Ultimately in Lord of the Rings the power of evil is not destroyed by any army. It is not destroyed by military power or human strength. ‘All our hopes,’ says Gandalf at one point, ‘lie with two little hobbits somewhere in the wilderness’. Frodo and Sam enter Mordor...
We live in a time when nothing is worth living for and certainly nothing is worth dying for. Everything is relative. There are no absolutes, no great truths, no heroic causes. Part of the appeal of Lord of the Rings is that it contains a sense of moral purpose. It is a world of valour...
When we first meet Aragon he is a stranger in the corner of an inn. He is anonymous, unknown – even sinister. It only gradually emerges that he is the king. There is a dramatic moment in the council of Elrond when Legolas the Elf tells Boromir that he should have more respect for...
At the heart of the story is the ring and it is the ring of power. Lord of the Rings is a story about power. And it is a story about the corrupting nature of power. The ring symbolises power. And the ring corrupts those who come into contact with it. It deceives and it ensnares. Above all...
In three separate polls to mark the year 2000 Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien was voted the UK’s favourite book. More recently the books have been adapted into films under the director Peter Jackson, each becoming one of the top ten earning films of all time. Tolkien was...