The Lord of the Rings
I'm insane I know but I keep re-reading The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien recently, I'm so grateful that I finally read them after being deterred by The Hobbit.
I don't have time to do a full review and analysis of the Lord of the Rings and am too chicken to try considering the number of Tolkien experts out there, but here are my "dot points" for the things I loved the most about the book. There are spoilers here so if you don't want to be spoiled, you may just want to jump straight through to the links!
Three Rings for the Elven-kings
under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Oooh, and here they are in that tongue:
" Ash nazg durbatulúk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."
When lights appeared Sam rubbed his eyes: he thought his head was going queer. He first saw one with the corner of his left eye, a wisp of pale sheen that faded away: but others appeared soon after: some like dimly shining smoke, some like misty flames flickering slowly above unseen candles; here and there they twisted like ghostly sheets unfurled by hidden hands.
....
"There are dead things, dead faces in the water," he said with horror. "Dead faces!"
Gollum laughed. "The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their name," he cackled. "You should not look in when the candles are lit.""Who are they? What are they?" asked Sam shuddering, turning to Frodo, who was now behind him.
"I don't know," said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. "But I have seen them too, In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them." (The Two Towers)
Legolas: The Dead are following. I see shapes of Men and of horses, and pale banners like shreds of cloud and spears like winter thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following.
Elladan: Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned.
But," said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, "I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done."
"So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, to lose them, so that others may keep them. But you are my heir: all that I had and might have had I leave to you. And also you have Rose, and Elanor; and Frodo-lad will come, and Rosie-lass, and Merry, and Goldilocks, and Pippin; and perhaps more that I cannot see.
What didn't I like?
Some resources for Lord of the Rings are:
Tolkien / Book-focussed
Tolkien Online which has a very addictive Discussion Board with lots of topics including FAQ, discussion of the books, discussion of the upcoming movies and so forth. The people are really friendly too! One particularly interesting section is the dubiously entitled "Tolkien Virgin" section of the Reading Room where you can follow the reading progress of a first-time Tolkien reader.
FAQ-like Guide to Tolkien's Letters - The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien are a valuable source of information about LOTR but it can be very difficutl to find the letter which contains the answer to a particular question. The FAQ consists of questions which are answered (or at least addressed) by the Tolkien in his letters.
Tolkien Site List FAQ - this list is quite an extraordinary effort
There and back again - a beautiful beautiful-looking site
A brief summary of the Lord of the Rings - for lazy people ..... I recommend reading the book itself!
The Encyclopedia of Arda - labour of love which is an illustrated hypertext encyclopedia of Tolkien's realms and peoples. Far better than any of those 'guides' you can buy in the bookshop.
Tolkien FAQs and information - very useful resource of frequently asked questions
Online version of Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings and Tolkien things
The White Council - Discussion forum dedicated to the movies
TolkienMovies.com - name says it all
The Quintessential Lord of the Rings is a site which incorporates images from the upcoming film into the storyline so that you can see where everything fits in. A great page for those of you who like visuals! The site also contains nicely laid out pictures of the cast from the upcoming film.
TheOneRing.Net is a site about Tolkien and has up to date information about the movies. Definitely a good site to keep an eye on for latest developments. I particularly like the chat transcripts from the Hall of Fire - where fans get together and debate issues like - do Balrogs have wings? Was there a faster way to get the Ring to the Cracks of Doom? *Grin*
Rotten Tomatoes page for Lord of the Rings. Largely positive reviews the last time I looked. Yay!
The Council of Elrond @ Imladris.net - discussion forum
Lord of the Rings @ Empire Movies
LOTR section of Ian McKellan's Site
In French:
Le Seigneur des Anneaux [Ecran Noir] - Gorgeous site in French.
Yahoo.fr: Le Seigneur des Anneaux
Tolkien Humour
The Mouth of Sauron - Lord of the Rings Humour. It's actually very funny!!!
Lord of the Rings humour - totally geekish of me I know. Some Tolkien-related humour that has made me chortle.
Tolkien Sarcasm Page - try out the synopsis and the Middle Earth Test
Links relating to my favourite Fellowship member Legolas (and Orlando Bloom):
Andrea's Orlando Bloom Land of Fun
Orlando Bloom Multimedia - contains a blurb that I wrote on Legolas
Orlando Bloom Discussion Forum - average age is a bit young. I recommend a more meaningful discussion of Legolas & Orlando Bloom at the Tolkien Online Discussion Board, Imladris Council of Elrond or The White Council.