The work is divided internally into six books, two per volume, with several appendices of background material. For economic reasons, The Lord of the Rings was first published over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955 in three volumes rather than one under the titles The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King and The Silmarillion appeared only after the author's death.

Aiding Frodo are the Wizard Gandalf, the Men Aragorn and Boromir, the Elf Legolas, and the Dwarf Gimli, who unite in order to rally the Free Peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron's armies and give Frodo a chance to destroy the One Ring in the fire of Mount Doom.Īlthough often called a trilogy, the work was intended by Tolkien to be one volume in a two-volume set along with The Silmarillion. From homely beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land reminiscent of the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following the quest to destroy the One Ring, seen mainly through the eyes of the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin.

The title refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who, in an earlier age, created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power given to Men, Dwarves, and Elves, in his campaign to conquer all of Middle-earth. Written in stages between 19, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.

Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work.

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high-fantasy novel by the English author and scholar J. 20 October 1955 ( The Return of the King).29 July 1954 ( The Fellowship of the Ring).

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