Let's Talk About J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-16

[00:00:06]Hello and welcome to the Beckoning Bookshelf. I'm your host, Jeffrey Ashcraft. I was tempted to wait until September to read The Lord of the Rings because that is when Frodo starts his big adventure. However, after reading The Hobbit, I simply didn't want to wait.

[00:00:23]The Lord of the Rings part one, otherwise known as The Fellowship of the Ring, was written by JRR Tolken and first published in 1954.

[00:00:33]Of course, The Lord of the Rings is the sequel to The Hobbit, and The Fellowship of the Ring is the first book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[00:00:44]Now, I can hear some talking enthusiasts thinking, "It's one book. The Lord of the Rings is one book. It's not a trilogy. So, let's clear that up. First off, yes, The Lord of the Rings is actually one book. Tolken intended it to be one book when he wrote it and often referred to the Lord of the Rings as a single book. And this is one of the reasons why you can find the Lord of the Rings as a single copy in so many places, why there's so many single copies of The Lord of the Rings.

[00:01:19]But I hear the non Tolken enthusiasts say, "I thought it was a trilogy, though." Well, also, yes. Even though Tolken intended The Lord of the Rings to be one book, it was split into three books when it was published for a variety of reasons, including high printing costs and marketing concerns.

[00:01:43]Apparently, someone with authority in publishing was concerned. Well, they were worried that people would not purchase a book this big, which you you can understand. It's a valid concern.

[00:01:56]The Lord of the Rings is huge. So, it is accurate to say that the Lord of the Rings is one book and The Lord of the Rings is three books. But that's not all. The Lord of the Rings is also divided into six distinct segments called books. So, one could even argue that the Lord of the Rings is actually six books. In my opinion, the fact that The Lord of the Rings is one book, like one book, three books, and six books all at the same time is a unique badge of honor that few books can claim.

[00:02:36]In fact, I'm not sure of any other books that can claim that.

[00:02:41]So, I'm not I'm also not sure that's good or bad. Anyways, I'll be reading and talking about the books as a trilogy because it's the easiest way to go about it. I mean, The Lord of the Rings is massive. Like, look how big this book is. I don't have this much time. I can't read this in a week. So, yeah, I'll be talking about him as a as a trilogy. So Tolken started working on the Lord of the Rings late in the year of 1937, a few months after the release of The Hobbit, partly due to the fact that George Allen and Unwin, the publisher who published The Hobbit, really wanted Tolken to write a sequel due to the book's massive success. and referring to The Hobbit. Due to how successful The Hobbit was, the publisher really wanted Tolken to write a sequel.

[00:03:34]Tolken would work on that eventual sequel off and on for the next 17 years until The Fellowship of the Ring was finally published in July of 1954.

[00:03:50]It is rather difficult to judge the success of the fellowship of the ring because the Lord of the Rings well the the success of the Lord of the Rings isn't exactly measured by single books but more as like a trilogy the trilogy as a whole or as one book which has sold over an estimated 150 million copies since its publication.

[00:04:19]That's 50 million more than The Hobbit.

[00:04:22]So, I'd say the sequel was a success.

[00:04:26]Now, I'll talk about the additions that I have of The Lord of the Rings in the next episode in order to pad out the content a bit more because this episode is already going to be rather long and we'll be talking about The Lord of the Rings for the next three episodes. So, might as well save some for the next episode.

[00:04:47]I also once again I don't think I need to do a synopsis for this book. It's the Lord of the Rings. Come on. But I'll provide one anyway. The Fellowship of the Ring opens with Bilbo Baggin celebrating his 111th birthday. Nearly everyone in the Shire attends the party, including the wizard Gandalf and Bilbo's heir, Frodo Baggins.

[00:05:15]However, Gandalf realizes that the ring Bilbo found in the depths of the Misty Mountains is actually the one ring, a powerful weapon forged by the dark lord Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom. You just got to say it that way. It works so well. Sounds so cool.

[00:05:35]Frodo must now go on his own quest to destroy the one ring before Sauron finds it. And luckily, he's not going alone. I really love The Lord of the Rings. I enjoy the story. I enjoy everything about it. It is fantastic.

[00:05:54]It is the definitive like epic fantasy.

[00:06:00]Uh an extremely rich, fantastical world, wonderful characters, amazing writing, entire languages to learn. And there's humor, there's action, there's mystery, there's intrigue. The maps are also really fun to examine and explore.

[00:06:17]I would say my favorite characters, at least in the Fellowship of the Ring, have to be Sam Wise, Gamji, and Gimly. I really enjoy Sam's just enthusiasm, his innocence, and his loyalty.

[00:06:31]And Gimy is simply just awesome. He's just a strong, powerful, proud dwarf.

[00:06:39]And he's just so cool. And I really enjoy Gimley's journey through Lothian and his relationship and respect for Galadriel and the relationship that they develop. It's really cool. The scariest part in this book is hands down Golem's eyes. Like when Frodo and Sam are looking around at night in the darkness and they see Golem's eyes staring back at them. No. Uh-uh. It's It's freaking me out. I don't like it. It's terrifying.

[00:07:10]As for the book itself, the Lord of the Rings, like I said, it is divided into six different books, and the Fellowship of the Ring contains books one and two.

[00:07:20]These internal books do not have official titles, but Tolken reportedly had some potential titles in mind. For book one, he considered the journey uh no, for book one, he considered the first journey or the ring sets out. And for book two, he considered the journey of the nine companions or the ring goes south. Honestly, I kind of like the titles around the ring's journey. And I'm somewhat disappointed that they didn't actually use these titles. Though, I do like the title The Fellowship of the Ring. I think it's a good title and I think it's very interesting. It's a very intriguing title and it's a really good title for for the first book. And of course, the book is very well written and the story is masterfully crafted. However, that does not mean that everyone will like reading The Lord of the Rings, no matter how amazing it is. And honestly, that is understandable.

[00:08:29]The beginning of this book is very, very slow. If someone thinks The Hobbit is slow and meandering at times, that is nothing compared to the first half of the Fellowship of the Ring. Even I find the beginning of the Fellowship of the Ring to be rather slow at times because I really want to get to some of my favorite parts later in the story. I want to get to Gibli. You know, where's Gibli? I want Gibbly to show up and be really cool.

[00:08:55]And so, it has a very slow start. I mean, Froto and Sam don't even leave the Shire until chapter 3, which depending on the version you're reading, is about 70 pages in.

[00:09:07]This type of slow opening can easily be compared to the Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, where the main story doesn't really start until around page 50 after you've read essentially three prologus.

[00:09:23]So, The Lord of the Rings, it's a slow burn novel. It's written to be a as a slow burn writing style. And this type of slowburn writing is not bad by any means and can be quite enjoyable.

[00:09:40]Honestly, in my opinion, the slowburn writing, it makes the journey and the world of the Lord of the Rings feel more real and more vast. And in fact, the slowburn writing style can be a healthy contrast to the fast-paced world today where we consume quick bite-sized media constantly. Like these short videos and these short media posts, everything's just short and quick and very rapid. So having a slow burn writing style is a good contrast to that. So, if you want to read The Lord of the Rings because you love Peter Jackson's film trilogy, just know that the book is a lot slower.

[00:10:29]And if you really do like the movies and you haven't actually read the books, you totally should try to read the books. I mean, even even if you don't like how even if you don't like the writing style, you will still learn a lot more about Tolken's world that is not in the movies. And it's really cool. And speaking of the movies, I'll also talk about the corresponding movie adaptions as I talk about each book instead of just doing one episode on the movies at the very end. The most famous adapt well adaptation of the Lord of the Rings is of course Peter Jackson's liveaction trilogy.

[00:11:07]So, Peter Jackson, he started working on the Lord of the Rings films back in 1999 and The Fellowship of the Ring was released theatrically in 2001, making this film 25 years old this year, you know, which I've already talked about, which is cool and fun. Anyways, this trilogy, by the way, was a massive gamble for New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson as they planned and filmed the entire trilogy at the same time. They simply they they did not simply record The Fellowship of the Ring and release that to theaters and depending on the film's success, greenlight the sequels.

[00:11:53]They simply created the entire trilogy from the start, from the get-go. That means that if the Fellowship of the Ring failed, it would be a fin a a massive finance financial loss for the company.

[00:12:09]Some even wondered if New Line Cinema could survive financially if The Lord of the Rings flopped.

[00:12:17]Luckily, The Fellowship of the Ring turned out to be a wild success, earning nearly $900 million worldwide theatrically and one and winning uh four Oscars, four Oscars from 13 nominations.

[00:12:37]So, I so I think the gamble paid off.

[00:12:40]Now, I've already talked about my experience with the Lord of the Rings movies and how the Fellowship of the Ring introduced me to The Lord of the Rings. So, if you want to hear that story, feel free to go watch these episodes or this episode, the one I link here, feel free to watch that. Now, I know some Tolken enthusiasts who do not like the film trilogy because of the changes that were made. Personally, I really enjoy the film trilogy. I think it's awesome. I think it's great. I think it's so cool. And I agree with most of the changes and most of what they did.

[00:13:18]If I were to sum up the differences though between the the book and the movie, I would say that the books focus more on the journey itself, while the movies focus more on the action. They both still have the same moral core and themes. They both feel like the Lord of the Rings, particularly these two. They This feels like the Fellowship of the Ring, but it's the Fellowship of the Ring being fastforward. Fastforwarded.

[00:13:49]Such a hard word to say. Forwarded.

[00:13:51]Anyways, I certainly appreciate how streamlined this story is while still keeping the core of The Lord of the Rings intact while it's still there.

[00:14:01]Yes, a lot of parts were changed or cut out entirely like Tom Bombadil, but I mean for cry the movie is nearly 4 hours long. If you're watching the extended edition, imagine if they hadn't cut out the majority of chapters 3 through eight from the book, they would they would have had to make six movies instead of three. And honestly, considering how long these movies are already, you could argue that they did actually make six movies. I mean, when I watch them, I I watch them in six parts because the movies are so long. My favorite part of the Fellowship of the Ring is hands down the Minds of Moria sequence. I think it is so cool. It's so awesome. The design of the bow is so cool and the music is great and it it's it's fantastic. I could talk about it for hours, but honestly, I can't think of anything specific from the Fellowship of the Ring adaptation that I don't like. No specific changes that I was not a fan of. That's not the That's not the same with the later movies. The other two, there are a few things that I'm not a huge fan of, but we'll get to those later.

[00:15:12]There is also a lesserk known animated film that covers The Fellowship of the Ring titled simply The Lord of the Rings. However, since it also covers the the Two Towers, I'll talk about it next episode. So, look forward to that. This is fun. This it's a really fun film.

[00:15:30]And we'll end this episode with a famous quote from Gandalf.

[00:15:35]And it's one of my favorite lines from The Fellowship of the Ring, and it establishes a strong theme from the story. This is what it says.

[00:15:47]Uh, once I find it. Now, here it is.

[00:15:50]I wish it need not have happened in my time, said Frodo. So do I, said Gandalf.

[00:15:58]And so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.

[00:16:11]I love this line. It is such a powerful line. It is fantastically written and it's especially powerful when you think about Tolken's life, how he lived through both world wars. I imagine that Tolken had similar thoughts to Frodo's on more than one occasion. But like Froto and Gandalf, Tolken chose not to focus on the terrible things of the world that he can't really control, but on the good things and what he can do.

[00:16:48]He focused on hope and light and gave us an absolutely fantastic story to look to when we ourselves face dark times that we wish had never happened. While we cannot decide what happens to us or during our time, we can decide what we do with it. We have that power. We have the power to spread light, to focus on good things, to be hopeful. And when need be, we can challenge the darkness.

[00:17:19]And that is a running theme in the Lord of the Rings that we encounter. as many of the characters are good, strong, wonderful characters who really wish that they did not have to deal with the dark lord Sauron's return, but deal with it they do and they do with hope. They do with light and they do with strength.

[00:17:41]And it's a good moral lesson for us to take into our own lives today. And that's one again I always talk about why these classic books are still popular and I think that's one of the reasons why is the morals and lessons that they teach us are still relevant today.

[00:17:58]Anyways, that's all I have for you today. Thank you always for being here.

[00:18:03]Have you read The Fellowship of the Ring? Is it your favorite like part of the trilogy if we're talking trilogy wise? Uh, do you think it's rather slow?

[00:18:12]Are do you like the changes that they made in the movie? Are there some changes you don't like? Did you really want to see Tom Bombadil? What do you think of the Fellowship of the Ring movie? And why am I just bombarding you with questions right now? Yeah. No, I should I should better plan out these questions. Anyways, thank you for being here. Thank you always for being here.

[00:18:36]You are amazing. Now, go find yourself a good book.