So the trilogy of our time is over, at last the king has returned, the one ring has been destroyed, and the general population has realized that the dorks were right all along because Tolkien really is awesome.
Honestly, it makes me a little mad sometimes to think that everyone has now been invited into what used to be an elite club of people who read fantasy novels, which is only slightly more elite than the group of people who read at all. We are a special breed, with our thick books with desert worlds and imaginary creatures on the cover and the maps in the front. I'm not sure whether to be upset that I'm not special anymore or glad that people are actually reading something worth reading.
As much as I disagree with some of the ways the books were portrayed, I can't help but be engrossed every time I see one of them. I've read the books several times (even before they were so en vogue, mind you), seen the movies, so there is no doubt that I know what is going to happen next. But I can't stop watching, and I can't stop the rising suspense, as if maybe this time, it will be different and the good guys won't win.
And I love watching the movies with the people who are experiencing Tolkien for the first time. They're complex stories, and no amount of plot exposition is going to let people in on all the subplots and connections between characters. Every time I reread the books, I pick up one something new. But as long as these Middle-Earth newbies know who the good guys are and pick up some of the more witty dialog, people will enjoy the movies. But still, they ask questions, and I love the opportunity of explaining who that guy is and how he fits in, even if the knowledge is not critical. Rarely is my dorky knowledge called upon so readily.
And every time I see one of the movies, I'm so worried about what will happen in the next or even what has already happened that I go back and read the whole trilogy again. Sometimes I read The Hobbit, too, just to make sure I'm boned up on my history of Middle-Earth. Afterwards, I try to read The Silmarillion, but usually can't get past the summary of the War of the Rings.
Whenever I get to the end of the last book or make another attempt on The Silmarillion, I get stuck in the discussion over whether Tolkien was brilliant, crazy, or just plain pathetic. For those of you who are not familiar with The Silmarillion, it is a history book, like a textbook that little elves study in their history classes. It's dry and filled with lots of names that are all similar and hard to remember, just like every history textbook has ever been, so if you haven't read it, then I completely understand. It is enough for you to know that such a thing exists. Of course, if you've not read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, then please go do so before you finish this entry. We'll wait for you.
Waiting...Back? Good. You never saw that thing with Gollum coming, did ya?
Anyway, Tolkien didn't do anything halfway. It's not as if the man made up a story about this fairy land. He didn't just write a couple of books and move on. He created a world. He made an entire history and wrote languages for several different types of sentient beings. And to think of all this, to keep it all in his head, no doubt qualifies him as brilliant. Then again, it equally qualifies him as at least rather eccentric and maybe a little lonely. It's like a little kid with an imaginary friend, except on a grander scale.
I never come to any real conclusions on Tolkien's mental and social state. Even if actually put some thought into the question, the only answer I ever come up with is that even if he was crazy or lonely, I wish my imaginatoin worked on the scale his did. I wish that I could write myself a world, and that people would carry around worn and dog-eared copies of my world around, waiting impatiently until they could sit down and make a new dog-ear a few pages farther. I wish I could create another battle of good versus evil and make the old story new again with a new setting and new heroes and villians and damsels in distress.
I don't actively aspire to be Tolkien. Fiction is not my bag, although I did create an imaginary society of cats when I was little and kind of a lonely kid. They lived in Canada. Somehow, though, I don't think I'll be signing over any movie rights soon. I'll just have to appease myself with enjoying the fantasies of others.
On that note, the people that made the LOTR trilogy are rumored to now be working on a five-movie series for the Chronicles of Narnia. And I can't wait.
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