In The Lord of the Rings film adaptation, the fellowship is very unbalanced. It’s essentially Aragorn doing all the work, and Sam is the real hero, but I have to say, as I am reading through Lord of the Rings for the first time, I am astounded at the beauty of the fellowship and how they rely on each other. It is VASTLY different from the book compared to the movie, and I want to talk about two examples where that is the case.

We need to have a long talk about Saruman. That’s it. That’s the whole intro. Because I don’t even know where to go with this because he is so vastly different in the book and the details that you get for what he is wearing and what his mentality is in the tale that Gandalf told of his imprisonment at Orthanc is so strange. I just flat out don’t know what to think of him. So I want to write an essay to figure it out…this one might be all over the place. I feel like the last few have been all over the place, but this one especially is going to be.

In the Fellowship of the Ring, when Elrond says, “you’ve been summoned here to answer…” He’s lying. And it’s actually the coolest part of the whole Council of Elrond section in the book.

I want to revisit the very first essay I published on the very first chapter of Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring. In that essay I talked about the Loneliness of Bilbo Baggins and how I thought there were a lot of underwritten things as well as overt things that showed that Bilbo didn’t really seem to have too many good friends. And that he only realized a little too late how dear a friend Frodo was. And the same with Frodo…he only realized how much he loved Bilbo after Bilbo had left for another adventure.

There are no shortage of essays discussing the legend of Boromir in the books and the movies. He seems to be having some kind of resurgence in the last few years because enough time has passed from the films, which is what most people know LOTR from, that people are re-evaluating and looking at Boromir as a sympathetic character. But boy do they not know the start of it!

Jon, Jenn, Danny, and Lizzy talk about how even though there isn't a lot that happens in the first three chapters, there is just so much character development. And they talk about what the Two Towers really are?

This blew my mind.

My grandmother died when I was 9. She was the kindest, most gentle and amazing woman I have ever known. When she laughed she had a kind of hiss to her laugh, not really a menacing one like a snake or anything, almost like a little rattle. This chapter of LOTR reminded me of her.

I could talk for hours about why JRR Tolkien is one of the best writers who has ever lived and written in the English language.

Everything after Weathertop is SO DIFFERENT! I cannot believe how much changed from the book to the movie and this is going to just be a long rant on it and then I want to talk all about Frodo at the end and his courage which the movies don’t show.

So I am reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time and I just finished the chapter where Frodo gets stabbed at Weathertop. And I have to say…everyone should have seen it coming in this chapter. The foreshadowing is right there…as well as for a few other things in this book too that I want to talk about.

So I am reading Lord of the Rings for the first time and I am on the Fellowship of the Ring where we FIRST get introduced to Strider. And as soon as I finished that chapter I was a bit shocked and actually had to reread it. Because the whole chapter was confusing to me with how Aragorn was acting.

In the Lord of the Rings community, there has always been this funny rumor that Nicholas Cage was offered the role of Aragorn, and had to refuse. And luckily we got Viggo Mortensen and the rest is History.

So I just finished chapter 9 of The Fellowship of the Ring, and I’ve got to say, the Hobbits are so different from the book to the movie.

I just came to the creepiest chapter maybe in the whole book so far. Fog on the Barrow Downs. And I have to say again, I’ve never had so many questions about a chapter.

I just have one question…who the $%!# is Tom Bombadil…Don’t even get me STARTED on Goldberry...how the river can have a DAUGHTER!?

I have never hated a chapter more in any of Tolkien’s work than The Old Forest, but I have to admit, I think it’s actually his best written chapter (so far).

Jon, Lizzy, Danny, and Jenn talk over how exactly to say Flotsam, and their favorite chapters as well. These chapters were good!

Merry and Pippen just are intensely good friends. Especially in the Conspiracy Unmasked chapter.

If you’ve seen Lord of the Rings, you know this man. Farmer Maggot. The one and the only. And I am astounded that the Hobbits actually eat in the home of Farmer Maggot.