The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien

The final part of Tolkien's 'masterpiece' was slightly more enjoyable than the other books but I cannot exactly pinpoint the reason why. Either due to its being the grand payoff, which is always fun, or the fact that I was now more indoctrinated into Tolkien's world, or perhaps it was simply my relief that it was all coming to an end, I can only speculate. The stage is set for the final showdown between the armies of men and the servants of the dark lord as Frodo and Sam complete the final leg of their journey to Mount Doom. In typical heroic fashion, Aragorn, heir to the throne of Gondor, must make a trip into the realm of the dead in order to rouse a spectral force to fight alongside him. The plotline is a fairly obvious adherence to the mythic trope highlighted by Joseph Campbell in his massively inspirational The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Meanwhile, the hobbits Merry and Pippin are separated and forced into maturity, whilst other secondary characters go on to reach their full heroic potential.

Eventually, after much struggle and loss, the One Ring is destroyed and the work of Sauron undone. The story should have ended there, with the noble sacrifices of Frodo and Sam, but Tolkien makes, in my opinion a massive blunder, by having them rescued by giant eagles. Over the years I have listened to fans bend over backwards to defend Tolkien's inclusion of the eagles and offer various explanations as to why they could not have been used to transport the ring directly to Mount Doom in the first place. Yet all these explanations are illogical and broken, as we already saw in The Hobbit and Fellowship that Gandalf has full mastery over the birds. The fact remains that Tolkien's plot device, which these days would be called a deus-ex-machina, invalidates the entire struggle. Indeed, I would go so far to suggest that Gandalf is a hidden villain, for as soon as his goal is achieved, he drops his hobbit pawns like hot cakes and forces them to mend their own affairs after their beloved Shire has gone to wreck and ruin whilst they were away saving the world.

Comments in defence of the eagles will be deleted.

Rating: 3/5