Everyone asks why Sauron did not guard Mount Doom more carefully. But that question may already be thinking too much like Sauron. It assumes the War of the Ring was finally decided by military oversight, by a gap in surveillance, by a failure to secure the one place where the Ring could be destroyed. On … Read more
When Gandalf returns in Fangorn Forest, the moment feels almost impossible. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli have followed strange signs through the trees. They expect danger. They fear Saruman. Instead, they meet a figure robed in white, shining with a power that seems to belong beyond the ordinary world. For a moment, even his friends do … Read more
It is easy to think of the Witch-king as simply the strongest of the Nazgûl. That is the simple version. Nine mortal men receive Nine Rings. They fall under Sauron’s power. They become Ringwraiths. One of them becomes their leader. So the Witch-king must be the highest-ranking, most dangerous, most powerful version of the same … Read more
At first glance, Gandalf looks like the one person who should have ruled Middle-earth. He is ancient. He is wise. He sees more clearly than kings, stewards, captains, and councils. He knows the danger of Sauron long before most of the world is willing to face it. He moves between kingdoms, speaks with Elves, counsels … Read more
At first glance, Denethor’s death looks like a failure of rescue. Gandalf arrives at the House of the Stewards. Faramir is still alive. The servants have prepared the pyre. Beregond has held the door with his sword. Pippin has done the only thing he could do: he has run for help. And then Gandalf comes. … Read more
Sauron’s power is easy to misunderstand. On the surface, he looks like a ruler of overwhelming force. He has Mordor. He has Barad-dûr. He commands Orcs, trolls, siege engines, spies, armies from the East and South, and the Nine Ringwraiths. By the end of the Third Age, the Free Peoples know that if the war … Read more
At first glance, the Ring wins at Mount Doom. That is the uncomfortable truth at the center of the ending. Frodo does reach the Crack of Doom. He does stand in the one place where the Ring can be destroyed. He does carry the burden farther than any reasonable hope could demand. And then he … Read more
At first glance, Frodo forgiving Saruman looks almost impossible. Saruman has not merely fallen from greatness. He has chosen pettiness after ruin. He has lost Isengard, lost his staff, lost his authority, and then spent his last strength spoiling the Shire out of malice. He does not come to Hobbiton as a repentant old enemy. … Read more
At first glance, Númenor looks like Sauron’s greatest victory. He enters the island as a captive. He leaves it ruined beneath the Sea. Between those two moments, the mightiest kingdom of Men is turned from reverence into rebellion, from wisdom into tyranny, from fear of death into worship of darkness. But that is only the … Read more
Most readers remember the Nazgûl’s screams as one of the great sounds of terror in The Lord of the Rings. A shriek in the dark.A cry above the battlefield.A voice that makes horses panic and men falter. But the screams were not just there to make the Ringwraiths seem frightening. They were part of what the … Read more