Tolkien's Endings

In the DVD extras of the Return of the King they tell the story of a famous actor who left the premier of the movie early to go and warm up the car for his family. When asked why he left he said there were "too many endings".

I think part of the brilliance of Tolkien's work is how messy it is. He didn't follow the rules and conventions of literature- his books shouldn't have worked. The groups of characters get totally disconnected from each other, the time line's all screwy, there are characters and events that don't really help build the plot at all (cough, Tom Bombadil, cough). Reading the books is a bit of an endurance test... it almost seems more a collection of dramatic statements and scenery. But a lot of us love them all the same.

The ending of the book is what fascinates me. My biggest grievance with the films is that they left out my favorite parts- the encounter with Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire. Actually, I believe the Scouring of the Shire was the most important part of the story. I mean, how often in fiction does the hero go off to save the world and come home to find everything a huge mess? That seems much more like what would happen in real life! And without the Scouring of the Shire the hobbit's homecoming is a complete letdown. Maybe there's a point to that, of course- our home communities may be the last ones to recognize our achievements if they don't understand them- but I always feel that something is missing. Tolkien does something wonderful for those characters when he lets them come home and save the day- he makes their home the most important thing in their lives and its rescue the point that all the character building they've been doing lead up to. He lets them take on responsibility among their own people, and confront the complications of their community's connection to a wider world. Maybe a part of this is that I always liked Merry and Pippin more than Frodo and found their journey more interesting. Maybe I just think it's stupid that nothing bad would ever happen to the Shire.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I love how convoluted the end of Lord of the Rings is. In life, when do we ever get conclusive endings to our stories? To an extent we make those endings for ourselves, and we all end things at different times. Everyone says goodbye and it's over in their own fashion and on their own timeline. I love that Tolkien honors that, and doesn't tie off everyone's story neatly all at once.