Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien 

The book is Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien. It was originally published in 1955 by George Allen & Unwin. I read the 2020 Harper Collins illustrated  hardback edition with illustrations by Alan Lee. I read it in December of 2023.  

The title refers to Aragorn. He finally returns to Gondor to take his rightful place as king.  

I read this because I’m rereading through all of the Lord of the Rings again. Haven’t read it since high school.  

This last book of the Lord of the Rings series is about dominion. The king is taking his rightful place. The hobbits return home and take charge of cleaning up the Shire. The ring of power is destroyed. Middle Earth is restored. Everything is set back in its right place. 

This book emphasizes the importance of working on what’s right in front of you.  

“Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.” (p880) 

We must “uproot the evil in the fields that we know” not only for our own sake but for the generation that will come after us. Leaving a legacy of strong and wise people is a running theme in Lord of the Rings. Also highlighted is the effects of absence.  

When the hobbits left the shire everything went to shit. The patriarchal Baggins was not there to keep things in order. But when they return they kick ass and take names. We can go on adventures and do great things, but we can’t let things slip at home.  

There’s not much more I can say about the Lord of the Rings that wasn’t in the two previous book journal entries.  

One part that surprised me was Eowyn joining the battle disguised as a man. I had it in my head that that was a modern Hollywood interference, but it turns out Tolkien was sufficiently woke.  

I’ve said it before but I recommend The Lord of the Rings is required reading for every boy. The lessons it teaches about responsibility and dominion are invaluable. It was a joy to reread this series as an adult.  

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Notable Quotables 

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Then suddenly she laid her hand on his arm. ‘You are a stern lord and‚ resolute,’ she said; ‘and thus do men win renown.’ 

May I not now spend my life as I will?’  

“Few may do that with honour,’ (p784) 

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And as all my friends have gone to the battle, I should be ashamed to stay behind? (p802) 

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So it was that Gandalf took command of the last defense of the City of Gondor. Wherever he came men’s hearts would lift again, and the winged shadows pass from memory. (p824) 

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Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule. (p880) 

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The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command. (p901) 

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Don’t orcs eat, and don’t they drink? Or do they just live on foul air and poison?’ No, they eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own.’ (p914) 

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I am going to have a long talk with Bombadil: such a talk as I have not had in all my time. He is a moss-gatherer, and I have been a stone doomed to rolling. But my rolling days are ending, and now we shall have much to say to one another? (p996) 

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“Raise the Shire!’ said Merry. ‘Now! Wake all our people! They hate all this, you can see: all of them except perhaps one or two rascals, and a few fools that want to be important, but don’t at all understand what is really going on. But Shire-folk have been so comfortable so long they don’t know what to do. They just want a match, though, and they’ll go up in fire. The Chief’s Men must know that. They’ll try to stamp on us and put us out quick. We’ve only got a very short time.’ (p1007)