An Indepth Re-Read of The Lord of the Rings
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:34 am
So I started a re-read of said 'trilogy' today and shall use this topic to record my thoughts. I encourage anyone who may wish to to join in either in commenting on said thoughts or rediscover the magic of the first modern fantasy epic. Now, since this is a 're-read' and not a dissection, there will be spoilers... so if you haven't read these books and intend to do so with a virgin mind, don't continue. Also, to interpret these works, I think it essential to establish some sort of 'canon', as it were. So, I'm limiting myself to The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. The Letters of Tolkien I have not read, but consider them like I consider Donaldson's GI: authoritative, but not necessarily so. If you want to bring in other works, go ahead. I'll probably bring up some non-pre-Tolkien works from time to time.
Now, some initial thoughts: What, exactly, is the significance of the title? Now, it gets established, iirc, in the second half of tFotR that the Lord of the Rings is Sauron (at least, that's what Gandalf says). Interesting, but why name the entire cycle after the principal antagonist? It is my belief that the title of the epic does not refer to Sauron, and here are my reasons for this unorthodox view:
1) Sauron, currently, is not in complete control of the Rings of Power. He is missing the integral One Ring, and so falls short of the title.
2) Saying the title refers to Sauron seems to go against medieval fairie epic convention. This point, I think is very important. Tolkien was trying to re-create a fairie epic of yore, and the titles of these cycles would tell the reader/listener what to expect to be the object around which the epic would be told. The Song of Roland revolves around Roland, Beowulf on Beowulf, the Saga of the Volsungs followed the history of the Volsung family, and so forth. The previous book, The Hobbit, revolved around Bilbo Baggins...the hobbit.
So, what does Lord of the Rings revolve around? More then Frodo or Sauron, it revolves around the One Ring. Furthermore, you'll remember from the poem before the story:
Now, some initial thoughts: What, exactly, is the significance of the title? Now, it gets established, iirc, in the second half of tFotR that the Lord of the Rings is Sauron (at least, that's what Gandalf says). Interesting, but why name the entire cycle after the principal antagonist? It is my belief that the title of the epic does not refer to Sauron, and here are my reasons for this unorthodox view:
1) Sauron, currently, is not in complete control of the Rings of Power. He is missing the integral One Ring, and so falls short of the title.
2) Saying the title refers to Sauron seems to go against medieval fairie epic convention. This point, I think is very important. Tolkien was trying to re-create a fairie epic of yore, and the titles of these cycles would tell the reader/listener what to expect to be the object around which the epic would be told. The Song of Roland revolves around Roland, Beowulf on Beowulf, the Saga of the Volsungs followed the history of the Volsung family, and so forth. The previous book, The Hobbit, revolved around Bilbo Baggins...the hobbit.
So, what does Lord of the Rings revolve around? More then Frodo or Sauron, it revolves around the One Ring. Furthermore, you'll remember from the poem before the story:
As a result, I believe the title refers not to Sauron, but to the One Ring, which certainly could be said to be 'Lord' over the other Rings of Power.One Ring to rule them all