The Journey Continues!

Onwards I read! Deep into The Two Towers, Lord of the Rings has me hooked! The second book is much more fast-paced and interesting than the first, and the characters are becoming familiar and dear to my heart. I don't know how many of my readers are unfamiliar with LOTR, but I figure most have either seen the movies or vaguely know the story through the grapevine, but comment if I am unclear about anything :). 

The writing in the story is beautiful. Intense descriptions of every glen, mountain, forest and sunset the travelers encounter are abundant. As mentioned in my previous post, I still get frustrated at not being able to picture these scenes always as they are described, simply for never having seen or heard of some of the geographical terms. Flowing, lyrical language is often employed, both in character dialogue and in narration. I love when someone outlines the history of a place or a people through stories and legends, as much as I enjoy third-person descriptions of wonderful places like Lothlorien, the fairest place in Middle-Earth. 

With Frodo and his faithful friend and servant, Sam, heading for to the fires that created (and will hopefully destroy) that which The Dark Lord seeks, the rest of the Company was separated. At first, I assumed Frodo's story was only momentarily put on hold, but, to my surprise and delight, the adventures of Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli have so far been at the center of the book. Though Merry and Pippin's capture and escape from evil Orcs were also chronicled, their meeting and marching to battle with Treebeard(a "tree shepherd" and one of my favorite characters in the saga so far) was the last mention of them. A battle is coming, and though it may not be the ultimate one quite yet, the stakes are high. The intensity of the need for all creatures of Middle-Earth to collaborate, be they Dwarf or Man or Elf or Ent, is so great that it rises out of the pages and fills me, the reader, with great anticipation. Talk about a page-turner!

One of my favorite things about reading Lord of the Rings is recognizing so many elements that have been adapted throughout the years in other fantasy epics, such as Harry Potter and The Dark Tower series. The latter more heavily than the former, though Gandalf and Dumbledore have much in common: their secrecy (or more precisely the way they often don't tell all they know or suspect), their deadly, fearsome might and power lying under a guise of an old man. Of course, it is no surprise they physically resemble eachother; the image of the wise old man, with his long, white beard and hair, is older than Tolkien. Still, though, there is further parallel in Dumbledore guiding The Boy Who Lived to certain doom and Gandalf guiding Frodo as the Ring Bearer to the great fires. Neither Harry nor Frodo are put into these positions because of his "mentor" slash "guide," but Dumbledore and Gandalf both know what danger the boys face. [Though I am not sure how proper it is to call Frodo a boy....] There is also the similarity of the Dark Lords of HP and LOTR: he who once waged a terrible war against all humanity is slowly rising again. 

In the introduction of The Gunslinger, Stephen King talks at length about how great LOTR's influence was on him as a young reader, and it was evident to me even without having read LOTR. Now, in hindsight, I see much more parallels! The Eye of Sauron, the roving eye of the Dark Lord in LOTR, is awfully similar to the red eye that the evil baby (that sounds weirder than it is...) in Dark Tower has on the back of his spider-body! And the baby's name is Mordred, which obviously reflects the evil dwelling of Sauron, Mordor. Not to mention the whole concept of Roland (oh, Roland.....) journeying to the Dark Tower to save the world from crumbling; Sauron's evil stronghold is called Barad-dûr, The Dark Tower. Don't forget another crystal clear reference: Roland is from Mid-World, Frodo from Middle-Earth. Again, though, "Middle-Earth" does not originate with Tolkien, as he borrowed it from the Anglo-Saxons.

Interestingly, I am learning about Anglo-Saxon literature in school. Just as it is great to see subsequent work inspired by The Lord of the Rings, it is nice to understand what Tolkien, in turn, was inspired by.

That's it for now, but I'll be back soon!