Return of the King

It's Tolkien Friday again! =)

It is hard to believe that we actually finished the trilogy today...we will be discussing it in full after Spring Break, so I guess next Friday I can discuss some other aspect of Tolkien! Anyway, today was the third book and the majority of the class time was spent discussing a number of different subjects.

There is a paper assignment for the class, so I have been mulling over ideas in my head and looking through some various scholarly journals and books to get some ideas. I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to write a paper on Smeagol/Gollum, but I didn't know exactly what it was I wanted to say. I am pretty sure that my topic has been chosen and I now have a direction that I want to go in. Which is a rare and shocking occurrence for me, because I usually stew about different topics and then I struggle to choose one and then a week before it is due I have to ask the professor for help and so this time I think I have managed to break that cycle and I have to admit that I am happy that I could.

Anyway, back to Tolkien...One of the biggest subjects or themes whatever you want to call it that I noticed in the whole Trilogy, not just the third book is this struggle of will. In class it was basically said that the Ring is a embodiment of Sauron's will since he made it, and therefore it gets its own power by slowing breaking the will of others. For Sauron the Ring allows him to rule over others and take away their will. This then would mean that the power of the Ring is the domination over will. However, I am not going to sit here and tell you that if you believe differently you are wrong, because there is no ONE answer. While there is only one ring it is an enigma with several possible answers to the puzzle. However there is a very strong emphasis on the term "will" in the books, I would encourage anyone and everyone to pick up the books and read them again or for the first time and see if you don't notice the term "will" when you do. Since I have been discussing the aspect of will I have seen the word at least three or four times in only a short amount of time.

Another aspect that fascinates me about the whole story is the Ringwraiths and what they are. It is incredible to think that they could or are the 9 Kings doomed to die and it was that fear of death that helped to make them what they now are. The thought that occurred to me was that once the Kings became the Wraiths they no longer had to worry about dying, because now they were even worse off as "undead" servants to Sauron and the Ring. They no longer have a will of their own, instead they are bent to the will of Sauron and the Ring and they only act upon what Sauron wants. While they are physical beings, it is hard to say that they are human, because it seems to me that once any character in the Trilogy loses or gives up their will they cease to be human and become something else. The Ringwraiths become a shadow of themselves and in a way Gollum is the side of Smeagol that has no true will, only the action to get back his precious.

Next Friday is Spring Break, so it is untelling what I will write about. I'm looking forward to the break, even though I will still be working on my homework and everything else. The Silmarillion is the next thing we will be reading. I can't wait, I have officially caught the Tolkien Bug...

Until next time...
XOXO,
Julia