Lord of the rings..THE TRIOLOGY. Review on Return of the King, The - J.R.R. Tolkien

This is not a review of only The return of the King, but the whole triology. I am sorry for choosing this spot, but I could not find one title under which I could place my full review.

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. He graduated from the Oxford University.

It was this man who had a unique vision….a vision that gave birth to the triology called ‘Lord of the rings’ which in turn produced a multi oscar winning movie..Lord of the rings…Fellowship of the ring.

This book is divided into 3 parts (excluding the introduction called ‘The Hobbit’) 1. Fellowship of the ring. 2. The two towers. 3. Return of the King. J.R.R. Tolkien was a man who evidently did not like the run-of-the-mill characters and events and even the ordinary language! He invented a new language called Elvish, and used it to the best effect in the book. In the book, you will find strange creatures like hobbits (or halflings), orcs, dark Lords, Nazguls, Trolls, Elves, Dwarves, Ents, Olphauts and many more. However, they will not seem to be a part of someone’s wild imagination, thanks to the beautiful way Tolkien has described them. Towards the end of the book, you will come to believe that indeed there was something like MIDDLE EARTH and the dark ages. Whether it is the maps provided with the books or the appendix A,B,C etc, that do he magic, I cannot say.

The plot of the book is deceptively simple-looking at the beginning. Frodo Baggins (a hobbit) who enjoys a simple life, and prefers it that way, is assigned the duty of being the ‘ring bearer’. As the ring bearer, he has to carry ‘The One’ ring to the ‘Cracks of doom’ in the heart of Mordor, the enemy’s land and destroy it. The evil ring of unlimited power cannot be destroyed anywhere else, save the one place where it was made….Mordor! If the Dark Lord gets his hands on the ring, then the world will become a slave to his Evil mind, but if the ring is destroyed, then the world will be free once more. Frodo, with his loyal servant and best friend Samwise Gamgee (another hobbit), and a weird collection of people including Merry and Pippin (again 2 hobbits), Gimli, son of Gloin (A dwarf), Legolas (An Elf), Gandalf (A wizard), Boromir (a Man), and Aragorn, son of Arathorn (Also a man) set out on this seemingly impossible task.

Now begins the journey that will keep you turning the pages faster than you know. Tolkien has beautifully brought out the hunger, anger, greed and helplessness that we all feel at some time in life. In all these characters, Sam would have to be my very favourite! A little thick headed, this cute little hobbit sticks by his master to the very end…it’s his loyalty and simple hearted love that makes him so likeable. Galadriel (Queen of the golden woods), Eowen, and Arwen (who later weds Aragorn) are some of the other main characters in the book.

What I like best about this book is the fact that Tolkien was in no hurry to wrap up the book. Even after, what we might perceive as the end, Tolkien has spent some time and pages wrapping up the loose strings. He has left nothing in mid-air, taking care of even the tiniest details like Sam’s favourite Pony!

Having said all this, I don’t think I should recommend this book to anyone, because saying that I simply recommend this book would be too inadequate! I now leave you with the lines of Tolkien in which he describes the one ring..

‘One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them;

One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness to bind them!’