Blogpost# 10 The two towers

  (SPOILERS!)             The book finally got to Frodo's main storyline. So Frodo and Sam have finally met  Gollum. Now, Gollum is a pretty interesting character if not the most interesting character in the Lord of The Rings. He used to be a hobbit like creature that I can't remember the name of. But then he found the Ring of Power, and it seduced him almost immediately. He strangled and killed his best friend for it. After that it was all downhill from there,he became obessed with the ring, he started to form into an ugly pale creature. His mind became really simple minded and downright evil. Smeagel was his real name, but then he developed a second personality called Gollum.
       Smeagel is a perfect symbol of corruption. he was a happy, simple minded person can be shaped into this souless,cold, almost pathetic individual. in the pages I've read Smeagel, seems to be trying to take control of himself away from Gollum ,almost like how an addict trys to take control of their addiction. But knowing that he gets seduced by the ring agian and dies becuase of it, I feel bad for him, he's too broken beyond repair, you want him to be an ally because you see that he used to be a good hearted person and some of that shines out in him, but you eventually find out that he is fighting a losing battle. 

blogpost #9: The two towers

After reading 100's of pages of descriptions of landscapes and medival politics, you expect the climax to be pretty lenghy and descriptive. But for some reason this feels like its about ten pages long, and I really don't mind that much. This got me thinking if the epic battles are really that important here, i mean how many books could you really say that about. The battles are not that important in the grand scheme of things. I couldn't tell you how many times I wanted to see what was Frodo was up to during the battle scene. I'm not happy to read the Battle of Helms Deep, because I feel like its not necessary to advance the plot. Don't get me wrong it one of the most epic battle scenes i've ever read. I'd much rather read about frodo and sam's (and gollum's) journey to mount Doom because Im more invested in them, I'm much more invested in the ring then the people of Rohan. Not to say I'm not invested in them I just know what will happen and I feel ike I don't need to read it again. Maybe it's because I watched the movie, or because I'm more sympathetic towards an innocent hobbit then a proud peple who I feel like don't need my sympathy.

Blogpost #9 LOTR, the Two Towers

In the book, Gandalf and company have convinced King Theoden to meet the armies of Saruman at Helm's Deep. They are outnumbered five to one. It's at this point that you feel most sympathetic, where all the characters are at their lowest as well as their highest point. Tolkien does an amazing job making you feel sad for every elf that is killed because of how precious their lives are when considering the big picture, when most of their kin has died and the rest have left, but Galandriel and his people stay because they refused to give up on Middle Earth, and to forget the debt that they owe to Men. It's kind of funny really, considering I didn't really like the elves since the beginning of the first book, they seemed condesending and judging of others and  never tryed to inspire hope in Frodo when they met, if anything, they really made him feel worse for no reason. But the book made me feel sympathetic for people i didn't even like that much, and not because of some corny, before battle speech. It's these characters that can get an emotion out of me whether I disagree with what most of the characters opinions or i can relate to others. It's almost like they act like real people and not some cardboard cut out.