Gandalf arrives at Bag-end to watch over Bilbo's departure.
Posted on 05/05/2003 4:40:27 PM PDT by JameRetief
A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Prologue & Chapter 1
by Mark-Edmond
The Journey Continues
Prologue
Maybe I was a little too anxious to get started reading the story, but the Silmarillion-esque prologue was deadly boring.
The only interesting piece of information was that Bilbo lied to everyone about how he obtained the ring. So, maybe it was Gollum's ring. But, taking something like that from such a monster as Gollum seems okay to me...justifiable and honest. Gollum would only use the ring for evil anyway!
Chapter 1
A Long-Expected Party
| Gandalf arrives at Bag-end to watch over Bilbo's departure. |
I wonder how many people who read this first chapter know the title is a play on words from the title of the first chapter in The Hobbit, "An Unexpected Party".
Well, that's neither here nor there. Unfortunately, the chapter itself wasn't that spectacular. Bilbo pulls off his party and elaborate prank and suddenly he's out of the story. There were some good parts, but overall it almost felt like the point of the chapter was to get rid of Bilbo and shift the focus to Frodo.
The funniest moment in this chapter was the "scattered clapping" and general confusion following Bilbo's statement, "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like half of you half as well as you deserve." I actually laughed.
The most interesting part of this chapter was by far the difficulty Bilbo had with leaving the ring. And when he called it "my Precious" the ring seemed truly sinister and evil for the first time.
What a startling thing to discover! And what a relief he was able to part with it! So, as the first chapter ends, my expectations are slightly lowered and I also wonder how long before Frodo puts on the ring.
Author: Mark-Edmond
Published on: August 13, 2000
The next Tolkien Virgin article continues with The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 2
|
The Daily Tolkien articles |
The Tolkien Virgin articles |
| ARTICLES 01-10 | ARTICLES 01-10 |
| ARTICLES 11-20 | ARTICLES 11-20 |
| ARTICLES 21-30 | ARTICLES 21-30 |
| ARTICLES 31-40 | 31) The Hobbit - Chapter 8 |
| ARTICLES 41-50 | 32) The Hobbit - Chapters 9 and 10 |
| ARTICLES 51-60 | 32) The Hobbit - Chapters 11 and 12 |
| ARTICLES 61-70 | 33) The Hobbit - Chapters 13 and 14 |
| 71) The Division of Arnor | 34) The Hobbit - Chapters 15, 16 and 17 |
| 72) Have you been to Valinor lately? | 35) The Hobbit - Chapters 18 and 19 |
| 73) Charting the Shire lines | 36) FOTR - Book 1 - Prologue & Chapter 1 |
| 74) The Quests of Middle-earth | |
| 75) The wars of the Glorfindels | |
| 76) Harondor ~The Strategic Role of South Gondor~ |
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