The Filth of Saruman is Washing Away

I love to learn about Tolkien's life, and all of his works, as well as all the history and whatnot behind the things he wrote. I have liked what nonfiction of his that I have read. But, though I have been doing better at branching out, I always end up breaking to return to the Lord of the Rings. It is very difficult to read about how Frodo wasn't always named Frodo, when you are busy theorizing about what became of the Entwives. Anyhow, I was reading Return of the King, and I realized I had sort of forgotten that the battle (if you can call it a battle) between the Ents and Isengard, is told in flashback. 

This can hardly be considered 'risky' for Tolkien, considering that he ditched Frodo and Sam for half the book, but it is an odd choice. Tolkien's method of following one character for half a book, and then going back to the beginning and following another, makes sense to me. But I can't think of any particular reason why the destruction of Isengard should be told in flashback. It would certainly not have been out of character for Tolkien to have followed Merry and Pip through the entire thing before returning to Rohan and Helm's Deep. 

The only difference it seems to make, is that the language is rather more simplistic, as the story is told by the hobbits, and not by some more gifted speaker, or Tolkien as narrator. 

The only explanation (and probably a fairly accurate one) I have come up with to explain this flashback, is that Tolkien had no particular reason. 

But I am curious as to other people's theories on the matter, so please do leave a comment. 

 

(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.)