Lord of the Rings (often referred as
LotR) by J.R.R
Tolkien is probably the most famous
fantasy novel ever written. It wasn't the first -- it was based on
medieval sagas -- but it certainly was the first major fantasy novel since the days of
Robert E. Howard.
Tolkien's hobby was language-building. He had to have a dynamic, living world to let his
elven languages develop naturally, and therefore he created
Middle-Earth, the world in which LotR takes place. In a fashion LotR is only a study of the Middle-Earth and its various
places,
peoples and
individuals, but fortunately it is also a great book.
The story itself is an
epic tale featuring the malevolent
Ruling Ring and people who would have it. The main character in the book is
Frodo Baggins, the
Ringbearer, a
hobbit from distant
Shire. The primary
story arc tells about his struggle with the Ring, and finally culminates when
Frodo claims the Ring his own -- thus becoming the Lord of the Rings. The second story arc outlines the
War of the Ring, a battle between the
Free Peoples and the Ring's original maker,
Sauron. The arcs separate at the end of the first part of LotR, the Fellowship of the Ring, and reunite at the final stages of the book.
The story works on many levels. The first-time readers enjoy a good story and a rich fantasy setting, while those who have read the
Silmarillion -- a collection of tales featuring the earlier history of Middle-Earth -- see the final, cataclysmic battle between good and evil, the end of
Elves' domination and the end of the
Third Age of Middle-Earth. Some readers believe to have found hints of the
World War II and the beginning of
nuclear age, but Tolkien always denied these allegories. Either way, every re-read of LotR reveals new delicate aspects of the story to be enjoyed (or grieved: I was sad for months every time I thought about elves after the second time I read the novel).
LotR was recently chosen "
the British novel of 20th century", which indicates the respect it has earned both home and abroad. LotR has, in fact, created a
movement behind it: almost every European country has some sort of Tolkien association, the Internet is full of LotR sites, and
screenplays (both movie and theatre) of the book are constantly made. Quite well done, considering the
author only wrote two real novels in his life.
-- Update: I recently bought the soundtrack of the movie. I now wish to share some thoughts about it and how it affects the reading experience.
Some say that it isn't wise to buy a
movie's
score before actually watching the movie. In some cases that is true, but in the case of the forthcoming
Lord of the Ringsmovie, I could not resist the urge to purchase the
Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring score.
Movie scores are often not considered to be "
real music", because of the
format's
limitations: the
sound must match with the
picture, not vice versa, and without the picture the sound is usually reduced into
pompous repeating patterns and
artificial-sounding changes in
tempo and in
style.
In spite of all this, after a week of intense listening I find myself enjoying the score quite much. The music fits well in the atmosphere of
Tolkien's writings, and most of the songs have same titles as the
chapters in the
book, which makes synchronizing the story with music quite easy. Reading the book with the
appropriate song playing in the background gives the experience a new meaning: possibly because I haven't yet seen the
film I have begun to consider the score as a soundtrack of the book. At the
bridge of Khazad-Dum, the music is intense and the magnificient theme rises to
epic proportions. The following song,
Lothlorien, is in stark contrast: it is slow,
melancholic, quiet and -- not so surprisingly -- sung in
Elven. Why use only one sense when you can use two?
The score has some
drawbacks: some songs sound so similar that they are almost
indistinguishable, the universal theme (although good) is performed too often and in places where it clearly doesn't belong, and the choir sings some Elven songs too vaguely, which makes following the
lyrics difficult.
The music is
composed,
orchestrated and
conducted by
Howard Shore, and two songs are composed and performed by
Enya. Enya's voice
divides opinions: I like it, but I know many who do not. The soundtrack comes with different cover pages, of which I naturally chose
Liv Tyler as
Arwen. Some other examples in the local store had
Bilbo,
Gandalf,
Saruman,
Aragorn and the
Hobbits in their cover pages.
From my previous experience I know that watching the movie after first listening the soundtrack is somewhat
unsettling: because you know how the music will change, you also have some insight into what happens next in the movie. However, it is not always a bad thing. As the
plot is quite
well-known already, I don't hope to see too much surprises in the movie.