Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King, By JRR Tolkien

I have officially finished Lord of the Rings; The Return of the King! Officially! ** I can't believe it's over. I'm kind of sad. Well, not really. I'm quite happy to be moving on to other things.

JRR Tolkien was a literary genius in how he created his world. He didn't just place characters in a fantasy land, he came up with time lines, family trees, Middle-Earth history, and a whole language. It boggles the mind. I am a struggling writer -struggling to get the words out -and I have no idea how someone can do what he did. I find myself lost in thought, plotting my own characters, but they live in the real world. I wonder how Mr. Tolkien spent his day. I'm sure there's info out there on his life, I just haven't pursued it.

A few posts back I mentioned how reading the trilogy was torture for me but at the end of every book, I loved it. That continued to be true. I was sad that it was over. I wanted to continue with life in the Shire. I want to know more about Merry, Pippin and dear Sam. I didn't quite cry, but I came close.

Let me gush over Sam. For one thing, he was masterfully played by Sean Astin in the film. Genius casting there. The last half of this book was Sam's story. It had started out as Frodo's. Frodo had the ring, it was his job to destroy it, and everyone else was supporting. By the third book, Frodo was lost. The ring had taken him away and he was but a shell. The story was told through Sam's eyes and it was beautiful. Sam was the one who kept them going. His devotion to his Master Frodo is as lovely as any tale of friendship there is.

After three years, I've completed the trilogy and met a goal. It feels good. The books can sit on my "Favorites" shelf and truly be favorites. On to the next book!

**Not including the freakishly long appendix. Not reading that. Nope.

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