The Fellowship of the Ring (part 3) group read

Welcome to part 3 of The Lord of the Rings group read that I'm happy to be a part of (take a look at part 1 and part 2 for more Tolkien-y goodness). This is the home stretch of the first part of the epic journey that is Lord of the Rings, and it's been ten years in the reading for me. So, let's get on with the discussion! These discussion points were provided by Little Red Reviewer.

Gandalf and the Balrog, just Wow.  Just a short scene, but oh so intense!  With their mentor gone, how will the group go on?  Even when they do reach Lothlorien, no one seems to know how to get where they are going.  They had been dependent on Gandalf making the decisions, and now he is gone.

I found is surprising how lost they all were without him. He was an important part of the group, yes, but they had a complete lack of direction after he had gone. What also shocked me was that, given Gandalf's importance in both The Hobbit and thus far in Fellowship, his sudden departure was surprising. Of course now we all know it turns out for the best (damn you, awesome movies!) but it was still shocking to read.

Galadriel and her Ring. She knows the Ring of power must be destroyed, but with it's destruction comes the de-powering (is that a word?) of her Ring as well. The Elves must leave Middle Earth or forget who and what they are. For her, this is a no win situation. Frodo's success effectively means the banishment of the Elves in Middle Earth. I wonder if that makes him more likely to do everything in his power to succeed, or less?

That was something that didn't come across in the movies, and I liked that 'catch-22' situation that Frodo's been put in. What makes it worse is that the elves are actively helping him to destroy the Ring, effectively speeding up their own unmaking. It's a hell of a tough situation to be in, but as a great doctor once said (warning, sci-fi reference coming up), "the needs of the many outweight the needs of the few, or the one".

Boromir - I didn't trust from way back at the Council at Rivendell. His conversation with Frodo at the end of Fellowship made him look like a know-it-all with a world view of colonialism and imperialism. Is this Tolkien taking a shot at the old fashioned British world view, or am I reading way, way too much into it?  

He was a shifty character from the get-go. Never trust someone who tries to use the tools of the enemy against them. As for the colonialism angle, I never thought about it. I don't know enough about Tolkien himself to really comment, but I'd imagine if he did put in some kind of 'message' here, it would have reflected the sentiments of the time rather than his personal feelings. I'm just stabbing in the dark here, so feel free to correct me.

After spending some time in Lothlorien, Sam realizes the Elves aren’t quite as scary or as strange as he first thought. I wonder if when he gets back to the Shire if he’ll realize the Hobbits in the next town aren’t quite as strange as he once thought.  I really don’t think this is an overt “message” story, but I do wonder if Tolkien didn't mind throwing in a little message of “those folks in the next valley aren’t as different as you think”.   

It sounds probable, especially with regards to Sam, who has a very insular and 'local' view of things that could sometimes border on xenophobic. I don't think that Tolkien put it deliberately, but rather it would have been a natural part of the journey itself. In being so far from home and seeing so many different races and cultures, there's little chance you'd be able to hold onto such introspective views for long.

I only stared reading fantasy a few years ago, and I keep running into this undercurrent of choice.  Bilbo has to choose to give up the Ring.  Frodo has to choose to take on the quest and be the Ring bearer. Even Boromir is choosing how he feels about the Ring and what it could bring him.  In the end, this is all coming down to how we choose to live our lives from moment to moment.
   

Choice and temptation are two of the biggest themes that I picked up on, and an emphasis on how the right thing to do is always so much harder than the easy (wrong) thing. Granted in some cases the characters aren't given very much of a choice, but they do make a decision one way or the other. I think in fantasy its the choices that will define a lot about a character, and have the ability to throw the quest in a completely new direction.

And the obligatory: what was your favorite part of this section? 

My favourite in this section was the time that the Company spent in Lothlorien. I quite liked the tension with Gollum stalking them, as well as the interaction between Legolas and Gimli. The scene with the mirror of Galadriel had a good mix of history and character. Plus, Lothlorien as a place is written brilliantly.

------

So there we have it. The end of The Fellowship of the Ring. I've finally finished it - after ten years of it collecting dust on my shelf, with a ripped bookmark at somewhere around page 70, I can finally say that I've read the first part of The Lord of the Rings. Don't forget to check out the reviews from the rest of the group:

The Little Red Reviewer
Geeky Daddy
Stainless Steel Droppings
All Booked Up
The Written World
The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf