Worthless and Weak

So it looks like I can read stuff faster than I can blog about stuff, so i've gotten a little further behind...

So, I've read from the Ring Going South to Leaving Lothlorien. Again, its very interesting what is highlighted in the book, there are two chapters devoted to Moria, full of orcs and cave trolls and balrogs, and then three chapters devoted to Lothlorien, with nothing but elves, and no real danger or "excitement". The most important character from this part is Galadriel, the elf queen. She has one of the three elven rings, and it is revealed that all of Lothlorien's beauty, and indeed the elves themselves, is dependent upon her ring (and the other two), and that destroying the one ring would cause all less rings to slowly die. Faced with this problem, she still urges Frodo on, saying that she would rather see this magnificent beauty fade from the world than have it overcome by Sauron.

This is one of Tolkien's major themes, perhaps the major theme: that beauty is slowly disappearing from middle-earth, and that what is is never as impressive as was, for there are no more mithril mines, no more silmarils, Numenor fell into the sea, and very soon there will be no more rings of power. Yet this is as it should be, that to attempt to turn back time, to use the ring to attempt to regain these treasures would be to invite Sauron's corruption into whatever it touched. This I think, is most clearly illustrated in the character of Saruman, in his attempts to control the power of the world, he can only use it for evil ends.

I'm not sure what (if anything) this decline is a metaphor of, but one very stark similarity is to aging. As we age, all the "wonderful" things in our lives begin t disappear, and that while preserving youth as long as possible is a good thing, it can never be stopped, and attempting to recreate your youth ends only in folly. Indeed, most of the periphery of the book deals with elves, who are eternally youthful, and yet must deal with the truth that they shall soon perish, as they are forced to leave the world for the undying lands.

Labels: LOTR

Many Meetings, and the Council of Elrond:

So the first book is done, and the second book begins in Rivendell, Frodo is recovering from the encounter with the Ringwraiths, and everybody's back stories are told. We learn about what happened to Galdalf, and are for the first time (through story) introduced to Saruman, (would it have killed Tolkien to have the two main villains of his book not both begin with SA, end with N, and have a and R and a U in the middle). The council of Elrond decides that the ring cannot be hidden, nor guarded, or thrown into the sea, and they dare not use it, for even though they could destroy Sauron with the Ring, it would not benefit the world at all, as they would inevitably become that which they seek to destroy. Finally, they decide that it is not for the mighty or the wise to destroy it, for Sauron will quickly overcome might or outsmart wisdom, but instead Frodo shall hope to go unnoticed to the fires of Mt Doom.

That Frodo, and not Aragorn or Gandalf (or Elrond or Glorfindel or so on) should bear the ring is of great importance artistically, first it is easier for us to identify with Frodo than with a Ranger or a Wizard, and of course having the fish out of water character allows for much easier exposition (when Gandalf or Aragorn tell Frodo about some piece of history, they're really telling us), but it goes even deeper than that. The trilogy is chalk full of symbolism, in fact its easy to make the argument that it is nothing but symbolism, and they symbolism of Frodo is that it is each person's job to combat evil, that we all have a ring to bear, and while there are no doubt Gandalfs and Aragorns in our lives, and we must trust in them, we cannot fully rely on them, and in the end we must rely on ourselves and the Sams of the world.

Labels: LOTR

Chapters 11 + 12:

Knife in the dark, the eleventh chapter, has the first real action of the book. Pursued by the Ringwraiths to weathertop, Strider and the four hobbits attempt to make a stand. Frodo unconsciously slips the one ring onto his finger, revealing the true nature of the wringwraiths. Frodo wards them off with the word "Elbereth." He is wounded (almost mortally).

The action, perhaps the most important scene of the book so far (one of the most important, anyway), takes up less space than the tale of Beren and Luthien. Of course, this is really what the book is about, the interactions of the characters, and while they are on a quest which will shape the world, we are given far more information of how they react to the world.

Part of this, is simply an artistic tool, Tolkien wants to show off the world he created, and the most interesting way to do that is to show the reactions of his characters have, as they travel through the world.

Before they reach Rivendell, they find the trolls that Bilbo and Galdalf encountered in "The Hobbit." Sam sings a song about trolls, and then they are met by Glorfindel, an elf. The black riders are destroyed by a flood (or not truly destoryed, but for now they are), and we end the first book of the LOTR.

Labels: LOTR

Chapters 3 - 10.

So, running myself sore on Saturday, and feeling otherwise lazy, I read chapters 3 through 10 of Book One of the Fellowship this Sunday.

These chapters become a little repetitious, or at the very least a pattern emerges. Frodo and company are accosted by danger, they are aided by a stranger, but the stranger does not continue with them, even though the fate of the world hangs in the balance.

The first stranger is Gildor the elf, who they meet after their first encounters with the black riders. Gildor would normally never camp with hobbits, but due to the black riders, does so. Similarly, once the hobbits travel through the old wood, they are saved from Old man willow by Tom Bombadil, and again in Barrow Down. Finally, when they are in the inn of the prancing pony, they are aided by the Butterbur, and Strider.

With Gildor and again with Bombadil, it almost seems as if they only reason they don't journey with the hobbits is due to plot reasons. But almost. With both characters, we see people who are in many ways human, but in many other ways completely different. The elves are described as "so old and yet so young, so gay and yet so sad," which I think is a hauntingly beautiful description of these characters, something which isn't quite human.

Bombadil sings. He sings to old man willow, he signs to the barrow wights, and he sings to himself and to Goldberry. If I recall the Silmarilion correctly, and if you'll forgive some rampant speculation on my part, he is singing a variation (perhaps corruption would be a better word, although corruption is probably a better term for Morgoth's song) of the song began by Illuvitar at the creation of the universe.

But just like Gildor, when given the opportunity to escort them to Rivendell, he instead refuses. In both cases, the characters are more witnesses than actors. They seem to see their roles as outside of the fate of humanity; that whatever happens they will either retreat to the Gray Havens or continue living in the old forest.

Finally, I'll note some things about the world and setting. It seems very static, that while there is history, it seems only to be a list of events and stories, there is no sense of history in the Hegelian sense, there's no momentum, no sense of progress, or even of steady-state equilibriums. The men of Bree-land don't attempt to colonize the lands around Bree because, well it doesn't say. The hobbits don't turn back the old forest, don't try to use it. Everybody seems to think of the world as what it is, and no individual tries to change it, even slightly. I realize this may be part of my 20th century thinking, (dare I say bias?) that we live in an age where we do things everyday that weren't possible a decade ago, and we see changes in the world around us (in terms of architecture, styles and fashions, even music, art, politics, etc) within our lives, so that we can go back to place we used to live, and note how much it changes, and I think that as Americans we get even less of this than average, for instance: Shanghai.

But I think it's more than just a return to pre 20th century thinking. It's a pattern of Tolkien's world, that the world is primarily a place of myth, not an actual realized world, a backdrop to explore heroism, which is certainly not empty, (far far from it), but rather the background just is, the minor characters seem to know that the story isn't about them, but not just for plot purposes, rather because thats their purpose, their platonic essence if you will.

While I'd love to continue writing, and perhaps if I continued to do so long I'd find a combination of words that make a little sense, but it's past midnight, so I will say goodbye, and perhaps I can continue onward with a better understanding and better way to say what I'm saying.

Labels: LOTR

Chapters 1 and 2:

I was reading a bit about the Lord of the Rings lately, here and there, and noticed that there was a lot of stuff that I don't remember, and thinking about it, I have no idea when the last time I read the whole trilogy was. Probably not since before the movies. Therefore, last night, I started reading it again, and thought that maybe I'd blog my reactions to it.

One of the, problems, I had with the books, (which was amplified by the movies, I think), was that it seemed to me that the Shire was the only place where people actually lived, meaning that for everybody else it seemed that there were simply warriors waiting around for the next battle, or elves sitting around doing whatever it is that 1,000 year old elves do. In any event, I think the first chapter is excellent in setting up the Shire, in describing hobbit communities and customs.

The second chapter is about the Ring, focusing on Smeagol. It surprised me that there wasn't more detail given to Gil-Galad and Isildur, and their battle with Sauron. I also didn't remember Sauron taking residence in Mirkwood.

Overall, what I think I was missing when I read the books originally was that it wasn't about the story, it was about the stories within the stories, the histories that Gandalf and company tell.

While I'd ideally like to have some sort of more lengthy discussion about each chapter for the purposes of this project (which, if history is any guide, I will abandon long before completion), however I fear that I may have to settle for good enough, and just a few points of initial interest will have to suffice. Hopefully, I'll get a better post the next couple of chapters.

Labels: fall, scooters, vacation