While it weighs in at more than 1000 pages, has enough characters and locations to fill an encyclopedia, and enough songs and poems to fill a hymnbook, The Lord of the Rings trilogy has captured American and British readers for decades, and with each new generation comes another following dedicated to the world that is Middle-Earth.
Granted, The Lord of the Rings is cumbersome - even boring in some places. Chapter length descriptions of mountains and caves, historical songs that have little to no bearing on the current plot, and conversations that would in reality have ended hundreds of sentences ago can make for a daunting read for some. But for the true literary fiction addict, it's love at first read.
The Plot
The Dark Lord, Sauron of Mordor, has a plan to dominate Middle-Earth. Deep in the Mountains of Mordor, he forges a total of nineteen rings and distributes them to the rulers of the elves, dwarves, and men. Secretly, however, he forges one all-powerful Ring for himself, by which he can control all those who wear the nineteen others.
His power advances quickly, too quickly for even the immortal elves to withstand his power. On the battlefield of Mt. Doom, all hope of ever stopping this dark lord seems lost...until the young prince Isildur severs the One Ring from Sauron's hand and vanquishes him.
Or so they thought.
Enter a young hobbit named Frodo Baggins, of the peaceful Western land called The Shire. Unknown to this youngster, his loveable but mysterious uncle, Bilbo, found the One Ring buried in a dark cave many, many years ago, and has unwittingly jeopardized not only their beloved Shire, but the rest of the known world. For as long as the One Ring exists, Sauron's spirit survives.
Thanks to the wisdom of the Grey Wizard, Gandalf, Frodo learns of Sauron's return and his search for the ring that will allow him to obtain a physical body once more and cover the world in a "second darkness." There is only one way, Gandalf knows, to do away with the Dark Lord once and for all: the One Ring must be destroyed.
But this proves a much more difficult task than it seems. The One Ring can only be destroyed in the very fires from which it was made…in the bowels of Mt. Doom.
Throughout his journey to destroy the most potent weapon known to Middle-Earth, Frodo discovers the true nature of friendship, danger, the reality of an evil world, and the source of true courage. To succeed in his fatal mission, he must secure help from many allies - and some enemies. Long before he reaches his journey’s end, Frodo enlists the aid of the ranger, Aragorn, a long-lost king of men who must find the strength to unite a hardened and bitter people; Gimli, a stern but courageous dwarf of the mountains who fears nothing but that his people will forever be undermined by the arrogance and nobility of the elf race; Legolas, one of these elves, a prince himself, whose elegance, agility, and wisdom provides a much needed respite to the wearied band; Gollum, the twisted and obsessive creature of the wilderness who holds bitter secrets and a love-hate affair with the One Ring that he had discovered so long before Bilbo; and Samwise Gamgee, the truest friend in all literature, whose determination and sacrifice will be the very thing that keeps Frodo from giving in to the evil that is chasing him every step of the way.
The Message
The story itself is intriguing, but there is a reason why Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings has made such a permanent stamp on British and American culture for so long. At the very heart of this epic trilogy is the themes that literary fiction often examines: courage in the fear, facing responsibilities despite personal desires, the definition of true friendship, seeing the world through others’ eyes, and fighting for the good in the world. Through each and every one of Tolkien’s characters, readers have found themselves and their struggles, their fears and their discouragements, their friends and their ideals of relationships. Though Tolkien himself always insisted his trilogy was not meant to be an allegory, he still provided an epic story of life, love, and adventure that will be delighted in for many more years to come.
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