Lord of the Rings: Been there and back again

Finally I have been able to read the cult classic LOTR (acronym for Lord of the rings). Having already seen the movie (all the 3 installments: the fellowship of the ring, the two towers and the return of the king) a couple of times and getting hooked by it, I had been craving to read it too. And let me tell you it met all of my expectations.

LOTR is a work of fiction created by JRR Tolkien. It traces the life of a hobbit, Frodo, as he comes into possession of the One ring (the Ring of Power, which was forged by Sauron, the Dark Lord) and his struggle to destroy it. He is aided by 8 companions in his journey: - Aragorn-a man, Gandalf-the grey, Boromir-a man, Legolas-an elf, Gimli-a dwarf and 3 hobbits-Sam, Merry and Pippin. There are many more interesting and important characters in the book like Gollum, Faramir, Arwen, Eowyn, Elrond, Galadriel, etc. You gotta read the book or watch the movie to learn more.

Whenever I am reading a book, I tend to visualize each of the characters present in the book. I read about the character’s physical and psychological description and place someone (mostly an actor) in his/her place and imagine them going forward. This is one thing I really like ( / dislike :)) while reading a book.. u need to rely so much on your imagination.... But for LOTR I didn’t have to go through this activity.. having already seen the movie (and loving it), images of all the characters were already before my eyes. I just had to place them in all the scenes. After seeing the movie I had become a great fan of Viggo Mortensen a.k.a Aragorn (have watched quite a few of his movies since then.. got a tiny-winy crush on him.. what a handsome guy.. :) with a multi-faceted personality) and after reading the book I have another favorite: Faramir (brother of Boromir, enacted on screen by David Wenham). I had also loved the character of Sam Gamgee (played by Sean Astin) in the movie and after reading the book, this love was just re-affirmed. If not for him Frodo would have been lost for ever.. can’t help but admire his courage, optimism and loyalty, above everything else. Just goes to show that “Things are never quite as scary when you've got a friend.”

The language of the book is just Wonderful. The English is awesome. There are many small & big poems in between and though it may seem boring, they kind of just fit-in perfectly. Here’s one of my fav quote, in reference to Aragorn:

"All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king. "

Here’s another classic:
“Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.”
There are some real good and thought-invoking phrases in the book. Lines which would make you ponder & debate on the issue. Its in a beautiful poetic language.. got that old world charm about it.

The book exceeded some of my expectations.. After watching the movie, I was quite sad for Eowyn (lady of Rohan) since she seemed to have lost out to Arwen while vying for Aragorn’s love. (Since I preferred Miranda Otto to Liz Tyler.. I cudn’t fathom this ;-) ).. But the book healed this sadness a.k.a wound (For more information read the chapters around “House of healing”).

There are quite a few interesting incidents which have not been included in the movie version…. Especially some involving Faramir… have heard its present in the extended version DVD of the movie.. I am currently looking out for it.. :) Either as a movie or a book, LOTR is definitely worth collecting.