Subtlety, Understatement and Omission in The Lord of the Rings

Abstract J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings shows a remarkable tendency to withhold information from its readers, apparently as a deliberate narrative strategy that aims to reflect the limited point-of-view of primary characters and thereby heighten the realism of its presentation. This paper discusses four examples of this strategy, beginning with one that (uniquely) cannot be verified by external confirmation: the suggestion that Aragorn secretly witnesses the coming of the Ent-wood to Helm’s Deep. The second case concerns the true identity of Gandalf as an incarnate angel, a detail hidden from most of the characters, and hence from the narrative. The remaining examples concern the treatment of erotic relationships: the long engagement of Arwen and Aragorn, a private family matter from which most characters (and consequently the reader) are excluded, and Sam’s courting of Rosie, revealed only in the closing chapter despite its direct influence on the way Sam behaves when first introduced.