genres. At times it is so joyful. Re-watching, I had forgotten just how funny these films are. Some of the stoner comedy is enough to rival a Seth Rogen movie. I howled when Sauruman spits: ‘your love of the halflings pipe-weed has made you blind.’ It is a series that launched a thousand memes. On our last re-watch Max and I couldn’t stop laughing at ‘one does not simply walk into Mordor.’ My Mum regularly bursts into ‘they’re taking the hobbits to Isengard-gard-gard.’
I couldn’t post this blog without giving a special mention to Eowen, my favourite bad bitch. The scene where she faces down the Witch king and declares ‘I am no man’? Incredible. Amazing. Show-stopping. Spectacular.
These films are a perfect companion to the hellfire that has been 2010 onwards (since Gordon Brown left Downing Street). They have been a particular light to me in the time of Covid, and in the time of starting this blog I re-read the books too. Tolkien — thank you for leaving us with this gift.
There are two scenes that bring me particular comfort, and also bring me to tears every-time I watch:
Text:
Hold your ground! Hold your ground!
Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers, I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!!!
I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
The Fellowship of the Ring — J.R.R Tolkien
I have been in love with the Lord of the Rings since I first discovered it. I started this blog last year, but it is quite intimidating to write a love letter of this scale, so I let it sit in the drafts for a while. This is a love that I share with some of my best friends, and it is always a light in dark places. I never get bored with this story, and so I will pick it up again and again, and make that journey to Mount Doom, and back again, for the rest of my life.
