The Little Things: ROTK's 61st Anniversary

When Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of The Return of the King came out, many viewers complained that there were ‘too many endings’, obviously those people would never have made it through the book.

I think that for such a long book, with so much going on and so many different characters who all have different stories of their own, there were surprisingly few endings. For instance, when the book was first read aloud to me, I was annoyed that I didn’t get to see anything more to do with Faramir and Eowyn, in fact, pretty much the only part I was satisfied with was the hobbits. I later discovered the appendices when I first read the book on my own, and realized that Tolkien felt much the same way I had, and added on loads of information in the form of the appendices, cutting short the actual book for the benefit of those of his fans with smaller attention spans. 

I was then ridiculously disappointed not to see the Scouring of the Shire in the movies, but I understand why they made the decision to cut it. 

Also, if you are angry at the movies for the stuff they changed, just watch the Appendices that come with the extended edition (which you ought to have) and all will be made clear. That said, I would REALLY have loved to see the Scouring of the Shire in there, because I consider it to be very very important. 

Many consider it unnecessary and out of place. Some are even annoyed by it, because they don’t like to have the idyllic nature of the Shire corrupted. It is the one thing in that whole world that was simply a place of pure innocence and peace, untouched by the evils of the outside world. That’s exactly the point. Nothing is completely safe. No one is perfectly pure and innocent. 

The Silmarillion shows us how evil was woven into Arda even before its creation. Because of this, nothing on Arda is untainted. It is, in a sense, an allegory (I’m sorry, Tolkien!) for Original Sin. Even the undying lands are not safe from Morgoth. 

What Tolkien is showing you, is that even in such a wonderful, innocent place as the Shire, there can still be found the dissonance of Morgoth (ahem! Ted Sandyman). Even in the sweetest of hearts, there are vices. To be sure, hobbits show a great resistance to evil (aided by the fact that they are a little...dense) but Saruman is still able to corrupt a great many of them, and enslave the others.

I believe that Tolkien is also saying that you can’t keep the evil at bay simply by being nice and sweet and peaceful, sometimes you have to stand up and fight it. 

But the fight against evil isn't usually a great and exciting battle between great armies. Most of the time, it's just a silent little scuffle that only one or two people know about. 

One of the main themes in The Lord of the Rings is 'the little things'. There are great wars and exciting battles, but in the end it’s two little hobbits walking across middle earth during what many silly people consider to be the most boring part of the book. 

Frodo is constantly fighting the Ring from the moment he first sees it, and for the most part he suffers in silence, but it is Frodo who fights the greatest battle of all. And Frodo would have succumbed much sooner if it hadn’t been for Sam. 

And what was it that Sam did? Well for those who can only appreciate “the exciting stuff” he saved Frodo from a spider, and rescued him from a tower of orcs. 

But for those of us who consider Sam to be the best character in the whole book, he saved the world by giving Frodo his cloak; by eating less so that Frodo could have more; by being loyal no matter what the circumstances; by never letting his master forget about the Shire. 

By simply being there for Frodo, talking of the good things in life and keeping him from falling into despair. 

By carrying Frodo up a mountain. 

By never giving up. 

Sam is one of the most underappreciated characters of all time. Also no, it would not have been better if he had just had the Ring, because he would have had no motivation. He did not particularly care for saving the world, he just wanted to save his beloved Mr. Frodo.

I also like that the Scouring of the Shire shows that evil has many agents, who work in different ways and in different places, but really it’s all the same thing. One quote in particular comes to mind:

"'This is worse than Mordor!' said Sam. 'Much worse in a way. It comes to you, as they say; because it is home, and you remember it before it was all ruined.''Yes, this is Mordor,' said Frodo. 'Just one of its works. Saruman was doing its work all the time, even when he thought he was working for himself. And the same with those that Saruman tricked, like Lotho.'"

It is also worth noting that more beautiful and innocent a place or person is, the more evil desires to corrupt it. And well it kind of bothers me that people forget about that chapter and forget about Sam, it's strangely fitting.

The Shire ~ JRR Tolkien

 

(Lest there should be any confusion or matter of rights and whatnot, all quotes in this post are from The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, unless otherwise mentioned. There may be slight errors, misspellings, or alternate punctuation in the quotes, and if you notice such, please inform me so that I can speedily remedy them. But I think the fact that I made this blog proves that I would never intentionally change something of Tolkien's in the transcribing of it.)