Home Movies Movie Features The Lord of the Rings Isn't Really a Trilogy - But It Is a 'Romance'
The Lord of the Rings is widely known as a trilogy of films. However, Tolkien had different plans and intended LOTR to be a "heroic romance."Lord of the Rings Aragorn A lot of today's cinematic entertainment is originally based on books. Netflix has the rights to The Chronicles of Narnia and has multiple projects in the works, while a Spiderwick Chronicles series is coming to Disney+. Then, there's House of the Dragon, an It prequel series, a Willy Wonka prequel movie and multiple Dune films on the way. So, it's safe to say that producers and writers are recycling classic books for inspiration.
And there's no problem with using books for inspiration. It gives writers an idea of what's been popular in the past and allows older books some recognition with newer audiences. But while it's possible that all the aforementioned movies and series will do well, it's not likely that any of them will live up to The Lord of the Rings' success. Peter Jackson's trilogy is probably the most successful book-to-movie adaptation, even if Christopher Tolkien didn't care for it. However, it's worth noting two important misconceptions that Jackson's adaptation has helped to build around J.R.R. Tolkien's work.
Why The Lord of the Rings Isn't a Trilogy
Lord of the Rings Trilogy Movie Posters
Jackson's adaptation consisted of three movies: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. That was a logical way to divide the films because the books were also divided into three parts. However, Tolkien was adamant that Lord of the Rings wasn't supposed to be a trilogy. An excerpt from Letter 252 says, "P.S. The book is not of course a 'trilogy.' That and the titles of the volumes were a fudge thought necessary for publication, owing to length and cost. The story was conceived and written as a whole, and the only natural divisions are the 'books' I-VI (which originally had titles)."In that quote, Tolkien was referring to a historical event. He wanted The Lord of the Rings to be considered one unified story, but logistics got in the way. After WWII, there were paper shortages in Great Britain. So, printing Lord of the Rings in one huge volume wouldn't have been allowed. Thus, the idea of the trilogy was conceived with all three installments released over the course of a year or so.
Why The Lord of the Rings Is a Romance
Aragorn and Arwen at his coronation in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Another thing that Tolkien was adamant about was The Lord of the Rings' genre classification. Jackson's films made the series seem like an action-packed, epic tale. That wasn't totally wrong, but it missed a little bit of the point. Even in Tolkien's day, people began referring to Lord of the Rings as an epic novel, which he didn't like. So, in Letter 92, he wrote, "I have very little interest in serial literary history, and no interest at all in the history or present situation of the English 'novel'. My work is not a 'novel,' but an 'heroic romance' a much older and quite different variety of literature."
While there is a love story in Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wasn't referring to Aragorn and Arwen's story when he used the word "romance." A "heroic romance" was a long, medieval narrative that described the adventures and heroics of a virtuous Arthurian hero. Usually, magic was involved, and it was also supposed to be morally educational rather than simply entertaining. While many people may not know what a heroic romance is, it was the most appropriate genre for Lord of the Rings. It starred Aragorn on his quest to bring peace, defeat evil and reclaim the throne of Gondor. So, in the end, Lord of the Rings may seem like a trilogy of epic novel-based movies, but that wasn't Tolkien's vision. He wanted his work to be a unified, cohesive heroic romance.
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