'But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same – like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?'— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings Volume II)
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The first month of the year is almost over and I still am not yet done with my first book for the 2015 Reading Challenge. Haha. I am thoroughly enjoying reading this high fantasy classic and finally understanding why it has become such an important book. I know, I know. I should be fed to Shelob for reading/finishing it only now. The magnitude and, well, objectivity are so sweeping I can't help but root for the characters–despite knowing already what will transpire, thanks to the movies–and wonder what sort of bigger epic the Elder Days of the Middle-earth used to be.
