I realize this is not new information to anyone, but what struck me so hard this time I read the Lord of the Rings was the sense of melancholy. Like it’s painfully obvious to the reader that this world is Not As It Once Was. All of the characters we meet reference this feeling of loss in one way or another.
The elves are the most obvious – with their fading light and their ships sailing away. Treebeard talks about how the woods aren’t as they once were, about the ents who are falling asleep and withering to nothing. The dwarves lust after the glory of their forefathers, be it in mountain fortresses or caverns of mithril – now empty and echoing. Old Tom Bombadil remembers a race of great men and women, reduced simply to trinkets in cold tombs.
And even men, the race set to inherit this new age, even they are experiencing this sense of melancholy, of losing hold of something great. We see their great cities reduced to rubble on riverbanks, or possessed by evil. Aragorn longs to return to his throne to restore the glory of ages past, to somehow rejuvenate that which is dying in the race of men.
And hobbits? At first we see them as living in the present, with no great glory of the past to tie them down. Yet when Frodo returns to the Shire, it is…Not As It Once Was. And I think while the other hobbits are able to shake off this feeling and return to their love of life and the present, maybe Frodo’s true burden is to inherit this sense of loss from the rest of Middle Earth.
And what makes Lord of the Rings (and Tolkien) so extraordinary, at least to me, is how there is still so much hope in the story even with all its sadness. Hope is literally Aragorn’s childhood name, given to him at a time his House is all but finished. Hope is what drives Gandalf and leads his way when others of his order become distracted and give up their purpose. Hope appears to Sam when he and Frodo trudge towards what seems to be their end in the fires of Mount Doom. Hope is there at dawn when Rohirrim arrive at Minas Tirith and blow their horns, and they ride to defend the City of Kings, though they know what they are facing. In fact, for me some of the most brilliant moments in the story are those when hope appears in the middle of darkest despair. Tolkien writes like sadness and hope are merely the two sides of the same coin.
One of the many things I love about the world Tolkien created is the exquisite beauty that rises from sadness; lesser stories would transform sorrow and grief into bitterness, but in Tolkien’s world, it becomes a force for pity and wisdom and love. Some of his best and wisest characters are those who have known great sorrow. Melancholy and sadness are a part of Arda Marred, but like Gandalf says: “not all tears are an evil.”
Perhaps my favourite quote from Tolkien is Haldir’s line from the Fellowship of the Ring, when the company is nearing Lothlórien:
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
AND WHEN HE GETS KNOCKED ASIDE THE OTHER TWO JUST IMMEDIATELY JUMP IN FRONT OF FRODO?? THEY’RE SO SCARED BUT THEY JUST DO IT WITH NO HESITATION. LOOK AT THEIR FACES
LIKE DON’T LOOK TOO CLOSELY AT THE DUDE ON THE RIGHT CUZ HIS EXPRESSION IS OBJECTIVELY HILARIOUS BUT SERIOUSLY. THEY’RE SO SCARED. AND THEY JUST. IMMEDIATELY JUMP IN FRONT OF FRODO WITHOUT A SECOND OF THOUGHT. I LOVE THESE BOYS. LET THEM ALL LIVE.
can I just say, from the bottom of my heart
STOP WEARING THE BLOODY RING YOU MORON
wet hair dude has GOT SOME MOVES
in all seriousness I’m confused about whether or not this place is in Mordor or where Gandalf’s buddy-turned-evil-wizard’s place was? Because either they both showed up in Morder exceptionally fast and all the goblins(?) are suddenly turning to evil white haired wizard instead of evil floating eye, or it’s where evil white haired wizard was to begin with and they took over the landscape like. real fucking fast.
HAVE BEEN INFORMED IT IS EVIL WHITE-HAIRED WIZARD’S PLACE.
also Gandalf has started talking to moths. I’m sure he’s fine though.
who the FUCK is this
is he going to die?
he’s passing into the shadow world
it’s time to P-P-P-P-P-P-P-PASS INTO THE SHADOW WORLD
this is giving off a lot of ‘Old Wise Man Gives Vague and Unhelpful Speech Knowing He’s Gonna Die Soon’ vibes and I do not like it
nah nah chill I can get us in I know the bouncer
you sure mate
you sure
AW BUDDY NO I’M SO SORRY
I swear to god if even one of you ever made fanart of this
cool! that’s gross!
ARAGORN. LITERALLY CAUGHT FRODO. OUT OF THE AIR.
BELIMIR LET PIP AND MERRY TACKLE HIM. AND HIS FIRST CONCERN WHEN THEY WERE CAUGHT ON THE MOUNTAIN WAS THE HOBBITS. MEANWHILE ARAGORN WAS ALL OUT CARRYING FRODO.
NO OFFENCE BUT EVERYONE’S WILDLY STRONG PROTECTIVE STREAK OF THE HOBBITS IS MY FAVOURITE THING.
I have no memory of this place
I’m adding a rule to the drinking game take a shot every time you experience a meme real time
He’s been following us for three days
HOW LONG YOU BEEN IN THESE MINES. WHERE ARE YOU GETTING YOUR FOOD AND WATER FROM.
wait wait wait
Golem and Smeagol are the same guy?? they’re not two separate small grey angry creatures from different times in the series???
this angry huggable creature was not meant to cry and now I’m sad
aw bud. we’ve all been there.
HEY CAN I ASK WHY GANDALF’S SO READY TO BE MEAN TO THE HOBBITS LATELY
so I now know the creatures I hypothesised might be goblins are definitely orcs
this chick talks like she’s high off her elf ears and thinks she’s talking ten times faster than she is
a lament to Gandalf
bet they don’t mention his fireworks. There should be a verse about them
AW. AW. CUZ LIKE. I GUESS GANDALF WAS THIS BIG FAMOUS WIZARD OR WHATEVER BUT THE HOBBITS ARE THE ONES WHO KNEW HIM. THEY WERE HIS FAM. HE WAS THEIRS. AW. STOP THIS.
AW HE’S DOING HIS OWN STOP
I would see the glory of Gondor restored
I believe in you my jock son
this is where he sticks his face through the water and finds out Barty Crouch Jr is a Death Eater
honestly she is giving off the creepiest damn vibes and I don’t trust her
They’re standing alone in the middle of the night and she switches to her freaky mindspeak anyway like who’s gonna overhear you??
OH OKAY WHAT THE FUCK
I passed the test
HEY THAT’S COOL CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY YOU TURNED INTO A FLOATING COLOUR PALETTE
EUGH you’re still alive
perfected, he calls the orcs, like the dude’s not literally drooling blood
his war paint or whatever is literally someone smacking his face upside down
one small bite is enough to fill the stomach of a grown man
how many did you eat?
four
THE HOBBITS ARE MY PEOPLE
a) awww
b) has he always had that much fuckin hair
maybe he’s born with it
maybe it’s maybeline
he’s being so bashful and cute I am literally in love
I’m suddenly finding myself wondering whether it’ll be Frodo or Aragorn who chucks the ring into the lava pit because it’s all like Frodo’s destiny or whatever but surely at some point there’s gonna be some symbolic scene where Aragorn is faced with the challenge of the ring and proves he’s stronger than his father or grandfather or whatever
the fuck how many names does this guy have
let Frodo sleep 2k18
you know in a modern AU these two would be the reluctant roommates who actually get along really well and always share the couch and use the shared space to kick each other when they talk about awkward things they pretend they don’t wanna talk about and whenever they go out Boromir ‘wingmans’ Aragorn even though Aragorn insists, every time, that he really doesn’t wanna be wingmanned, he’s quite happy single thank you, no Boromir stop, no, no I don’t wanna play have you met Arag- hi Tracy so nice to meet you
anyways getting back on track Sam is so concerned for Frodo and it’s so sweet
so Frodo is definitely gonna go the stupid protagonist route and sneak off to finish this quest on his own to protect everyone else isn’t he
I literally just decided you two would be best friends you are not allowed to fight now
where’s Frodo?
godDAMNIT Frodo I didn’t want to be right
thank fuck
BOROMIR NO YOU LOVE THE HOBBITS YOU ARE A GOOD PERSON RESIST THE ASSHOLE RING
Frodo?
Frodo?
His voice is so scared and uncertain and sorry and anyways I wanna die
I would have gone with you into the end. Into the very fires of Mordor.
man remember when I didn’t give a fuck about this movie
look after the others – especially Sam
a) I fucking KNEW IT he’s going the dumb self-sacrificing route and Aragorn is fucking letting him????
b) SAM LOVES YOU YOU MORON TALK TO HIM
c) you’ve spent how much time going out of your way to protect your favourite hobbit and you’re just gonna let him run the rest of the way on his own?? have you forgot about the giant murdery fiery eye??? LOOK AFTER YOUR HOBBIT ARAGORN
ARAGORN YOU CANNOT FIGHT A LITERAL ARMY OF ORCS ON YOUR OWN PLEASE GET OUT OF THERE
jrr tolkien: i really love my wife. i will make her into a beautiful, unearthly half-angel princess who beat satan almost single-handedly and won an argument with the keeper of the halls of the dead
jrr tolkien: i really love my best friend. i will make him into a grumpy old tree who never gets to the point
i'll apple your turnover 