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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 323586" data-attributes="member: 812">Here's one:I've only ever encountered one person who felt the same way you do-- It took him nearly 3 weeks to read FotR up to Rivendell, and he finished the rest of FotR and TTT and RotK in the space of a week. So I've been left with time to ponder why. FotR is my favorite of the trilogy. In large measure because of Boromir's tragedy, but not the only reason by any means. After watching my friend, I think the biggest reason he disliked it (he claimed it was due to the writing style) is that we don't get all the information until we reach the Council. He tends to like novels (like Eddings, for instance) where the information is presented early on to the reader, even if the characters aren't aware of it. FotR keeps the reader at the same knowledge level as the main characters (Frodo and the other hobbits) throughout the tale. We never learn more than they do. We don't know (for example) that Gandalf will return until we see him in the Two Towers. The real quest starts when the Fellowship sets out from Rivendell. That is when the epic truly begins. Everything prior to that point is prologue. So the crux of the matter seems to be that you don't like the prologue. Or at least the style in which it is presented. Yet it is an essential part of the story. Frodo's acceptance of the burden wouldn't be so stirring if we didn't understand his previous adventure. He merely worked to get to the land of Rivendell, so that others can take care of the Ring-- and so that the Shire can be safe. We learn about the innocence of the Shire, and its idealistic world during the beginning of the book-- we learn about the parts of Middle-Earth that are worth saving. We learn about all that is beautiful in the world, and get a taste of the danger in it as well. The later parts would have less meaning without this previous experience. It's one thing to try to describe it to the reader while in the midst of the epic, but it's quite another (and more succesful approach, if you ask me) to show the reader beforehand what makes the Quest so important. We grow with the hobbits. We learn as they learn, and our understanding of Middle-Earth grows as well. We learn in part, the setting in which this tale is taking place, and of the larger history of the wars against Sauron and Morgoth in which LotR is merely one chapter. It's that opportunity for growth and the path from innocence to experience that is such a part of mythic tales that Tolkien is trying to capture, among other mythic elements. Hence we have the unknown elements of the Black Riders-- we don't learn what they are until the Council. The small adventures of the Old Forest, Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs along the way. The unknown element of Strider-- is he really the good guy he claims to be? We see the hobbit's courage in the face of the unknown, and how they handle the later difficulties of Mordor. In short, the early parts of the Fellowship provide meaning to everything that happens after. You wouldn't feel quite the same way about the later portions without the 'textbook' bit at the beginning. Thanks to Inferno over at theonering.net for that explication.</blockquote>

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