We’re all stuck inside hoping we don’t get the current plague, and to give myself something to do, I’ve decided to write a series of articles about my favourite book: The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Because as great as the movies are, there’s so much to this story that people who’ve only seen the films have no way of knowing about.
My Goal
If you love Peter Jackson’s trilogy of movies but have never read the book their based on, then the goal of this series is to convince you to give reading the book a try. Aside from the countless subtleties of Tolkien’s prose, there’s just a great deal more to the story in the book.
And if you’ve already read the book but all you’ve had for the past decade is the movies, maybe you should try reading it again. There’s really no way for a movie—even one that’s twelve hours long—to measure up to a novel as complex as The Lord of the Rings.
And if you’re dyslexic or otherwise have trouble reading a book like this, I recommend you try the unabridged audiobook. You can get it on Audible, and Robert Inglis does a great job reading it.
Differences from the Films
You’ll find that many of the plot points that confuse moviegoers turn out to make perfect sense in the book. Aragorn’s diversionary tactics, which lead to the Battle of the Morannon, are slightly confusing in the movie. They only really make sense if you’ve read the book and know about the logic behind the diversion.
Most of the characters, too, are a lot more fleshed out in the book. Also, unlike the movie where Frodo Baggins seems to be the main character, the book’s chief protagonist is undoubtedly Samwise Gamgee. Frodo’s more of a deuteragonist, but you’d never know that from just watching the movie.
Home Is Behind, the World Ahead
In this series, I’ll be exploring all of these differences and more. I’ll even discuss these sorts of differences in The Hobbit occasionally. If you’ve never read the books, you’ll learn about many of the ways they outshine the films—at least until you give in and start reading them for yourself.
I hope you’ll join me in examining this masterpiece of a book during this difficult time.
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