End of the semester thoughts

Hey everyone!

I just thought I'd hop on here and give my final thoughts about the class. I am honestly very sad this class is ending because I really enjoyed this class a lot. I enjoyed all of our discussions in class and reading everyone's blogs throughout the semester because a lot of good points were made and it really helped me enjoy the books at a deeper level and with more appreciation. In addition to this I really enjoyed our bigger assignments and projects because they felt a lot more fun than normal essays or assignments. I definitely can't wait to read other Tolkien books/pieces that we didn't get to and I am also very excited to reread the ones we did. I also can't wait to do a reread to find any things I might have missed since many people in our last zoom session said there was a bunch of stuff they learned after doing multiple rereads which I think is very unique in a piece of literature but that just speaks to how amazing Tolkien is as a writer. Overall I enjoyed this class a lot and will definitely miss it a lot.

-Frodo

And he lived happily ever after until the end of his days

This was a great class. If I'm being honest, coming into this class I was concerned that I was going to be in way over my head. I thought that you all would know way more about Tolkien than I did, and I would basically be playing catch up. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a wide variety of experiences with Tolkien present in the class. It all worked out very well. Through the semester, I get much more comfortable in class, and I feel that many of you did as well. We truly became a fellowship throughout the course of the semester. I'll definitely miss this class, and I'll miss getting to nerd out with all of you.

Stay healthy and safe everyone
-Haleth AKA Atlin

Common Tolkien themes in film/shows

Throughout the semester, we had briefly talked about common Tolkien themes throughout cinematic history. For example, in the first Narnia movie, the children hide under the tree and are running away from something (it was Santa). In LOTR (The Fellowship), the Hobbits are all headed to Bree, and they hide under the roots of the tree from the Black Riders.

In Harry Potter, the womping willow can be closely related to the tree in the LOTR that attacks people and if you get too close, the roots will swoop you up and kill you. The branches in the womping willow would also do the same by smashing the person that got too close. Also, the spiders in the forbidden forest that are big and talk, related to the Spiders in The Hobbit with Bilbo and the spiders.

In Game of Thrones, the theme really relates to Jon Snow and him being the "True King" which also relates to Eragorn being the True King. Also, the Good v. Evil with the White Walkers v. Kings Landing also Gondor v. Mordor. This could be pretty convincing since they hide behind the gates and wall, and technically so do the walkers. They are also both considered a "supernatural" being.

Tolkien really opened up the world of fantasy to a lot of cinematic goldmines. Without the works of Tolkien, I'm wondering if plotlines would be any different had he never published his works.

Comparing Elrond to the woman behind the pseudonym

As this semester comes to an end, I figured the only thing that seemed acceptable was to compare myself to my Character, Elrond. Although him and I have a lot of differences, we do have some strong similarities. He served in the Military and was a Captain, and I am also joining the Military, trying to make it my Career and protect my Country, like Elrond tried to do in the Second Age against Sauron. I would also say I have a lot of Leadership skills (aside from this class), because I really do take initiative more than not. He really cares for the people and is a healer, which I do help my friends a lot, and consider myself an empath. Elrond is a very strong character that has a small major part in the LOTR, and I feel like I was also somewhat if a pivotal part this semester, being the noob bringing new insight to all of my Tolkien loving classmates. It's been an honor, y'all

Final Thoughts with a Hobbity Twist

While we were discussing all our final thoughts and takeaways from the semester, I could not help but consider how earlier on during the semester I felt like Bilbo Baggins in the early chapters of The Hobbit.  You see, I classify myself as being more introverted, and I'm generally pretty quiet in class discussions.  In fact, I normally begin to fret when I hear that a large percentage of my final grade will come out of participation points.  I confess I began to worry at the beginning of this semester.  Just like Bilbo had no original interest in going on an adventure, so too did I not initially want to use my voice during classtime.

However, we all know how the story goes.  Bilbo wakes up to find the dwarves out of his house, but without much choice of his own, he is shoved out his door by Gandalf to accompany Thorin and his band on their great quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain.  Well, I feel like my Bag-End is my reserved attitude, and this class served as Gandalf, giving me the shove out the door and out of my comfort zone. 

Yet, for all my early fears about having to speak up and engage in discussion, I return to my hobbit hole quite changed.  I felt so comfortable in this class to share my opinions, ask questions, and ultimately be an active participant to a degree unlike any other Honors class I have taken.  Like all the hobbits in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when they returned to the Shire, I feel different, and this in a good way.  With the semester coming to a close, I return to my metaphorical Bag-End of introversion.  While that is still who I am, I don't feel like I have to hide behind that every time I enter a classroom anymore.  In fact, I'm already eager to revisit Rivendell, the Lonely Mountains, and Lake-town to see whether this most uncharacteristic change will persist.  I believe it will.

So, with that being said, I want to thank Dr. Donovan and the rest of the class for a fantastic semester, one that will go down in the books as one the strangest but more importantly one of the fondest.  Have a great summer, and perhaps our paths will cross again when we are all able to pop out of our hobbit holes once more.

Signing out,

Aragorn (Daniel)

Tolkien Across Generations

I mentioned this to Dr. Donovan after our last class, but I just wanted to share a really cool way this class has led to a lot of great conversation and reading for my family.  My grandma has been a lifelog Tolkien fan, and so I wrote her an email at the beginning of he semester letting her know that I had registered for this class,.  Since then, we have regularly kept in touch about what we have learned and talked about in this class, and have our own discussions about different pieces of Tolkien's writing.  She has also recommended different short stories and essays to me that we didn't cover in this class, so I will definitely have a lot of Tolkien to read continuing into the summer as well.  It was really great that we got to talk about what makes Tolkien's writing influential and meaningful across multiple generations, because these conversations with my 85 year old grandma really prove that point even more.  It amazes me that more than 10 years after I read my first book by Tolkien (The Hobbit), his literature continues to impact my life in new ways.

Thank you everyone for  making this such a great class, stay safe, healthy, and read on!

Hobbit Movies

Hello!

I was thinking about the Hobbit movies and wondering why it was turned into three movies. I know that the biggest reason is probably profit. They wanted to get as much out of that series as they could. However, I find one thing curious. Most of the time, when turning books into movies, the biggest reason they cannot put something into the movie is time. So why is it that, even with three movies and each movie being about three hours long, they changed the story so much? I imagine they put Legolas in because they wanted to connect it even more with LOTR. But there were quite a few changes that I didn't see as necessary. For example, we see Radagast in a number of scenes in the movie, but he is only mentioned by name in the book. I just find it curious that even with all the time that they could ever need, they still changed it from the book in such a large way.

Keep Up Your Merry Hearts, and Ride to Meet Your Fortune!

Hello!

I wanted to use this last post of the semester as an opportunity to thank Dr. Donovan and all of you, my fellow classmates, for such a great class! I'm so glad I decided to take this course and it has honestly been my most favorite and exciting class this whole semester. Despite the second half of the semester being shaken up and everything having to go online, this class acted as a great motivator for me to keep up my studies and I learned so much from it!
Good luck to you all on your Final Portfolios and exams! I hope you all have a good summer and stay safe and healthy!

- Emma (aka Tom Bombadil)

Here At the End of All Things ...

This class was definitely the highlight of this past semester, especially when the quarantine began and UNM was forced to limit its operations. Taking a class that focused on the stories I grew up listening to and continue to love was really amazing. Not only was this class awesome, in all its Tolkienness, but it was also full of like-minded, intelligent individuals that made it all the more worthwhile and great. I'm really sad that its come to an end, especially since I won't have a class with Dr. Donovan in the Fall 2020 semester. That being said, I wish you all the very best and I hope that we'll come together in the future once the show focused on Aragorn is released. Thank you for a great semester!

Until next time ... :)

Finland and Tolkien

We talked in class a little today how it was really cool to hear about Tolkien's sources when it came to writing his stories of Middle-earth. I wanted to include a little portion of my revised paper that talks a lot about the sources that Tolkien drew from Finland:  

"believe that Finland's landscape was Tolkien's inspiration for many places within
Middle-earth like Mirkwood and other woodland realms. When I think of Middle-earth, the first
images to cross my mind are wide open countryside’s, densely populated forests, and steep
cliff sides carved by a river. Many people attribute this atheistic found in Middle-earth to
Switzerland, which I must agree with wholeheartedly. However, I will also argue that these
surroundings can also be found elsewhere in Europe. Finland is Europe’s most forested country
having about 70% of the land covered with trees. “The country lends itself to
a sense of magic and mystery”. For this reason, I believe that Mirkwood could be
inspired, at least in part, by the forests and natural landscape of Finland."

Who is Samwise?

I know that I put this out on the chat earlier today but I also wanted to post it here for anyone that wasn't able to make it to class today.

Samwise is Joshua Rodriguez.

It's been a pleasure learning about Tolkien with all of you and reading all of your marvelous blog posts. The biggest takeaways for me were learning just awesome Lord of the Rings is, how it's okay for adults to love fantasy literature, how invested Tolkien truly was in creating an immersive world, and the concept of the eucatastrophe and how it applies to all  of us today during these crazy times! Congrats to all of those graduating and have a great summer everyone!   

Quarantine Teachings

In our wrap up discussion today, we talked about things we’ve learned this semester and things we’ll take away from this experience (this class, this semester, this quarantine situation). I hope one thing that we’ve all learned from this situation is to appreciate what we have, even though the things we don’t have may seem looming and numerous at times. Like Thorin said “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” I just want to celebrate all that we do have – and one of the biggest things we have are the people in our lives, whether we live with them or can only see them through technology! We can't change everything that's going on - “all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us,” and I’m so proud of all of you for what you’ve done this semester even with all the additional stresses we didn’t plan on having. My fingers are crossed that next semester you are all able to go back to campus and see people in person, but no matter how things turn out or how long we need to deal with Zoom meetings and six feet of distance, I know you will all find ways to stay connected and go on to do wonderful things. 

Thank you all for making this semester wonderful,

<3 Ashleigh

all good things must come to an end

I have loved this class and talking with all of you about Tolkien. Thank you all! I have definitely appreciated having people to talk to outside of my house during this crazy time! I hope all of us are able to get through it safely.

I don't have much more to say, so bye for now I guess, and hope I will see most of you around campus whenever it reopens. Congratulations Michael, Ashleigh and Taylor on graduating!

-Isaac

Wrapping up the Semester

As Elrond, I am really supposed to be "all knowing" when it comes to things in the LOTR. The truth is, I really am the exact opposite of my pseudonym. This class taught me the rich, deep, and love Tolkien put into his readings, making sure things didn't really end even at the end of the novels. People (including his son) kept his stories alive, even after death, whether it be just keeping the books alive by making blogs, websites, and even games. This whole semester opened me up to a new respect and appreciation to a section of Fantasy that I never really took the time to look at. The Lord of the Rings really changed my mind on this style of fantasy, and now I actually understand the movies as I watch them. This was a big chunk of literature that I really am not used to reading throughout the semester, so I fell behind and skipped around a little bit. However, I really do plan on going back and reading both The Hobbit and LOTR once I am done getting the rest of my life together. This class was a pure joy, and really turned me into a Tolkien fan. I still have a lot of catching up to do, in regard to Character formation, but I finally understand the overall premise of Tolkien's books.

Lots of Love

Hello everyone!

I wanted to take my last blog post to say thank you to you all for such an amazing semester. It really was amazing and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to meet such wonderful people. I know that everyone in this class is going to go out into the world and do amazing things. 

I also wanted to specifically thank Dr. Donovan for being such an amazing teacher and for showing how much she cares for us during this time of uncertainty.

I do have a few book recommendations for you all. I really enjoyed both the Falconer series by Elizabeth May and the Doon series by Lorie Langdon and Carey Corp. Both are fantasy, involve the Fae, and take place in Scotland. (Also they both have romance because I'm a sucker for men in kilts. What can you do?).

Love you all and hope to see you soon!

- Celeborn (Abby)

Robin Williams Quote :)

"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." - Robin Williams, from the Dead Poets Society film.

“Leaf by Niggle”

In our last discussion, we talked about how this story might be a reflection of Tolkien on himself as a writer. How this story might depict how he was never satisfied with his work. How he never accomplished as much as he wanted. And how what he managed to actually get out was only a pale comparison to the vision he actually had. Well, that’s quite telling in and of itself as what he produced is incredible and so detailed so I can’t imagine what it actually could have been if his vision was fully realized. That’s a whole other discussion in itself, but not what I really want to look at. 

What I’m interested in exploring here is another possible interpretation for this story, one I had upon initially reading it, after looking past the not so subtle spiritual allegory aspect of it, this story could also be read, in my opinion, as a tale on the method of creating something artistic, whether that be a piece of art, a piece of writing, music, or whatever one’s artistic fancy may be. 

It details all of Niggle’s struggle to work on and get done this painting he wishes to accomplish, such as his responsibilities and his own lack of commitment. Then it shows how one sometimes has to put their work aside, not even think about, look at it, or consider it for a time. And then one can come back to it with fresh eyes and start anew, and possibly finally be able to realize the vision they’ve been striving for but have been unable to accomplish until now. That was the impression I took away from reading this story, pushing aside the idea that heaven is where all your greatest aspirations are realized, which is a nice thought but not a fulfilling one.  

Closing Thoughts on the Lord of the Rings

As we have all discussed, the ending of The Lord of the Rings is pretty long.  The scouring of the shire seems like such an odd thing to tack on after the climax of the overall story.  However, we get to see the changes brought to our characters shine through, and appreciate the brave hobbits that they have become.  Even after the Grey Havens, Pippin, Merry, and Sam all return to a seemingly normal life in The Shire.  If one reads the appendices, they can learn about their families and lives and how eventually all members of the Fellowship either die or pass on through the Grey Havens. 

Tolkien seems to bring everything back to the theme of home and the simple pleasures in life in this way.  We see all the remaining members of the Fellowship pursuing ordinary lives compared to their grand deeds in their younger days.  The hobbits remind me of a verse from Ecclesiastes in the Bible that says, "Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage" (Ecclesiastes 5:18).  This might be part of what inspired Tolkien, since he tries to send the message that simple pleasures are worthier pursuits than gold and power, as Thorin says before his death at the end of The Hobbit.  Perhaps this is why the hobbits succeeded on their quest: they wanted to protect each other and their homes, not seek power and gain for themselves.

Reading beyond Tolkien

As we finish our course and head into a summer that might contain some new reading, what authors (other than Tolkien) will you be reading or would you recommend to others who enjoy Tolkien's work?

One of my personal favorites is Guy Gavriel Kay, a fantasy writer, who got started by helping Christopher Tolkien compile The Silmarillion. If you are looking for epic fantasy to read, consider The Fionavar Tapestry by Kay. It makes me laugh and weep in some similar ways to Tolkien's texts.

The Scouring of the Shire

Reading The Lord of the Rings this most recent time introduced me to something very interesting about Chapter 8 of The Return of the King.  According to Tolkien's own words and alluded to throughout the narrative, the Scouring of the Shire was "foreseen from the outset."  This strikes me as somewhat odd since the whole story seems to hinge on the destruction of the ring, and while this may partially be Tolkien's intention, I think his decision to conclude the dramatic side of the story through sacking the Shire indicates that something more was behind his plans.  The Lord of the Rings was more than just a story of destroying a horrible evil.  It is also a catalog of personal growth.

Each of the four hobbits left the Shire not quite understanding what dangers and perils they would find themselves in.  Frodo did not yet understand the full corruptive power of the ring, Sam had not yet foregone the comforts of home for the discomforts of the road, Merry had not yet developed the full attributes of a leader, and Pippin had not yet found his courage.  However, upon return to the Shire, each one had gone through numerous trials, encountered great difficulties, and experienced tragic loss, and through these, they grew into the hobbits they were supposed to be.  I hesitate to argue this, but perhaps their transformations and the final trial of the Scouring provide the climax of the entire story.

Additionally, we discussed throughout the semester various instances in which Tolkien alludes to what is to come.  The history of the Old Forest, Sam's vision in the Mirror of Galadriel, and the spoils of Isengard all tease what will happen to their beloved home, and I suppose I was able to better catch these references this time around.  Still, something I haven't considered until writing this post is that these references I listed all involve a hobbit.  Merry retells the story of the forest, Sam looks into the mirror, and Merry and Pippin discover the pipeweed after Saruman's defeat.  I think this small detail is tremendously important.  If Tolkien alluded to this event primarily through Gimli, Legolas, or even Aragorn (though I think his role as a Ranger guarding the free lands of the West might excuse him), the gravity of the hobbits' discovery would not be as poignant.

This chapter remains one of my favorites in all of The Lord of the Rings.  The idea that life continues on, even after the destruction of the evil ring, is important to me.  I'm a steadfast believer in the concept of happy endings (or eucatastrophe, if you please), and I can also appreciate Tolkien's writing his ending to be more reflective of real life.  Struggles will spring up sometimes where we least expect them, but ultimately hope and joy will still prevail.

Creative Project Thoughts

Hey everyone!

I just thought I'd hop on here and share some of my thoughts on the creative project. I personally really enjoyed this project for multiple reasons like the fact that it allowed me to try something new and do something different during this whole thing. It was really enjoyable to try something new for me and discover that I really enjoyed painting. I have never really painted but my sister loves it so I was inspired to step out of my comfort zone for this project and try something new. It gave me a nice challenge and introduced me to something I ended up really liking. By doing something different it also allowed me to destress a bit and get out of this essay and discussion post writing machine because that was definitely taking a toll on me. Overall I really enjoyed this project and how it gave me something to do that I enjoyed during this weird time and I hope I have a chance in a future class to do something similar.

The Appendix

Reading The Return of the King, you always feel like you have way more reading left than you actually do. Once the ring is destroyed, there is still a hefty chunk of pages in your right hand (assuming you're reading a hard copy). Even after the scouring of the Shire, there are well over 100 pages remaining in the text. This is because of the appendix. Tolkien added it in general Tolkien fashion, and filled it with so much information that no one could possible remember it all, no matter how many times you read it. You could devote years to any particular section and still find things left to study probably.

The way I used to read books, I would skip the introductions and the appendices in the rare book that had one. I was primarily interested in the actual text of the story and that was about it. That has changed somewhat, but I still find myself reading about half of the introduction to a book and then just skipping it. That being said, it took a lot of me to start that appendix. I knew that the story was over, and I was not particularly interested on reading 100 pages on Tolkien's development of his language, which is kind of what I was expecting. Fortunately, there was much more information than that, and a lot of it was very interesting and definitely added to my understanding and enjoyment of LOTR as a whole. There were definitely some sections that I read the first paragraphs and then kind of skimmed the rest, and I did not devote too much of my life to staring at the family trees in the appendix either. If anything, I liked the maps the most.

I'm glad the appendix is there though. Other books that I read or shows that I watch, I feel sad when they are over, because I am not ready to say goodbye to the characters yet. I felt this way after watching Game of Thrones (I haven't read the books yet, but they are next on my reading list once this class is over and Tolkien loosens his clutch on my spare time). But with Lord of the Rings, you're never done. There is always more information that you could learn. And that is cool. Most authors could only dream of that.

The End (Sad but True)

There are several interesting aspects of Appendix A that we didn’t really look at in our discussion that I wanted to explore. The first is Aragorn having the choice of exactly when he would pass on and doing so despite the fact he would abandon Arwen in Middle-earth. This part caught my attention strongly as I found it very intriguing Tolkien decided to do it that way. Especially with the fact that Aragorn is essentially leaving Arwen behind by doing this, after having caused great emotional turmoil between her and Elrond by staying in Middle-earth to be with Aragorn. 

Second, the fact Legolas remains in Middle-earth until Aragorn decided to pass on before going overseas and the fact that he took Gimli with him. This fascinated me because the pull of the sea seemed so strong to Legolas, but his ties to his companions were enough to keep him in Middle-earth until one no longer was in Middle-earth anymore. Inviting Gimli to go West with him when he left also shows his incredibly tight friendship to the Dwarf, that he didn’t want to go without him.  

And third, Arwen’s determination that there was no way for her to go West and yet Legolas and Gimli are said to have. This was perhaps some disparity in the story, that these two pieces of this storyline do not match up, but it was kind of a glaring, hold on, wait up moment for me that really struck me. Not entirely sure what to make of it, but it caught my attention.  

It’s interesting how the departure of all these characters hinge on Aragorn, as if he’s the glue that held it all together. Tolkien gave these characters the ability to decide when it was finally their time. Very wondersome, given a lot of the events that take place in his stories are hinted at being based on fate. Yet this seems to be a decision not tied to fate.  

The Return of the King, Book VI, Chapters 4-9

Having finished The Lord of the Rings, I feel kind of sad. I'm not sure if anyone else can relate to what I'm about to say but, whenever I finish reading the books or watching the movies, I'm left feeling kind of empty, because it's over, and wanting because I wish there was more to the story. That being said, its really amazing how J.R.R. Tolkien was able to bring his story full-circle, cover all his bases so that, despite our sadness over the story's end, we are left feeling satisfied. In my opinion, that is why he chose to have such a long ending. A point was made during our meeting that a story only ends when you decide it does, or at least something to that effect was said. The idea that no story is truly over really intrigues me, especially because I never want the stories I love to end.

Blog thoughts aka bloghts

I like the idea of having a casual blog for people in the class to use to discuss ideas from the course outside of class. I think its a fun activity because personally I don't get a lot of opportunities to just write out mostly raw opinions. I also think its really nice to be able to determine for yourself which part of the text interests you and bring in your own analysis. I like in class discussions but they're guided by the intent of the teacher and by the consensus of the other students. I think a blog is a really good way for people to express opinions they might not share during a class. I did have some technical issues that I've seen other people bring up. It would be nice to be able to see your own posts and comments somewhere so they're easy to find and review. Or at least it would be better to be told at the beginning of the semester that we should tag all our posts. I'm pretty ambivalent on the anonymity. I think in a small class its not really that hard to puzzle out who everyone is but also I think the real relief is just not having to see people when your thinking through the books. I think being alone and having plenty of time are the factors that make the blog really productive. I think its cool to have the pseudonyms be characters from the lord of the rings. It would be interesting to try to incorporate the identities into the blog posts but I just don't see a practical way to do that.

Thoughts on the Blog and Pseudonyms

I think that the blog is a wonderful way for all of us to interact as students.  Especially with the changes due to COVID-19, it was a good way for us to share our ideas and see what fellow students are thinking about.  I think that the one post and one comment system worked well, since it helps us all interact with each others' posts.  The posts made all of us reflect on what stood out to us during the week or what sparked a reaction to part of the story.  Concerning pseudonyms, I think that they are a great idea.  I think it makes everyone much more comfortable with sharing their own thoughts and critiquing others' posts.  This class in particular may have not needed the pseudonyms since we all got along so well, but I think that we still heard ideas that we would not have heard otherwise.  Overall the blog functions great and I would not add much.  It would be nice to have a function of the blog that allows you to search by keyword, so that you don't have to remember to add labels or tags. 

Favorite or Least Helpful Works

If you had to pick one text from our syllabus this term as your favorite, what would it be and why did you pick that one? What does it mean to you? How will you carry that text with you beyond this course?

In a different vein, what text did you find the most thought-provoking and enlightening about our topic, whether or not it was your favorite? Why this text?

Conversely, which text did you find least helpful or interesting in thinking about Tolkien's work? What forms the basis for your reaction to this text? Personal analysis or bias, lack of time spent on it in class or in your own study, difficulty of text?

Recovery After the Story

Calista brought up an interesting point in class the other day about how most times in books we don’t get a “recovery period” at the end of the book where we see the aftermath of the big battle.

We don’t usually get to see how the characters we followed through their story mentally or physically deal with the aftermath of their quest. Like in superhero movies - we see them save the day (woohoo!) but we also see that they’ve destroyed half the city. Then, in the next scene, or the after-credits scene, or the beginning of the next movie, everything has miraculously gone back to where it was before. New York is rebuilt, people have moved on with their lives, and the scene is set for the next adventure to begin.

If we do get a “what happens later”, it is usually in the form of an epilogue – glossing over the recovery period to tell us what happened later. We see that they’ve recovered, but not how. (See Harry Potter: “Nineteen years later…”)

It could be that authors feel the recovery period might be boring. The story was about the quest at large after all, not about the therapy sessions that should probably be necessary afterwards, or the long and arduous rebuilding of the city. Authors could want us to imagine how things go from here back to normal, giving us the space to make up our own ending. Or they may just not want to dig into the difficulties of portraying the aftermath of the battle.

Tolkien, however, gives us not only the aftermath of the Fellowship’s quest but also the “what has been happening at home,” and “what is the overall impact on the characters of the quest”. We talked in class a bit about what this gives us as readers, so I don’t need to rehash that here, but honestly, I’d enjoy seeing that kind of attention to detail in more of the fiction that I read. It could serve as a reminder that even happy endings are not fully happy, or not fully happy to begin with (we must work our way to happiness).

My Thoughts on the Blog and Pseudonyms

Personally, this blog has been one of my favorite parts of this course. Although there were some weeks where I had a more difficult time coming up with an idea for a post, in general, I really enjoyed writing and reading posts during the week. I think this blog was a really useful space for continuing discussions from class or sharing ideas, thoughts, and opinions that people had about each week's reading or anything else Tolkien-related. I especially appreciated this blog when we transitioned from live class to Zoom meetings because I know, at least for me, inserting your own thoughts into class discussion over a virtual platform is a bit more difficult. Thus, this blog provided me with an outlet to mention whatever ideas occurred to me in class (or after class).

My only gripe with this blog would be in regard to the mechanics of Blogger itself, more specifically how you can't tag (or "label") your own comments and whenever you click on a Blogger profile, it doesn't show all posts/comments from that specific person. Perhaps using a different blogging platform would solve this issue since Blogger doesn't seem to be in any hurry to fix this issue.

As for the anonymity, I think this was another great aspect of the blog because it allowed people to share thoughts and opinions without fear of being judged (although everyone in this class has proven to be very cordial and open to new ideas).

On the Blog

I personally really loved the blog and the pseudonymity. For someone who is more shy, this felt like a really safe space for me to share my ideas.

This blog, I think we can all agree, has lead to some really interesting discussions that I'm so glad I could be a part of. I loved that we had prompts we could speak to but also we could talk about something that interested us from the reading. That kind of freedom is a big reason why I like taking honors courses. I think this blog format was the best way to hold these kinds of discussions because it makes it easy to comment on someone's thoughts.

The pseudonymity was really beneficial to me because it gave me the freedom to share my ideas without my social anxiety creeping in. I felt that I could be more open and honest about what I thought than if I had to post under my own name.

Pseudonymity and Blogging

Now that our semester is almost over, I'd like to ask what you thought of working on the Blog for our class. What did you like most about the Blog discussions? What did you like least? Would you have preferred a regular threaded discussion list forum or simply an email listserv instead of the Blog? What did you think about the use of pseudonyms on the Blog? Did you enjoy the pseudonymity or would you prefer to have used your real name?

Movie Vs. Books endings

So I know we have talked a lot about this, but I wanted to go into it a little bit more. Last class we talked about how books tend to have more wrap up at the end, like Tolkien, he ties up all the lose ends to his book, telling us what happense to all his charcters after the quest is complete. Obviously, the movie does not do that as much, taking away some of the end material, such as the scourging of the Shire. And while we all like to complain about that, I do think it was a smart part for the movies. With a book, it is easy to see how much is left, and we can alwasy go back to a specific page and pick it up from there. With books, you are spending a lot more time in them, so you want to know everything that happens. But it is really different with movies. Basically, you only have the audience for 2-3 hours (yes I know that LotR movies are longer, but humor my point) and they are only devoting that amount of time, so they want to see the resoultion at the end of it. When you have a visual story that keeps going after the climax, the audience rapidly loses interest, which is something that can happen in both film and plays. By making the decision to not keep going, I think the movies are doing a good job of keeping the audience in mind.
Movies overall, tend to be a bit more accessable to people, people dont really want to devote too much time to reading books now (this is a broad statement). It is a lot easier to sit down and watch a movie and learn the story than it is to read +1000 pages of a book. However, because the movies hit all the big plot points and does so fairly well, it sparks interest in the story, and would direct more people to then go and read the books. Its a good starting point, especially when considering how overwhelming the books might be at a glace. I know we all like to talk about what the movies did wrong and how they should be better, but not everyone is taking a class on Tolkien and movies are an easier way to consume media.

Thoughts on Niggle's leaf

This short story is really rife with themes. There are sections about Morality, sections about being a creator in the modern world, and sections about peace and death. I think Tolkien must have projected a lot of his frustrations about creating into Niggle and his painting. It's really interesting how the different conversations about his worth play out. The voices say he is useful once he demonstrates that he can complete tasks and that given time he actually will create and finish something. However some of the townspeople say that his fascination with natural things makes his paintings useless. But the one who picks up the corner of his painting becomes fascinated with it even though its incomplete. Maybe this is how Tolkien thinks of people reading his books. People picking up the shreds of all his thoughts and labor and still appreciating them. Next to these thoughts about contribution to society through work the story also explores how people interact individually. The relationship between Niggle and Parish is very important for the progress of Niggle's world. While in the beginning none of them are perfect neighbors to each other, Niggle stands up for parish when hes talking to the voices and this allows Parish to join him. Together in Niggle's world they grow closer and become functional and cooperative with each other. Then Niggle has to move on. As if to show that you cant just stop in your journey at some point you will always have to move on. Tolkien has a very gentle addressing death as moving on. He does the same thing with Frodo at the end of return of the king. I definitely wasn't expecting a short story about a character named Niggle to deal with so many complicated themes. Tolkien's decision to make Niggle a "small man" just like he did with the hobbits shows that even those of whose lives seem inconsequential have responsibilities to society and have an ability to instigate change. Niggle starts as a painter who cant finish anything but by the end he is almost a god. He is a creator of worlds. Tolkien devoted his life to creating a fantasy world, so this story kind of demonstrates what his justification for his passion must be. And also the things he worries about as a creator.

Romantic Love in LOTR

It is only near the end of The Lord of the Rings that Tolkien chooses to include any developed presentation of romantic love.  The rest of the series deals with love between friends and comrades, but not between potential spouses. The entire story could have easily omitted any full discussion

of romantic love between men and women.  So why does Tolkien choose to include it in this last book of the series?  What is his purpose in presenting this kind of love at all?  Of what importance is this kind of love in Tolkien's moral schema?

Revisiting Heroism

How do you think Tolkien means his readers to define heroism within his created world of Middle-earth? Are his definitions of heroism multiple? Does he have a preference between the epic hero and the folktale hero? Are his definitions of a hero different from or similar to those of medieval authors such as the Beowulf-poet? Who is the MOST heroic character in Tolkien's works? Why that hero? Some argue that Sam is the real hero of The Lord of the Rings, and one of Tolkien's letters supports that definition. However, readers don't always have to agree with writers. What do you think?

Tolkien's View of Good vs. Evil

We've seen a recurring theme in Tolkien's writing of evil being a corrupted and fallen good.  This view of evil is definitely cemented in the final chapters of The Lord of The Rings.   Though Gandalf is not perfect and all knowing, having him undergo a 'resurrection' and transformation into a white wizard gives him an almost god-like characterization.  In addition, the fact that he is dressed in white contrasts him with the darkness caused by forces of evil automatically points to him being a symbol of purity and goodness.  In the opening of The Field of Cormallen, it is mentioned that "Upon the hill-top stood Gandalf, and he was white and cold and no shadow fell on him"(948).  The image of a white figure high up, untouched by shadows is a complete contrast from those under the rule f Sauron, who dwell on or underground and in constant shadows.  I think this definitely solidifies Gandalf a symbol of pure goodness, while Sauron is pure, corrupted evil.

Then, as the ring is destroyed, Sauron's final moments are revealed: "there rose a huge shape of shadow, impenetrable, lightning-crowned, filling all the sky.  Enormous it reared above the world, and stretched out towards them a vast threatening hand, terrible but imponent: for even as it leaned over them, a great wind took it, and it was all blown away"(949).  Evil is consuming, scary, and dark.  But it is also temporary, and not as powerful as it might seem to be.  Having the 'hand' of Sauron  blown away like nothing more than a cloud really drives home Tolkien's view of evil.  It is never enough to consume good forever, and when evil falls, goodness remains strong.  The shadow passes and the sky becomes bright again.

We see this same theme with the death of Saruman.  "about the body of Saruman a grey mist gathered, and rising slowly to a great height like smoke from a fire, as a shrouded figure it looked over the Hill.  For a moment it wavered, looking to the west; but out of the west came a cold wind, and it bent away, and with a sigh dissolved into nothing"(1020).  Not only is there a parallel between the wind blowing away a shadow, but also the mention of the hilltop.  Gandalf stands his ground upon the hill, while the mist from Saruman is blown away forever as he attempts to do so. Evil and those who let it consume them cannot outlast the goodness of the world, and their rise of power will not be permanent.   Wind is enough to take them away forever.

This imagery that Tolkien uses to communicate his personal views of good vs. evil are extremely compelling.  These scenes are easy to visualize, and really drive home the delicacy of the illusion of a lasting evil, vs a solid, bright influence of good.

Another thought about Endings

I realized something right after class, which is there is something really paradoxical about the endings of LoTR. That is, Tolkien relentlessly emphasizes THIS IS NOT THE END.

Every "ending" for a character is really Tolkien showing us the road that the character has reached a turning in, but not the end.

All too many stories end with some variation "and then he lived happily ever after" that tends to imply that these characters can go back to their old lives. And certainly for some stories and some characters that is true, like for Sam. But it is still vastly better to show the reader what happens than just to tell them everything is good. For other characters like Frodo they cannot go back to normal because they are no longer normal people. 

Stories that have a heavy aspect of psychological and emotional component for the characters triumphing over evil but then that ends instantly when the evil is vanquished, just feel really fake. If a character is capable of going back to a normal life after going to war and seeing their friends die, then that is an unusually strong character, and it makes the story more full to explore that strength and see what makes it tick.

I have to imagine that this ending was inspired by Tolkien's experience in WW I. For those of us who weren't there the story ends in 1918, but for Tolkien and his fellow veterans the story went on for the rest of their lives. I think that Tolkien wanted to communicate that feeling to us, and he did a great job.

Frodo's Mission

Personally, I feel that Frodo's mission was successful, but ultimately it wasn't because of him, at least at the end. He choked at the end. It is certainly reminiscent to Isildur. He had the opportunity to destroy the ring, but he just couldn't do it. To me, especially in the books, Frodo doesn't really seem like the hero of the books. He is definitely a necessary character, but if anything he is more of a martyr. We watch the ring destroy Frodo. All of the other protagonists seem to grow throughout the books,  but Frodo is torn down. He is not the same Hobbit on the return journey. It seems that Frodo's personality is as much of a casualty of the books as other characters who actually die, like Theoden or Boromir.

It truly is a disappointment at the end when Frodo comes up short, but it certainly reaffirms the importance of Sam. It also shows that even the Hobbits are not immune to the corruption of the ring. I would doubt many other people would be able to bear the ring in Mordor itself without being torn apart from the inside out though. It is amazing that Frodo was able to deal with it as long as he did, and we are just lucky the he finally cracked at the very end. If he caved any sooner, the mission would have almost certainly been a failure, and the realm of Middle-earth would be destroyed by Sauron and his forces.

Frodo's Success

Hey everyone!

Unfortunately I was not able to be in class the day we had the debate on whether or not Frodo was successful so I thought I would add in my opinion. I believe Frodo was successful because even though stuff didn't necessarily go according to plan the end goal was accomplished and the ring was put into Mount Doom. Even though Gollum did get the ring and Frodo had a moment of weakness it all ended up working out and the goal of getting rid of the ring was accomplished. To me this means that Frodo was successful.

-Frodo

Personal Thoughts on Frodo's Success

While I was unable to attend and/or participate in Thursday's debate over whether Frodo was or was not successful in his quest, I would like to contribute to the discussion, however late I may be. First I would like to define what I consider "success" to be in this case. Success is whether Frodo was able to destroy the one ring of power. Personally, I find that Frodo was partly successful in his quest. Without Frodo, and Sam for that matter, the one ring of power would not have been able to make it across Middle Earth to Mount Doom, the only place where it could truly be destroyed. However, I say partly because Frodo failed, in the end, to refuse the ring's influence. Frodo himself did not throw the ring into the fires of Mount Doom and, in fact, it was his "shadow" Gollum who is responsible for the ring's destruction. So, because Frodo did manage to destroy the ring of power, however accidental its destruction might have been (Gollum stumbling backward into the fires of Mount Doom), he was partly successful. I feel as though another interesting topic of debate would be whether Gollum then is actually a hero. What are your thoughts?

The Plot Twist at Mount Doom

Chapter 3 of The Return of the King contains one of the book's greatest plot twists, Frodo's inability to destroy the Ring.  All throughout The Lord of the Rings, so much discussion pertained to the Ring's destruction that by the time Frodo and Sam reached Mount Doom, we too as the readers felt as though we had traveled all the way with them.  Over 900 pages of plot led to this moment, and it felt as though the weight would be lifted off our shoulders right with Frodo as he cast the Ring into the fire.  Except, he did not.  Right in the midst of the story's climax, Frodo pulled back the source of his suffering and succumbed to its temptation.

I personally cannot remember my initial reaction when I first read this scene, but even now I am impressed that Tolkien took something that was destined to be predictable, the Ring's destruction, and turned into something unforgettable.  He does this with firm evidence backing up Frodo's decision.  All along the way, we see the hobbit grow weaker and weaker as he carries the burden of the Ring and especially after his startling accusation against Sam in the tower of Cirith Ungol.  The reader suspects something is not alright with Frodo, but the Quest must go on.  

Tolkien also carried out this plot twist without sacrificing his happy ending.  It would have been easy for Tolkien to have made the Quest an ultimate failure.  Frodo cannot destroy the Ring.  Gollum takes it back at the edge of the Cracks of Doom, and rather than falling into the fire, he could have walked out, and all hope would have been lost.  The forces of good would have been defeated, and the whole story would have ended tragically.  I do not perceive this plotline ever being part of Tolkien's plan.  No, the happy ending was absolute.  The Ring would be destroyed, just not in the way the reader suspected it to be.

Tolkien once again proves his prowess for storytelling.  By taking something predictable and changing it enough to be familiar yet unforeseen, he could both shock and satisfy his audience.  That's quite an effective plot twist.

Responsibility for failure and success in leaders.

On Thursday we debated whether Frodo failed or succeeded. The second most important question of the debate, after the definition of Frodo's quest, was to what extent and under what circumstances does a leader take responsibility for the success or failure of his group.

I want to think about this objectively and come up with a set of rules.

First, extreme cases, because they are easy. If the group fails and the leader's orders were followed, the leader takes responsibility for the failure. If the group succeeds and the leader's orders were followed, then the leader can take credit for the success.

Now there is somewhat more variance in the middle cases, because I think there is an additional variable to be considered when the leader's orders are not followed, which is what often creates these more grey situations. That is, the extent to which the leader's orders are considered to be absolute. For instance, a king ordering a servant should expect to be followed to the letter, however often a king ordering a general has the expectation of a certain amount of freedom in the general's actions, because the general is considered to be a responsible person, who can change the plan based on changing situations. I will call this variable order flexibility.

So now there are five middle cases to consider.

Group fails, leader's orders not followed, low to no order flexibility. The leader can blame his subordinates who failed to do what they were told for the failure, and need not take responsibility himself, although a good leader may still take responsibility for choosing people who were not up to the task.

Group fails, leader's orders followed, high order flexibility. In this case one of two things can happen, either the leader can blame his subordinate for not exercising his power to change orders based on his observations, or the leader can take the blame for issuing a bad plan in the first place.

Group fails, leader's orders not followed, high order flexibility. in this case the responsibility is almost entirely on the subordinate who changed the plan and then failed.

Group succeeds, leader's orders not followed, low to no order flexibility. In this case the credit for success belongs entirely to the subordinate/s who defied orders to succeed. a good leader will reward these people for their success and good decision making, while a poor leader will likely punish people for defying orders even when they succeeded.

Group succeeds, leader's orders not followed, high order flexibility. The leader can take a certain amount of credit for correctly giving responsibility to someone who deserved it, but most of the credit should go to the subordinate.

I'm not really sure which of these cases corresponds to Frodo's situation, but it was interesting to think about.