This is going to be a throwback to one of the exercises we did for the Hobbit. I thought it would be very interesting to do for the Lord of the rings as one thing I found really interesting about the discussion we had regarding this topic was how it could be thought of in two ways: what’s natural or unnatural to us versus what is natural or unnatural within middle-earth. What I found really intriguing for this exercise for this specific chapter is there’s a lot of unnatural things going on in middle-earth, which is why all these different people gathered for the council of Elrond.
All the uncanny things that have happened in middle-earth: The dwarves ceased receiving messages from the re-established mines of Moria, the dwarves were questioned in regards to hobbits by messengers of Mordor, there’s been an invasion of Gondor from Mordor, an Orc attack in Mirkwood is suspected to have been coordinated to aid in Gollum’s escape of the Mirkwood Elves, and Saruman has turned towards the path of power.
So much has gone south, all because of the ring, that brought the council together. Evil is hard at work disrupting the normal rhythm of the world. All these disruptions in middle-earth are the conclusive reason why the ring needs to be dealt with, and dealt with by being destroyed and that no other path besides this one is viable.
It was very interesting to look at and see how all these unnatural aspects develop further as key elements in the story later on and as an explanation for what’s occurred. The black riders pursuit of Frodo and his gang to Rivendell, the trip through the mines of Moria, Saruman’s interference and fall, the battle at Gondor, Gollum’s role in Frodo and Sam’s journey. All of these are built off what we learn from the council and this is an intriguing narrative choice, to have this sort of outline given before getting into the thick of the action.
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