Of course I write about Lord of the Rings. What did you expect?
Warning: the following message runs to exactly 900 words, making it just a bit long. I hope it’s not too cliché to write a bunch about Lord of the Rings here . If you haven’t read the book and want to, a) don’t read this post because it’s packed with spoilers, and b) go out and get a copy and spend an afternoon reading – it’s pretty great. Lord of the Rings is, at its core, a quintessential Hero’s Journey. Frodo, a normal- ish Hobbit (Hobbits are like humans, but short and with hairy feet, so they’re not exactly epic heroes) is gifted a magic disappearing ring by his uncle. Then his uncle’s friend, a wizard, comes by to tell him that the ring is a powerful, magical, e xtremely dangerous artifact . Furthermore, the only way to prevent the forces of the evil almost-god Sauron from overtaking the world is to chuck the ring into a volcano, helpfully positioned in Sauron’s home of Mordor. T he wizard won’t take the ring because its power is too tempting, so Frod