How do people feel about this comment? Is the Lord of the Rings really too short? More to the point, are there any scenes that you wish had been included that weren't, or scenes that should have been longer and more detailed?Tolkien wrote:The most critical reader of all, myself, now finds many defects, minor and major, but being fortunately under no obligation either to review the book or to write it again, he will pass over these in silence, except one that has been noted by others: the book is too short.
I thought of one last night, while reading The Two Towers. I would have loved to have seen a reunion between Faramir and Frodo in Minas Tirith, after the destruction of the Ring. At the end of The Forbidden Pool, Faramir says:
And yet, when Frodo does return to the lands of the living -- beyond hope -- and is shown living in a fair house in Minas Tirith with the rest of what is left of the Fellowship, there is nary a mention of any meeting between him and Faramir (who himself has returned from his own darkness). I never felt the lack before, but for some reason this struck me last night. I think it would have been very nice to just have a short paragraph or even just a sentence.'If ever beyond hope you return to the lands of the living and we re-tell our tales, sitting by a wall in the sun, laughing at old grief, you shall tell me then. Until that time, or some other time beyone the vision of the Seeing-stones of Númenor, farewell!'
And the meeting again in the lands of the living of Frodo and Faramir -- beyond hope -- was glad and joyful, and they sat by a wall in the sun, laughing at old griefs, retelling tales.
Perhaps with some mention of the shadow that still darkened Frodo's heart, even amongst all of the joy, and maybe even that still darkened Faramir's heart as well, because how could he have recovered fully from the pain and grief that his father caused him?
What say you?