WORDS WITH MR. KAUMANS- KEVIN KAUMANS
Don’t get me wrong, Tolkien was an extremely creative storyteller to be able to come up with the books he was able to.
That being said, I still had some problems with “Return of the King.” Now, I do think the book was a great way to end the series as it resolved all the side plots and had a satisfying conclusion. Despite all this, however, I still have some grievances with the book.
First off, I felt like all the romances had been severely rushed and ham-fisted, to put it lightly. We are never shown Aragorn and Arwen having any romantic interest with—or even knowing about—each other until the end of the book. If “Harry Potter” or “Percy Jackson” did something like this, the readers would point it out as bad writing, but because he’s Tolkien, no one bats an eye. Rose came off as a character Tolkien created last minute so Sam could have someone to end up with. I could keep going, but then this article would be too long.
I also felt like there were some deus ex machinas scattered within the book. One example occurs when Sam goes to the stronghold where Frodo is being held up only to find out that all the orcs have conveniently decided to start killing each other after some petty disagreement just like in the last book when they had kidnapped Merry and Pippin. Honestly, the orcs getting into arguments that result in them killing each other happens so often it practically becomes a cliché.
I did find what Tolkien did with Eowyn interesting, I’ll give him that. Having a woman take up a sword and disguise herself as a man to fight in the war, while not original, was a very progressive thing for him to include in his book given the time period. Not a lot of fantasy books back then had women who were shown to be as equal as their male counterparts in terms of fighting strength. However, just because this book was progressive for its time doesn’t undo all the previous criticisms I have for this book.
Another thing I enjoyed was getting to see how much the four main hobbits in the story matured by having them go back home and getting rid of the humans who have taken over it. It was kind of heartwarming, seeing Frodo and the like being able to solve their problems without needing Aragorn, Gandalf, or any of the other characters to hold their hands. It shows how well Tolkien can write character development.
Overall, “The Return Of the King,” while not perfect, is a solid fantasy book and was a perfect way to end Tolkien’s trilogy. I know I’ve been giving the book series a lot of grief in these reviews, but I do believe it’s a good series to recommend to someone who’s just getting into fantasy.