[lotr]

Last month I posted about the Harry Potter series, and how great it is. J.K. Rowling is a good author, and the story is riveting and excellent.

This month I have been re-reading The Lord of the Rings series, starting with The Hobbit. I am now in The Return of the King.

Wow. J.R.R. Tolkien is a master beyond compare. I loved Harry Potter, and I love C.S. Lewis's fiction, but I just don't think they rival Tolkien. (I think Lewis comes close) The plot is so detailed, the characters and history are so rich. The books are majestic and magnificent. I get the goosebumps in every battle. I laugh and cry. This is fiction at its absolute finest.

I read two passages today that, though long, are awesome. They really convey the majesty of Tolkien's story that is not found in anything I have read. You don't have to read them, but you should.

When the light of day was come into the sky but the sun was not yet risen above the high ridges in the East, Aragorn made ready to depart. His company was all mounted, and he was about to leap into the saddle, when the Lady Eowyn came to bid them farewell. She was clad as a Rider and girt with a sword. In her hand she bore a cup, and she set it to her lips and drank a little, wishing them good speed; and then she gave the cup to Aragorn, and he drank, and he said: "Farewell, Lady of Rohan! I drink to the fortunes of your House, and of you, and of all your people. Say to your brother: beyond the shadows we may meet again!"

Then it seemed to Gimli and Legolas who were nearby that she wept, and in one so stern and proud that seemed the more grievous. But she said: "Aragorn, wilt thou go?"

"I will," he said.

"Then wilt thou not let me rid with this company, as I have asked?"

"I will not, lady," he said. "For that I could not grant without leave of the king and of your brother; and they will not return until tomorrow. But I count now every hour, indeed every minute. Farewell!"

Then she fell on her knees, saying: "I beg thee!"

"Nay, lady," he said, and taking her by the hand he raised her. Then he kissed her hand, and sprang into the saddle, and rode away, and did not look back; and only those who knew him well and were near to him saw the pain that he bore.

But Eowyn stood still as a figure carven in stone, her hands clenched at her sides, and she watched them until they passed into the shadows under the black Dwimorberg, the Hunted Mountain, in which was the Gate of the Dead. When they were lost to view, she turned, stumbling as one that is blind, and went back to her lodging. But none of her folk saw this parting, for they hid themselves in fear and would not come forth until the day was up, and the reckless strangers were gone.

- "The Passing of the Grey Company," The Return of the King

Then suddenly Merry felt it at last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far away, in the South the clouds could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay beyond them.

But at that same moment there was a flash, as if lightning had sprung from the earth beneath the City. For a searing second it stood dazzling far off in black and white, its topmost tower like a glittering needle; and then as the darkness closed again there came rolling over the fields a great boom.

At that sound the bent shape of the king sprang suddenly erect. Tall and proud he seemed again; and rising in his stirrups he cried in a loud voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man achieve before:

Arise, arise, Rider of Theoden!

Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!

spear shall be shaken, shield shall be splintered,

a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

With that he seized a great horn from Guthlaf his banner-bearer, and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder. and straightaway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the blowing of the horns of Rohan in that hour was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains.

Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!

Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Eomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first eored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Theoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orome the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.

- "The Ride of the Rohirrim," The Return of the King

July, she will fly

[My mom just read The Hobbit out loud to my sisters. I decided to re-read the Tolkien classics, since the last time I read them was in 9th grade just before The Return of the King came out. So I started The Hobbit. Carrie told me I have to tell her what part I am reading so that we can talk about it. So I emailed the sisters my current thoughts. Here they are.]

Hi sisters (I trust one of you will pass this on to Carrie),

I am reading The Hobbit. I am currently at the part where they are spending the night in a cave and the goblins come and take away all their stuff. I am at the point where Bilbo is waking up just in time to see their ponies disappear and the goblins are attacking.

Here are some of my observations from what I have read so far:

The hobbits have such hairy feet that they actually comb the hair on their feet. That is funny.

It seems like the elves of Rivendell are more mischievous and light-hearted and fun-loving in the Hobbit than I remember them being in The Lord of the Rings. I'll see if I still think this after I read the Fellowship, but in the movies they are made out to be so stately and majestic and serious, but in this book they are singing funny songs and teasing the dwarves.

Gandalf gets his sword Glamdring from the trolls. I had forgotten that, but I definitely remember that his sword is Glamdring - that comes up later. I am wondering when Bilbo gets Sting. Is it from Gollum? I don't remember. Do you guys know that there is a really famous singer named Sting? He even sang a song called "The Russians." Here is the Youtube:

The dwarves and the hobbits eat A LOT.

I like this part:

"It was a beautiful golden harp, and when Thorin struck it the music began all at once, so sudden and sweet that Bilbo forgot everything else, and was swept away into dark lands under strange moons, far over The Water and very far from his hobbit-hole under The Hill......The dark filled all the room, and the fire died down, and the shadows were lost, and still they played on. And suddenly first one and then another began to sing as they played, deep-throated singing of the dwarves in the deep places of their ancient homes and this is like a fragment of their song, if it can be like their song without their music:

For over the misty mountains cold,

To dungeons deep and caverns old

We must away ere break of day

To seek the pale enchanted gold....

....As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick."

I just think that it's beautifully written and moving. As I was reading it I was listening to good music and it made me want to go on an adventure like Bilbo. I think that music - at least good music - can move something inside of us that nothing else can. I think Tolkien is good at describing that.