Review: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. All Hail King Elessar! (Spoilers)

This is the best book in the series and is where we finally get a wrap up to the epic saga that started with the Fellowship. The world of Middle Earth has finally been saved once and for all, and we get some awesome lore drops in the Appendices that sorta explain (but not in great detail) all the Silmarillion references the book is sprinkled with.

#1: Silmarillion References

If you thought Fellowship of the Ring was filled with references to the Silmarillion, you’re in for a treat with Return of the King. Throughout the story, there are a ton of references to Beren and Luthien, the Silmaril of Earendil, Orome and Nahar, Lembas bread, the Ring of Barahir, the Elessar Jewel (while this is said to be more of a Second/Third Age thing, in Unfinished Tales, we’re told it’s basically a knock-off Silmaril with the light of the Sun in it that Celebrimbor made for Galadriel), Gothmog, Grond, and Glamdring. Even the Valar make a sort-of appearance with the western wind that came and blew away the darkness over the Morannon and the remnants of Sauron’s spirit after the destruction of the Ring. Throughout the book, I was essentially this meme:

#2: Faramir and Eowyn: The Unexpected OTP

These two were kind-of a random pairing, but they’re so cute together that I’ll accept it.

Eowyn had proved that she was an awesome warrior and got to go on the adventure that she had always wanted, but had also realized that battle isn’t a fun thing to go through. Along the way, she had lost her father and almost lost her own life and her friend. After her body was recovered and they realized she was still alive, she then had to battle the Black Breath and spend the rest of the book in recovery where she realizes that she would prefer to live a peaceful life.

Faramir had been the Captain of the Rangers of Ithillien and later the main person protecting Osgilliath. He had fought in several battles and and was often set on his father’s backburner in favor of Boromir. He was nearly killed during the last attempt to get Osgilliath back and almost cremated alive. Similarly to Eowyn, however, he was friends with Pippin, who would save him from that fate (Merry saved her from death-by-Witch-King by stabbing him in the back of the knee.)

When Eowyn is healing and preparations are being made to attack Mordor, Faramir gets a lot of time to talk to her and ends up proposing.

#3: Saruman’s Death

This was the most satisfying part of the book because Saruman sucks. He did so many bad things during his life that you just have to be silently cheering when he’s finally stabbed in the back by Grima Wormtongue. Everyone in the book had the same reaction to his death which was:

#4: Gollum

Gollum is the saddest character in the story. He goes from being an okay Hobbit, to becoming evil from the Ring, living a tormented life in a cave until Bilbo finds the Ring, then running into Frodo and Sam who happen to have “The Precious”. From there, he tries to be good and the only reason why he goes back to being evil is because he feels betrayed by Frodo after he’s captured by the Rangers of Ithillien. It’s that feeling of betrayal that finally leads to his death in the Crags of Doom that ultimately destroys the Ring. (Sad fact: Gandalf sent a third Eagle to save Gollum.)

#5: Frodo Gets to go to Valinor

This is the best part of the book where everything is finally wrapped up and the Fellowship is ended. Frodo gets the ultimate jackpot of being awarded a special grace from the Valar to be able to go to Valinor, or at least Tol Eressea. No one else had ever been able to go there other than the Elves and Earendil (maybe Tuor as well, though we never get specifics on that). It’s the perfect way to end this amazing saga.

Until next time,

M.J.