: With Lord of the Rings, I guess it'd be "Mighty evil can fall only if
: you make your rivals your friends." Whether those people you resent
: be a rebellious neighboring kingdom, a crafty thief creature, those
: haughty elves or uncouth dwarves, or even those hobbits you look down
: upon. That's my take, but I'm no Tolkein scholar.

I'm not sure how I'd sum it up with one sentence, but I really think a driving point was that war affects everyone, even those that don't necessarily see it. I think The Scouring of the Shire was arguable the most important chapter in the whole story (and I'm still really, really disappointed that Peter Jackson and Co. elected to cut it from the film adaption, even though I understand why they did so). It shows that even back home, far away from the front lines, the war had an effect on everybody.