{"id":520,"date":"2002-04-12T23:31:31","date_gmt":"2002-04-13T07:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2002\/04\/12\/the-lord-of-the-rings-by-jrr-tolkien\/"},"modified":"2022-03-07T10:27:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T18:27:06","slug":"the-lord-of-the-rings-by-jrr-tolkien","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2002\/04\/12\/the-lord-of-the-rings-by-jrr-tolkien\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:16282,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/ASIN\\\/0345340426\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/ASIN\\\/0345340426\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:16283,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/ASIN\\\/0395177111\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/ASIN\\\/0395177111\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:16284,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/asin\\\/B00005MP5B\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/asin\\\/B00005MP5B\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:6664,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.google.com&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260309014042\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.google.com\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-09 07:42:11&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-16 19:56:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-24 23:48:45&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-29 04:40:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-01 08:28:11&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-05 11:22:22&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-05 11:22:22&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:16285,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.google.com\\\/search?q=tolkien+lord+of+the+rings+-movie&amp;sourceid=opera&amp;num=0&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.google.com\\\/search?q=tolkien%20lord%20of%20the%20rings%20-movie&amp;gws_rd=ssl&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:11002,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/asin\\\/B000067DNF\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.amazon.com\\\/exec\\\/obidos\\\/asin\\\/B000067DNF\\\/djwudicom-20&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:16286,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/Name?Jackson,+Peter&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/Name?Jackson,%20Peter&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:16287,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/Title?0167261&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20030602170928\\\/http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com:80\\\/Title?0167261&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-14 05:30:41&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-25 05:09:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-07 08:18:55&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:503}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-07 08:18:55&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:503},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:15597,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/Title?0167260&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20030202033553\\\/http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com:80\\\/Title?0167260&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-13 20:11:41&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-25 05:09:50&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-02 00:36:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-07 08:18:57&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-07 08:18:57&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>First off &#8212; wow.<\/p>\n<p>I thought I&#8217;d read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0345340426\/djwudicom-20\" title=\"J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Lord of the Rings'\">The Lord of the Rings<\/a> a long time ago. Now that I&#8217;ve just finished reading it, I&#8217;m not sure if I ever actually had or not. It may well be that I&#8217;d read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/0395177111\/djwudicom-20\" title=\"J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'\">The Hobbit<\/a> a long time ago and over the years thought that I&#8217;d read the entire LotR series. It could also be that I&#8217;d seen the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/asin\/B00005MP5B\/djwudicom-20\" title=\"Amazon: The Lord of the Rings (animated)\">animated version<\/a> and assumed over the years that I&#8217;d also read the book. Now I&#8217;m not as sure, as far too much of what I read was entirely unfamiliar to me.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, though, I&#8217;ve now read it &#8212; and if I hadn&#8217;t read it before, it&#8217;s a shame it took me this long. It really is as good as people say it is. Not that I ever really doubted that, however, it&#8217;s far different to have so many people hold it up as a masterpiece of fantasy, and to be able to actually form that opinion for yourself.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a lot more information and reviews of LotR available on the &#8216;net (a quick <a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/\" title=\"Best search engine out there\">Google<\/a> search for &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=tolkien+lord+of+the+rings+-movie&amp;sourceid=opera&amp;num=0&amp;ie=utf-8&amp;oe=utf-8\" title=\"LotR google search\">tolkien lord of the rings -movie<\/a>&#8221; turns up around 125,000 hits) that are very likely to be much more well-written and in-depth than this little bit of babble is, so I&#8217;ll just stick with what I&#8217;ve got.<\/p>\n<p>I was promped to pick it up and (re?-)read it after watching <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/exec\/obidos\/ASIN\/B000067DNF\/djwudicom-20\" title=\"Amazon: The Fellowship of the Ring\">Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring<\/a> (which I apparently didn&#8217;t post any comments on, though I did mention it a <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2001\/11\/aaaah_i_wanna_s.html\" title=\"Eclecticism: Aaaah! I wanna see it! I wanna see it now! ;)\">couple<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2001\/02\/i_so_want_this_.html\" title=\"Eclectisicm: I so want this movie to come out!\">times<\/a> beforehand&#8230;). I&#8217;ve definitely got a lot more respect for <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/Name?Jackson,+Peter\" title=\"IMDB page for Peter Jackson\">Peter Jackson<\/a>&#8216;s ability to translate the books to the screen &#8212; and I&#8217;m <em>really<\/em> jonesing to see the rest now! Just seven more months until <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/Title?0167261\" title=\"IMDB page for 'The Two Towers'\">The Two Towers<\/a> comes out, and nineteen until <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/Title?0167260\" title=\"IMDB page for 'The Return of the King'\">The Return of the King<\/a>. Going to be a long wait, that&#8217;s for sure&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It really is as good as people say it is. Not that I ever really doubted that, however, it&#8217;s far different to have so many people hold it up as a masterpiece of fantasy, and to be able to actually form that opinion for yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2036,2037],"tags":[23,3604,372,1853],"class_list":["post-520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-tv-and-films","tag-film","tag-j-r-r-tolkien","tag-the-hobbit","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}