The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Published by Ballantine Books
Reviewed by Leigh Kimmel
In this volume we come to the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings. We often speak of it as the third book of a trilogy, but in fact it was conceived and written as a single, continuous narrative, with the presupposition that it would be published in a single volume.
However, the economic realities of the post-WWII UK disrupted that expectation. Although paper was no longer strictly rationed as it had been during the actual conflict, it was still in scant supply. As a result, Tolkien's publisher was very hesitant to publish such a huge tome in the volume necessary to have any chance of being profitable.
So they hit on the idea of breaking it up into three more manageable volumes which would be published sequentially over some time. If the numbers on the first volume proved less than satisfactory, the remaining volumes could be stricken from the publishing schedule and they would incur no further loss.
Instead, it succeeded so far beyond expectations that there were even problems with copyright as a result of trans-Atlantic demand leading to the importation of too many copies of the British edition. And it led to the trilogy format being cemented into readers' and publishers' expectations of epic fantasy. Sometimes this is to the detriment of the quality of a series that really doesn't need a third volume, but is forced into the expected format by the production of an extra book, as I feel to be the case with Beth Bernobich's Allegiance.
Even when the trilogy format doesn't feel forced arbitrarily upon the author, it can produce problems. Middle books often sag, giving the impression of being all about carrying the story from beginning to end without anything of its own to recommend itself. And both second and third volumes often have the problem of needing to spend substantial amounts of time and effort at the beginning with re-establishing what has gone before, both to refresh the memories of established readers and to catch up those coming in with this book.
Because The Lord of the Rings was written with the intention that it should be published as a single volume, the catching up is done in a separate synopsis, rather than in the first several chapters of the text itself. For the reader who is coming at the three volumes in quick succession, this has the benefit of making it easy to skip over the "what has gone before" material without having to worry about missing important information being slipped in amidst all the literary housekeeping.
And then we get to the meat of the story, and once again we have the problem we experienced when we picked up The Two Towers. Like The Fellowship of the Ring, it ended in one heck of a cliffhanger -- but the next book doesn't pick up where it left off. Instead of returning to Frodo and Samwise's travails at Cirith Ungol, we have another ten chapters of the affairs of Merry and Pippin in Rohan and Gondor. For the first-time reader, especially a young one, it can be frustrating. I know that, the first time I read it, I was champing at the bit to find out what had happened to Frodo, and quite honestly, I didn't give these chapters the attention they really deserve.
Because there's a lot happening here -- even if it is, essentially, all a feint to keep the attention of the Dark Lord away from the Ringbearer, trying to give him some kind of fighting chance to get to Mount Doom and complete his mission. And in that first reading, I didn't really grasp how desperately slender that hope was for those who battled the forces of Sauron on the Pellinor Fields, how easy it would've been for far more of them to slip into the despair that consumed Denethor the last Ruling Steward -- because everything they did, everything they sacrificed, would be for naught if Frodo were to fail, if the Ruling Ring were to be recognized for what it was and taken to Barad-dur. Yet anything they could do to directly aid Frodo could actually increase the danger that his mission will come to the attention of the Dark Lord.
And finally, just as Sauron's nameless Messenger makes his arrogant demands and the Eagles of the West come soaring overhead, this storyline stops, and we're finally back to Samwise and his desperate search for Frodo. It's a close-run thing, and even when Sam finds his wounded boss, they still have the horrific trek across a ruined land, with the Ring weighing ever heavier upon Frodo's mind and soul, becoming a gnawing obsession like an addiction.
We all know the story, of how Frodo makes it to the very finish line, only to have his will falter. After having endured so much, he simply cannot perform the deed. Instead he puts the One Ring upon his finger and truly means to claim it as its own -- only to be interrupted by someone whose addiction to the Ring is even stronger and more all-consuming than his own, who cannot bear to see another lay claim to it. And in that moment, brings doom upon both himself and the Ring.
And then we learn why the Eagles of the West are flying, and the two storylines are finally drawn together for the triumphant moment when it is clear that our heroes have won, even if at terrible cost. When Aragorn can finally claim the throne that is his right, and grant mercy to those who fought for Sauron only out of fear rather than desire for power and domination.
And then we see one of the biggest problems of such a monumental work -- bringing it to an actual close. Or as a writer acquaintance of mine once said, you've got a thousand plates spinning and you need to bring them all to a stop at once. And it seems that Tolkien found it easier said than done to bring the story to a close. After what appears to be the grand finale validation scene that is Aragorn's formal coronation, we have our hobbits heading back home to the Shire, only to find out that no, all is not well. For it seems that Saruman has found himself a new place to rule and lord it over people, and our heroes must once again fight to secure freedom for themselves and their people.
Those who have read the History of Middle Earth know that Tolkien wrote several chapters after the departure of the elven ship from the Grey Havens and Sam's return to Rose and home, telling the story of Aragorn's visit to the Shire to see the next generation of hobbits. One can almost imagine the editor gently explaining that these scenes have gone on beyond the ending and are wandering down a garden path and are going to need to be removed. It really does feel like Tolkien had a great deal of trouble saying good-bye to his Secondary World, and just kept wanting to find out what happened next to those of his characters who remained in Middle-Earth.
Finally, there are the appendices, six of them, along with an index of persons, places, and named objects. Although they were originally created to resolve a copyright issue by producing a truly new edition that could be given a fresh copyright (remember that business with the importation of too many copies of the British edition? -- this is the fallout), these materials are the sorts of materials one can spend hours poring over, delighting in the hints of a long history full of stories never to be told, far trees only to be glimpsed from a distance. There are extended narrative accounts of the second and third ages, along with detailed chronologies and genealogies of the characters' ancestors. And then there are the linguistic appendices, dealing with the development of the calendar in use in Middle-Earth, the writing systems and how they were adapted to the various languages of the imagined world, and how the author went about representing the various personal and place names to suggest familiar relationships between European languages.
These materials provided endless fascination to my young and creative mind. I enjoyed the idea of a world that existed for itself, not merely as a collection of sets to support the story. I'd always had a fascination for languages, and even as early as grade school would sometimes make up the words and writing of imagined worlds, although I seldom wrote actual stories that went much of anywhere. They were more places to imagine living than settings for proper stories with a beginning, middle and ending, conflict and resolution.
Over the years, many of Tolkien's imitators have provided readers with glossaries of imaginary vocabulary or essays on the history of their imagined worlds. But rarely has it managed to have the organic feel that Tolkien's background to Middle-Earth does, the sense that it, like life, is fractal and the closer one approaches any of the "far trees" glimpsed in those appendices, the more levels of detail will become visible, hinting even further distant stories behind them.
Review posted June 20, 2018.
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