The List.: Seven Awesome Fantasy Novels

So, I talked about this last week, except it was just six. But that does not fit with the theme! We would have to do a book twice!

Fine, so let's get the 800 pound gorilla accounted for first: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Few indeed are the who essentially invent genres, and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is one of them.

The Lord of the Rings is not quite perfect; it has longeurs, it has some odd structural conceits, and in the case of Tom Bombadil it has both at once. It is remarkably free of romantic love and women generally. Some feel the idea of dark-skinned southrons in the service of a Dark Lord is indicative of latent racism. Such are the classic complaints, in order of how seriously I think they should be taken (which is to say, 1) true enough, 2) true but not that important, given the purposes of the book, and 3) are you kidding me?).

Against which we set...well, for one thing, inventing a genre--the modern epic fantasy. Inventing a world, with languages, history, peoples, and mythology (Tolkien was one of the first to do this, as well). This is more or less de riguer for modern fantasy novelists, who go forth in battalions like locusts, and who all* look back to Tolkien. The story is gripping, with any number of iconic elements (the Ring itself, Sauron, the Nazgul, Gandalf...oh, heck, name just about any important character, all the important peoples, most of the geographical features and cities...you get the idea) and well-written, too, although there are the previously mentioned longeurs.

One of my favorite things is the inclusion of the hobbits, because I think that it is through them that Tolkien invites the reader into the story. No human being could even approximate the grandeur, the grace, or the sheer power of Gandalf, Galadriel, or Elrond; Aragorn and Legolas, though much less in stature, are still superhuman; Boromir and Faramir, although now not beyond a human stature, are still heroically proportioned as princes and warriors.

But Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin are like us. They worry about breakfast, complain about the walking, and are generally only given any attention because of the company they keep (and, in the case of Frodo, because of his exceedingly unfortunate heirloom). There is nothing heroic about them as they begin their journey; they spend their time fleeing the Ringwraiths, getting cold and wet, being set upon by barrow-wights and Old Man Willow, and escaping principally through the intervention of others. They are literally small, often silly, and relentlessly quotidian in their outlook as they pass through their many adventures.

But, in the end, everything depends on them. The Ring, in the hands of a hero, would prove an irresistible temptation; it is, in that sense, Frodo and Sam's very ordinariness that lets good triumph over evil. No human could be as wise as Gandalf, as agile as Legolas, or as kingly as Aragorn; but we would all hope to be as persevering, as sensible, and as courageous as Merry and Pippin prove themselves to be. We admire Gandalf and Aragorn, but we empathize with the hobbits, and their inclusion in the tale is, in my opinion, the greatest stroke of genius in The Lord of the Rings.

*I presume that not all consciously do, but I think it is pretty much impossible not to be influenced by Tolkien if you write fantasy.