Reading Tolkien

2003-06-12T12:42:00.000-05:00

"A Long-expected Party," continued:

For the first time we meet two of the main characters of LotR -- although Bilbo plays more of a supporting role in this tale. We are inside Bag End, where Bilbo and Gandalf sit at the open window of a small room looking out west on to the garden.

Tolkien does not mention a special chair built for Gandalf, or a special room, or a special bed, or Gandalf stooping or bumping his head as he enters Bag End. This trend continues throughout the book. For the most part, Tolkien makes it easy to forget that the hobbits are three or four feet shorter than humans and elves. This allows us to identify with the hobbits, without being constantly reminded of how they are different from humans. Fantasy in literature has an advantage over fantasy in drama or pictures or movies, because the author can gloss over the less realistic details.

But the smallness of the hobbits does have a purpose. In a January 1971 BBC interview Tolkien said "Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects (in general) the small reach of their imagination -- not the small reach of their courage or latent power." Is the smallness of the hobbits, then, symbolic? In a way, yes, but falling far short of allegory. I judge that Tolkien did everything for a reason, but often actively hid that reason from the reader. His tale has a message, but Tolkien went to great pains to hide that message so that the tale works just as a tale. As Tolkien said in Letter # 144, "Myth and fairy-story must, as all art, reflect and contain in solution elements of moral and religious truth (or error), but not explicit, not in the known form of the primary 'real' world." So hobbits are rustic English people, and their stature reflects the smallness of their imagination, but Tolkien never says as much in his tale. We have to figure it out, or not, for ourselves.

Tolkien describes the garden outside Bilbo's west window as bright and peaceful: "The flowers glowed red and golden: snap-dragons and sun-flowers, and nasturtiums trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows." This is our first glimpse of Tolkien's marvelous ability to draw a picture with words, and also of his love of flowers and plants. Just as Tolkien glosses over the fantastic – here the size difference between Bilbo and Gandalf – he lingers on that part of Middle-earth which is most like the real world – here Bilbo's garden. As the tale grows ever more fantastical, Tolkien will dwell more and more on the landscape.

Now we have a bit of dialogue between Gandalf and Bilbo. Gandalf compliments Bilbo's garden. Bilbo says he is fond of it, but needs a holiday. Gandalf asks if Bilbo means to go on with his "plan." Bilbo says yes. The conversation gets even more mysterious, as the two discuss this unnamed "plan." Gandalf apparently does not approve of the "plan" or, as Bilbo calls it, his "joke," but at least urges Bilbo to see the "whole plan" through, and hopes it will turn out for the best.

Those of us who have read the book know about the "plan" or "joke," and also know why Gandalf is worried – and why he wants Bilbo to stick to the "whole plan." They are discussing the Ring, of course, and Bilbo's plan to disappear in front of all his friends and relatives, never to reappear in the Shire again. And they are also, incidentally, discussing Bilbo's plan to give the Ring, along with Bag End, to Frodo. But Tolkien keeps the reader guessing, so we will have to wait and see what they are talking about.

More and more carts roll up the Hill to Bag End, apparently from foreign parts, and presumably driven by still more dwarves. Then orders pour out for every saleable good available in the local community. Now Tolkien starts laying on the blatant anachronisms. People tick the days off the calendar, watching for the postman, hoping for invitations. The invitations are sent, the post-offices are snowed under, and voluntary assistant postmen called for. A stream of postmen climb up the Hill carrying hundreds of variations on "Thank you, I shall certainly come." We are quite obviously in a community based on 19th or 20th century England.

Bilbo remains hidden, with a big sign posted to warn off would-be visitors. Suddenly one morning the field south of Bilbo's front door is covered with ropes and poles for tents and pavilions. Did the dwarves bring these with them? Hard to say. The tents go up, one of them so big that it is built right over the one tree in the field. The tree is hung with lanterns. An enormous kitchen goes up in the north corner of the field. Every cook from miles around comes to supplement the dwarves and "other odd folk" quartered at Bag End.

Other odd folk? Who, other than Gandalf, could that refer to? Tolkien does not explain. Perhaps they are men of Dale, or perhaps those odd hobbits from Buckland, such as Frodo's friend Merry.

The weather clouds over on the eve of the party, then the sun shines the morning of September 22. "The sun got up, the clouds vanished, flags were unfurled and the fun began." As we go through the book, we shall pay close attention to the weather, as Tolkien does. It may seem like a coincidence that the sun shines for Bilbo's party. I shall propose that there is no such thing as a coincidence in Middle-earth, even when it comes to the weather.

2003-06-11T14:31:00.000-05:00

"A Long-expected Party," continued:

Before we leave the Gaffer, holding forth in The Ivy Bush, let me just comment on story-telling in LotR. Again and again, throughout the long tale, characters will tell stories to other characters. Why? Well, Tolkien has a huge amount of history to relate. The Hobbit, by contrast, stood by itself as an independent tale, with very few references to the history of Middle-earth. But the story of the Ring is also the story of the Second and Third Age. And on top of that, eventually Tolkien starts throwing in references to the story of the First Age, the story of The Silmarillion. We start out with a little history of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, and incidentally of Sam Gamgee as well, as told by the Gaffer. There is much more history to come!

Why didn't Tolkien show us this history first hand? Because he couldn't get it published!! He tried to get The Silmarillion published, without success. His publisher wanted a sequel to The Hobbit. And so he wrote a hobbit-centric sequel – but stuffed it with tales and songs of long ago, as well as lengthy appendices.

Later in his life, when Tolkien worried about whether anyone would want to read The Silmarillion, he noted two advantages held by LotR over a more pure history of Middle-earth. First, we have the amusing and lovable hobbits, who are all the more amusing and lovable when plopped into a high romance like rustic Englishmen on a camping trip, or English boys on a break from school. Second, in LotR we repeatedly glimpse the history of Middle-earth in the background like a far-off forest or mountain range or city, far enough to increase our sense of wonder without getting bogged down in the details. The history never becomes tedious, and the implausible becomes more plausible, when we glimpse it second-hand. Like Sauron himself, the history of Middle-earth most excites our imagination when kept off stage or in the background, just out of sight, constantly present but never seen first-hand.

Speaking of the history of Middle-earth, after we leave the Gaffer the narrator introduces us to the hobbits' and the readers' chief source of that history, Gandalf. Sandyman has already referred to Gandalf as a wandering conjurer, although anyone who has read The Hobbit will know he is more than that. But now we meet the "old man" first hand. First comes a rumor, probably started by Sam, that the party will include fireworks "such as had not been seen in the Shire for nigh on a century." Then come dwarves, in an odd-looking wagon with odd-looking packages. Then an white-bearded, bushy-eyebrowed old man driving a cart, wearing a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. A very humble entrance for a wizard!

Although Gandalf wears a tall pointed hat, the "silver scarf" and "grey cloak" soften the impression of a costume or robes, and make his outfit seem more like typical clothes. Historically, at least, there were such things as pointed hats worn not by wizards, but by normal folk. But Tolkien is also playing with the hobbits' image of Gandalf as a wandering conjurer. He is also referencing the description of Gandalf in The Hobbit, which was more consciously childish in tone. As the story continues, Gandalf's tall blue pointed hat drops out of the picture. I cannot recall another mention of it.

We also get one of the few references to children in all of LotR, as small hobbit-children run after the cart, rightly guessing it is full of fireworks. Gandalf is famous in the Shire for his fireworks, despite the fact that it has been a hundred years since his last show. Apparently the fact that he is still around after a hundred years does not bother the hobbits at all. All the fireworks are marked with a "G" in common script and an Elvish rune, and the hobbit children yell "G for Grand!" The old man smiled, but did not give away any fireworks, telling them they would get plenty the day of the party. Bilbo hands out a few pennies, Gandalf goes inside with Bilbo, and the door is shut.

I know fireworks are hundreds of years old, but Tolkien's reference to children hoping for a "squib or cracker," in particular, sounds like contemporary England, not long ago and far away. So does Bilbo handing out pennies (well, contemporary to Tolkien, anyway, when an English penny was still worth something!). We shall see many more anachronisms before this chapter ends. Tolkien confessed that the Shire was based on the rural England of his childhood, and the hobbits on rural Englishmen. In the appendices Tolkien attempts to explain this as a translation of the original, but despite that conceit LotR is not really a translation or history, or even a historical novel. It is a fantasy, and Tolkien has incorporated his childhood into that fantasy, right next to swordsmen on horseback, monsters, dwarves, and elves.

Sam is again the source of rumors. All this sets up Sam's eavesdropping in the next chapter, and also the revelation that he spied for Merry and Pippin. As the book continues, eavesdropping turns out to be one of Sam's skills, as he tags along where ever Frodo goes, invited or not.

2003-06-05T20:54:00.000-05:00

"A Long-expected Party," continued:

Gaffer is holding forth about Mr. Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. A stranger from Michel Delving in the Westfarthing pipes up with the rumor that the Hill is full of tunnels packed with chests of gold and silver and "jools." The Gaffer denies it, saying all he saw when Bilbo returned was a pony loaded with big bags and a couple of chests.

Gaffer then goes off on a tangent about his son Sam, who listens to all Mr. Bilbo's tales, and has learned his letters from Mr. Bilbo. The Gaffer hopes no harm will come of it. "'Elves and Dragons'_ I says to him. '_Cabbages and potatoes are better for me and you. Don't go getting mixed up in the business of your betters, or you'll land in trouble too big for you,'_I says to him. And I might say it to others,' he added with a look at the stranger and the miller."

The younger hobbits are not persuaded. Sandyman the miller suggests that Bilbo has been adding to his treasure, since he is "often away from home" and "outlandish folk" visit him, including dwarves and "that old wandering conjurer, Gandalf." Sandyman concludes that Bag End is queer and its residents queerer.

The Gaffer retorts that some hobbits "wouldn't offer a pint of beer to a friend, if they lived in a hole with golden walls" but that Sam says everyone's going to be invited to Bilbo's party, and there will be presents for all, this very month.

Tolkien never does clear up the issue of Bilbo's wealth. Did he bring home more treasure, or did some of his visitors bring him more treasure? If so, we never hear about it. We do hear that he gave away all the treasure from the trolls. Did he invest the treasure from the Lonely Mountain? Did he buy land, finance businesses, loan money, or find some other way to make his money grow? Are there banks in the Shire? Maybe Bilbo financed some of the dwarves he is so friendly with. They would probably know all about a fair return on an investment.

We don't know. Tolkien created parts of his world in great detail, but left the economics of Middle-earth fuzzy indeed. Because, after all, who wants to read about economics? Let's get to the party!

Sam learned his letters from Bilbo, and the Gaffer isn't so sure that is a good idea. Since we later learn that Bilbo sent out invitations through a post-office, the Shire appears to be a literate society, but not the Gaffer. The Gaffer equally distrusts the tales Sam has heard about elves and dragons, and warns Sam that getting mixed up in the business of his "betters" will get him in trouble.

Note that the Gaffer, for all his prejudice, is dead on about Sam getting into trouble. Sam will get into a world of trouble. Note again the class structure raising its head, with the Gaffer referring to Sam's "betters."

We again get a hint that not all hobbits are funny and kind, as the miller insists that Bilbo (a) has tunnels of treasure and (b) is queer. The Gaffer in turn implies that some hobbits are stingy. Again, the Shire is a lovely place, but no Utopia.

The miller calls Gandalf an "old wandering conjurer." Where does Sandyman get this impression? When would Gandalf have conjured anything for Sandyman? Is this impression left over from rumors of the Old Tuck's funeral fireworks, many decades ago? Do the hobbits have any idea how old Gandalf really is, or wonder about why Gandalf seems to live forever? Apparently not. Sandyman dismisses him fairly quickly.

The hobbits' lack of curiosity really is amazing. They have no idea what is happening outside of the Shire. But an anthropologist friend of mind once noted that was life before the train and especially before the car. Most people did not travel more than twenty miles from home in a lifetime. Those who did were considered queer.

Note that "Sam" says everyone will be invited to Bilbo's party, and there will be presents for all. How does Sam know? Possibly Bilbo told him, but we do learn later that Sam is capable of listening at windows.

2003-06-04T21:36:00.000-05:00

"A Long-expected Party," continued:

The Gaffer tells the story of the ill-fated Drogo Baggins and his wife Primula Brandybuck Baggins, daughter to Master Gorbadoc Brandybuck and granddaughter of the Old Took, incidentally revealing that Frodo is both Bilbo's first and second cousin, once removed either way, as well as sharing his last name. The Gaffer also incidentally reveals that Frodo had both Took and Brandybuck blood in his veins, which we shall learn makes him a cousin to both Merry and Pippin. At any rate, poor Drogo and Primula went out boating after dinner and "were drownded," leaving Frodo an orphan.

Old Noakes speculates that Drogo's weight sunk the boat, while Sandyman, the Hobbiton miller, raised the even darker rumor that Primula pushed him in and he pulled her after. The Gaffer tells Sandyman he shouldn't listen to such rumors, as the narrator noted that the Gaffer did not much care for Sandyman. The Gaffer then makes more remarks about poor "Mr. Frodo" being stranded among a "regular warren" of not less than a couple of hundred Brandybucks, and praises "Mr. Bilbo" for bringing the lad "back to live among decent folk."

The Gaffer gives us some more information about Bilbo's feud with the Sackville-Bagginses, who thought they would get Bag End when Bilbo disappeared 60 years ago, only to have Bilbo reappear, live forever without aging, then produce an heir with "all the papers made out proper." The Gaffer hopes the Sackville-Bagginses "never see the inside of Bag End."

Only if we look in the genealogical charts in the appendices do we realize how rare it is for hobbits to die prematurely. Tolkien writes about a number of orphans, including Frodo, Aragorn, Eomer, and Eowyn, and motherless children like Sam, Arwen and her brothers, Boromir, and Faramir. Even those who may not have lost their parents, such as Gimli and Legolas, never talk about them. None of his war heroes appear to be married, either. And in Rohan and Gondor most of the wives and children are sent away from the war. But after the war is over wives pop out of the woodwork and everyone gets married and has children -- except for Frodo.

Some have called LotR a boys' tale because of the absence of women. Even Arwen only makes a brief appearance in the book, and Eowyn gets a larger role by disguising herself as a man. Tolkien's heroes do mature during the war, particularly his hobbits.

We don't know why Tolkien made these choices. His biography raises some interesting possibilities. Although he married young, he spent most of life in all-male schools, either as a student or a teacher. And Tolkein himself was an orphan. But perhaps Tolkien's biography had less to do with it than the long poetic tradition of orphans in fairy-tales, finding themselves and often finding a wife.

Only those who have read the Scouring of the Shire know how strange it is for a hobbit to be accused of murder, when no murder has been recorded in the hundreds of years the Shire has existed. Nor, at this point, would a first-time reader understand the threat posed by Sandyman and the Sackville-Baggins. These brief details help set up the Scouring, hundreds of pages later. Tolkein went to great pains to foreshadow later action in the tale, even where a first-time reader could not be expected to notice such details, or to remember them when they become significant. I don't know if Tolkien really expected any of his readers to reread LotR, looking for such details, or if he was just a perfectionist. I suspect the latter.

Note again the definite class structure in the Shire. The Gaffer always refers to "Mr. Bilbo," and "Mr. Frodo," even as he once again derides Frodo's close relatives and childhood family, the Brandybucks.

Note also that in order to make Frodo his heir Bilbo had to have "all the papers made out proper." Does this mean that the Shire has lawyers? It does not seem to have courts or legislatures, as everyone just voluntarily lives by the "rules" of the long-departed king. But there are some disputes requiring papers. Certainly the Sackville-Baggins would contest Bilbo's will if they could

2003-06-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

"A Long-expected Party," continued:

The Gaffer is talking to a group of hobbits about Bilbo. Old Noakes asks about Frodo, who is said to be more than half a Brandybuck, from Buckland, "where folks are so queer." Daddy Twofoot, the Gaffer's next-door neighbor, says it is no wonder that hobbits from Buckland are queer, since they live on the wrong side of the Brandywine River, right "agin" the Old Forest, "a dark bad place, if half the tales be true."

The Gaffer agrees with Dad, and also, it appears, with Old Noakes, at least about the hobbits of Brandybuck being a queer breed. Not only do they live next to the Old Forest, but they also "fool about with boats" and "that isn't natural." But "Mr. Frodo" says the Gaffer, is "as nice a young hobbit as you could wish to meet." The Gaffer attributes that to Frodo's father, Mr. Drogo Baggins, a "decent respectable hobbit . . . till he was drownded."

The hobbits all perk up at the mention of drowning, and several voices say "Drownded?" The narrator explains that they had heard this rumor before, but had a passion for family history and were ready to hear it again.

Once again, the Shire is no Utopia. These hobbits may all have cute names, but they are also prejudiced about hobbits from Buckland. And they are eager to hear dark rumors about drowned hobbits. So far we have only heard from the older generation of hobbits, though. We will soon hear from the younger generation.

This conversation introduces us to Buckland and the Old Forest, which will both play a significant part in the tale to come. It indirectly tells us something about Merry when we meet him. It also reveals just how insular the ordinary hobbits are, at least in this part of the Shire. They don't even like to venture to the borders of the Shire, or just outside those borders, or onto a river at the border, let alone into the wide world like Bilbo. And although they are experts on family history, they don't know much about the Old Forest, let alone about the wide world.

Who is narrating this story? The conceit of the book is that it is a memoir of Frodo, with assistance from Bilbo and Sam, but Frodo could not have overheard this tale, could he? It is possible that Frodo or Sam heard it from the Gaffer, but I have a different suggestion. I don't think Tolkien worried much about who was supposedly narrating as he wrote his tale. I take that as a conceit used to make the tale feel real, similar to the conceit that Tolkien "translated" the tale into a more modern vernacular.

But LotR is *not* really a memoir or a history, or even a fictional memoir or history. Tolkien makes no attempt to keep up the conceit of a memoir or history during the tale itself, but instead writes it as a work of pure fantasy, without regard for how Frodo could have been the narrator or whether the tale was historically plausible. Tolkien went to great lengths to make sure LotR was internally consistent, but the point of view jumps all over the place during the epic, and one cannot imagine Frodo really remembering everything that happens, or even witnessing much of what happens. He was far too busy to keep notes.

Similarly, Tolkien incorporates bits and pieces of history into his fantasy, but the bits and pieces come from all over. The Shire, Tolkien himself admitted, is based on the rural Victorian English countryside of Tolkien's youth, and the hobbits on rural Victorian Englishmen. But that does not mean we are in 19th century England. We are, instead, in a part of Fairie that resembles rural 19th century England. But it is still Fairie.

In short, the whole conceit that LotR is a memoir from several thousand years ago, translated into the modern vernacular, is like saying a fairy-tale is about something that happened "far away and long ago," or "once upon a time." It draws us into the tale, and if the author is successful we soon forget that we are reading a fantasy.

2003-06-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

"A Long-expected Party," continued:

We learn that Bilbo will soon turn 111 and Frodo 33, his coming of age. We also learn that the Old Took had reached 130. Evidently hobbits live a little longer than modern humans – which says a great deal about the blessed lives they lead. We learn that all across the Shire hobbits are talking about Bilbo Baggins – tongues have begun to wag. The Shire is blessed, but the hobbits are prone to gossip.

Tolkien introduces us to old Ham Gamgee, the Gaffer. Gaffer is a rustic British term for an old man, probably short for grandfather, in this context apparently a term of respect, although perhaps a little condescending. No one would ever call Bilbo "gaffer"!

The Gaffer has some foundation for his knowledge of Bilbo. He has worked for Bilbo as a gardener for decades, and his son Sam works in the same job now. Furthermore, Sam and the Gaffer live on the Hill, in Number 3 Bagshot Row just below Bag End. Although Tolkien never squarely addresses the economics of the Shire or the sources of Bilbo and Frodo's income, it sounds very much like the residents of Bagshot Row are Bilbo's tenants, as well as his hired help.

The Gaffer is also a leading authority in the matter of "roots," especially potatoes. He is holding forth at "The Ivy Bush," a small inn. Let me suggest that the Gaffer's expertise in the matter of "roots" extends beyond potatoes and other vegetables to genealogy and local history, the topic of his conversation. But the Gaffer is also quite rooted himself, and will exhibit distrust for anyone from Buckland, let alone from outside the Shire.

Note also that there is no mention of a Mrs. Gamgee. Tolkien oh-so-subtly introduces us to the second central character of LotR, Sam Gamgee. Like Frodo, he is motherless – but even on a second reading it takes a keen attention to detail to notice that fact. Sam's father is very different from Frodo's adoptive father. Bilbo is rich; the Gaffer is not. Bilbo is well-traveled; the Gaffer well-rooted. Bilbo is considered peculiar; the Gaffer is respected. Bilbo has few close friends; the Gaffer apparently has many friends. Bilbo never married; the Gaffer married and had children. Bilbo seems ageless, the Gaffer does not. And, as we will soon learn, Bilbo is literate and the Gaffer is not.

Can anyone imagine the Gaffer, 60 years ago, going with Bilbo to the Lonely Mountain the way that Sam goes with Frodo? Not really, but then at that time no one could have imagined Bilbo himself going on an adventure – no one but Gandalf. But Bilbo did go, and it changed him completely. The Gaffer remained, and did not change.

Tolkien loves to set up these contrasting characters. The Gaffer is foil for Bilbo, highlighting the ways in which Bilbo is different from ordinary hobbits. As we grow familiar with five hobbits, Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, we should remember that they are not as ordinary as they seem, but indeed are the most extraordinary hobbits in the Shire.

Peter Jackson has downplayed the extraordinary nature of the heroic hobbits in the film, perhaps in an attempt to democratize the Shire. For Frodo, Merry, and Pippin were princely young hobbits, sons of the oldest, most aristocratic, and richest families in the Shire. And Sam, for all his working-class background, will, as a reward for his extraordinary services, become a part of that aristocracy. The Shire, like the rest of Middle-earth, is not a democracy, but a sort of romanticized feudal society. The Gaffer is well-respected, but he knows his place.

2003-06-02T09:46:00.000-05:00

OK, on to the title of Chapter 1, Book 1 of LotR, "A Long-expected Party." Tolkien refers here to the first chapter of The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party." The titles are apparently similar, but in fact quite different, just as The Hobbit and LotR are apparently similar, but in fact quite different.

In the opening paragraphs we learn about Bilbo Baggins through the eyes of his neighbors. On the plus side he is rich and generous. But on the minus side he is "very peculiar." How so? Well, first of all, sixty years ago he disappeared from the Shire without warning, and returned with treasure from outside the Shire. Second, he had not aged in the six decades since he returned from his adventure -- very peculiar!

Bilbo's generosity earns him the admiration of poor and unimportant hobbits, but mere tolerance and forgiveness from most hobbits, who believe that Bilbo's home is full of tunnels stuffed with treasure. Some, including the Sackville-Bagginses, have not forgiven him at all. Bilbo has no close friends except among some of his younger cousins, particularly his cousin and heir, Frodo Baggins, who was still in his irresponsible twenties when ninety-nine-year-old Bilbo adopted him as his heir.

We also learn that the hobbits of the Shire are talking excitedly about Bilbo's upcoming "eleventy-first" birthday party. And we learn that Frodo happens to have the same birthday as Bilbo, September 22.

The contrast with the respectable but unadventurous Bilbo we met in the first chapter of The Hobbit could not be greater. And although the writing sounds like The Hobbit -- cute phrases like eleventy-first birthday and tweens, funny names like Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End and his heir Frodo, pleasant activities like birthday parties of special magnificence -- Tolkien strikes two ominous chords, especially for those who have already read the tale once, and know what to expect. First, why hasn't Bilbo aged? And second, although one can't imagine worrying about hobbits, isn't there something disturbing about the fact that Bilbo has few close friends, is considered peculiar, and is hated by the Sackville-Bagginses?

The Shire, for all its attractions, is no Utopia. Thus in this brief opening Tolkien sets up not only Frodo's quest, but also the Scouring of the Shire.

Bilbo and Frodo's birthdays both fall on September 22. Quite a coincidence, no? We shall learn that there may be more than coincidence involved. Tolkien liked to place significant dates around the change of seasons. Frodo's birthday will prove particularly significant, since it will help determine when he leaves the Shire. Because of that date, his quest will begin at the beginning of fall, and end at the end of winter, which seems poetically fitting. And even after his quest is over, significant events will occur on Frodo's birthday. On Frodo's 51st birthday, he reunites with Bilbo in Rivendell -- and Saruman enters the Shire. On Frodo's 53rd birthday, he reunites with Bilbo and they sail from the Grey Havens. And finally, Frodo's birthday becomes an annual holiday in all of the lands King Elessar rules -- except the Shire, where most hobbits never do appreciate what Frodo did for them.

I will come back to the importance of dates, and of coincidences, in LotR. For now let me just say that I see it as Tolkien's way of pointing to a Higher Power in Middle-earth.

2003-06-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome! I have begun this blog to share my thoughts about Tolkien's writings. Please note that *I will make no attempt to avoid spoilers,* so if you haven't at least read Lord of the Rings all the way through please go read it before coming back to this blog!

OK, the rest of you may wonder if the world needs another webpage devoted to Tolkien. Well, I don't know. I just know that I have lots of ideas about Tolkien's writings, and would like to share them with other fans. I have no special qualifications to talk about Tolkien other than the usual -- i.e. many, many readings through the years. In addition in the last year and a half I have discussed Tolkien on the Reading Room at www.theonering.net under the name of Curious. I learned a great deal there, and thank all the other Reading Room denizens, particularly Reverend and NZ Strider. Unfortunately, there is no reliable and easily searchable archive of those discussions. I started this blog in part because I hope to create an archive of my thoughts to which I can refer fellow fans.

So without further ado, I will begin with the title of Tolkien's greatest work, Lord of the Rings. That title poses a riddle. Who is the Lord of the Rings? And why does Tolkien name the story after him?

Some might argue that Gandalf answers this question in Chapter 2 of Book I, "The Shadow of the Past," when he explains Sauron's mastery of the rings of power, and of the One Ring. But at that point the reader may well think that someone else could become the Lord of the Rings. That is, after all, the temptation everyone must confront when they come in contact with the Ring -- the temptation to claim it as their own, and with it mastery over all the rings of power, and all the races of Middle-earth. By not calling the tale The Downfall of Sauron, Lord of the Rings, Tolkien keeps his readers in suspense about whether anyone will succumb to that temptation, or indeed whether Sauron himself will recover his Ring.

Also note that if the title refers to Sauron, then the readers never really see the title character! What is that about? The Ring itself has far more of a presence in the tale than Sauron ever does. Personally, I love the fact that we never see Sauron. He is all the more terrifying because we never see him face to face. Tolkien often glosses over the most fantastical elements of his tale -- such as Sauron himself -- while drawing our focus to seemingly ordinary elements of his tale -- like the Ring. He makes Sauron more believable by revealing him to us only through dark rumors, the same way the hobbits themselves know of him. And at the same time he invests the seemingly ordinary with mystery and portent by revealing that it is more powerful and dangerous than we can possibly imagine.

As you see, I plan to analyze LotR almost line by line. Why rush it? My next post will address the title of the first chapter!