"This tale grew in the telling,
until it became a history of the great War of the Ring
and included many glimpses of the yet more ancient history that preceded it."

– Prof. J.R.R. Tolkien, Foreword to The Lord Of The Rings

his site too grew in the making.

The many times I try recalling when exactly I found meaning in The Lord of the Rings, no definitive moment comes to mind. For each moment that I spent with anything related to Professor Tolkien and Peter Jackson – whether they be books, documentaries, interviews, even just random quotes and making-ofs – they each bring back memories of “something new” I felt at the time. When I began reading the Professor’s works, my imagination was ignited to tremendous degrees - Tolkien’s works expanded the images of fantasy I'd grown up with, they complemented many that I had, and replaced many more; and to say that I was overwhelmed by it all falls short of being the understatement it is.

It’s like what old Bilbo used to say,

         “You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

I knew in my heart that Tolkien’s works would keep me going for years to come.

As I read and re-read the books, and watched and re-watched the movies, I began to understand the webs of intricacy that both writer and director had woven in their respective masterpieces. What once were dialogues that referenced undepicted events in the movies were now familiar quotes that alluded to ancient histories, legends and myths strewn across the books, their commentaries, and their appendices. And it amazed me as to how much thought and detail went into making The Lord of the Rings the cinematic epic it is. The movies, which until now were a one-dimensional visual treat, suddenly expanded in breath, gaining a two dimensional aspect, as I understood the intentions underlying these dialogues, their connotations branching out beyond the scope of the movies.

Beholding Peter Jackson’s vision made me realize I was walking a Road similar to what he must have tread many years ago when he traveled in a train in New Zealand reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time.

It’s hard to introduce the music of the films in an appropriate way, because unlike the movies and the books, it initially began as something intangible that I experienced at a subconscious level - it always was there, waiting patiently for an acknowledgement. And as I allowed it to enshroud me from my surroundings, I found myself slowly responding to it, even being drawn into it, for the music felt “familiar” in a strange way - a way that I could wholly understand only when I finally started delving into the compositions of Howard Shore from the perspective of Tolkien's works. For where the movies and the books complemented each other, each increasing the breath of the other, the music imparted to them the emotional depth that resided at their cores.

The Lord of the Rings was now a three dimensional experience, complete in its intricate interlacing, made possible by the art of three men who were masters at their media.

The notes that I’d begun years before now spanned many random leafs of paper strewn across college books, two or more “gross” Word documents, and a few million neurons. I made a decision one evening to put it all together, so that I could revisit it as and when I felt the need to.

If I were really up to the task, and if I had the time on my hands to use pen and paper, I would rather have put it all down in a book, or books, instead of creating a site. But with the tremendous task that I now had on my hands (and on my mind), I soon found myself disposed to taking the easy way out - creating a site. But my heart proved to be unforgiving, for what I really envisioned was a book. And so I spent endless sleepless nights followed by many restless days, striving to make these pages “look” and “feel” like those of a book.

I did have to make a lot of amendments - a few additions and deletions, and a lot of layout considerations, before I could let this “book” go online, because it wasn’t my own private copy anymore. But I do hope that I have come close to succeeding in my endeavour, constrained by the power of HTML, to make this “site” resemble the “book” that I want it to be.

From Cover To Cover - What's Between The Prologue And The Epilogue

hen I decided to “put it all together”, I did not realize the scope of the task I had decided to take upon myself. I needed some way of organizing all the information I had on paper, on file, and in my head, in a way that would be detailed enough to describe my interpretation of the films with respect to the books and the music (where there was space to do so), while at the same time maintain the integrity of the works of Professor Tolkien, Peter Jackson and Howard Shore, and finally present it all in a way so as to preserve the originality of the artists and the magic of their created works.

The one way I could do so was to envision the movies being drawn from the matter of the books, and the music (which undoubtedly is a creative masterpiece itself) playing the part of a bridge between the two - purely as an organizational means. That they each invariably reference the others in innumerable ways is hardly surprising.

With the music forming the smallest part of the three, the information in the ‘Books’ and ‘Movies’ sections follows the course of the music, and is restricted to it, thus making it all manageable.

And this setting is rather beautiful in its concept since the music in its turn permeates the confines of the 'Books' and the 'Movies', interweaving them in their complementary courses while itself seamlessly recreating the tale of The Lord Of The Rings.