Early in this gargantuan chapter, as the tattered remnants of the Fellowship start to lose the Orc trail in the dark, Gimli exclaims, "Would that the Lady had given us a light, such a gift as she gave to Frodo!"
Aragorn swiftly responds, "It will be more needed where it is bestowed...With him lies the true Quest. Ours is but a small matter in the great deeds of this time. A vain pursuit from its beginning, maybe, which no choice of mine can mar or mend."
The question then naturally begs itself: if this quest is so small and vain, why are we following them in the first place? Wouldn't we rather learn the fate of the Ring Bearer now, instead of in Book IV? If Aragorn thinks so little of his role, then why should we?
The first, most obvious answer is that Aragorn is plain wrong: this seemingly-little sidequest actually purports great things. Pippin and Merry's escape to the Ents, as we all know, will serve as the catalyst and decisive factor in the eventual victory over Sarumon. The titular Riders of Rohan, too, will turn the tides in the Battle of Helms Deep. And this side-quest is what will put them into direct contact with Gandalf the White. From small events come big results. And other cliches.
But before Aragorn can realize this, he must first learn something about Aragorn. And Aragorn's regal demeanor before the Riders (a sudden transformation where he almost appears already to be wearing a crown), wherein he demands that they choose and choose quickly which side they will take, is our first hint that Aragorn will not just let things happen to him anymore, that he is not quite so resigned and hopeless as he has been since Moriah, that almost in spite of himself he will claim the throne of man. He almost wants to be hopeless, but something won't quite let him. In a weird sense, Aragorn is right: no choice of his can mar or mend this quest, he just doesn't realize yet that destiny is actually moving with him, not against him.
Our little trio of Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas seem to slowly be realizing that they are in a bigger story than they think they are--Lord of the Rings is certainly not a meta-narrative by any stretch of the imagination, but our trio here do seem to be learning how to read the novel they are already in. First they are reading the tracks of the Orcs; then the clues left by Pippin and Merry (and the author); then from the Riders they learn the political situation in this land; these three are our stand-ins, as this novel slowly opens up to them at the same rate it opens up to us. Perhaps that is why we must follow Aragorn et al for this Book--they are Tolkien's ideal readers, training us to read this novel as carefully as they are learning to. Perhaps the ultimate Quest of LotR here is not to destroy the Ring or restore the King or save all Middle-Earth--the actual Quest is to learn how to read, specifically to read how the story we inhabit is far more hopeful than we realize.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Monday, February 9, 2015
"The Departure of Boromir" - Eric's Thoughts
We criticized over and over how this chapter would have been a more fitting conclusion to the Fellowship. I still stand by that sentiment, but I don't think it's as black and white as we made it.
To the contrary, this chapter is a fantastic action opener. It immediately begins with Aragon running around trying to piece together what has happened. You can feel his anxiety. When Boromir blows his horn in desperation, you can hear the horn blow.
Aragon comes across Boromir, and hears Boromir's confess that he tried to take the ring from Frodo. The scene is touching. Any hate towards Boromir is immediately erased, and you see that he really is a noble man who just happened to be the first to fall to the Ring's corruption. (Perhaps because he is the most desperate.)
What really struck me about why this particular scene works is that Boromir confesses, and repents. You can tell he is sincere. Perhaps Boromir says it to alleviate his guilty conscience, but I think it goes deeper--Boromir says it as a warning: "I tried to take the Ring from Frodo. I am sorry. I have paid."
These words prove critical as to what choice Aragon makes: whether to follow Frodo, or save the Hobbits.
This brings me to the second point I'm interested in discussing: the structure of the chapter. Writing theory states that good storytelling generally follows the following structure:
Goal --> Conflict --> Disaster --> Reaction --> Dilemma--> Decision-->New Goal (repeat cycle)
The scene follows this structure pretty closely. Aragon begins the scene trying to respond to the horn of Boromir, his initial goal. Conflict comes in the form of Aragon's race against time. Disaster happens when Aragon learns that Boromir fell to the Ring and that the Hobbits have been taken. Aragon reacts, feeling tearful. Gimli and Legolas show up, raise new questions, and a dilemma is presented: Frodo or the Hobbits? Aragon studies the tracks, comes to a decision, and formulates a new goal. The chapter ends. In theory, the cycle should repeat itself in the next chapter, and so on.
Little surprise then, when looked at from a bird's eye view, that the really compelling moments of a story come when a character is faced with a dilemma. This right here seems to be a textbook example of dilemma: pursue Frodo, maybe find him, and even if you do know that you may try to take the Ring like Boromir OR try to save Hobbits who are likely dead. As Gimli notes, maybe there is no good option.
Tolkien then walks the reader through the character's reasoning. Aragon reads tracks to decide what happened and to learn more information. In doing so, Tolkien makes Aragon's incredible decision to abandon the Ringbearer and pursue two stupid hobbits believable. In light of Boromir, this decision makes even more sense. This allows what seems like a silly decision to abandon the fate of the world with a Hobbit, to a more rational decision. And we go along with it.
In theory, this is a structurally perfect chapter. While Tolkien may not have been aware what a "structurally perfect" chapter is, what's interesting is when he stumbles upon the formula by accident, it makes for his most compelling writing.
To the contrary, this chapter is a fantastic action opener. It immediately begins with Aragon running around trying to piece together what has happened. You can feel his anxiety. When Boromir blows his horn in desperation, you can hear the horn blow.
Aragon comes across Boromir, and hears Boromir's confess that he tried to take the ring from Frodo. The scene is touching. Any hate towards Boromir is immediately erased, and you see that he really is a noble man who just happened to be the first to fall to the Ring's corruption. (Perhaps because he is the most desperate.)
What really struck me about why this particular scene works is that Boromir confesses, and repents. You can tell he is sincere. Perhaps Boromir says it to alleviate his guilty conscience, but I think it goes deeper--Boromir says it as a warning: "I tried to take the Ring from Frodo. I am sorry. I have paid."
These words prove critical as to what choice Aragon makes: whether to follow Frodo, or save the Hobbits.
This brings me to the second point I'm interested in discussing: the structure of the chapter. Writing theory states that good storytelling generally follows the following structure:
Goal --> Conflict --> Disaster --> Reaction --> Dilemma--> Decision-->New Goal (repeat cycle)
The scene follows this structure pretty closely. Aragon begins the scene trying to respond to the horn of Boromir, his initial goal. Conflict comes in the form of Aragon's race against time. Disaster happens when Aragon learns that Boromir fell to the Ring and that the Hobbits have been taken. Aragon reacts, feeling tearful. Gimli and Legolas show up, raise new questions, and a dilemma is presented: Frodo or the Hobbits? Aragon studies the tracks, comes to a decision, and formulates a new goal. The chapter ends. In theory, the cycle should repeat itself in the next chapter, and so on.
Little surprise then, when looked at from a bird's eye view, that the really compelling moments of a story come when a character is faced with a dilemma. This right here seems to be a textbook example of dilemma: pursue Frodo, maybe find him, and even if you do know that you may try to take the Ring like Boromir OR try to save Hobbits who are likely dead. As Gimli notes, maybe there is no good option.
Tolkien then walks the reader through the character's reasoning. Aragon reads tracks to decide what happened and to learn more information. In doing so, Tolkien makes Aragon's incredible decision to abandon the Ringbearer and pursue two stupid hobbits believable. In light of Boromir, this decision makes even more sense. This allows what seems like a silly decision to abandon the fate of the world with a Hobbit, to a more rational decision. And we go along with it.
In theory, this is a structurally perfect chapter. While Tolkien may not have been aware what a "structurally perfect" chapter is, what's interesting is when he stumbles upon the formula by accident, it makes for his most compelling writing.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
"The Departure of Boromir" - Ben's Thoughts
This chapter, the first of "Two Towers," only solidifies my belief that the final moments of the Fellowship really do belong in the first (and eponymous) book.
The first thing I noticed about the chapter was the first word: "Aragorn." This really is Aragorn's time to shine -- he is the central character of Books III and V. I wonder if that first word was Tolkien signaling to his readership or just a coincidence, but I think it was a striking break from "Fellowship." That break from the past, at least, did belong and work well in the new book. It was nice to spend so much time in Aragorn's head, as well -- his competency and indecision are at the forefront here, and we really feel his frustration when he mounts to the top of Amon Hen and all he can see is the eagle (presumably winging Gandalf back to earth after his sojourn in limbo; more on that of course when the wizard makes his triumphant reappearance). It is interesting that Frodo was able to see so much and Aragorn so little; perhaps the Ring had something to do with that. One wonders, however, just how the Kings of Gondor in ages past used Amon Hen and whether it showed them more that the foggy obscurity that Aragorn was shown. Perhaps Aragorn's inability to actually use the "hill of seeing" was a result of Sauron's influence over the land more than anything else.
While Gimli and Legolas, as Jacob noted, are still just one-note sidekicks here, rather than fullly-fleshed characters, Aragorn's arc from the first book is resolved in a fairly satisfying way (although not as satisfying, I maintain, if he had been required to make a proactive, affirmative choice rather than an after-the-fact choice as he does here) with his decision to leave the Ring in the hands of fate rather than his own. Unfortunately, as I indicated above, that arc should have begun and ended in its entirety in the first book. It shouldn't have been carried over here. I know no real reason why "The Departure of Boromir" had to be in "Two Towers" -- indeed, the chapter is so short that one is at a loss as to why it wasn't just merged with "Breaking of the Fellowship." Aragorn's decision could have come right before the final scenes of the first book, with Sam and Frodo heading into the Emyn Muil.
Boromir, too, should have been wrapped up in the first book. His confession to Aragorn that he tried to take the Ring from Frodo seems like the conclusion of his story. Although the confession is lacking the pathos of Jackson's elegiac final Boromir scene (Sean Bean's "Mine is the true ruin" delivers a real emotional punch), his death is quietly understated. I don't know whether Tolkien really managed to sell the Boromir-Aragorn relationship in the way that Jackson managed to in the film, but I thought it was effective.
Just a word on the song -- I know you guys are down on all the poetry, but I see them (most of the time) as a feature, not as a bug. When I was a kid, I loved this song in particular; I think I sang it to myself to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (which pretty much works except for the fourth and eighth lines of each verse). For Tolkien, story and verse were pretty intertwined; I just read about how he wrote a prose version of "The Children of Húrin" and then a long verse version transliterated from an Old English poetry form that was virtually unused in modern English; then he wrote out the remainder of the story. It was the guy's life. The poems are pretty good in and of themselves, even if they do interrupt the flow of the story.
Anyway, not a whole lot to say about this chapter; it's short, a transition piece, and doesn't really belong in this third book. Onward to the plains of Rohan!
The first thing I noticed about the chapter was the first word: "Aragorn." This really is Aragorn's time to shine -- he is the central character of Books III and V. I wonder if that first word was Tolkien signaling to his readership or just a coincidence, but I think it was a striking break from "Fellowship." That break from the past, at least, did belong and work well in the new book. It was nice to spend so much time in Aragorn's head, as well -- his competency and indecision are at the forefront here, and we really feel his frustration when he mounts to the top of Amon Hen and all he can see is the eagle (presumably winging Gandalf back to earth after his sojourn in limbo; more on that of course when the wizard makes his triumphant reappearance). It is interesting that Frodo was able to see so much and Aragorn so little; perhaps the Ring had something to do with that. One wonders, however, just how the Kings of Gondor in ages past used Amon Hen and whether it showed them more that the foggy obscurity that Aragorn was shown. Perhaps Aragorn's inability to actually use the "hill of seeing" was a result of Sauron's influence over the land more than anything else.
While Gimli and Legolas, as Jacob noted, are still just one-note sidekicks here, rather than fullly-fleshed characters, Aragorn's arc from the first book is resolved in a fairly satisfying way (although not as satisfying, I maintain, if he had been required to make a proactive, affirmative choice rather than an after-the-fact choice as he does here) with his decision to leave the Ring in the hands of fate rather than his own. Unfortunately, as I indicated above, that arc should have begun and ended in its entirety in the first book. It shouldn't have been carried over here. I know no real reason why "The Departure of Boromir" had to be in "Two Towers" -- indeed, the chapter is so short that one is at a loss as to why it wasn't just merged with "Breaking of the Fellowship." Aragorn's decision could have come right before the final scenes of the first book, with Sam and Frodo heading into the Emyn Muil.
Boromir, too, should have been wrapped up in the first book. His confession to Aragorn that he tried to take the Ring from Frodo seems like the conclusion of his story. Although the confession is lacking the pathos of Jackson's elegiac final Boromir scene (Sean Bean's "Mine is the true ruin" delivers a real emotional punch), his death is quietly understated. I don't know whether Tolkien really managed to sell the Boromir-Aragorn relationship in the way that Jackson managed to in the film, but I thought it was effective.
Just a word on the song -- I know you guys are down on all the poetry, but I see them (most of the time) as a feature, not as a bug. When I was a kid, I loved this song in particular; I think I sang it to myself to the tune of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (which pretty much works except for the fourth and eighth lines of each verse). For Tolkien, story and verse were pretty intertwined; I just read about how he wrote a prose version of "The Children of Húrin" and then a long verse version transliterated from an Old English poetry form that was virtually unused in modern English; then he wrote out the remainder of the story. It was the guy's life. The poems are pretty good in and of themselves, even if they do interrupt the flow of the story.
Anyway, not a whole lot to say about this chapter; it's short, a transition piece, and doesn't really belong in this third book. Onward to the plains of Rohan!
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Jackson's "The Fellowship of the Ring" - Ben's Thoughts
"Fellowship," Jackson's first foray into Middle-earth, met my expectations. There is some camp -- Eric rightly notes Galadriel's much-maligned transformation into some kind of deep-voiced banshee, which just does not work the way it should, with her wiggling arms and silly voice (Christian Bale's equally ridiculous "I'm Batman" voice sprang to mind as I watched that scene this time around) and the bombastic music playing in the background -- but most of this movie is adapted perfectly from the book with visuals equal to any a Tolkienite could have conjured from their imaginations.
I won't give a blow-by-blow comparison of movie to book, because it's been done before and at length. However, I do want to make a few observations about character. Jackson, in my opinion, takes what Tolkien provided in terms of character and, for the most part, fleshes it out into fully realized movie-long and trilogy-spanning arcs. In "Fellowship," Aragorn, Boromir, and Frodo each have notable arcs that, I believe, work very well. I'll touch on each of those in a minute.
The one other crucial element that Jackson manages seamlessly is the introduction of characters. When each character is introduced, it is with a character beat that is just long enough to give a sense of who these individuals are and what they represent within the framework of the film. For example, Merry and Pippin's characters are introduced with the clever scene of the duo stealing and igniting the dragon firework -- it preserves a nice moment from the book and puts the personalities of the two youngest hobbits front and center. While Pippin comes across as an utter moron in this film, at least he is distinguishable from Merry, which is something Bakshi utterly failed at and Tolkien himself had trouble with in "Fellowship." Similarly, Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli have short monologues within the "Council of Elrond" scene that marvelously introduce their characters and signal to the audience the roles they will be playing throughout the rest of the film. Interestingly enough, the only character whose introduction does not really work well is Sam's -- having him hung up on Rosie Cotton and then getting shoved into her face by a giggling Frodo doesn't really encapsulate his character very well; he really doesn't get to show his true colors until maybe the scene where he takes one step further "than he's ever been" (in his ridiculous faux-English accent) or the scene in Bree where he calls Strider "Longshanks." Sean Astin, as goofy as he seems sometimes, really makes lemonade out of some treacly dialogue in this film. Slow clap for Rudy, guys.
Before I talk about character arcs, I just want to mention scenes that are visually marvelous. The Balrog scene, of course, with the red fire, smoke, and shadow -- I can't think of a better translation of Tolkien's vague descriptions (although I did note this time around that movie Balrog clearly has wings… something I won't get into right now). The final chase of the Black Riders to the Ford, Liv Tyler's defiance (I really can't think of her as "Arwen," since she's so different from book-Arwen), and the rising of the river to destroy the Riders -- whoever choreographed the movement of the horses and whoever rigged the cameras to pan and track and move the way they did to capture this chase scene did a marvelous job. The introduction of the Shire, with Howard Shore's marvelous "Shire theme" song playing in the background -- what a way to explain to the viewer what this is all about, what the hobbits are trying to protect; it makes the vision in Galadriel's Mirror of the Shire's destruction all the more poignant. The orcs pouring over the hillsides in the closing scenes of the film. The Argonath; the Fellowship going by the giant feet in their tiny boats; the slow pan back from the statutes' faces to reveal the great lake and the waterfall. I could probably go on.
Character arcs -- Boromir. A solid if fairly predictable arc. His arc is mostly intertwined with Aragorn's, and Jackson made the absolute right call in finishing off Boromir in this movie. I know Tolkien thought of LOTR as one big book rather than three, but he puts Boromir's death in Book 3 -- completely out of place. Jackson brings the Fellowship to a close with the close of the movie, and gives Boromir a proper send-off along the way.
Aragorn -- I know some complain about how Jackson changed Aragorn from the stoic hero returning to his kingdom to a reluctant hero who has to be slowly convinced to assume the throne of Gondor. I'm ok with it, as I think it makes Aragorn more dynamic and relatable. In this film, he struggles with his belief that he is too "weak" to resist the lure of power, and by the end of the film makes the conscious choice to let Frodo and the Ring go -- far better than the passive, acted-upon Aragorn of the book. Interestingly, I did note this time around that Jackson's Aragorn never has any question or doubt about going to Minas Tirith rather than going with Frodo to Mordor; at the camp on the banks of Nen Hithoel, he tells the Fellowship that they will cross the lake to the Mordor side at first light. Jackson is also careful to not totally resolve Aragorn's arc in this film -- he promises Boromir that he will not let Gondor fail, but that is not the same thing as reclaiming the throne.
Frodo -- the "choice" scene on the banks of the lake at the end of the film is beautifully shot, orchestrated, and acted by Elijah Wood. It brings Frodo's arc in Fellowship, where he is frustrated and reluctant to be the Ring-bearer, to a satisfying close with his final acceptance of his role. Throughout the film, he tries to pawn the Ring off on others, from Gandalf to Galadriel, and here he finally realizes that he is the only person that can take the Ring to Mordor.
I really enjoyed watching "Fellowship" this time around; it's been long enough since I watched it last that many of the scenes were more of a delightful re-discovery than previous re-watches. I really think these films stand up well; there's less CGI here than Eric thinks, as Jackson's "LOTR" and his extensive use of Weta Workshop was in stark contrast to George Lucas' prequel trilogy that was airing at the same time. Jackson pulled it off in this film. I don't think he succeeds half as well in the other two films, but here he really does do it and do it well.
"The Departure of Boromir" - Jacob's Thoughts
So as I at last begin The Two Towers, I have some structural critiques of the opening chapter, viz: Tolkien shows us only the aftermath of an awesome action scene battling orcs, instead of, you know, actually describing it; Boromir's titular death skirts the line between being reverently understated ("But Boromir did not speak again") and merely perfunctory, as though Tolkien wanted to hurry up and get this guy out of the way so we could move on to the next episode; and of course we are treated to yet another long, needless poem.
Yet although this chapter felt strangely brief and underdeveloped, I was surprised to find that, after 3-odd months away from the series, how delighted I was just to be reading Tolkien again at all! I realized how happy I am to be hanging out with Aragorn again; shoot, I'm even excited to see Legolas and Gimli again, who are both still only bare sketches of characters at this point; and if I'm a little bothered at how quickly Boromir is pushed off stage, well, it's because I was more invested in him than I'd realized.
In fact, it's just a joy to be back in Middle-Earth altogether! Yes, even this Middle-Earth that is plagued by wars, orcs, dark-lords, death, despair, and destruction, this world still feels like an old friend, a delightful place worth visiting and exploring. Without me even realizing it, Tolkien throughout Fellowship of the Ring had caused me to care about this world, and therefore caused me to be happy just to be back in it once more. I wonder if this is how first-time readers in 1954 felt, when they had to wait 4 month between Fellowship and Two Towers to continue the story.
I'm afraid I really don't have much else to say at this point, other than it's good to be back, and I look forward to your guys' insights on this chapter as well. I might continue experimenting with shorter posts in the future, as a way to take pressure off myself (and off you guys as well) to write long, in-depth, "profound" analyses and mini-essays about each chapter, and thus avoid giving ourselves undue stress about a blog that's supposed to be a break from grad school and real life, not competition with it--that's supposed to just be a fun way to stay in touch with old friends, not a chore--so that we can just kick back and enjoy our time revisiting this series together.
Yet although this chapter felt strangely brief and underdeveloped, I was surprised to find that, after 3-odd months away from the series, how delighted I was just to be reading Tolkien again at all! I realized how happy I am to be hanging out with Aragorn again; shoot, I'm even excited to see Legolas and Gimli again, who are both still only bare sketches of characters at this point; and if I'm a little bothered at how quickly Boromir is pushed off stage, well, it's because I was more invested in him than I'd realized.
In fact, it's just a joy to be back in Middle-Earth altogether! Yes, even this Middle-Earth that is plagued by wars, orcs, dark-lords, death, despair, and destruction, this world still feels like an old friend, a delightful place worth visiting and exploring. Without me even realizing it, Tolkien throughout Fellowship of the Ring had caused me to care about this world, and therefore caused me to be happy just to be back in it once more. I wonder if this is how first-time readers in 1954 felt, when they had to wait 4 month between Fellowship and Two Towers to continue the story.
I'm afraid I really don't have much else to say at this point, other than it's good to be back, and I look forward to your guys' insights on this chapter as well. I might continue experimenting with shorter posts in the future, as a way to take pressure off myself (and off you guys as well) to write long, in-depth, "profound" analyses and mini-essays about each chapter, and thus avoid giving ourselves undue stress about a blog that's supposed to be a break from grad school and real life, not competition with it--that's supposed to just be a fun way to stay in touch with old friends, not a chore--so that we can just kick back and enjoy our time revisiting this series together.
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