The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
“Old fool!” he said. “Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!” And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.
Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin’s sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.
― The Return of the King
I am always a bit surprised when I encounter an adult who has never read Lord of the Rings, particularly a Catholic adult. When I was in high school in the early to mid-seventies, when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth, most college bound students had read the trilogy and endless bull sessions revolved around them. Was that your experience? (Of course some Lord of the Rings fans take things a wee bit too far:)
My house occupies the top of my own 3-acre hill. When I moved in, for many reasons, I named my land “Weathertop”. In some respects, that choice may, insofar as living as a reasonably sane Christian woman in benighted California, have been prophetic.
Your quote is part of my favorite section of the Triology. I once read it out loud to my wife. It begins with Grond and the three blasts to the gate.
Anymore, especially after the movies, fewer and fewer people are reading the Triology. Or any other book. Our society is becoming illiterate.
I was never a fantasy/sci-fi fan myself. But since fantasy was everywhere back then, I tried to read LoTR in high school. It bored me silly, and I don’t believe I even bothered to finish. Later in college, I picked it up again and have loved it ever since. Not because it’s a fantasy work, but almost despite the fact. Though I have warmed up to at least fantasy more over the years. Largely because of Tolkien (I also now enjoy the Hobbit more than I used to).
“Anymore, especially after the movies, fewer and fewer people are reading the Triology. Or any other book. Our society is becoming illiterate.”
This is precisely the problem. What message would you get from the “Lord of the Rings-The Rings of Power?”
We were assigned to study The Hobbit in grade 7. It was the only English assigned book I did not read when I was in high school . So when it came time to do the assessment on it one of the choices was write a report about JRR Tolkien. I took that option. And to this day I have never read The Hobbit or any of The Lord of the Rings or watched the movies. I’ve been turned off ever since. And probably without reason. I think it was the wrong book choice for a class of 12 year olds for first year high school. Maybe one day I’ll get round to reading them…
In the late 80s, many of us who were classified as higher achievers had read LOTR and those who did referenced it often. Among those who were paper gamers it was considered odd if you had not read it more than once.
I also remember that the lower ranked freshmen in high school were assigned The Hobbit as required reading and being somewhat jealous of that. Looking back, about a third of what I was assigned in high school was secularist junk. Critically acclaimed secular junk.
reread it every Christmas season..skim some parts, but do all three books. Spend time on the appendices.
Ezabelle,
When I was in 6th grade (so about 12 years old), I was assigned The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. It was a disaster. It seemed so boring and long. I don’t think I ever finished it. I remember getting a D at some point because I was so slow in reading it. Anyhow, looking back, I know it was terrible pedagogy.
On the main question, though, I read The Lord of the Rings several years ago and finished it up in Afghanistan (of all places). Then I couldn’t get enough. I read all the appendices. On a cross-country road trip I listened to an audiobook version of The Hobbit. The reader, unfortunately, did the characters “in funny voices” (to borrow from Dickens).
Fr J – yes I think when teenagers don’t connect with a novel they don’t have the maturity to power through and give it a go…even juts to finish it so they can have the satisfaction of saying they read it. Particularly if someone is not encouraging them along. And sometimes, the novel is just boring… and (believe it or not), sometimes the teacher teaching the subject (and novel) is 🥱
I remember a fantastic English lesson we had in Grade 9, with a substitute teacher who taught us “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” She was fantastic. Her family used to sail and she told us stories of how albatrosses would “protect” them when they were sailing – diverting their attention on one occasion to an oncoming ship- preventing a collision. It was a lesson, which 30 years later, I still remember. I bought a beautifully illustrated version of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” years later as an adult because I just loved how that teacher was able to teach that poem in such a lasting and impactful way.
I first read it in junior high, 8th grade. A copy of The Fellowship of the Ring was lent to me by a student of my Dad’s (he taught drama and English Lit at a small college in our Illinois town. The school sadly went bankrupt and closed in the mid 1970s). I finished it over a single weekend, and asked for the second and third volumes, which I also finished quickly. I was always a fan of SF and Fantasy stories, having read most of Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov by then, and something about Tolkien’s writing, plus the richness of the story itself, totally captured me. I’ve now read the Hobbit and the Trilogy at least five times, and watched the LOTR films in sequence at least three times. The Hobbit movies were pretty, but not that great, IMO, so I’ve only watched them twice. 😁 Important note- the last three times through the books and all but the first viewing of the LOTR films were after my conversion to Catholicism, which of course gave a whole new significance to the work.
My Dad said Tolkien was a better writer than most of the authors he taught in his classes. I lack his expertise, but tend to agree.
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Am late to the comments, but I probably wouldn’t have read LotR except that I had a new friend that loved it so much, her excitement encouraged me. So I read them at 13, and again every summer of my teen years. I don’t think Tolkien is actually a great writer in that he writes like he is writing a history, but the story is so vivid it seeps into your imagination and imprints like a fairytale.