Chapter V: The White Rider After two chapters following Merry and Pippin into Fangorn Forest, we go back to Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas. They're just inside Fangorn, investigating the area where they saw the old man the night before. There are no tracks, though. This creeps Gimli out, but Legolas says it's because the grass … Continue reading LotR Reread: All the Pretty Horses
The Lord of the Rings
LotR Reread: The Tree is Talking, Merry…
Chapter III: The Uruk-hai This is my least favorite chapter in The Lord of the Rings. It’s not just because Merry and Pippin, two of my favorite characters, have been captured and treated cruelly by the orcs. It’s the orcs themselves that make me hate this chapter. Of all of Tolkien’s bad guys, the orcs … Continue reading LotR Reread: The Tree is Talking, Merry…
LotR Reread: They Went Thataway
Here begins the second part of The Lord of the Rings. Notice how I said the second part and not second book? Why is that, you ask? It's because Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings as one long book broken up into six parts. Because it was published during the post-WWII shortages (food, paper, … Continue reading LotR Reread: They Went Thataway
LotR Reread: It’s Not You, It’s Me
Chapter X- The Breaking of the Fellowship In the shadow of Tol Brandir, above the falls of Rauros, the company must decide if they are going to turn toward the south and head for Gondor and Minas Tirith with Boromir, or if they will turn towards the east and go to Mordor. Aragorn has put … Continue reading LotR Reread: It’s Not You, It’s Me
LotR Reread: Over the Chasm and Through the Woods
Chapter V: The Bridge of Khazad-dum The fellowship has found out what happened to Balin and his people in Moria. They’re dead, killed by orcs and whatever evils are down here. Frodo remembers Balin’s long friendship with Bilbo, and how he came to visit them in the Shire long ago. It’s a sweet memory, and … Continue reading LotR Reread: Over the Chasm and Through the Woods
LotR Reread: Hobbits in Dark Caverns Shouldn’t Throw Stones
Chapter III: The Ring Goes South After Elrond adjourns his council, Frodo, Sam, and Bilbo meet up with Merry and Pippin, who think it’s unfair that Elrond is sending Sam on this journey with Frodo. Frodo says it’s not the reward they think it is, but rather a punishment. But Merry informs him that the … Continue reading LotR Reread: Hobbits in Dark Caverns Shouldn’t Throw Stones
LotR Reread: Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Baggins
Book Two, Chapter I: Many Meetings Frodo wakes up. Again. He's confused, thinking at first that he's back in Bag End after an illness and that his adventures were a bad dream. Then he realizes that all it did indeed happen. While he's getting his bearings, he asks what time it is, and lo and … Continue reading LotR Reread: Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Baggins
LotR Reread: Maybe Don’t Bring a Hobbit to a Sword Fight
Chapter XI: A Knife in the Dark There’s a significant change in tone across the last few chapters of Book I of The Fellowship of the Ring. Chapter I, ‘A Long Expected Party’ is a bridge between the children’s tale of The Hobbit and the grown-up tale of The Lord of the Rings. We see … Continue reading LotR Reread: Maybe Don’t Bring a Hobbit to a Sword Fight
LotR Reread: Home is Behind, Weirdness is Ahead
Chapter VI- The Old Forest I’ll be the first to admit that I find forests a little creepy. I’ve lived on the Great Plains all my life. We don’t do vast expanses of trees. Hiking through the forests of northern Minnesota and Colorado is eerie enough. How do you know there isn’t a bear … Continue reading LotR Reread: Home is Behind, Weirdness is Ahead
LotR Reread: Frodo Gets the Heck out of Hobbiton, in a Leisurely Fashion
Chapter III: Three is Company In Peter Jackson’s 2001 film adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring, Ian McKellan’s Gandalf returns to the Shire a few weeks or months after Bilbo leaves and sends Frodo (played by a seventeen-year-old Elijah Wood) on his journey that same night. This works for a movie but not for … Continue reading LotR Reread: Frodo Gets the Heck out of Hobbiton, in a Leisurely Fashion
