"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.

The Lord of the Rings.
I first read the book just before I was admitted into the University of Technology, Petronas in 2000. It took awhile for my poor eyes to read the end of the book for I was quite busy trying to adapt to my new lifestyle. Only when I was settling comfortably in Shah Alam did I managed to finish that great Tolkien work. The book truly change my ways of writing. I started to write by describing everything with beautiful words; my vocabulary was dramatically improved by leap and bound; my imagination was being lifted to the young blue sky. The Lord of the Rings is the one book that change my entire interest in literature. Before this, my mind was only focusing on sci-fi and nothing but sci-fi. After flipping more than 1000 pages of that dark green book, my heart was opened to other genres. I started to look around for good books instead of looking around just for good sci-fi. I have defended Lucas' before and now, I shall stand firm like a wall for Tolkien's.

The Lord of the Rings is not just another fantasy book where sword and magic rule the world. It's more than that. It's a book that shaped our lovable creatures - the drawves, the elven, the orcs, the goblins. Only one creature remains unknown, that is the Hobbits but with the movie running at the cinema, I bet that the hobbits will be made famous.
The Lord of the Rings is not just another book that is being published just because it is nice to see that book up on the shelf of a bookstore. It's more than that. It's a book that teaches us the meaning of friendship, honor and loyalty. It's about responsibility.
In an ironic way, Lord of the Rings does reflect our life in a certain way. The book was written to reflect our life. The Fellowship of the Rings, the first part of the Lord of the Rings which is wrongly recognized as a trilogy, tells us the meaning of trust and friendship. A broken trust will end with a shattered friendship, just like what happened when Boromir of Dethenor tried to steal the One Ring from Frodo, the ring bearer. Although Boromir greed was not caused by his own but was caused by his noble desire to help Gondor to defeat Mondor, he had broken his pledged to protect Frodo, from himself. Thus, the Company was ruined miserable, for a while at least.
Lord of the Rings teaches us the meaning of courage in the mist of a lost. A daughter of a fallen king rushed to defend his father from the deadly Sauron's, forgetting the danger that lurks at every corner outside the gate of a great city. Sam Gamgee rushed into the Orcs fortress alone to save Frodo although he has the knowledge of failure he will face. It teaches us the meaning of true friendship.
Lord of the Rings teaches us no matter how small we are, responsibility must be carried out regardless of the consequences. Frodo, despite being a small and timid hobbit, volunteered to carry the burden of a ring bearer while others quarrel against each other.
The Lord of the Rings. It's not just another classic...

"Have you seen Boromir the Tall,
He is at grieve and I tarry...

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.