Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
From LoveToKnow Sci-Fi
The Return of the King - Quest's End
All heroic journeys ultimately end in heroes being rewarded (rarely does the hero lose, except in Greek tragedy), and Lord of the Rings is no exception. Of course, there's a whole volume full of struggle to get through to reach the winner's circle.
Scattered Fellowship
In The Return of the King, the original Fellowship of the Ring is scattered throughout MiddleEarth, all converging on the last battle with Dark Lord Sauron. Hobbit Pippin is with wizard Gandalf as they reach Minas Tirith, the capital city of Gondor, which leads the war against Mordor. Hobbit Merry is with the Rohirrim as they prepare to ride to Gondor to the aid of their ancient allies. Aragorn, the human heir to the throne of Gondor, which has sat vacant for generations, with elf Legolas and dwarf Gimli, ride a secret path through the lands of the dead, mustering deceased warriors to their cause. And Frodo and Sam edge ever closer to their objective, in the heart of the enemy's country.
Thwarted Ambition, Thwarted Love
The third volume of the Lord of the Rings offers two instances of the adage 'you can't always get what you want'. Not every hero wins their heart's desire.
In Gondor, the throne has been unoccupied since Isildur rode away to his death, generations ago. The country has been ruled by Stewards, a heriditary title that passes from father to son. Yet the current Steward, Denathor, father of Boromir who betrayed the Fellowship in Book I, no longer considers himself the King's Steward, but ruler in his own right. Knowledge that an heir to Isildur is returning to claim the vacant throne drives him mad, and he dies by his own hand, while trying to slay his surviving son.
In Rohan, the King's daughter Eowyn finds herself enamoured of the returning king, Aragorn. Yet unbeknownst to her (or the reader), Aragorn has already pledged himself to Arwen, Elrond's daughter, a half-elven lady as far above him in station as he is above Eowyn. In despair at his kind rejection, Eowyn disguises herself as a man to ride with her father's army, in search of an honorable death on the field of battle. Of course, she doesn't find it, and it is her battle with the Nazgul king that helps turn the tide against the armies of Mordor. She later finds a less lofty love in the person of Denathor's surviving son Faramir. This 'be happy with your station in life' motif is characteristic of fiction written in the period. Fantasy literature has only recently broken free of the rigid caste system of the feudal period in which much fantasy is set, to allow butchers boys and pickpockets to ascend to heroic roles.
Aragorn's crowning as king of Gondor is, of course, The Return of the King.
An Awkward Coda
Having seen the quest through to its end, destroying the Ring and watching the installation of their friend Aragorn as King of Gondor, the hobbits return to their buccolic life in the Shire, only to find the Shire has been turned into a communistic collective and they must reassert the power of the status quo to their own land.
After a period of years, Frodo finds himself unable to settle into Shire life and leaves on an elven ship from the Grey Havens to the land in the west to which the elves are fleeing; it is a land from which there is no return. The analogy is clear, if unstated.
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