The Lord of the Rings books have more villains than meets the eye. Not all readers sided with Frodo and his gang of ring-destroying terrorists. Indeed, there are those who say that Tolkien presented a very one-sided story that showed his own personal biases.
The books completely left out the perspectives and life experiences of Sauron, Shelob, and other so-called villains while lauding the following miscreants:
Gandalf - the meddling, busybody, and welfare-wizard who spent his days interfering in other people’s business instead of having a real job. He spent all his time wandering around, leeching off everybody else in Middle Earth. Gandalf never did a real day’s work in his entire life.
Galadriel - the genetic colonizer of the Shire. Remember her magic dust that made all the Hobbit children be born with blond hair? She should have been brought up on charges of crimes against humanity for deliberately tampering with the DNA of the Hobbit children.
Frodo - the idiot pawn of Gandalf, who destroyed the most beautiful object in Middle Earth and plunged Middle Earth into an age with no magic. What kind of hellish life of boredom did he doom the population of Middle Earth to once the ring was destroyed? Notice that Frodo packed up and headed into the West after he realized how boring Middle Earth had become after the passing of the ring!
Elrond - the half-elven drug dealer. Remember that liquid Gandalf had in the flask that he kept using to drug Frodo and the rest of the company in the Fellowship of the Ring? Elrond gave it to him in Rivendell to make sure Gandalf kept the company under his control. No wonder Frodo did Gandalf’s bidding. He was too stoned to realize Gandalf was using him!
Aragorn - the snotty aristocrat who thought he had the right to rule solely because of who his father was! The arrogance of Aragorn was exceeded only by his stupidity in being yet another pawn of Gandalf. Gandalf said “jump,” and Aragorn said “how high, master?”
So here is a fair and objective poll that contains a list of whom some readers consider to be the real villains in Middle Earth. Pick your favorite Lord of the Rings villain and share your thoughts in the comments. 😉
What about that enabler, Sam Gamgee? You forgot that particular villain. That ring was like a drug to Frodo. Dude could hardly stand up straight and wasn’t always in his right mind. Sam propped Frodo up the entire time. Any true friend would have kept Frodo away from that ring rather than watched him fall apart under its influence. Not Sam. He even returned the ring to Frodo when he managed to get it away from him at one point.
Saruman, the real basass... you left hum out (on purpose, of course lol). Not a "villain", but top-notch mercenary, not a meandering hippy like Gandolf. Built an army of his own, almost turned the tide.
She’s a bit of both good and bad. With one of the Rings of Power in her possession she is always susceptible to the urge to seek and use dictatorial powers that would destroy both her and Middle Earth.
There was a book written by a guy in Russia back in the 90s that told the LOTR story from the point of view from Mordor. Have never been able to find a copy of it but think it would be great to read. Saruman was my favorite villain in LOTR for multiple reasons, mainly because he’s an avatar for all the politicians in power today. Let’s see, uses immigrant labor to enslave a population(Uruks),believes he alone knows the answers to all of humanities problems, seeks complete domination in order to see his agenda put into action, he’s an elitist, betrays those who thought he was a friend(Rohan) and Gandalf, and lastly he completely corrupts the shire through what amounts to an NGO organization With Lotho being his surrogate. All of these things have been done, or are being done, by western “democracies”; Tolkien was a prophet if you think about it.
What about that enabler, Sam Gamgee? You forgot that particular villain. That ring was like a drug to Frodo. Dude could hardly stand up straight and wasn’t always in his right mind. Sam propped Frodo up the entire time. Any true friend would have kept Frodo away from that ring rather than watched him fall apart under its influence. Not Sam. He even returned the ring to Frodo when he managed to get it away from him at one point.
Saruman, the real basass... you left hum out (on purpose, of course lol). Not a "villain", but top-notch mercenary, not a meandering hippy like Gandolf. Built an army of his own, almost turned the tide.
Ah, there's nothing like the smell of sarcasm in the morning.
Bravo, nicely done.
ROFL! :)
She’s a bit of both good and bad. With one of the Rings of Power in her possession she is always susceptible to the urge to seek and use dictatorial powers that would destroy both her and Middle Earth.
There was a book written by a guy in Russia back in the 90s that told the LOTR story from the point of view from Mordor. Have never been able to find a copy of it but think it would be great to read. Saruman was my favorite villain in LOTR for multiple reasons, mainly because he’s an avatar for all the politicians in power today. Let’s see, uses immigrant labor to enslave a population(Uruks),believes he alone knows the answers to all of humanities problems, seeks complete domination in order to see his agenda put into action, he’s an elitist, betrays those who thought he was a friend(Rohan) and Gandalf, and lastly he completely corrupts the shire through what amounts to an NGO organization With Lotho being his surrogate. All of these things have been done, or are being done, by western “democracies”; Tolkien was a prophet if you think about it.
Frodo. He genocided innocent orcs by destroying the one ring 😂😂
Gandalf is the Illuminati/immortal Karen of middle earth. He is the hub of the evil wheel.
For some (?):
Yes a ring symbolizing wedded trith (which is a contract ): would seem so :
YES
Like to put a questionnaire, if I may (?)...what part of Middle Earth would you like to live most?
And, BTW, thank you for the map insert, very good addition! Have a large paper fold-out in my files somewhere.