Matthew’s Reviews > The Return of the King > Status Update

Reading Tolkien’s linguistic and translation notes is almost enough to make one believe it is all true.

Getting to the linguistic stuff.

The appendices are underrated.

I've finished the narrative; starting to read the appendices.

A common criticism of The Return of the King is the lengthy denouement after the destruction of the Ring. This is, I submit, entirely wrong. It's an epic: it should include resolution and reintegration - this is absolutely one of the things that makes the work so great. We also see, after destruction and toil, what has been saved.

Probably the greatest literary depiction of nobility and greatness of spirit ever written, among its many other virtues.

I know of no other battle told of which is so tautly prepared and brilliantly told as that of the Pellanor. The range, the tenor, it’s amazing.