Finally stopping by to share my thoughts on the rest of TTT! (I've just been so busy fending off Orcs right and left since my username turned blue....
) I haven't started RotK yet, but planning to do so this evening or tomorrow. Thanks for the nice comments on my observation about SC and TTT, guys.
ValiantArcher wrote:Did you feel vindicated when Gandalf returned?
I did! But the elation was a little short-lived, because he seemed so weary and like he had been time-traveling through grim landscapes for eons... or like a person who has suffered a long illness or a very dramatic brush with death. (Which was essentially what had happened to him!) I was glad when he started to seem more like himself, but he is both merrier and more solemn than before, as Merry said.ValiantArcher wrote:What other psychological conflict in stories have you encountered?
Oooh... while neither are similar to SC or TTT in any respect, things that come to mind right now are the climax in
Ella Enchanted and old psychological thrillers like
Dial M for Murder. (A bit odd having those two in the same sentence.
) The former was one of my favorite childhood books, so I guess psychology and I go way back.
Okay, now for thoughts on TTT. (TTThoughts?
)
Smeagollum is interesting. He's both fascinating and maddening and I don't feel like I've ever encountered a character like him in literature before. Usually a character like that would be too annoying and rage-inducing to stand, but Tolkien makes him a really intriguing character amid all of his groveling and truly appalling schemes. He kind of reminds me of the third class of people who are both brutal in peace and cowardly in war that C.S. Lewis mentions in passing in "The Necessity of Chivalry", and I think the concept of trying to redeem such a backwards individual — or even just trying to make use of them at all for your own noble purposes — is pretty fascinating. I especially enjoyed the part where pale-eyed Smeagol was warring with green-eyed Gollum. (There's some psychological conflict for you!)
I have always loved redemption stories and I would love to see Smeagol redeemed somehow, but he is making this really, really difficult. He is so wretched and I am furious over what he did to Frodo and Sam... and then I think of those handful of times when he seemed almost moved by the goodness of the hobbits and I have a little hope yet, but justice must be served to him somehow for the things he has done. (Pretty sure I can rely on Sam to see to that, if he ever gets his hands on him.) Maybe once the Ring is destroyed, he will have a chance at changing, but one kind of wonders if the "withdrawal" from its power might kill him after he has been under its spell for so long. Needless to say, I'm really curious to see what becomes of him. I would not be shocked if his story is ultimately a tragedy or cautionary tale, but we'll see.
I really enjoyed the parts of the story in Ithilien. When Tolkien was describing all of the natural herbs that were growing about the land, I immediately started thinking about cooking and then Sam has the idea for rabbit stew pretty soon after. And I had to get a laugh out of the line "Ithilien, the garden of Gondor now desolate still kept a dishevelled dryad loveliness", because I was reading that chapter first thing in the morning and was looking very much dishevelled, but not so lovely. I took it as an unintended compliment anyway, though. If any of you ever see somebody on a LotR forum with the username Dishevelled Dryad, there's a fighting chance that it's me.
I also really liked the time spent at the secret hideout of the Gondorian rangers. (And loved the bit where Sam saw the oliphaunt!) At first I was none too fond of Faramir, rather like Sam, but he really grew on me by the time they left and I think he's one of my favorites now... he has much more foresight than his brother did, and it takes a great deal of self-control to let the Ring go when you are already on the front lines every day, staring at the blackness of Mordor. I hope we see more of him!
I may have been permanently scarred for life by the end of this story, though. Shelob. Even the name gives me the creeps. I'm not arachnophobic per se, but I, uh, really could have done without Tolkien's effective and vivid description this one time. I would dread watching that scene in the movies more except I am quite certain that what my imagination cooked up is a lot worse than anything the special effects people could have managed.
Frodo's bravery in coming at her in the tunnel with the Phial of Galadrial was awesome, and Sam — SAM — going full furious warrior on her and wounding her and driving her off was amazing. Someone had better sing some songs about that boy, let me tell you. And then we get to the part where Sam thinks that Frodo is dead and I am just emotionally destroyed. Oh, that was awful... poor Sam, thinking he had to go on alone and leave Frodo's body behind. (But thank goodness he did, or else he would have been found with him, with the Ring on them and soon in the clutches of the enemy!) I wasn't even sure if I could go on with the reading the BOOK if Frodo died, much less leave my best friend behind and make a solo journey into perilous enemy territory to throw an endlessly heavy, endlessly dangerous ring into a volcano. And then we find that Frodo's not dead after all, and I'm rejoicing and feeling like I can breathe again, except he's now a prisoner in the absolute worst of prisons. But at least that's better than dead, right? ... Right? Needless to say, I am starting RotK very soon. What a way to end the book!