I just returned from a week at a summer camp. Those lucky kids—they got to spend the entire week watching The Lord of the Rings. Of course, they had to put up with me, too. I was there to help guide them through the spiritual issues in Peter Jackson's films, and to answer some questions for them—questions such as:

• Why does Gollum want to get Sam away from Frodo?
• Why is Éowyn drawn to Aragorn?
• Why does Gandalf come back as White instead of Grey?
• Are Orcs demons?
• What does "angelic being" mean?
• When Arwen says, "I choose a mortal life," what does she mean?
• If Frodo's mithril shirt is so tough, how does the spider manage to stab him?
• Why doesn't Boromir's body fall out of the boat when it goes over the waterfall? And when the horse later drags him through the gate at Minas Tirith, why are the arrows back in his body?
• Why didn't the Hobbits take pictures of their trip to show the other Hobbits when they returned?

Yep. It was a fun week.

I was secretly hoping, though, that one of the students would ask me a really tough question like, "If it's a three day ride from Edoras to Minas Tirith, why does Faramir tell Gandalf that he?d seen Frodo and Sam in Ithilien less than two days previously? It had to have been better than three days. More like four or five. Is Faramir lying? And if he's lying, why is he one of the good guys?"

Ah, now that's a good question. But these were only junior high students, so perhaps I expected too much. Or perhaps it's that I expect too much of Peter Jackson, or of film in general. But there's one other option, too: that is, that Tolkien himself set the standard for such chronological consistency remarkably high, and Peter Jackson simply can't clear that bar. Then again...

In Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings (Inkling Books, 2003, ISBN 1-58742-019-8) publisher and author Michael W. Perry does a remarkable job of assembling the various chronologies found in Tolkien's novels (and in the multiple volumes of his posthumously published papers), charting a relatively clean line through the sometimes tangled narrative that is the record of the War of the Ring.

Perry first introduces the general problems of dating and chronology in Tolkien's work—How do we correlate dates in Shire Reckoning with modern calendars? Solar dating aside, what lunar calendar was Tolkien using? Just what the heck is a "gibbous" moon? He then spends two chapters efficiently and deftly summarizing nearly 7000 years of Middle-earth's history, accurately sifting the details of Tolkien's mythology to relate those pertinent to understanding the narrative flow of The Lord of the Rings. The fourth chapter summarizes the period relating to The Hobbit, and then Perry's fifth and sixth chapters, among other things, make abundantly clear what Aragorn was doing during the sixty-plus years between his full manhood and the time of the War of the Ring. This section is particularly insightful, as the details of Aragorn's training—and patient waiting—are not easily culled from Tolkien's Appendices and miscellaneous writings, and are here placed in the context of the other events that set Frodo's story in motion. And the summary more than adequately demonstrates that Aragorn had most certainly been purposefully preparing himself to be King, and that Jackson's Elrond is simply wrong in claiming that Aragorn "turned from that path a long time ago."

The real meat of Untangling Tolkien then commences, fully occupying two-thirds of the 250 pages in this over-sized volume: an almost day-to-day summary of the specific activities of the major players in the War of the Ring.

This is no mean feat. Though Tolkien's chronology was carefully worked out—and despite the fact that he included a summary calendar of the War of the Rings in his Appendices—Tolkien's flashbacks and split narratives can be terribly disorienting for readers. This is where both Perry's chronological aid and its formatting are uniquely useful. In addition to a textual summary of events, Perry utilizes marginal notes and section headers to specify the actual month, day and year of those events—and to also include a running tally of the number of days elapsed since Frodo's departure from the Shire.

As a result, Tolkien enthusiasts whose interests run to such levels of detail will find Untangling Tolkien to be as indispensable a resource as Foster's Guide to Middle-earth and Fonstad's Atlas of Middle-earth. Analyzing a complex sequence in Jackson's The Return of the King helps demonstrate the value of Perry's book.

In Minas Tirith with Pippin, Gandalf describes the stillness of the night as "the deep breath before the plunge." At that very moment, Frodo is at the gates of Minas Morgul with Sam and Gollum. We know this because both parties simultaneously witness the signal flare of the Witch-king's departure from Minas Morgul. That night, presumably, the Witch-king's army invades Osgiliath. Some time during the next day, Pippin manages to initiate the lighting of Gondor's signal beacons. Theoden departs decisively for Dunharrow, giving Eomer two days to assemble the Riders. Later that day, perhaps, Osgiliath falls. Yet back on the straight stair toward Cirith Ungol, Frodo and company are still within easy sight of Minas Morgul, and the Witch-king's army is still filing through the fortress gates. At least two more days will pass—during which Frodo abandons Sam on the stair, Faramir rides desperately back into Osgiliath, Elrond arrives at Dunharrow, Theoden begins his ride to Minas Tirith, and the Siege of Gondor begins—before Frodo finds his way into Shelob's lair. Frodo has spent anywhere from a minimum of three to perhaps five days on the stairs!

A quick check with Untangling Tolkien straightens us out. Late on Sunday, March 10, 1419, Frodo watches the army issue from Minas Morgul. Sometime during the day on March 12, Frodo (and Sam) enter Shelob's Lair. Clearly, Peter Jackson has fudged on the specifics of Frodo's journey into Mordor. What's more enlightening, though, is that Perry reveals the inconsistencies in Tolkien's own text, showing that the author himself fails to note precisely how long Frodo and Sam sleep during Gollum's lengthy absences while also failing to account for as many as thirty hours spent in the darkness of Cirith Ungol. Peter Jackson intercuts up to four narratives to cover the logical gaps in his story; Perry documents how Tolkien resorts to venom-induced comas and blackouts.

But the value of Untangling Tolkien lies not only in helping us wade through this sort of narrative morass. Perry also offers copious marginal notes that facilitate tracking down the source materials upon which he has drawn. His commentary—as in the sections titled "More Than Chance," "Freedom or Slavery" or "The Ring and Totalitarianism" (excerpted this month on Hollywood Jesus)—also provides welcome respite from the flood of details that ink the pages of this volume. Perry is a fine thinker, and an excellent writer.

Sadly, the job of publishing Untangling Tolkien was not unlike Frodo's journey to Mount Doom. Tolkien estate lawyers fought Perry tooth and nail, and prevented the book from being published in its originally proposed form. The heavy editing required to satisfy the parties involved led to some unfortunate errors in the earliest printings of the book. We can be grateful, however, that Perry was one of those "as just went on," and that his perseverance and eventual legal victory actually produced a better book—which is now in its third, corrected printing.

Untangling Tolkien is an invaluable and thought-provoking addition to the library of any Tolkien aficionado.

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