A little highlight on the sheer level of despair of the War of the Ring and hopelessness of the Quest to Mordor.

One thing I know most casual enjoyers of The Lord of the Rings don't really get is just how hopeless the situation during the War of the Ring actually was. Sauron didn't just have a considerable chances at winning, he was winning. Arnor was completely destroyed by the Witch-King; Gondor was on its last legs, its Steward consumed with despair; Rohan was slowly crumbling under Saruman's ministrations and Theoden's depression; Eriador was almost completely desolate and filled with monsters of various kinds and once-mighty Elves were reduced to at least three small realms (Lothlórien, Imladris and Mirkwood), all the while Sauron's forces were getting everbloated by the levies of the Haradrim and Easterlings fighting alongside his Orcs. The situation was absolutely grim and the characters we see consumed with despair, depression and hopelessness were absolutely right to feel it. Saruman deciding the best course of action was joining Sauron and then trying to manipulate him under his new order, rather than fighting against him directly, makes complete sense; a mind as logical as Saruman's simply couldn't see any alternative.

The Quest to Mordor wasn't some spec-ops mission with a sure ending; it was a suicide-quest which had absolutely infinitesimal chances of actually succeeding. Gandalf himself states it so. The reason it was ever undertook was because there literally wasn't any other option left. Sauron was winning on every single front. Contrary to what some believe, he didn't need the One Ring to succeed, he needed it to make things move faster. It was really just a matter of time before he had won, considering the circumstances. The fact that the only option of the Free Peoples of the Middle-earth was carrying an artefact known for corrupting literally everyone, no matter how great, who exists near it, into the heart of the Sauron's territory right under his nose without him ever finding out about it or claiming it along the way, excellently illustrates what I'm trying to say; the situation was completely grimdark for everyone involved to make them resort to actually doing something as insane as this.

I love it. I love how the Quest to Mordor isn't an epic adventure highlighting the superhumanity of the Hero, but a suicide mission done out of sheer despair and lack of alternatives, whose main executors are small and harmless Hobbits, who absolutely none would suspect of ever being capable of achieving something as important and monumentous as this. In the end, the Quest succeeds, but not because our heroes used overwhelming power and intelligence to overcome their odds, but because they held onto hope. Hope to continue despite the sheer level of brutality and hopelessness around them, hope to fight for what is right, hope to endure the night for the coming of the dawn. Saruman was hopeless and faithless, he couldn't fathom holding what he saw as illogical belief and that led to his belief that joining with Sauron was an inevitable and necessary thing at the moment. But Gandalf held onto the hope, even when his logic told him otherwise, he held onto the belief that Good can ultimately prevail, even in times as unlikely and hopeless as these. In the end, it wasn't about the power, but the steadfastness in one's quest for the invisible Good.

I really wish people would understand just how grimdark the Legendarium can actually get, instead of often reducing it to childlishly naïve story of "Good vs. Evil". Middle-earth often gets as horrible as the Imperium of Man in terms of suffering, despair and destruction.