Finished FELLOWSHIP, Part 2

OK.  Now a little about the actual story The Fellowship of the Ring....

If you have read any of my previous posts about TLOTR, you know that I had quite a bit of trepidation about reading this series even though I was determined to read it this summer.  It has taken me a lot longer to read this whole series (or each individual book) than it normally does for me to read something.  (I finished the WHOLE Harry Potter series, all 7 books, in less than a month and then turned around re-read the whole series again within 2 more weeks!)

One of the reasons it is taking me so long to read each book is the fact that each book is so incredibly full of information, details, and characters.  It is very challenging to wade through all of it and still remember what I need to remember as I go through the story.  Worst of all is the fact that many of the characters have more than one name!!!!  Gandalf, for example, is introduced as Gandalf the Grey.  He later (in The Two Towers) is Gandalf the White.  By the end of The Two Towers, he's called Mithrandir!!!!  And I think there's another one in there somewhere I might be forgetting!!!

How am I supposed to keep up with the story when so many names change from one page to the next?!

And SO MUCH happens!!!  Good grief!  Frodo and Company travel for a little while and it's just the 4  of them, then they get Rider (Aragorn, as well as other names he's referred to), and eventually, the Company, or Fellowship as they come to be known as, are a total of 9:  Frodo, Samwise (I prefer that version of his name), Merry, Pippin, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, Aragorn/Rider, Boromir, and Gandalf.  At first, I couldn't figure out who was who!!!  Why the need for 4 Hobbits?  Why such a large Fellowship?  And that's when the story gets REALLY confusing!

The Fellowship starts at the Elf home of Rivendell which is ruled by King Elrond (or is he just Lord Elrond?), they travel through the dwarf-made mines of Moria, and end up in ANOTHER country of Elves ruled by a Queen of Elves, Galadriel--mother of Arywen (sp?)--who is in love with Aragorn!!!!  Yet, the love story is so far down the line as far as importance to the story that it's only hinted at in Fellowship!!!

(If it hadn't been for the movie version of the story, I wouldn't have KNOWN of the love story between Aragorn and Arywen!  Which I guess is a fun twist, but for someone who loves romance woven into adventure stories, it might have helped me enjoy the WHOLE series more if Tolkien had shared more of the romance between the "young" lovers throughout the series!!!  I got more of Theoden's attraction for Aragorn, which he definitely notices, than I did about Aragorn's true love relationship with Arywen!!!)

So anyway....I did like the book, even though it took me a lot longer to read the book than usual.  What I found truly surprising was when I actually watched the movie version of The Fellowship of the Ring.  Of course there are some differences between the book and the movie regardless of the fact that Peter Jackson did a great job making a movie of such a "dense" book (as it's referred to in the behind-the-scenes featurettes on the movie).  Most of the differences don't ruin or take away from the story in any way.  I think that the details that are different are simply the best way to get the necessary information to an audience via film.

The one scene that my reaction to surprised me the most is the one when Boromir dies.  When I read the book, I found that to be a very powerful, potent scene.  But I didn't really CARE about Boromir enough to FEEL true sorrow when he falls to the Orcs in the book.  When I saw the movie, though, the scene when Boromir continues to fight--and kill--Orcs even after he's been shot several times with the giant arrows moved me to TRUE sorrowful tears!  I mean, seriously, I SOBBED like a little baby!!!  It is such a beautiful scene and shows the true man--hero--that Boromir is and that he was truly worthy to be one of the Fellowship--traveling with Frodo to guard and protect the Ring.

The Fellowship was definitely worth the read.  In spite of the fact that I wish the series as a whole had more romance woven into the Adventure story, it is a series that is worthy of the mass of followers who love it....some to the point of putting LOTR artwork on their bodies!!!