Loved it, though a bit melancholic at the end. The penultimate chapter felt like a stylistic return to the hobbit book in a nice roundabout way.

I especially enjoyed the relationship between Aragorn and Arwen, such a well written, bittersweet dilemma. When watching the first two films, I had thought they had invented their relationship for the adaption since there are only a couple allusions to their relationship in the first book and Arwen isn’t even mentioned in the second. Glad to have been wrong in this, though I am a bit sad that the best part of their story isn’t part of the main book series either but found in the appendix. Hopefully that part is featured in the third film.

For the most part throughout all four books I had a general idea of where the story was heading. Either because I had read it before or seen the films, years ago, or because of memes, etc. However, the last two chapters were a complete surprise to me. I had completely forgotten about the pipeweed at Isengard.

Two things are not quite clear to me however; the role of the eagles and the reason why the elves are leaving Middle-earth.

As to the eagles, Gwaihir and his brethren rescue Frodo and Sam after they fulfill their quest, bearing them from Mount Doom back to Gondor. If they can pass through/over the lands of Mordor without impedance or even being seen, why not have them take the hobbits or at least the Ring to Mount Doom in the first place? Even if they were seen on the way, they would probably have been able to get to the mountain and destroy the Ring before Sauron’s forces were able to intercept them. It is not explained why this is the case, but at least it is consistent. As I recall from the four books I have read so far, the eagles never carry anyone to their destination and only return or rescue. Thus it was with Thorin’s company after the Misty Mountains, Gandalf when captive in Isengard, and the aforementioned hobbits at the end of the Ring.

I always interpreted the elves leaving Middle-earth as seeking refuge from Sauron, because they saw little to no chance of defeating him. Evidently, this is not true, as the elves keep leaving even after the Ring destroyed and Mordor cleansed of Sauron’s forces. Not sure why.

There are a number of appendices which either seem to be chapters that didn’t fit into the story or histories, family trees, and linguistics. Of particular interest I found A (IV), which is the story of Arwen and Aragorn and appendices E and F for their musings on the languages on Middle-earth.

This series was recommended to me many times and I can’t say I’m disappointed. Tolkien was truly a masterful writer, linguist, and worldwright. I thought Middle-earth felt very alive with all the names, places, and histories. I may try his other works at some point, though not immediately.