The Moral of the Story (Part 5)
If I were to describe my book's message in a few words, I’d say friendship, courage, and love. It’s a book about never giving up, no matter how bad things get. One of my favorite moments in the Lord of the Rings movies is the breaking of the fellowship. It’s the moment when Frodo realizes that the power in the ring is going to destroy his friends one by one until it takes them all. Frodo laments “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” But after remembering Gandalf’s words, “So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you.” Frodo decides to go on alone. He shoves the ring in his pocket and leaves on a boat to cross the river by himself.
But Sam won’t let him go. Sam chooses to follow, no matter what, even if it means he might drown. And when Frodo pulls him out of the water and into the boat, Sam tells Frodo that he made a promise to never leave him. Their friendship became the most important thing to either of them. Here they were dealt this terrible task, to cross the world and destroy the most evil object in existence at the cost of everything they’d ever cared about, except each other. It was the one thing that never got taken away from them, no matter how hard the world tried.
I think that message of friendship and love is Tolkien and Peter Jackson’s greatest achievement. And that, to me, is the importance of stories for humanity. They remind us of who we are. And they can remind us of what is truly important in life. Family, friends, and never giving up on them.
