The Return of the King is both the shortest and the longest installment of The Lord of the Rings.
Although it contains the fewest pages of narration, it includes upwards
of a hundred pages of appendices. These informational additions deal
mainly with history and language, and while they are illuminating,
they’re also pretty dry. For the most part, they read like a textbook.
The most interesting histories, at least for me, involve the further
exploits of characters who play a major role in Lord of the Rings. Following the appendices are four indexes, each of which is quite handy.
But it’s the story that I’m really interested in, and Tolkien brings us
into it right away – though, frustratingly, he again leaves us to
wonder for half the book what Frodo and Sam are up to. This is
particularly disheartening in Return, as Two Towers leaves them in such a dire situation. The first part of Return
is filled with grand battles against fierce enemies. It seems that
while Frodo and Sam are quietly inching their way toward Mount Doom, the
rest of the world is engaged in a fierce cosmic conflict. The
discouraging truth is that no matter how valiantly Gandalf, Aragorn and
the rest hold back the enemy, they cannot defeat it. The fate of the
Middle-earth rests in the hands of two hobbits… and, perhaps, a third.
Return
finds the steadfast pairs of Merry and Pippin and Frodo and Sam split
up for the first time in their quest. This separation is grueling but in
three out of four cases allows them to discover untapped reserves of
valor. Pippin finds himself in the service of Denethor, degenerate
steward of Gondor, and bonds with Beregond, one of the guards. When
Denethor’s addled wits lead him to order the immolation of himself and
his son, Faramir, Pippin must depend upon his own sense of discernment
and his newfound friend in order to save Faramir. Merry pledges himself
to a gentler monarch, the fatherly Theoden, and obtains the unexpected
assistance of a mysterious soldier named Dernhelm when his lord forbids
him to prove his loyalty in battle.
Sam now emerges as the
true hero of the book, the one who must somehow rescue his master and
sustain him through the treacherous trek to Mount Doom. He remains the
least changed of the four companions, yet he displays courage that never
would have been required of him before his departure from the Shire. In
the opening pages of the second part of Return, we are struck
with the sense that this has become Sam’s story. This is re-affirmed
later when he lovingly restores the beauty of the Shire Saruman so
nearly destroyed, when he inherits the book containing the account of
their quest, and when he ends the most complex of tales with the
simplest of comments: “Well, I’m back.”
Although this quest
belongs most fundamentally to the hobbits, most of the characters
contribute in some way, whether by intention or not, to its completion.
The most powerful figures for the side of good in Return are
Gandalf, returned to Middle-earth for the purpose of seeing the conflict
through to its conclusion, and Aragorn, who must assume his kingly role
in order to lead the charge against the enemy, heal the most grievous
of his comrades’ injuries and prepare for the restoration of Gondor.
Gandalf’s prediction that Gollum would have some role to play yet is
seen to fruition in a most unexpected manner that is equally triumphant
and tragic. The quest succeeds because people are good but also because
they are fallen.
Oddly enough, while the military maneuverings
of Rohan and Gondor fill half the book, the all-important final leg of
Frodo and Sam’s journey takes only three chapters. The most frequent
complaint I heard and read about Jackson’s final film installment was
that there was too much movie following the destruction of the Ring. In
the book, this gradual ending makes up the greater portion of the second
part of Return. Moreover, the battle is not over after the Ring
is destroyed. The hobbits are heartbroken to discover their own pristine
homeland tainted by Saruman’s malice, and while Frodo is too weakened
to play a very active role, Merry, Pippin and Sam must purge the Shire
of its evil. We also see that Frodo is most fundamentally altered by his
experience, to the point that he can no longer feel at home in the
Shire he sacrificed so much to save.
Return is a
glorious ending to Tolkien’s masterpiece. The book ends as we think it
ought to, but not entirely. Tolkien presents us with an enchanting land
and shows its magic gradually slipping away, a tragic process that
cannot be amended with the destruction of the Ring. Indeed, in some ways
the quest’s success hastens such changes, as it robs the Elves of their
ability to maintain in Middle-earth an environment suitable for their
ethereality. Frodo’s departure is elegiac, a tribute to his effort but a
reminder of his failure. Yet it seems a harder blow to Sam than Frodo,
who always seemed a bit aloof and more deeply fond of Bilbo and Gandalf
than even his faithful servant. That the three should leave together is
fitting. And though the Fourth Age promises to be far less enchanting
than the Third, Tolkien’s decision to leave us with Sam instills hope
that many good times are yet to come.
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