Book Review: Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

 

All journeys, no matter their length or magnitude must eventually come to their end. That sad reality feels like it is the core basis of the narrative and tone behind the final entry in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Serving as the final, conclusive entry; The Return of the King seeks to finish the journey the Fellowship set out to achieve and destroy the One Ring in a major stake climax that would decide the very fate of Middle Earth.

Where we left our central characters in The Two Towers, we saw Aragon and company preparing to venture to the capital city of Gondor called Minis Tirith. Foreseeing the Dark Lord’s final move, Gandalf and Pippin make haste to the city to warn them and aid in preparation for its defence. Meanwhile Sam and Frodo, after finally escaping Shelob’s lair find themselves deep in the heart of Mordor on the final stretch of their own journey to cast the One Ring into the fires of Mt Doom from whence it came. While all these characters remain separated from one another on their own important quests, we see all the more clearly this time around how each of their journey will intersect and culminate together in ways they could never have imagined.

As far as narrative goes, I think it concludes on everything Tolkien set out to do from his first book. It takes literally every relevant plot thread he established throughout Hobbit, Fellowship and Two Towers and gives all of them an incredibly smart wrap up that feels so fitting to this narrative. The way Tolkien was able to build up the events of this story and further develop these characters in the heart of it all never fails to impress me. He doesn’t lose balance or focus on what truly matters to this epic journey and it rewards the reader for investing so much time with it. Seeing how the War for Middle Earth is outlined through the Battle of Pelenor Fields and the Black Gate seeing the drama and action come to the forefront of the story is so wonderous to get lost in. Tolkien is a wordsmith in all the best ways and it’s in these moments I actually appreciate his tendency to detail so much of his scenes because you get the full perspective on the scenes he’s out to describe. In a lot of ways this story is made all the better because of how much time he gives to outline each chapter as best as he can.

As far as tone and pacing go, I want to praise the story on both fronts but the book does falter slightly in terms of pace after a certain part. Similar to the Return of the King movie, after the major chapter concludes and what you believe is the wrap up of the story; there appears to be no definitive end until quite a bit further in. In fact, Tolkien creates more sub=plots on the eve of the final chapter which I feel just doesn’t add anything more than needlessly prolong the story from reach its compelling ending. I appreciate Tolkien wants to end the story on his terms but this additional sub-plot does nothing but feel like a jarring inclusion that comes out of nowhere. It doesn’t damage much of the final product though as apart from that one outlier, the rest of the books pacing and tone feel just as competent as Two Towers. I like how sombre and melancholic the emotional side of this book is near the end as well. As we’re nearing the end of our time in this world, it makes sense to reflect on these characters and their journeys in a bittersweet perspective. The journey is at it’s end and the writing reflects the tone remarkably well.

On conclusion, Return of the King not only concludes my time with the Lord of the Rings trilogy but my time with Tolkien’s written work on a whole. I think this story does a fantastic job in building up the stakes to their definitive end and it makes me reflect on this world with a mixture of joy and sadness. Tolkien is a fantastic author and despite my irks with his tendency to over-explain in a lot moments I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t one of the most influential writers of the past centenary. His work took fantasy fiction into the forefront of modern society and we can see how his world still exists in so many forms to this day.