Chapter two brings into light the nature and significance of the Ring of Power, which of course is the ultimate subject of the trilogy. The reader now knows where it comes from, who the ultimate villain is -- Sauron -- as well as orcs and the land of Mordor, and a little more about all of the characters that have played a role in its journey to Bag End, including Isildur and Gollum. Tolkien also introduces information of Saruman, head of Gandalf's wizard order, as well as mentioning the Nine, the ringwraithes produced from the nine human kings gifted Sauron's "Nine" rings (ah that sounds like a rhyming couplet). I think this chapter boosts the amount of knowledge that the reader needs to become absorbed into the story and to start to care about what happens. Tolkien also establishes that Frodo will indeed journey to the elves with the ring, and in extension literally pulls (through the window) Sam Gamgee into it with him. Also in this chapter, we see a primary glimpse of the tengwar script, the writing of the elven languages Sindarin and Quenya and the black speech of Mordor! I'll do a post about this tomorrow.
I found that this chapter made more connections to the movie than the previous one. The history behind the ring is finally explained, something that in the movie takes place immediately. I saw several lines spoken in the film that I was familiar with, though they were somewhat out of place. I found in the movie there was a heavy tone of urgency: as soon as Gandalf returns, he sets Frodo and Sam on the road because Gollum has told Sauron where they are and Saruman has turned against them and the Nine are coming! But to this point in the book it seems to be a leisurely journey to the elves that they will take when they are ready. I found that I preferred the film's take on this section, which seems to compress everything that is happening into a fast-paced adventure (from what I have read up to this point).
As I mentioned, tomorrow -- Saturday the 29th of June -- I will be posting about Tengwar. This is a very fun and easy script to write and read, please so be sure to check it out. Feel free to comment or otherwise respond with your own opinion of what I have talked about or bring up something I may have missed or should mention.
Thanks for reading,
C
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