Of Elves and Dwarves
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| Title: | Of Elves and Dwarves |
| Creator: | Catherine Schlein |
| Date(s): | 2004 |
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Of Elves and Dwarves is a 2004 essay by Catherine Schlein.
It was printed in The Road Goes Ever On.
It has a focus of two topics - 1) Schlein's memories of the books, and of being a fan, of both the books and the Jackson films, 2) her world-building and merging Tolkien's book series Lord of the Rings, the Jackson films, and Schlein's AU universe as portrayed in The Road Goes Ever On.
The excerpts below are from the first part of Schlein's essay.
Excerpts
During my seventh grade year, I used to go down to our local bookstore to buy the latest Tom Swift, Tom Corbitt or Rick Blaine book. At thirteen, I was reading adult books — (Mary Stewart and Charles Dickens were my favorite authors) but still had a yen to read books about teenagers — and my mother disapproved. The books were SF, kids books, and boy books. Three strikes and they were out. So, I would detour to store and buy the book and run home. No one was ever the wiser. Occasionally, I would look in the window of the news shop next door; Eads News carried magazines and newspapers from all over the world and [lot] a of paperbacks. It always smelled like sweet pipe tobacco and cigars, but it was not on my mother's list of approved places for young ladies.
Eads moved the summer before I went to high school, taking over the Ford showroom down the street. On the way home from Boulder High one day, my friends and I decided to go in. I noticed a sign over the back three rows of books. "Science Fiction" it said. I had discovered Andre Norton and Madeleine L'Engle long ago, so while Rita and Judy looked at mysteries, and Robin perused the science magazines, I went to the SF section. I noticed a book with a blue and green drawing in an oval on the front. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. It wasn't expensive. My allowance would cover it easily. I read the back. A story about Dwarves, a wizard, a dragon, Elves and...a Hobbit (whatever that was). It intrigued me.
I read it that weekend and on Monday was back to see if this JRR Tolkien had written anything more. There were these three books — the first trilogy I had ever encountered — The Lord of the Rings. I read it over the next three weeks (sleeping, chores, and studying had to be accounted for). The year was 1968. The wild Sixties were in full bloom, with love beads, and I Grok Spock buttons. I was fifteen years old. Tolkien's world where the quiet and peaceful could be heroes, appealed to my sensibilities. I've been a Hobbit fan ever since...
[...]
In 1976, my husband read The Hobbit and the trilogy aloud to me while I sewed. In 1988, when my son was seven, my husband read The Hobbit aloud to him (and I listened in). With that reading, a next generation of Tolkein fan was born in our family.
When I heard rumors in the 90's that a movie of The Lord of the Rings was planned, I was not enthused. I dreaded the idea of the tale of Frodo Baggins being condensed into 2 hours. When I heard that Disney was involved, my expectations dipped further. When I heard Disney had given up the project and another company had taken it on - but was doing three movies, I felt a glimmer of hope. But there were so many things they could do wrong. How could they find a Frodo, or a Sam? A Merry, a Pippin, a Gandalf? A Legolas? They would never get them all right. Oh yeah, and they'd do cheesy computer generated fight scenes, and use back-lot scenery. Middle Earth California style. Maybe, if we were very lucky, it would be passable. They'd have to leave things out — the scope of the story was just too complex to film it like the book. If wasn't like the book, well, it just wouldn't do. I was sure of it.
So, with misgivings, but a sliver of hope, I went to see The Fellowship of the Ring when it came out. I sat in the theater afterward stunned. I was impressed. I was amazed. All wanted to know was when the next one would come out. Now, after three movies, I cannot imagine abetter cast (although I do admit Elrond bothered me at first, having seen The Matrix several times).
I have read the books again — after all, it has been twenty-nine years since [my husband] read them to me. I have fallen in love all over again with the richness of Tolkien's descriptions and the complex tale he wove, and I watch the movies as often as I can. They are incredible. From Elijah Wood's eyes, to Pippin's smiles, I am in love as only a fan can be. The differences between the books and the films are many - but film and the written word are not the same animal - and the times have changed. The essence of the story is there - the journey, the pain, the sorrow, the hope, the bittersweet triumph, and the wonderful friendships between a diverse Fellowship. I know there are those who do not like the ending of The Return of the King, but I'm glad Peter Jackson did not raze the Shire. It would have been anticlimactic after the quest's end.
Besides, I am a sucker for a sappy ending. I cry each time I see the movie, I have never gone when there isn't someone else crying--of course I generally go with my closest friend, editor, and fellow fan, Martha Crawford.... I start tearing when they ride through the Shire and my eyes smart every time when they are in the Green Dragon looking so out of place, but when Gandalf brings that darned wagon into Hobbiton, I really start. All I want to say is, "Go away! You can't take him!" When Frodo says goodbye to his friends at the Grey Havens, hugging Merry, then Pippin, and finally Sam for that long, long goodbye. I'm done in.
Okay, so I'm a softie. But those eyes, Sam's and Frodo's, Merry's and Pippin's tear me apart. It is one of the best, if not the best films I have ever had the pleasure to cry at - again and again. Each time I want to tell Frodo to get off the ship -- that Sam needs him -- but I know the Ringbearer must go.
When someone asked me last year if I would write a Lord of the Rings story, I said, no, it was all said in the book. Besides, I don't write stories off books--and not that book. JRR Tolkien is my favorite author. But it's The Return of the King, the movie, that made me do this. I know there's more story there. I can see it in their eyes (through my tears). You see, it's the ending that bothers me. No, I am not contradicting myself. I love it, I truly do, but it puts our beloved characters in a very different place than the razing of the Shire did.
I know in the books Tolkien establishes the future for our hobbits and their friends. Sam serves as mayor and fathers many children and after his wife's death goes to the West to join Frodo. Merry and Pippin both become heads of their houses and honored in the Shire. We know both get married and eventually die in Gondor. Aragorn serves as king for many years and in the end Pippin and Merry's graves are laid beside his. Legolas eventually builds a ship at the Grey Havens and sails to Valinor with a Dwarf named Gimli. But those are the books. The movie established a different scenario. The young hobbits do not come back not to save the Shire, but to settle into an old routine. The Shire is little changed by the conflict for the Ring. They are looked upon, as they ride back into town, as not heroes but as adventurers - and we know what Hobbits think of those those. It is doubtful that these odd Hobbits will become leaders. It is more likely that they, as with Bilbo, will be tolerated but looked at with some distrust and dismay. Their world has not changed, but each of them has. The movie has left the future of our hobbit friends in question.
A question needing to be answered is the force of creativity. An art teacher told me that. It's aversion of the old, "necessity is the mother of invention" line. I can't help myself -- for good or ill, I am a fanwriter and used to filling perceived holes in the lives of the characters I enjoy. The Ring made me do it - that and Frodo's eyes and Sam's tears.
This writing is not intended to infringe on the copyrights of New Line, or the Tolkien family. It is simply an attempt to offer away off that ship. To the film makers and Tolkien, I offer my most humble gratitude for creating a world that is so rich and rare.