The Lord of the Rings

The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy story by J. R. R. Tolkien, a sequel to his earlier work, The Hobbit. It was published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955. Three movie productions have been made, the first, by animator Ralph Bakshi was released in 1978 (as part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of the story), the second being a 1980 television special, and the third being director Peter Jackson's film trilogy released in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

The books

The Lord of the Rings began as a personal exploration by Tolkien of his interests in philology, religion (particularly Roman Catholicism); fairy tales, and Norse and Celtic mythology.

Related Topics:
Philology - Religion - Roman Catholicism - Fairy tale - Norse - Celtic - Mythology

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Tolkien detailed his creation to an astounding extent; he created a complete mythology for his realm of Middle-earth, including genealogies of characters, languages, runes, calendars and histories.

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Some of this supplementary material is detailed in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, and the mythological history was woven into a large, biblically-styled volume entitled The Silmarillion.

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J. R. R. Tolkien once described The Lord of the Rings as "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work" he wrote to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, "unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision."(The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 142). There are many theological themes underlying the narrative, the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, the activity of grace, Death and Immortality, Resurrection, Salvation, Repentance, Self-Sacrifice, Free Will, Humility, Justice, Fellowship, Authority and Healing.

Related Topics:
Catholic - Jesuit - The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien - Grace

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In it the great virtues of Mercy and Pity (shown by Bilbo and Frodo towards Gollum) win the day and the message from the Lord's Prayer "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" was very much on Tolkien's mind as Frodo struggled against the power of the One Ring (Letters, 181 and 191).

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Religious motifs other than Christian can be discerned as strong influences in Tolkien's Middle Earth. The pantheon of the Valar and Maiar (greater and lesser gods/angels) responsible for the creation and maintenance of everything from skies (Manwe) and seas (Ulmo), to dreams (Lorien) and dooms (Mandos) suggest a pre-Christian mythology in style, albeit that these Valar and Maiar are themselves creations of a monotheistic entity — Illuvatar or Eru, "The One".

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Other pre-Christian mythological references can be seen in the representations of: a "Green Man" — Tom Bombadil, wise-men — the Istari (commonly referred to as the Wizards, perhaps more of angels), shapechangers — Beorn, undead spirits — Barrow Wights, Oathbreakers, sentient nonhumans — Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and, of course, Ents. Magic is utilised freely in Middle Earth, and may be found not only in the incantations of Wizards, but in the weapons and tools of warriors and craftspeople, in the perceptions and abilities of heroes, and in the natural world itself.

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Tolkien did repeatedly insist that his works were not an allegory of any kind, and even though his thoughts on the matter are mentioned in the introduction of the book, there has been heavy speculation about the Ruling Ring being an allegory for the atom bomb. However, these comparisons do not withstand a careful look at the facts. Before atomic weapons were first detonated on August 6 and August 9, 1945, Tolkien had already completed most of the book, and planned the ending in entirety — an atom bomb had certainly never been the basis for the Ring. However there is a strong theme of despair in front of new mechanized warfare that Tolkien himself had experienced in the trenches of World War One. The development of a specially bred orc army, and the destruction of the environment to aid this have modern resonances. Nevertheless, the author's own opinion on the matter of allegories was that he disliked them, and it would be irresponsible to dismiss such direct statements on these matters lightly.

Related Topics:
Atom bomb - August 6 - August 9 - 1945

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The plot of The Lord of the Rings builds from his earlier book The Hobbit and more obliquely from the history in The Silmarillion, which contains events to which the characters of The Lord of the Rings look back upon in the book.

Related Topics:
The Hobbit - The Silmarillion

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The hobbits become embroiled in great events that threaten their entire world, as Sauron, an evil spirit, attempts to regain the lost One Ring which will restore him to full potency.

Related Topics:
Hobbit - Sauron - One Ring

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The Verse of the One Ring

:Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

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:   Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

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:Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

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:   One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

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:In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

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:   One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

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:   One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

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:In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

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The lines :

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:   One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

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:   One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

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are inscribed in the language of Sauron and Mordor (the Black Speech) on the One Ring itself. Phonetically it would be:

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:Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

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The storyline

See the articles on The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King for plot summaries.

Related Topics:
The Fellowship of the Ring - The Two Towers - The Return of the King

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Criticism

The book was characterized as "juvenile balderdash" by American critic Edmund Wilson in his essay "Oo, those awful Orcs", and in 1961 Philip Toynbee wrote, somewhat prematurely, that it had "passed into a merciful oblivion" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1695926.stm. Although she had never read The Lord of the Rings, Germaine Greer wrote "it has been my nightmare that Tolkien would turn out to be the most influential writer of the twentieth century. The bad dream has materialized."

Related Topics:
Edmund Wilson - 1961 - Philip Toynbee - Germaine Greer

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W.H. Auden also criticized the book in a 1968 Critical Quarterly article, "Good and evil in The Lord of the Rings," objecting to Tolkien's conception of sentient species that are intrinsically evil without possibility of redemption. (This is a criticism often directed at Dungeons and Dragons-like fantasy worlds as well as at Fantasy literature in general, and a criticism that Tolkien himself increasingly struggled with during his last years.) On the other hand, in a 1956 New York Times book review, "At the end of the Quest, Victory," Auden also called the book "a masterpiece of its genre" that "succeeded where Milton failed" in depicting an epic battle between good and evil, and wrote that it "never violated" the "reader's sense of the credible."

Related Topics:
W.H. Auden - 1968 - Evil - Dungeons and Dragons - Fantasy literature - 1956 - New York Times - Milton

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Science-fiction author David Brin has criticized the books for unquestioning devotion to a traditional elitist social structure, their positive depiction of the slaughter of the opposing forces, and their romantic backward-looking worldview http://www.davidbrin.com/tolkienarticle1.html.

Related Topics:
David Brin - Elitist - Romantic

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Another notable SF writer Michael Moorcock wrote a long and piercing critique of the book under the title Epic Pooh advancing the thesis that it was simply a child's tale written in the language of epic myth.

Related Topics:
Michael Moorcock - Epic Pooh

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China Mieville, a modern fantasy writer, criticised Tolkien's works as "reactionary." Mieville is also a detractor of later fantasy which draws heavily upon Tolkien's work, based on the idea that such work is cliche.

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Praise

"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them." — Sunday Times

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"Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." — Sunday Telegraph

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"Here are the beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." — C.S. Lewis

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"J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy remains the ultimate quest, the ultimate battle between good and evil, the ultimate chronicle of stewardship of the earth. Endlessly imitated, it never has been surpassed." — Kansas City Star

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"A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness." — New Statesman

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Peter Jackson said, "…it is as if Tolkien found some secret scroll about the real history of earth…".

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