Jeff’s Kindle Notes & Highlights

The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3), by J.R.R. Tolkien

It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing.

We all have Sarumans and Wormtongues we've dealt with before or now and sometimes our personal Shire gets a scourging. Frodo's advice here is timeless. Revenge doesn't bring healing.

Sasha Solovyev and 143 other people liked this

29 Jul 22 · Flag

Phillip Urmson

But then Tolkien compromises. Bad wizard gets his comeuppance, anyway. The morality of justice transcends revenge, but still feels pretty sweet.

03 Aug 22 · Flag

Jared Boyd

@Phillip Urmson yes, but the comeuppance is of his own making; the heroes did not descend to his level to deliver it to him.

05 Aug 22 · Flag

Phillip Urmson

Lovely, and true, but also convenient. I wonder how the chapter would have ended if the Hobbits had decided to put Saruman on trial. Were there any courthouses in Middle Earth?
Also, if you got rid of …

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