I think that's one of the things that made fandom more active when the movies came out. I remember all these discussions about how it was totally wrong for PJ to put in that scene where Aragorn decides to let Frodo go because he realizes it's the best thing. People felt that was totally different from canon where Frodo's getting a head start took the matter out of his hands. I thought it was the same choice either way since Aragorn could have followed Frodo regardless, but others felt Tolkien would never have anyone abandon a comrade (they also had a problem with Frodo letting Merry and Pippin provide a distraction), so that's why he essentially had God make the choice by separating them.
I just remember finding it really interesting that it turned out the morals in Tolkien weren't so agreed upon by everyone. Or they weren't so simple since in a war soldiers do sacrifice themselvs and each other. And it turned you still had people arguing over whether it would be right for Aragorn to force himself on Frodo if he wanted to go on his own anyway.
But in the end, as you say, the ending really always gives the biggest clue to the overall ethics so we'll have to see what JKR will finally do with her "Gollum" characters and her good guys. The ending of Ender's Game seems pretty weird to me in that article, though!
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Date: 2006-11-30 04:12 pm (UTC)I just remember finding it really interesting that it turned out the morals in Tolkien weren't so agreed upon by everyone. Or they weren't so simple since in a war soldiers do sacrifice themselvs and each other. And it turned you still had people arguing over whether it would be right for Aragorn to force himself on Frodo if he wanted to go on his own anyway.
But in the end, as you say, the ending really always gives the biggest clue to the overall ethics so we'll have to see what JKR will finally do with her "Gollum" characters and her good guys. The ending of Ender's Game seems pretty weird to me in that article, though!