Book report: Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien
I finally finished reading Tolkien's Return of the King. As you may recall, I started with Fellowship of the Ring (whose book report has slid off the forums) and moved on to [url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=comics&Number=10176610&Searchpage=4&Main=10176610&Words=%2Btwo+%2Btowers&topic=&Search=true#Post10176610]The Two Towers[/url]. I'm "reading" them as books on tape, and I really recommend this.
!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!
First off, RotK has much better writing than FotR or TTT. For example, he really makes you feel the desperation of the city of Minas Tirith, waiting for the siege by hordes of orcs, and the determination of the horse riders of Rohan to ride into battle, even if it means they all die. Their charge is inspiring and ranks right up there with other great moments in literature.
Comparisons to the movie:
In the book, there's a lot more detail about the terrifying descent into madness of Denethor and what caused that.
If you didn't already know about it, the revelation that the mysterious rider helping Merry is actually Eowyn would be a complete surprise.
In the book, Merry's attack on the Witch-king, and Eowyn's death-blow to the WK, result in both of them being severely injured by magic and in hospital for a long while, until healed by Aragorn.
In the last stages of Frodo and Sam's journey, they are absolutely resigned to die in the attempt to destroy the ring and have no belief whatsoever in their success. It is painful to read about them slogging on regardless. Very heroic.
If you didn't like the multiple endings and goodbyes in the movie, believe me, you got off easy. In the book on tape, Frodo destroys the ring about halfway through tape 8, and the book doesn't end until the end of tape 10. Besides all the scenes in the movie, the book also has a romance blossoming between Eowyn and Faromir, Theoden's funeral, and extensive journeys to visit with characters who have appeared previously.
Then, when Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin finally make it back to the Shire, they have an entire new subplot to deal with. Ruffians have taken over, destroyed most of what made it nice, and terrorized everyone. The returning hobbits rally the Shire folk to rebellion and the good guys win. I have no idea why this is in there. To me, it seems like some kind of commentary on post-war conditions in Britain, but what do I know?
I will really miss hearing some of the names, like Eowyn and Elendil, which are really musical. (However, if I never hear the phrase "Gimli, son of Gloin" again, it will be too soon.) I'm convinced that Tolkien should have been a travel writer. He gives such extensive detail about roads, hills, rivers, mountains, forests, and caves, it's almost like he wants to make sure that, when we visit these places, we don't get lost. I would guess that a good chunk of these books is geography.
Still, he's pulled off an amazing feat: dragging ancient legends into the twentieth century, with modern characters who have recognizable emotions and motivations. Without him, there would be no fantasy genre, no D&D, no role-playing, no RPGs, no MMORPGs, no COH/COV, no Star Wars, and no Led Zeppelin IV. That's quite a legacy.
I finally finished reading Tolkien's Return of the King. As you may recall, I started with Fellowship of the Ring (whose book report has slid off the forums) and moved on to [url=http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=comics&Number=10176610&Searchpage=4&Main=10176610&Words=%2Btwo+%2Btowers&topic=&Search=true#Post10176610]The Two Towers[/url]. I'm "reading" them as books on tape, and I really recommend this.
!!! SPOILERS BELOW!!!
First off, RotK has much better writing than FotR or TTT. For example, he really makes you feel the desperation of the city of Minas Tirith, waiting for the siege by hordes of orcs, and the determination of the horse riders of Rohan to ride into battle, even if it means they all die. Their charge is inspiring and ranks right up there with other great moments in literature.
Comparisons to the movie:
In the book, there's a lot more detail about the terrifying descent into madness of Denethor and what caused that.
If you didn't already know about it, the revelation that the mysterious rider helping Merry is actually Eowyn would be a complete surprise.
In the book, Merry's attack on the Witch-king, and Eowyn's death-blow to the WK, result in both of them being severely injured by magic and in hospital for a long while, until healed by Aragorn.
In the last stages of Frodo and Sam's journey, they are absolutely resigned to die in the attempt to destroy the ring and have no belief whatsoever in their success. It is painful to read about them slogging on regardless. Very heroic.
If you didn't like the multiple endings and goodbyes in the movie, believe me, you got off easy. In the book on tape, Frodo destroys the ring about halfway through tape 8, and the book doesn't end until the end of tape 10. Besides all the scenes in the movie, the book also has a romance blossoming between Eowyn and Faromir, Theoden's funeral, and extensive journeys to visit with characters who have appeared previously.
Then, when Sam, Frodo, Merry, and Pippin finally make it back to the Shire, they have an entire new subplot to deal with. Ruffians have taken over, destroyed most of what made it nice, and terrorized everyone. The returning hobbits rally the Shire folk to rebellion and the good guys win. I have no idea why this is in there. To me, it seems like some kind of commentary on post-war conditions in Britain, but what do I know?
I will really miss hearing some of the names, like Eowyn and Elendil, which are really musical. (However, if I never hear the phrase "Gimli, son of Gloin" again, it will be too soon.) I'm convinced that Tolkien should have been a travel writer. He gives such extensive detail about roads, hills, rivers, mountains, forests, and caves, it's almost like he wants to make sure that, when we visit these places, we don't get lost. I would guess that a good chunk of these books is geography.
Still, he's pulled off an amazing feat: dragging ancient legends into the twentieth century, with modern characters who have recognizable emotions and motivations. Without him, there would be no fantasy genre, no D&D, no role-playing, no RPGs, no MMORPGs, no COH/COV, no Star Wars, and no Led Zeppelin IV. That's quite a legacy.
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