LotR -- Book 6 - Chapter 8 - The Scouring of the Shire - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Formendacil · 03-21-2019, 04:18 PM

I know I've made comments to this effect before in other chapters... but I really can't believe this thread received so few comments! I am completely open to arguments that say this is the single most important chapter in the book; I'm certainly willing to say that it is a climax on par with "Mount Doom" (and if all you look at are the deaths of Saruman and Sauron and the former's attempt to turn the Shire into Mordor, there are definitely parallels).

The Lord of the Rings would be a completely different book without it: far closer to pure fairytale than otherwise. It's absence from the movies is THE thematic flaw of those movies, one that you can only justify, in my mind, if you look at it as telling the story that I bracket between "Many Meetings" and "Many Partings."

The discovery by Frodo that evil (however dilute it really is compared with what he saw in Mordor or was seen in Gondor or Rohan) has invaded the Shire is a crucial discovery. This is when the realisation that he can't just go back to the way things were crystallizes. It's the moment of truth to reality (however easy it also os to read it as allegory) that makes this book NOT a pure Happy Ending fairytale.

It's also rousing and full of humour and a return to places and people long missed! It's a fantastic chapter.

03-21-2019, 04:18 PM	#1
Formendacil Dead Serious Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Perched on Thangorodrim's towers. Posts: 3,309	I know I've made comments to this effect before in other chapters... but I really can't believe this thread received so few comments! I am completely open to arguments that say this is the single most important chapter in the book; I'm certainly willing to say that it is a climax on par with "Mount Doom" (and if all you look at are the deaths of Saruman and Sauron and the former's attempt to turn the Shire into Mordor, there are definitely parallels). The Lord of the Rings would be a completely different book without it: far closer to pure fairytale than otherwise. It's absence from the movies is THE thematic flaw of those movies, one that you can only justify, in my mind, if you look at it as telling the story that I bracket between "Many Meetings" and "Many Partings." The discovery by Frodo that evil (however dilute it really is compared with what he saw in Mordor or was seen in Gondor or Rohan) has invaded the Shire is a crucial discovery. This is when the realisation that he can't just go back to the way things were crystallizes. It's the moment of truth to reality (however easy it also os to read it as allegory) that makes this book NOT a pure Happy Ending fairytale. It's also rousing and full of humour and a return to places and people long missed! It's a fantastic chapter. __________________ I prefer history, true or feigned.