Let's Bust a Recap : The Lord of the Rings

Y'all. I know I wrote a novel-length post on Friday, and today we're diving right back in with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These are the books I have finished the most recently, but I am ready to talk about them, and I can't promise that this will be a concise post either. So for that, sorry. But also: not sorry. 

Also, we're definitely going into spoiler territory with this one. The Hobbit is 85 years old and The Return of the King is nearly 70, so I don't feel too bad about this, but if you've been holding out on this classic saga to read it for yourself: reader beware.

And while we're issuing warnings, we're going on a deep dive into my history with Lord of the Rings so if you're not interested: I get it. 

Why all the drama for these books, Hannah? Fair question. It goes way back for me, so buckle up.

Way back when I started this blog, I talked about my LIFE LIST OF BOOKS I WANT TO READ BEFORE I DIE. It's a real thing and it's very serious and The Lord of the Rings has had a permanent and prominent spot on it since I was a literal child. I grew up loving C.S. Lewis. My dad read us The Chronicles of Narnia before we could embrace them for ourselves. I wrote papers on Lewis in high school and college. And his books even now show up on every single annual book list I make for myself. He and Tolkien are inseparable in my mind, and I've been equally aware of The Lord of the Rings since I was very young. I've read The Hobbit and loved it. But for whatever reason, The Lord of the Rings has always intimidated me. I'm not sure if it's the sheer length, my history with the film franchise (don't worry, we're getting to that), or the fact that the few times I tried to start reading it, I gave up very quickly. But this trilogy definitely falls in the Big Fish category, and I had a hard time pulling the trigger. (And yes, we mix metaphors around here. I apologize for that, too.) I have literally pulled them off the shelf every single year since I started making my book lists, and every single year, they haven't made the cut and have gone back to their spot on the shelf. 

Every. Single. Year.

But 2022 is the year that all changed. I attribute this in part to the fact that my sister-in-law read them last year, and I had a serious case of FOMO over it. So this year, they were the first books I pulled and they were non-negotiable. I pulled The Hobbit as well, just because I know it and I love it and I figured it would be a good way to ease into Middle-earth before tagging along on Frodo's epic adventure. My husband committed to reading them, too, because he's been in the same boat with me of wanting to read them but putting it off. He even borrowed his sister's copies so we wouldn't have to share. 

Speaking of my husband, let's go ahead and circle back to my experience with the movies. Peter Jackson's blockbuster adaptations of this trilogy were coming out while I was in high school, and at first I couldn't be bothered with them at all. I didn't want to watch them without having read the books. And on top of that, I wasn't dying to watch a bunch of bloody orc wars, and elves and dwarves and other mythical creatures on this quest. So while all my friends and my brothers were wearing these movies out and dying for the next installment, I was just living my life, you know? 

But when The Return of the King came to theaters, the family I was nannying for at the time was beyond excited to see them and convinced me to go with them. So I brilliantly decided to try to marathon the first two before we went to see it. 

Bad idea. 

I cannot emphasize this enough: if you've never seen these movies, take them slowly. I couldn't stay awake, and finally had my brother give me the Cliffs Notes version right before leaving to see the culmination of Peter Jackson's paramount work in the cinema.

I was so lost. I had no idea what was going on, and I stood up to leave the theater no less than three times because I sincerely thought the movie had ended. I volunteered to do every single bathroom run with the kids and after we left, I wrote the movies off forever. 

Fast forward eight years, and now I am dating my husband. These are his favorite movies. And I'm not saying it would have been a dealbreaker for him if I had refused to watch them, but I'm also not saying it wouldn't have been. Ya feel me? He tells me that I'm going to watch them and not only that, I'm going to watch the extended versions. There are extended versions?! Oh yes. And that's what I was going to watch if I wanted to stay in this relationship. So for one whole week shortly after we started dating, I went to his house every single night and we watched half a movie at a time with his younger siblings. After each part was over, they would all quiz me on what was going on and who the characters were and ask me how I felt about every single aspect of the story.

Y'all. When I say that is one of the all-time best weeks of my entire life, I'm not kidding. I fell in love with the story, the movies, the actors: all of it. I gave them to Cody for his birthday the first year of our marriage, and we watch them at least once a year. And now my husband and I have been happily married for ten years so there's that. 

Hannah, for the love of Frodo, are you ever going to get to the point? That's fair. 

If you're unfamiliar with The Lord of the Rings, it is the tale of a fellowship of men, hobbits, a wizard, a dwarf, and an elf who undertake the mission to destroy the One Ring of power in order to prevent the dark lord Sauron from taking over Middle-earth to rule by his wicked power. It was meant to be a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book entitled The Hobbit, but it grew into something much bigger. In The Hobbit, we get to go with Bilbo Baggins on his adventure to win a share of treasure being hoarded by the dragon Smaug. In The Hobbit, Bilbo acquires the One Ring, and in The Lord of the Rings, he passes it to his cousin Frodo who ultimately ends up destroying it and saving all of Middle-earth in doing so. Tolkien is considered a pioneer and authority on the high fantasy genre, and The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written with over 150 million copies sold. 

And let me tell you: with good reason. 

My husband and I eventually decided to just read them aloud together, and we loved them. I wanted to hit these right out of the gate while my resolve to read them was high, so The Hobbit was the first novel I read this year, and upon finishing it I immediately started The Fellowship. But after the first chapter, I stalled. I wanted something cozy and familiar while the world outside was wrapped in snow, and then I had to read books for book club, and I ended up setting The Fellowship aside. Cody started it as well, and also stalled. Sometime towards the end of February or early March, we decided to join forces and read them aloud, and while that meant going through them more slowly because we had to wait for times that we could be together to read, it was the best decision. It feels like a fitting way to get my introduction to the books reading them with the man who made me fall in love with the story in the first place. And we both now have an even deeper affection for this story. By the time we came to the final chapter last week when Frodo leaves Samwise to go to the Grey Havens, I was sobbing so hard Cody had to take over reading. This story is so beautiful and powerful, and I truly cannot say enough good things about it. I am genuinely sorry I didn't read The Lord of the Rings sooner in life because it's a book I would have already read again. 

As for the movie adaptations, Peter Jackson did a magnificent job with them. I was a little worried that my love for The Lord of the Rings adaptations was misplaced after Cody and I went to see the first two Hobbit movies and hated them. (I was so angry after the second one, I still have never seen the third one.) But he was much more faithful to the books for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the care with which he handled it shines through. We can still enjoy the movies after reading the books which is a relief. And hilariously, after reading The Return of the King, I'm now disappointed at how rushed the ending of the movie is. I'm not sure why Jackson decided to give Aragorn such a struggle with his identity; in the books Aragorn is very sure of himself and his place in life, and he is the undisputed leader of the Fellowship unlike in the films where it seems more like Gandalf holds that role. I wish he would have done better by Faramir and Éowyn, and I'm disappointed that Beregond was not portrayed at all in the films, but overall, a fantastic effort to bring this epic to life. 

It's very hard to choose a favorite character overall from this brilliant tale, but after being immersed in Middle-earth and becoming more intimately involved with every character for the better half of this year: my love and esteem for Master Samwise Gamgee is unmatched and unrivaled. He is the true Hero among heroes, and I will love him till the day I die. (And maybe even after. I think these books have possibly won a spot in Heaven.) I'm so glad I went to Middle-earth this year, and I hope to go back before my life is through. This trilogy gets all the stars and my highest recommendation with the advice to push through The Fellowship (it was a little slow to get started) because it just keeps getting better and better. 

Have you read (or seen) the Lord of the Rings? Who is your favorite character? And what books have you been reading lately?