Book Report Lord of the Rings

Vol. III - THE RETURN OF THE KINGS:

Everyone except Frodo and Sam arrives at the kingdom of Gondor, and though the people of Gondor are amazed and frightened at first by the huge army of walking trees that accompany them, everyone smiles and accepts them when Gandalf and Aragorn reveal themselves. The brothers Denethor and Boromir, however, see that Aragorn brings knowledge from the North which will give their kingship over to Faramir, the true King, and so they secretly conspire against him. And so later on, when the forces of Mordor arrive to attack Gondor, they successfully plot to have Aragorn positioned so he must face the Witch-King in single combat. The battle is too much for Aragorn, and just as he is about to die he is saved by Eowyn, a woman of Rohan who loves him, and Merry, who slays the Witch-king in single combat by using ancient hobbit-magic and so reveals himself to be the lost Thain of the Shire. Even as the forces of Mordor retreat, they are swept into the Sea by great ships brought by Faramir, the true Prince of Dol Amroth, from the hidden city of Osgiliath further up the Great River.

Meanwhile Sam chases the tarantula back to the lair of Ungoliant, the Queen of Spiders, and after a tense argument about the nature of good and evil she finally reveals to Sam the cure for the spider's-venom which holds Frodo in thrall. Sam thanks Ungoliant for her mercy and wisdom and revives Frodo, and they set off into Mordor to find Gollum. "Oft help will come from the weak when the Wise are foolish," Gandalf once said, and sure enough all the spiders of Mordor are willing to help Frodo and Sam in their quest. Their course leads them to Mount Doom, where just as they arrive they find Gollum claiming the Ring for himself. The Dark Lord Sauron then becomes aware of them, and leaves the Dark Tower to come forth and destroy them; but just them Frodo and Sam rush Gollum and force him backwards into the Cracks of Doom. The Ring is destroyed, and without it Sauron is destroyed by the sunlight. Frodo and Sam leave the Mountain just in time to see the great armies of Aragorn and Faramir coming across the plains of Mordor to greet them.

Boromir and Denethor are driven away from Gondor forever, but mercifully spared by King Faramir, and Aragorn is revealed to be the long-lost King of Arnor, the North-Kingdom of old. "Yet you may still rule the Shire," he says to Merry the Thain, "for with Mordor fallen, there may be kingships enough for all." The heroism of Frodo and Sam is sung in Gondor and Arnor for long ages, and even Pipsqueak finds honor in his new role as Faramir's bootblack. "There's room for advancement in this job," he tells the other hobbits knowingly, his eyes on Faramir's crown. Faramir smiles at Pipsqueak's jest and tells him he will always be welcome wherever he goes. (Indeed, the Appendices note that Pipsqueak's journeys take him far and wide in later years, and he becomes the best-known hobbit of them all.)

The other hobbits eventually return to the Shire, only to find it corrupted and in chaos because of an onslaught of evil Men; they eventually find the evil brothers, Denethor and Boromir, trying to set themselves up as dictators of the Shire. Frodo and Merry fight the evil brothers hand-to-hand and slay them at the very door of Bag-end. Merry takes up the Thainship, and at the end they all go West to the shores of the Sea, there to bid Gandalf farewell as he sails back across the Sea and into Heaven, for he was an Elven-king all along who was trying to improve the relations between Elves and Men long-sundered, and now he had found his reward.

THE SILMARILLION:

Well, this book is really complicated, but I'll try to hit the high points real quickly. Maybe someday, when I have more time, I can improve on this.

God created the angels, and the angels created the world. But the Elves created the Silmarils, the Great Jewels, and fought over them for generations until Melkor, one of the greatest angels, took them away