The Lord Of The Rings is a tale that has resonated in geekdom for a long time now, but it took me a long time to really get into it… indeed, it wasn’t until Peter Jackson’s films were released that I truly fell in love with them, though I started reading The Hobbit before they were released. They resonate in the Christian community, too, though Tolkein would have objected to them being called anything as simple as an allegory, where each item in the story exactly represents something else, as in Pilgrim’s Progress.
I’ve heard complaints that the story is too long, and considering that John and I are taking Labor Day weekend to watch the extended director’s cuts and are just over 90 minutes into the first film and only halfway done with it, saying that the film is long is not an unfair complaint. I’ll be honest; I don’t mind the length. I feel that the length is there to tell the story.
And oh, what a story this is… If you have not seen these movies, or better, read these books, be warned that this post contains spoilers. You may want to skip it, or you may find that my telling of the story ignites a love for the tale within you, so that you want to read it or see them, even with the time it takes to invest in them.
We follow Frodo Baggins as his life changes, forcing him to leave behind the simple pleasures of his rural life and run first for the haven of Rivendell, and then, finding it no haven, to continue on to hell. We watch as he passes from innocence and noble naiveté, and see his opinions and judgments soured and colored by the terrible evil he encounters on his travels. We watch him as he seeks redemption for another, knowing that what he’s really looking for is the promise that he, himself, is redeemable. We watch through the eyes of the others as Frodo goes through all these changes, seeing the heartbreak in Gandalf’s eyes when Frodo volunteers, reluctantly, to carry to Ring to its doom. Frodo, after all, can only guess at the cost of this task; Gandalf has a truer understanding of the ultimate cost to this young hobbit. We see the grief in their eyes when it looks as though Frodo is lost time and time again.
Ultimately, this is a story of the fall of everyman, and of our ultimate redemption. Frodo’s story is the story of us all, and as we watch his nobility and fall in love with him, we are reminded what in humanity is noble and worth loving. As we see him corrupted, we grieve, thinking of all the ways in which noble humanity is corrupted and ruined. As we see him hope for redemption, we hope with him, longing for it ourselves. In the travels and trials of Frodo, we see our own; in the hope of Middle Earth, we find our own.
At least, that’s the beauty I find in these stories, and that’s why I’ll share them with our children someday. As with the Chronicles of Narnia, I’ll awaken their eyes to the stories and worlds beyond the physical world they live in, and find other ways to tell them about the possibilities in the world they inhabit. It will be a way a teach them lessons that are too difficult to teach otherwise; lessons about nobility and beauty, about friendship and sacrifice, about selflessness and what it means to give all of yourself. In these stories, we’ll teach our children how to be honorable. What more can you ask of a story?
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.