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Title: The Return of the King
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Publication Date: 20 October 1955
Copyright Date: 1955, 1965 by J.R.R. Tolkien
Recording Date: 1990 Recorded Books, Inc.
Narrated by: Rob Inglis
Recording Time: 18 hours, 19 minutes
THE PLOT:
(via wiki)
Book V: The War of the Ring
Sauron sends a great army against Gondor. Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to warn Denethor of the attack, while Théoden musters the Rohirrim to ride to Gondor’s aid. Minas Tirith is besieged; the Lord of the Nazgûl uses a spell-wound battering ram to destroy the city’s gates. Denethor, deceived by Sauron, falls into despair. He burns himself alive on a pyre; Pippin and Gandalf rescue his son Faramir from the same fate.
Aragorn, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli, and the Rangers of the North, takes the Paths of the Dead to recruit the Dead Men of Dunharrow, oathbreakers who are bound by an ancient curse which denies them rest until they fulfil their oath to fight for the King of Gondor. Aragorn unleashes the Army of the Dead on the Corsairs of Umbar invading southern Gondor. With that threat eliminated, Aragorn uses the Corsairs’ ships to transport the men of southern Gondor up the Anduin, reaching Minas Tirith just in time to turn the tide of battle. Théoden’s niece Éowyn, who joined the army in disguise, kills the Lord of the Nazgûl with help from Merry; both are wounded. Together, Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron’s army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, though at great cost; Théoden is among the dead.
Aragorn enters Minas Tirith and heals Faramir, Éowyn, and Merry. He leads an army of men from Gondor and Rohan, marching through Ithilien to the Black Gate to distract Sauron from his true danger. At the Battle of the Morannon, his army is vastly outnumbered.
Book VI: The End of the Third Age
Meanwhile, Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol. They set out across Mordor. When they reach the edge of the Cracks of Doom, Frodo cannot resist the Ring any longer. He claims it for himself and puts it on. Gollum suddenly reappears. He struggles with Frodo and bites off Frodo’s finger with the Ring still on it. Celebrating wildly, Gollum loses his footing and falls into the Fire, taking the Ring with him. When the Ring is destroyed, Sauron loses his power forever. All he created collapses, the Nazgûl perish, and his armies are thrown into such disarray that Aragorn’s forces emerge victorious.
Aragorn is crowned King of Arnor and Gondor, and weds Arwen, daughter of Elrond. Théoden is buried and Éomer is crowned King of Rohan. His sister Éowyn is engaged to marry Faramir, now Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien. Galadriel, Celeborn, and Gandalf meet and say farewell to Treebeard, and to Aragorn.
The four hobbits make their way back to the Shire, only to find that it has been taken over by men directed by “Sharkey” (whom they later discover to be Saruman). The hobbits, led by Merry, raise a rebellion and scour the Shire of Sharkey’s evil. Gríma Wormtongue turns on Saruman and kills him in front of Bag End, Frodo’s home. He is killed in turn by hobbit archers. Merry and Pippin are celebrated as heroes. Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts from Galadriel to help heal the Shire. But Frodo is still wounded in body and spirit, having borne the Ring for so long. A few years later, in the company of Bilbo and Gandalf, Frodo sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace.
The Review
My journey there and back again, through Tolkien’s The Return of the King as narrated by Rob Inglis, was a very enjoyable one. While I have no doubt that other recordings of the books, including the Andy Serkis versions, are also excellent, for me there is something that just feels right about hearing the story from the voice of Mr. Inglis. Perhaps I have the opposite of recency bias. Even so, I will defend this narration performance as a superb one.
Of the three The Lord of the Rings books, despite my love for this one, it is probably my least favorite. The action feels somewhat rushed and the last twenty-five percent of the book feels like one very long epilogue (excepting the ‘Scouring of the Shire’ which was also quickly resolved, but is narratively interesting.) The ring is destroyed by the end of Chapter 3 of Book VI, with seven additional chapters to go before we reach the end of the book. I am a product of modern storytelling, and I am wired to expect that the story be wrapped up pretty shortly after The Big Problem is resolved in some kind of “and they all lived happily ever after” type manner. As that does not happen here, it made me consider why. I concluded that this story is not about solving the problem of the One Ring. It’s about the Hobbits who solved the problem – Samwise Gamgee in particular. If we don’t include in the story the bit about how the hero fighters return home, and adjust, we leave out a lot that is important. They did not cease to exist after the completion of the quest… and quests have consequences.
If you’ll forgive me, I’m going to show a clip from the movie that I believe explains Tolkien’s point and why the book takes so long to end.
It was important to Tolkien that we see how these experiences changed his protagonists – both for the better and perhaps also the worse. Merry and Pippin are stronger now than they ever imagined they could be at the story’s outset and they lead the way in handling the problem of Saruman’s Shire invaders. Sam has a new appreciation and a stronger desire for family. He’s divided within himself, though, as he cannot entirely let go of what he went through while he was away. Frodo never really recovers from his journey and doesn’t survive his return home for long. I suspect these changes reflected the experience of Tolkien and people he knew during and after fighting in World War I. We sometimes think of soldiers for what they did during the war and do not put enough time into considering their life after. Tolkien avoids that treatment here. The after – as we see in the second half of Book VI – is very important.
Other than the Scouring of the Shire, its resolution, and the importance of that to Tolkien’s war veteran protagonists, my favorite moments from The Return of the King were, first, Eowyn and Merry’s defeat of the Nazgul at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. It was extremely satisfying to have both deliver in that moment and I was reminded of how surprised I was by that twist the first time I read the book, a long time ago. Second, my other favorite moment from the book was Sam’s rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Cirith Ungol. His decision to do something so reckless (he definitely put the One Ring within reach of the Orcs, and Sauron, to rescue Frodo) and its successful outcome felt plausible and completely earned. Tolkien did some fantastic writing there. That rescue was also the best of many reasons to love his tremendous character. Samwise Gamgeee was the best hero in a book of heroes.
A couple of things I might nitpick over from the book are the following: 1) Arwen and Aragorn’s love story is essentially not present until about the time they’re getting married, which made the event feel unimportant and somewhat out of the blue, despite the description of Arwen and the fact she is giving up immortal life being objectively very important; and 2) The Eowyn and Faramir love story felt like it went on a bit too long. While I liked both characters, I am not sure that they deserved the significantly larger page-time for their love story than Aragorn and Arwen.
Those are just nitpicks. Overall, this is both a great book and trilogy. There’s a reason it is held in such high regard by so many people. The Lord of the Rings is an expertly written and engrossing high fantasy story. It’s not grimy or grimly realistic. It’s beautiful, inspiring, and idealistic. I highly recommend the Rob Inglis’ audiobook performance. To me, his reading of the story feels like the next best thing to having Tolkien read them to you.
Have you read The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien? If so, what did you think?