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Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death of parent, Murder, War
As someone who had been raised on Tamora Pierce and who read her first N.K. Jemisin when I was 15, Tolkien seemed quaint and outdated to me. I wanted to understand it and be in on the fandom - people seemed to be having fun! - but it wasn't clicking for me and I never could get past the first ~150 pages. The movies came out slightly too early for me to imprint on them (though I did marathon the extended editions with friends as a teenager). I can now report that Tolkien is indeed quaint and outdated - but nevertheless charming and a fun time if you reset your expectations. The problem was that I expected Serious Epic Fantasy when I previously attempted to read this series. While there are Serious Epic Fantasy moments, this world is GOOFY and a playground for a fiddly old academic to dump his pet languages and lore.
LOTR: Rings of Power has made me invested in understanding the world and has given me space to appreciate the original trilogy despite my critiques (seriously, we've met 4 women so far and none of them feel like real people [bitchy hobbit aunt, Goldberry, Arwen, Galadriel]).
Graphic: Death, Violence
Moderate: Animal death, War
Minor: Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Violence, War
Moderate: Confinement, Grief
Minor: Slavery, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug use, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Xenophobia, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so.
I was surprised by how nostalgic I felt reading this first LOTR volume, which I’ve never read before — the ‘epic’ sense of adventure reminded me a little of reading Percy Jackson and Harry Potter as a child.
I’m rooting for Aragorn and Sam, always <3 (but can’t believe Arwen is so much less present here than the films!)
But yeah, if we’re being honest, there’s a lot of slightly dull walking around various parts of the wilderness that require patience to get through.
Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief
Moderate: Animal death, Xenophobia, War
Minor: Blood, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Xenophobia, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol
Graphic: Death, Grief
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Racism, Injury/Injury detail