"The Field of Cormallen" - Eric's Thoughts

Jacob and Ben came down too harshly on this chapter, in my view. As Ben points out, the chapter is really divided into two chapters.

The first mini chapter involves the forces of good conquering the forces of Sauron and the rescue of the Hobbits. I think Ben and Jacob's criticisms are unfair. The Ring is destroyed. That was the true battle between the forces of good and evil. After all, as Tolkien demonstrated in the last chapter, this actually is not a battle of force. It is a battle of the minds and will (e.g. Sam lifting Frodo, and Frodo being light). It is a battle of small, relatively helpless hobbits versus the might of a powerful empire. It is the battle of everyday folks imposing their will against evil. If Frodo and Sam triumph, Sauron is vanquished. If they fail, then Sauron triumphs. The fate of the little people bearing the Ring determines the fate of Middle Earth.

To dive into an actual battle after the Ring was destroyed, or create guerilla holdouts, would have been inconsistent with these important themes and anti-climatic. Mount Doom elevated Lord of the Rings into the realm of literary. I would argue Tolkien's approach to the forces of evil so suddenly crumbling only builds on that. Tolkien continues to establish through this chapter that the forces are merely an idea--when the idea is destroyed, evil quickly is vanquished. I wholeheartedly agree with Tolkien's approach here. Swords ringing against plate mail would have rang hollow.

(However, I do agree this chapter should have been split into two chapters--the battle and rescue as one chapter, and then the hobbits waking up and finding themselves among old friends as another.)

The second mini chapter involves the king of Gondor kneeling to the hobbits. In my view, contrary to Ben's argument, the second part of chapter is hardly tripe. The hobbits have just literally descended into the bowels of hell and destroyed the root of all evil through both Frodo and Sam's mercy. (Note that the hobbits could not destroy evil by any direct act, but only indirectly--through acts of mercy and kindness.)

This chapter progresses the characters of Frodo and Sam. Who would have thought that the gardener from the Shire would have the most powerful lords of the world kneeling to him, and being praised with great praise? The hobbits deserve their triumph, and I felt pleased that they were awarded such  boons.  This chapter works to help resolve everything. The book could have ended with this chapter, with perhaps just a little more package tying.

What is interesting, though, is that the Return of the King continues for a while yet. This of course goes against classic story structure, where normally after the climax, the story quickly resolves. Instead, Tolkien pulls a strange one and continues the story. We shall see how this unusual structure holds up on the re-read. But, if I remember correctly, at this point we are so invested in this world, and the last few chapters have been so interesting, I am not prepared to leave Middle Earth just yet.