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12/25/2002 Archived Entry: "Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers"

Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers - Saw this film Christmas day. I started reading Tolkien at the age of fourteen and am now in my fifties. You can imagine how thoroughly I know Tolkien's work, after reading, re-reading, and in recent years reading aloud to a child the entire opus, starting from The Hobbit and finishing with The Silmarillion.

I think the LOTR films are great! Both have been meticulous interpretations of the greatest fantasy ever written in the English language. Visually and emotionally the work is literal Tolkien. Has any work of fiction ever received the benefits of a cinematic treatment this faithful to the original author's vision?

There is *one* aspect of Jackson's rendering, though, that is profoundly unsatisfactory. As loving and painstaking as is his crew's attention to authenticity and detail, he seems to have missed the moral point Tolkien made with the Ring.

Jackson has accurately reproduced many of the important speeches about the Ring. However, where he improvises dialog about the Ring, characters tend to insist, as Frodo does to Faramir in Two Towers, that the Ring can only be used for evil. This is not what Tolkien wrote or intended.

The Ring is used by Tolkien to demostrate that seeking unrestrained power to do good is in itself evil. An important lesson always, and one which, in post-9/11 America, it would be good to hear enunciated more clearly.

Replies: 2 comments

Dear Jack,

It's been more than a few years since I've read the books, but I thought the rings could only be used for evil. They essentially consolidated The Unblinking Eye's material power, power which I would have to believe would be pur evil.

Posted by Steve Martinovich @ 12/25/2002 10:14 PM EST

The rings, plural, esp. the Elf rings, are used for good. The One Ring can enslave them. In theory, it can be used to do good, but its creation involved a murder, and to desire such power at such price is in itself the corrupting influence on the wielder.

The durability of Tolkien's work is in large part due to its moral content. The finest gem, thinks me, of the opus is Gandalf's speech, uttered in FOTR and reprised in TTT, when Frodo, in fear after being told of Gollum's escape, suggests that "It was a pity Bilbo didn't slay him."

G: Pity? It was Pity that stayed his hand. Pity, and Mercy: not to strike without need.

Frodo: I do not feel any pity for Gollum. He deserves death.

G: Deserves death! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give that to them? *Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety.* Even the wise cannot see all ends.

(emphasis added)

Posted by Jack J. Woehr @ 12/25/2002 10:43 PM EST