Themes and Analysis

‘The Fellowship of the Ring‘ begins with a cheerful and carefree tone as it lays out the world of the Hobbits which surround the main protagonist, Frodo. As the book progresses and Frodo leaves the Shire on his way to Rivendell and then after that on his way to Mordor with the Fellowship, it gets increasingly grave and gritty. Innocence is quickly shorn, and the once naive Hobbit is soon shown the face of evil and now carries a great burden. ‘The Return of the King’ lays out the ultimate struggle between good and evil and the fight to preserve innocence from the powerful who seek to despoil it.

‘The Return of the King‘ Themes

Hope and Despair in ‘The Return of the King‘

At different times throughout ‘The Return of the King,’ the characters find themselves in situations that seem to have no chance of success or survival. While some characters hold on to a seemingly irrational hope, some give in to despair. Those who hold on to hope are often rewarded with success and good fortune, while the characters who surrender to despair face certain failures. Denethor is one of those who give in to hopelessness. Despite Gandalf’s urgings towards optimism and perseverance, Denethor, prompted by the false visions Sauron gave him after he caught Denethor spying on him through Seeing Stone. Because of this deceit, he could foresee no chance of success in the war.

His despair deepened when Faramir returned from Osgiliath on the brink of death. Denethor thinks the hope of those around him is foolish, so he ultimately dies alone. His predictions of defeat and the end of his bloodline are disproved, but he is no longer there to witness others’ hopes coming to fruition.

On the other hand, Samwise, one of the novel’s most optimistic characters in ‘The Return of the King,’ is constantly motivated by his optimism. He keeps looking forward and onward, so he continues to hope that the quest to destroy the Ring will succeed and that they’ll see their friends and home again. When the time came that their chances of going home seemed hopeless, he still holds onto the hope of them completing their quest.

Sam and Frodo travel to the point of utter exhaustion, and even when all their strength has gone and Mount Doom erupts around them, Sam urges Frodo to find a safer place to stand with him. Samwise plays a pivotal role in ‘The Return of the King,’ and without him constantly using his hope to hold Frodo up and sometimes having to carry him when his strength fails him, Frodo would never have reached Mount Doom. Sam’s hope is one of the most necessary factors in the destruction of the One Ring. 

Excellence Beyond Expectations in ‘The Return of the King‘

Several characters throughout in ‘The Return of the King‘ demonstrate ability far beyond what’s expected of them. The Hobbits are a great example of this. Being so small, they’re often mistaken for children and assumed to have childlike qualities: naivete, weakness, and inexperience. Theoden predicted that Merry will be more of a burden than a help in battle, but Merry ends up helping Eowyn defeat the Witch King. Denethor is confused by Pippin and unsure of his usefulness, yet Pippin ends up challenging Denethor’s authority to save Faramir and ensure the line of the stewards of Gondor continues.

Denethor says that Gandalf’s plan to send Hobbits to Mount Doom to destroy the Ring is foolish, but Frodo’s mental and physical strength as the Ringbearer and Sam’s bravery in the face of the enemy ensure that their quest is ultimately achieved. Each of the Hobbits in ‘The Return of the King‘ disproves assumptions made about them due to their size. Eowyn, being a woman, faces a similar struggle to disprove what others think about her due to her gender. As a woman, it’s assumed her place will be in the home, and when the Rohirrim ride to war, she’s left behind to tend to the women and children.

She decided to change her appearance and disguising herself as a rider named Dernhelm, she rode to battle in Minas Tirith with the rest of the Rohirrim. Merry’s race as a Hobbit ends up being the most important aspect of the battle and a silver bullet, allowing him to unravel the Witch King’s magic when he stabbed him behind the knee with his Elven knife. This allowed Eowyn, a woman, to defeat him. Eowyn’s subversion of expectations and the unexpected strengths of Hobbits prove that status and appearance aren’t accurate measures of one’s value.

A person’s value, it seems, comes from within, and indeed, an external quality that might be judged a weakness can, as in the case of the Hobbits, be a unique strength.

Good vs Evil in ‘The Return of the King‘

Some of the greatest triumphs in the story of ‘The Return of the King‘ involve profound sacrifices in the name of love and loyalty. Frodo’s task of carrying the One Ring to Mount Doom ends up leaving him permanently wounded and exhausted by the Ring’s weight, yet he proves over the journey that his strength and fortitude are unique and incredibly vital to the success of the free peoples in the war. He sacrifices his health and happiness and was prepared to sacrifice his life for the love of all his friends and the world he knows.

Meanwhile, those around him sacrifice themselves for him: Sam was single-mindedly focused on rescuing Frodo from the Orcs and though he, too, is exhausted at the end of the journey, he carries Frodo partway up the mountain. Aragorn’s decision with the captains to ride into a hopeless battle in ‘The Return of the King’ is partly a sacrifice made for Frodo’s sake and for the chance of saving the land they love. They don’t believe they’ll survive, but their love and loyalty give them the strength to sacrifice themselves anyway.

Similarly, Arwen’s marriage to Aragorn represents sacrifice for the sake of romantic love. When she becomes bound to Aragorn, who though blessed with long life is still mortal, she gives up the possibility of leaving Middle-earth to travel to the undying lands of Valinor with the rest of the Elves and must bid farewell to her father, Elrond, without ever hoping to see him again.

Power and Mercy ‘The Return of the King‘

Throughout ‘The Return of the King,’ when a character has the power to decide another character’s fate, they often choose to show mercy rather than dole out a harsh punishment. Aragorn’s style of leadership is built on mercy: when some of his men approach Mordor and are too terrified to go on, he releases them from their obligation. Rather than making him seem soft and weakening his authority, this display of mercy encourages more loyalty from his men; and even persuades some of them to continue following him despite their fear.

Once the war has ended, one of Aragorn’s first acts as king is to make peace with the nations of men who fought on Sauron’s side, demonstrating that his mercy works in harmony with his desire for peace and supports his wise leadership. Mercy is also a huge factor in the success of Frodo’s quest in ‘The Return of the King‘. After wearing and carrying the Ring, Sam understands how profoundly it corrupts those who bear it. This newfound wisdom means he orders Gollum to leave instead of killing him on Mount Doom, no matter how treacherous Gollum has proven himself to be, or how often Sam has dreamed of throttling him.

Though this almost ends in the total failure of Frodo’s quest when Gollum makes his final attack in the heart of the mountain, ultimately, Sam’s wise assessment of Gollum as a creature ruined by the Ring and his resulting mercy leads to the destruction of the Ring even when that seems impossible. In this way, J.R.R. Tolkien suggests that mercy is often a sign of wisdom, not weakness and that an act of mercy can bring unpredicted luck or fortune.

Analysis of Key Moments in ‘The Return of the King‘

1. Sauron sends a great army of Orcs, Haradrim, and other Southrons against Gondor. 
2. Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to warn Denethor of the attack, while Théoden musters the Rohirrim to ride to Gondor’s aid.
3. Minas Tirith is besieged; the Lord of the Nazgûl uses a spell-wound battering ram to destroy the city’s gates.
4. Denethor, deceived by Sauron, falls into despair. He burns himself alive on a pyre; Pippin and Gandalf rescue his son Faramir from the same fate.
5. Aragorn, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli, and the Rangers of the North, takes the Paths of the Dead to recruit the Dead Men of Dunharrow, oathbreakers who are bound by an ancient curse that denies them rest until they fulfill their oath to fight for the King of Gondor.
6. Aragorn unleashes the Army of the Dead on the Corsairs of Umbar, invading southern Gondor. With that threat eliminated, Aragorn uses the Corsairs’ ships to transport the men of southern Gondor up the Anduin, reaching Minas Tirith just in time to turn the tide of battle.
7. Théoden’s niece Éowyn, who joined the army in disguise, kills the Lord of the Nazgûl with help from Merry; both are wounded. Together, Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron’s army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, though at great cost; Théoden is among the dead.
8. Aragorn enters Minas Tirith and heals Faramir, Éowyn, and Merry. He leads an army of men from Gondor and Rohan, marching through Ithilien to the Black Gate to distract Sauron from his true danger. At the Battle of the Morannon, his army is vastly outnumbered.
9. Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol. They set out across Mordor.
10. When they reach the edge of the Cracks of Doom, Frodo cannot resist the Ring any longer. He claims it for himself and puts it on.
11. Gollum suddenly reappears. He struggles with Frodo and bites off Frodo’s finger with the Ring still on it.
12. Celebrating wildly, Gollum loses his footing and falls into the Fire, taking the Ring with him.
13. When the Ring is destroyed, Sauron loses his power forever. All he created collapses, the Nazgûl perish, and his armies are thrown into such disarray that Aragorn’s forces emerge victorious.
14. Aragorn is crowned King of Arnor and Gondor, and weds Arwen, daughter of Elrond.
15. Théoden is buried and Éomer is crowned King of Rohan. His sister Éowyn is engaged to marry Faramir, now Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien.
16. Galadriel, Celeborn, and Gandalf meet and say farewell to Treebeard and Aragorn.
17. The four Hobbits make their way back to the Shire, only to find that it has been taken over by men directed by “Sharkey” (whom they later discover to be Saruman).
18. The Hobbits, led by Merry, raise a rebellion and scour the Shire of Sharkey’s evil.
19. Gríma Wormtongue turns on Saruman and kills him in front of Bag End, Frodo’s home. He is killed in turn by Hobbit archers.
20. Merry and Pippin are celebrated as heroes. Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts from Galadriel to help heal the Shire.
21. Frodo is still wounded in body and spirit, having borne the Ring for so long. A few years later, in the company of Bilbo and Gandalf, Frodo sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace.

Writing Style and Tone of ‘The Return of the King‘

The writing style of ‘The Return of the King’ often varies based on the race of the speaker or where the scenes were set. Passages relating to Elves and Dwarves are often written in the archaic style, while those about Hobbits were written in a simple, modern style. The tone often goes from a lighthearted narrative to grave seriousness.

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