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Finished The Fellowship of the Ring & Thoughts
I shotgunned the back half of Fellowship and figured I would do one post instead of splitting it up into a “Progress on…” and a “Finished…” Saving digital space!
The Council of Elrond was a great scene—carefully laying out what the characters know, what their goals are, and what and why they’re going to do. It might be a little heavy-handed to just have the characters debate the reader’s questions of “Why can’t they hide the Ring?” or “What about Tom Bombadil?” or “What are the dwarves doing about this?”, but they’re all very natural and sensible things to ask in-universe and out. I like getting these answers directly and clearly from the text. This is a big undertaking, and everyone’s planning and preparing to the best of their ability. Knowing that even the best laid plans (“of mice and men”… and elves… and dwarves… and hobbits) can and will go awry, it makes it more satisfying when the Fellowship succeeds even when they have to improvise.
It also gives us a sneak peak of the Fellowship members and their priorities, and Boromir in particular is focused on here. It’s his suggestion that Gondor use the Ring to defeat Mordor, that they can turn the Dark Lord’s power against him, and his later confrontation with Frodo is built on that. He sees it as a weapon, which it is, and not as a sentient and malevolent entity. Boromir focuses a lot on military might and strength, on the use of physical force as the ultimate solution to Sauron’s threat, and he criticizes merely destroying the Ring and its evil for good as “cowardly.” But he later resorts to cowardly behavior when he tries to get the Ring from Frodo—isolating him, pleading with him, and hiding his true intentions when the rest of the Fellowship catch up with him afterwards. Bravery ≠ physical and martial prowess. Tolkien’s trying to say something about the use of violence here—clearly he doesn’t agree with Boromir’s position and neither do the rest of the characters—and it’s significant that the Fellowship only fights when it’s absolutely necessary.
It’s revealed that Isildur said something eerily similar to Gollum—“’This I will have as weregild [blood money or blood price—Wikipedia] for my father, and my brother.’” Just like Gollum claims that the Ring was his “birthday present” or Bilbo’s claim the Ring was his prize for the riddle contest, Isildur claims ownership over the Ring by the right (or law) of property. Boromir does the same later on. They have to justify it and justify it to others. It’s interesting. The Ring has no “legal” owner but its master and creator; still, those under its sway have to take possession of it (while it’s, in actuality, taking possession of them). They’re entitled to it; they’re special in their ownership of the Ring, its sole owner, and are different than everyone previous because they’re somehow going to be able to resist its corrupting influence. Those who can resist the temptation are humble enough to know they aren’t strong enough to withstand the Ring’s allure; Galadriel and Gandalf come to mind as two powerful characters who understand that the Ring would only lead to evil and misery, even if their intentions were good, and reject the Ring when it’s offered to them freely.
Thinking about the Ring being offered to others, it’s interesting that Frodo is willing to give up the Ring not once but twice (or three times, if I remember the Council scene correctly). Both times are because he doesn’t believe he’s strong enough to bear it and face the hardships ahead, which is something that I think ties into the humility piece I mentioned. Whereas Galadriel’s and Gandalf’s rejection of the Ring come from experience and wisdom, Frodo’s comes from self-doubt. He hasn’t been tested, hasn’t been forced to make these difficult choices, and yet he’s able to realize that he can’t stand for long against the power of the Ring. His desire to do what’s right is able to overpower his desire for the Ring enough to be willing to give it up—something that Bilbo is, after some prodding, capable of as well. Again, I think this ties into the idea that love, friendship, and companions are the best defense against the Ring and the forces of darkness in general. Galadriel has the love of her people and the affection of the Fellowship, Bilbo has strong ties to and history with Gandalf, Frodo has his relationship with the other hobbits and Strider, and Gandalf has affection for hobbits (even if he can be quite surly and sassy with them) and a sense of duty towards the realm of Middle-Earth. These people have love in their lives and a strong desire to care for others; they’re compassionate, and I think that’s what matters here.
I’m reminded of a line from Harry Potter, which has no doubt been said better elsewhere—“... perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well." Bilbo, Frodo, and Sméagol all came upon the Ring by chance, yet only one of them immediately thought they “deserved” it. I think the Ring will corrupt anyone, given time, but it has to have something to latch onto to start. That something was more readily apparent in Sméagol—maybe in his deep desire for hidden knowledge and beginning—that was emphasized by his natural isolation (at least I think he only had the one friend). Bilbo developed a love of adventure throughout his life, through which the Ring’s influence only grew, and Frodo was born inquisitive and strange by hobbit standards. They also both came from “queer sorts” of people, known for their creative, courageous, and curious natures. All the hobbits were ignorant of the full implications of what they had and its history. In contrast, Isildur was a great warrior and king who knew of the Ring and its power and who actively sought it, even if just to destroy it. He couldn’t bear to give up his prize—that which he was “entitled to”—even though he had full knowledge of its evil. Boromir, his descendant (?), falls into the same trap.
Something else I noticed about the Ring is that everyone except the hobbits want to use it in the pursuit of conquest and rule. It’s not just power that they’re after but the subjugation of others. Sméagol wanted to gain power over others by learning their secrets, Galadriel would use it to become a dreadful and powerful queen (“All shall love me and despair!”—one of the best lines I’ve ever read), Gandalf would use it to “protect” Middle-Earth much like Saruman already plans to do for the “greater good” (to borrow a phrase from Harry Potter), and Boromir wants to force out invaders from Gondor and become a “mighty” and ”benevolent and wise” king—“’The fearless, the ruthless, these alone will achieve victory. What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? …The Ring would give me power of Command. How I would drive the hosts of Mordor, and all men would flock to my banner!’” In contrast, Frodo and Bilbo use the Ring to hide from others, to covet and keep to themselves, and to save themselves at the expense of others. There’s still a desire for power, but it’s not to subjugate others.
Hm, onto the final thoughts part of the post. I like that Fellowship spends a lot of time setting things up, thinking through the steps, establishing characters and concepts. That makes it more satisfying when those things are subverted or altered later on! It does make it slow going for a while; I can imagine a lot of people jumped ship during the prologue, the flight from the Shire, or the endless descriptions of traveling (to quote my dad on the films—“They’re movies about walking.”). The actual “big” plot points are far and few between, but it’s all the little things that interest me the most. I like learning about the Fellowship, seeing how they interact with each other, and finding out what brings them together and tears them apart. I like the descriptions of nature, copious as they are, and how it has a consciousness beyond the characters’ understanding. I like reading a book that’s optimistic about human (or humanoid) nature—that people are inherently good and are redeemable, that there’s bravery in unlikely places, that loving one another is the best way to combat evil. I’m not into the songs or the long lists of names or the minutiae of elven history. I don’t particularly care about the fight scenes, and I find the descriptions of the geo-political situation of Middle-Earth really boring. Comparing Fellowship the book to Fellowship the movie, there’s a lot less focus on action and adventure here and more on character relationships and internal conflict. The movie is good, if not great, but it couldn’t adapt this book and be marketable without shuffling a lot of stuff around. The themes are still there, the audio-visual presentation fantastic, the passion for the originals is clear in every scene, but there’s something missing that I can’t quite put my finger on—a deep understanding and appreciation for the little things, maybe.
In any case, I’m looking forward to The Two Towers, but I haven’t decided if that’s what I’m going to read next. I’m open to suggestions!
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