Journey Into An Unforgettable Epic

The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Last summer my heart broke.

I was browsing the shelf of free books that stretches along the wall outside our local library's used book store. The occasional treasure hides there amidst outdated textbooks and Reader's Digest condensed books.

Several feet from me stood a jaded teenager with his baseball cap pulled over his eyes, slouching in boredom as he waited for his mother to finish her perusal of the books. She handed him a slightly worn paperback saying that it looked interesting and he might enjoy it. He barely glanced at the cover and disdainfully tossed it aside with a "Naw."

I looked to see what the book was and joined his mother's efforts to interest him in it. I even dangled the fact that a movie about it was currently in production. It didn't matter. We failed and the mother-son pair left with The Fellowship of the Rings still lying rejected on the shelf.

I mourned a little, saddened that this teenager had just walked away from a cultural experience that would have delighted, surprised, and engaged him in a way that would stay with him for life.

Story of Hobbits

The Fellowship of the Rings is the story of Middle-Earth's Third Age. But on a less grand scale, it is the story of a small hobbit by the name of Frodo. He is the nephew of another hobbit eccentric named Bilbo. Author J.R.R. Tolkein introduced Bilbo Baggins in the children's book, The Hobbit. While on his dragon hoard quest in that book, Bilbo picks up a ring, a ring that is passed on to Frodo at the start of Fellowship of the Ring.

This isn't any ring. It is THE RING. It is the "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." If you've read the series, that is one of many lines that can send shivers up and down your spine. It sent shivers up the spine of the very ordinary hobbit, Frodo. He becomes the Ring Bearer and is sent on a quest to destroy the ring before it can be recaptured by the enemy and all of Middle Earth blanketed with evil.

What is a hobbit? A hobbit is a short humanoid creature. They live in burrows, like to garden, and treasure a good pipe. They prefer to go barefoot and are stout and hairy in appearance. Tolkein vociferously denies the use of allegory is his series, yet it is hard to not compare hobbits to rural Englishmen who live a life that is simple, true, and slightly xenophobic.

Hobbits don't often leave home. This makes them an ideal perspective as the reader can discover the world of Middle Earth through the eyes of the Hobbits and share in their wonderment at the miracles around them.

Epic, Not A Tale

The Fellowship of the Rings is the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As you open the pages, you are pulled into a world that is simultaneously derivative and original. It is built upon all the classical literature which came before it, upon folk tales, upon poetry and song. Yet, it is pulled together in a way that was new and imaginative.

Dwarves, elves, and demons existed in literature before The Fellowship of the Rings, but Tolkein still becomes their creator. He creates hobbits, orcs, and Nazgul as well. The pictures Tolkein paints are so vivid that they'll give you nightmares and infect your daydreams with fantastical images.

The pages are peppered with poetry and song. Tolkein doesn't simply tell you the creatures of good delight in poetry and art: he shows you. Neither is the poetry the brand of modern tripe where meter and form are counted as irrelevant. No, Tolkein creates beauty within parameters and allows structure to combat chaos.

Tolkein also fills his pages with prophesies that both guide and stymie the book's characters. It's a device that is later used by David Eddings, though with substantially less subtlety and mastery than is found in the pages of The Lord of the Rings.

The Fellowship of the Rings establishes an epic battle between good and evil and a fight for nothing less than the survival of the Middle Kingdoms and all of the races that believe in justice, poetry, and hard work. There is little within these pages that is gray (not counting the wizard, Gandalf, whose moniker is "the Gray"). The bad guys are evil and the good guys are good. There are a few surprises-people we are suspicious of turn out to be good and formerly good guys turn evil. However, Tolkein reveals these subterfuges fairly early on and the reader never wavers in his or her decision of who to root for.

Telling of the Tale

The Fellowship of the Ring is a departure from The Hobbit even though it continues the story with the same world, creatures, and characters. This trilogy is not a children's tale, though many young adults read it and fall in love with it. It is a book that is meant to challenge its readers on many different levels.

The challenge does not, though, interfere with the pure enjoyment of the book. It is told in a fashion that is suspenseful and exciting, even if it bogs down at times. The characters are in real danger. They're not superheroes who can deflect any evil thrown their way with a flick of a wrist or the flash of a sword. They struggle. They make mistakes. They are imperfect, which is perhaps why it is so easy to love them.

In this first book, the "fellowship of the ring" is formed to accompany Frodo on his quest to destroy the One Ring that will ensure the enemy's victory. Joining him are three other hobbits: Samwise, Merriweather, and Pippen. He's also joined by the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, the wizard Gandalf, the ranger Aragorn, and the knight Boromir.

This particular books ends on a cliff-hanger that is made more shocking, not less, in the opening pages of the next novel.

Book Worth Reading

Lord of the Rings has deservedly taken its place among great literary works. It is a book that manages to be both popular and literary at the same time. It spawned an entire genre of literature of which it is still the giant. Entire subcultures have absorbed this series and subsumed it into their own creative efforts.

I couldn't bear to see the book be rejected on the library shelf without even a price tag to dignify it. I took it home.

--B. Redman