Endings

As all of us know, the ending to Lord of the Rings is one of the most masterful endings in the history of epic fantasy.  Frodo arriving at Mount Doom to destroy the Ring after his incredible journey, only to fall victim to it; our hero failing but redeeming himself through Gollum's wretchedness all have theological implications. The ending has such an obvious poetic irony, one would expect that Tolkien had the whole event planned to the letter since the beginning. But we know that is not the case. Tolkien played with the ending for a long time and even submitted the manuscript with a completely different ending than the one we know and love (I recommend looking it up because it's pretty unrecognizable). 

With the semester coming to a bittersweet end, I thought it fitting to make a post about one of the greatest endings in literature. It's upsetting, but fitting; sad but profoundly joyful, like the ending of this class. So my final question to all of you is: is there a way you think of to improve the already magnificent ending of Lord of the Rings, or is it already the best representation of Tolkien's skills as a writer? 

Thanks for being the coolest classroom of people in history, 

-Emmy*