To present the conflict between Good and Evil as a…
To present the conflict between Good and Evil as a war in which the good side is ultimately victorious is a ticklish business. Our historical experience tells us that physical power and, to a large extent, mental power are morally neutral and effectively real: wars are won by the stronger side, just or unjust…. As readers of the preceding volumes will remember, the situation n the War of the Ring is as follows: Chance, or Providence, has put the Ring in the hands of the representatives of Good, Elrond, Gandalf, Aragorn. By using it they could destroy Sauron, the incarnation of evil, but at the cost of becoming his successor. If Sauron recovers the Ring, his victory will be immediate and complete, but even without it his power is greater than any his enemies can bring against him, so that, unless Frodo succeeds in destroying the Ring, Sauron must win…. The demands made on the writer’s powers in an epic as long as “The Lord of the Rings” are enormous and increase as the tale proceeds-the battles have to get more spectacular, the situations more critical, the adventures more thrilling — but I can only say that Mr. Tolkien has proved equal to them.
Other The Lord of the Rings Quotes
- As quoted in C.S. Lewis: Creator of Narnia (2005) by Michael White, p. 152 - View Quote Details on As quoted in C.S. Lewis: Creator of Narnia (2005) by…
- The Hobbit - View Quote Details on The Hobbit
- I rarely remember a book about which I have had such violent arguments. Nobody seems to have a moderate opinion: either, like myself, people find it a masterpiece of its genre or they cannot abide it, and among the hostile there are some, I must confess, for whose literary judgment I have great respect. A few of these may have been put off by the first forty pages of the first chapter of the first volume in which the daily life of the hobbits is described; this is light comedy and light comedy is not Mr. Tolkien’s forte. In most cases, however, the objection must go far deeper. I can only suppose that some people object to Heroic Quests and Imaginary Worlds on principle; such, they feel, cannot be anything but light “escapist” reading. That a man like Mr. Tolkien, the English philologist who teaches at Oxford, should lavish such incredible pains upon a genre which is, for them, trifling by definition, is, therefore, very shocking. - View Quote Details on I rarely remember a book about which I have had…
- Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century. - View Quote Details on Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth…
- Masterpiece? Oh yes, I’ve no doubt about that. - View Quote Details on Masterpiece? Oh yes, I’ve no doubt about that.
- Such a book has of course its predestined readers, even now more numerous and more critical than is always realised. To them a reviewer need say little, except that here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron; here is a book that will break your heart. - View Quote Details on Such a book has of course its predestined readers, even…
- J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy remains the ultimate quest, the ultimate battle between good and evil, the ultimate chronicle of stewardship of the earth. Endlessly imitated, it never has been surpassed. - View Quote Details on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy remains the ultimate quest, the ultimate…
- I wonder how could he have been able to invent all this stuff. It feels more like Tolkien discovered some sort of long-lost scrolls. - View Quote Details on I wonder how could he have been able to invent…
- The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them. - View Quote Details on The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read…
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