I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand it has a decent plot. It has a few good battles. It even has a deranged old man setting himself on fire! What else do you need? Sadly, I can't bring myself to like it. I'm trying to enjoy the series, I really am. I just can't. I'll go over the worst aspects and then the best. Bare with me, I know I complain a lot.
The Bad
I know I've said it before, the characters are the worst thing about this series. They just exist. There's too many of them and not enough personalities to go around. I don't care about any of the heroes. The protagonists, on the other hand, are a bit more entertaining (more on that later). Legolas and Gimli, who had a great friendly rivalry in The Two Towers, are all but forgotten here. Merry and Pippen are identical in every way. Too often I got confused over which one was in Minas Tirith and which one was with the Riders of Rohan. Aragorn is supposed to be brave and noble. The problem is almost every character is presented as brave and noble, so there's nothing to really set Aragorn apart. As for Gandalf... he just irritates me. I could write a whole blog about what's wrong with Gandalf as a character. I might just do that later.
Another thing that bothers me is that I still don't understand what's so special about this ring. I thought it might become clearer as the series went on, but it hasn't. What does it do besides turn the wearer invisible? Why does Sauron need to become invisible? One would think that Sauron doesn't need the ring at all. He's clearly doing a good job without it. He's able to destroy kingdoms, corrupt old men, strike fear in the hearts of everyone, and win the loyalty of Orcs. How can the ring possibly help him? Unless it turns everyone into his mindless, zombie-like servants. Zombie Frodo would be pretty cool.
The Good
There are two characters who really stood out to me. One is Denethor. As I mentioned earlier while I was complaining, the protagonists are the only ones with believable personalities. Denethor is Boromir's father, so I had high expectations for him. He didn't disappoint me. Right from the beginning he hates Gandalf. He belittles Pippen. He's upset that Boromir is dead, and that the relic Boromir was protecting didn't come to Minas Tirith. Denethor is a deluded, evil, crazy old man. Denethor is awesome. Not to mention that he sets himself on fire in the best written scene in the entire series. Sniff. I'll miss you, old man.
The other person who really surprised me was Eowyn. She had a small part back in The Two Towers, where she flirted with Aragorn. I quickly forgot about her. When she came back this time I thought she was only going to hit on him again. But no! She's actually does something! She's a woman who does something! The only other female character who came close to being helpful was Galadriel. Remember what she did? She sat around and looked stunning. She had a little chat with Frodo and looked stunning. She gave Gimli some of her hair which looked stunning. After the heroes left she presumably went back to sitting around and brushing her stunning hair. I hate Galadriel. Eowyn is the real deal. She's upset that she can't do anything to help out, so she dresses like a man and goes to war where she defeats the biggest baddie on the field, with only a little help from Merry. Basically, she's Tolkien's version of Mulan.
Now I get to read the final section. I'm going to predict how it ends (remember, I've never seen the movies).
- Frodo lives. Actually, I'm going to say that everyone lives except Sauron and Gollum.
- Eowyn marries Aragorn.
- Merry and Pippen don't go back to the Shire. They stay at Rohan and Minas Tirith.
- The Shire gets destroyed. This may have already happened since Saruman had that pipeweed from the Shire.
- Everyone sings more songs.
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