THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, by JRR Tolkien
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo's side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice.
‘I will take the Ring,’ he said, ‘though I do not know the way.’”
TITLE—The Fellowship of the Ring
SERIES—The Lord of the Rings
AUTHOR—JRR Tolkien
PUBLISHED—1954
PUBLISHER—orig. George Allen & Unwin (now HarperCollins)
GENRE—high fantasy
SETTING—Middle-earth
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—adventures, friendship, hobbits, wizards, elves, & other characters, intricate fantasy worldbuilding: landscape, languages, & lore, #ErusPlan, the evil of pride & power, the great heroism of small deeds & smaller folk, hope in the darkness & the light that comes after the dark, Faith vs Fear, the power of pity & hope, nature as sentient & sacred, songs & poetry, #Gigolas, the sounds of memory, the Elves’ “long defeat”
WRITING STYLE—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
CHARACTERS—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
STORY/PLOT—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
PHILOSOPHY—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
PREMISE—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
EXECUTION—★ ★ ★ ★ ★
“‘…You can say what you like, Gaffer, but Bag End's a queer place, and its folk are queerer.’
‘And you can say what you like, about what you know no more of than you do of boating, Mr. Sandyman,’ retorted the Gaffer, disliking the miller even more than usual. ‘If that's being queer, then we could do with a bit more queerness in these parts. There's some not far away that wouldn't offer a pint of beer to a friend, if they lived in a hole with golden walls. But they do things proper at Bag End.’”
Premise:
“The prime motive was the desire of a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them. As a guide I had only my own feelings for what is appealing or moving…” — from the Foreword to the Second Edition
“Tolkien later recalled: ‘L[ewis] said to me one day: “Tollers, there is too little of what we really like in stories. I am afraid we shall have to try and write some ourselves.”’” — from THE FALL OF NÚMENOR by JRR Tolkien, edited by Brian Sibley
My thoughts:
Like so many other millennial Tolkien-fans, my initiation to the legendarium began with Peter Jackson’s film adaptation of FOTR which I saw in theaters on Christmas Day with my family in 2001. I pivoted to the books immediately starting with The Hobbit, then moving on to the trilogy, & finishing with The Silmarillion just before the TTT movie came out.
From then on it was midnight watch parties at the theater for the rest of all of the Jackson films, all the reshowings with live orchestra I could attend, writing RPGs on the BarrowDowns.net in highschool, & yes, my Legolas costume for Renn Faire outings, as well as two trips to New Zealand to visit some of the film sites including Hobbiton which was probably the highlight of my fandom experience. & now I am enjoying reading all of the Professor’s work all over again online with a fantastic discord-based bookclub (#TheFellowshipOfTheReaders).
All that to say that I don’t know what to say about the first book in the trilogy in this “review.” I’ve read these books so many times that I couldn’t even begin to discuss all of the elements that are so noteworthy & so special to me about them. This is truly one of those endless books that you can read & reread an infinity number of times & still discover new thoughts & feelings that the story, the characters, the worldbuilding, the themes, & the deeper philosophy can ignite.
On this most recent reread I was especially drawn to the character of Sam—his humility & curiosity, his fierceness & strong-heartedness—and the dynamics of friendship among all the members of the Fellowship but especially between the hobbits. My heart in particular broke for Boromir & Gandalf. I loved all the discussions & descriptions of the different forests (the Old Forest, Lothlórien) & bodies of water (the Loudwater, the Mirrormere, Nimrodel) a theme which continues into book two, especially with Fangorn & the Dead Marshes.
Bilbo’s character is much more nuanced & heroic in the books—did you know that he was actually the first to volunteer to take the Ring to Mordor but Elrond & Gandalf vetoed it on account of his advanced age & their concerns about him taking up the Ring again after having willingly left it behind once? I still maintain that his conversations with Aragorn & Frodo, his energy, & the description of his room in Rivendell are *the* coziest things in all of literature.
I also loved meeting the Bucklanders & the Breelanders again, being reminded how cute & heart-warming Butterbur & the scene at the Prancing Pony was. Gandalf’s optimism vs. Aragorn’s realism clashing in the journey between Rivendell & Moria. Legolas & Gimli’s slowburn enemies to besties bromance (#Gigolas / #Gimolas / #Lemli)… Everything about this book is precious & every time I reread it something new stands out to me. <3
“‘You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin—to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours—closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is. We know most of what Gandalf has told you. We know a good deal about the Ring. We are horribly afraid—but we are coming with you; or following you like hounds.’
‘…Three cheers for Captain Frodo and company!’”
(Read more about why I love Tolkien’s writing here.)
I would recommend this book to literally any reader who hasn’t read it yet. 😁 This book is best read outdoors or in a cozy, rural setting.
Final note: I also do recommend reading Christina Scull & Wayne Hammond’s Reader’s Companion alongside the book if you want more of an annotated reading experience (but this is probably best done on at least a second if not third reading…).
“They followed him as he stepped lightly up the grass-clad slopes. Though he walked and breathed, and about him living leaves and flowers were stirred by the same cool wind as fanned his face, Frodo felt that he was in a timeless land that did not fade or change or fall into forgetfulness. When he had gone and passed again into the outer world, still Frodo the wanderer from the Shire would walk there, upon the grass among elanor and niphredil in fair Lothlórien.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
CW // it’s just generally very heart-breaking
Season: Fall & Winter
Music pairing: Howard Shore
Further Reading—
TALES FROM THE PERILOUS REALM (1997)
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962)
On Fairy Stories (1939)
THE HOBBIT (1937)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1954)
BILBO’S LAST SONG, illustrated by Pauline Baynes (2012)
THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH: Vol. I-XII + Index, edited by Christopher Tolkien (1983-1996)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: A READER’S COMPANION, by Christina Scull & Wayne Hammond (2005)
THE ROAD TO MIDDLE-EARTH by Tom Shippey (2003)
THE LANGUAGES OF TOLKIEN’S MIDDLE-EARTH: A Complete Guide to All Fourteen of the Languages Tolkien Invented, by Atanielle Annyn Rowland (1980)
FLORA OF MIDDLE-EARTH: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium, by Walter S Judd & Graham A Judd (2017)
See my post on Tolkien’s works here for even more reading suggestions related to the legendarium.
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