8 Things I Learned From The Lord of the Rings

Today is the start of the Tolkien Blog Party 2024 celebrating all things Tolkien. It's hosted by Rachel at The Edge of Precipice over here. Here's my contribution to the party - 8 things I learned from reading The Lord of the Rings books.

01 - It's best to go on a long and dangerous journey with a friend – It was good that Frodo had Sam with him or else Frodo would have probably gone mad or died. This is why you should take a friend when you go on a dangerous journey and preferably someone who can fight orcs or giant spiders or is so loyal that they would lay down their lives just to save you.

02 - Friendship can bloom with the unlikeliest people – Like the friendship between Legolas (an elf) and Gimli (a dwarf), who, at one time, competed who could slay more orcs. We should all want friends who we can enjoy doing gruesome things together. Okay, maybe not slaying orcs.

03 - Some journeys can change you – After his journey, Frodo wasn't the same hobbit anymore. His mind, his very being, had been altered. After all, your mind can only endure so much harmful things.

04 - People do not check if you're really dead – If someone is lying unconscious (and maybe among other dead people after a war), they are assumed to be dead which is kind of careless and bad because the dead are burned and if someone's not dead, they would be after they are burned.

05 - Loyalty to your lord or king is absolute — If your lord wanted you to help him kill himself and his son, you will have to do it even if it's madness to do so.

06 - Being hasty isn't always good – I like the Ents who do not rush into anything. They take their time. Like when Treebeard met Merry and Pippin and he said, "I almost feel that I dislike you both, but do not let us be hasty."

07 - Women don't fight in wars, not really – Women don't go to war and if they do, they are mostly healers or cooks, not warriors. Éowyn is maybe an exception because she is close to a king and probably have the privileges to learn to fight and use a sword while other women probably would not have such chances. All the other females are either elves or some powerful beings so they probably don't fight either.

No. 09-ish

08 - Sometimes going forward is the only way to go – The Company (Frodo and the others) barely have a plan to start or even to continue but they carry on and maybe that's enough. Sometimes you only know what to do when something happens during the journey.

Have you read The Lord of the Rings? What did you learn from the books?