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lord of the ring

Volumes:
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King

Author J. R. R. Tolkien
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre High fantasy,
Adventure novel,
Heroic romance
Publisher Geo. Allen & Unwin
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)

The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by philologist J.R.R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien’s earlier, less complex children’s fantasy novel The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II. Although generally known to readers as a trilogy, Tolkien initially intended it as one volume of a three volume set, with the other volumes to be The Silmarillion and Akallabêth; however, the other works were never fully completed and the publisher released in 1954-55 The Lord of the Rings as three books rather than one, for economic reasons. It has since been reprinted countless times and translated into many different languages, becoming one of the most popular and influential works in 20th-century literature.

Plot
he story begins in the Shire, as Frodo Baggins inherits the ring from Bilbo; both are unaware of its origins. Gandalf the Grey, who is Olórin of the race of the Maiar (In Unfinished Tales it is suggested that Gandalf is in fact Manwe, but that is not certain), learns some of the Ring’s history and advises Frodo to take the Ring away from the Shire. Frodo leaves with his loyal gardener, Samwise “Sam” Gamgee, and two cousins, Merry and Pippin, to help him. On their dangerous journey, they run into many difficulties and are pursued by the Ringwraiths. Various characters give aid along the way, including Tom Bombadil and a disguised Aragorn, Isildur’s heir and rightful king of Gondor. At Weathertop, Frodo is wounded by the Ringwraiths, but eventually they are unhorsed and forced to seek new disguises by the flood waters at the Ford of Bruinen, controlled by Elrond, master of Rivendell.

Frodo recovers under the care of Elrond. The Council of Elrond reveals much significant history and current news about Sauron and the Ring, including the escape of Gollum from Mirkwood and the corruption of the wizard Saruman. The council decides that the threat of Sauron is too great and the only course of action is to destroy the Ring in Mordor. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, and a “Fellowship of the Ring” is chosen to accompany him.

The company is forced to travel through the Mines of Moria, where they are attacked by Orcs. Gandalf fights a Balrog of Morgoth and falls into a deep chasm. The others escape and take refuge in Lothlórien. With boats and gifts from the Lady Galadriel, the company then travel down the great River Anduin to the Amon Hen. There, Boromir, heir to the current Steward of Gondor, attempts to take the ring from Frodo, who then breaks from the Fellowship and continues the trek to Mordor accompanied only by Sam.

Saruman’s orcs attack, killing Boromir and kidnapping Merry and Pippin. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas pursue the Orcs and encounter Gandalf, who is now “Gandalf the White”. Merry and Pippin escape when the Orcs are slain by the Rohirrim and find themselves in Fangorn where they befriend the tree-like Ents. Gandalf travels with the others to rouse Théoden King of the Rohirrim to take a stand against Saruman’s armies at Helm’s Deep. At the subsequent Battle of Hornburg, Saruman’s armies are defeated.

Merry and Pippin motivate the Ents to destroy Saruman’s remaining forces at Isengard. Gandalf, Théoden and the others head to Isengard. Saruman refuses to see his error, and Gandalf strips Saruman of his rank and most of his power. Pippin looks into a seeing-stone Sauron used to communicate with Saruman — alerting Sauron to the presence of the hobbit. Gandalf takes Pippin to Gondor.

Frodo and Sam capture Gollum and convince him to guide them to Mordor. They travel a long and hard road, briefly aided by Boromir’s brother Faramir. Gollum betrays Frodo by leading him to the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol. Frodo is left unconscious by Shelob’s bite, but Sam fights her off using Sting and the vial of Ëarendil’s star — one of Galadriel’s gifts. Sam, believing Frodo to be dead, takes the Ring, and Frodo is carried to the tower of Cirith Ungol by Orcs.

Sauron begins his military assault upon Gondor, with the Witch-king of Angmar, greatest of the Ringwraiths, leading a huge army into battle against Gondor.

Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith in Gondor with Pippin to alert the city of the impending attack. Pippin becomes one of the Guards of the Citadel of Minas Tirith, while Merry becomes esquire to the King of the Rohirrim. Aragorn takes Gimli and Legolas through the Paths of the Dead and raises an undead army, oath breakers who betrayed Gondor and Isildur; he uses these in turn to defeat the armies of the Corsairs of Umbar in southern Gondor, enabling the region’s forces to sail to the battle at Minas Tirith. Gandalf assists in the battles against the armies of Sauron, including the Siege of Minas Tirith. Denethor, Ruling Steward of Gondor, believing both his sons are dead loses hope and commits suicide. With the timely aid of Rohan’s cavalry and Aragorn’s reinforcements a significant portion of Sauron’s army is defeated. Théoden is slain, and the Witch-king of Angmar is slain by Théoden’s niece Éowyn and Merry.

Sauron retains innumerable forces in Mordor, and the main characters head to a climactic battle at the Black Gate, where the alliance of Gondor and Rohan fight desperately against Sauron’s armies, hoping to divert Sauron’s focus away from Mount Doom, which Frodo must reach in order to destroy the Ring.

Sam rescues Frodo from captivity. They make their way through Mordor and reach Mount Doom. At the edge of the Cracks of Doom in Samath Naur, the Ring proves too great for Frodo; and he claims it for himself. Gollum struggles with Frodo for the Ring, biting off Frodo’s finger and then falling into the fire. The Ring is destroyed. Sauron is banished from the world, his armies lose all morale, the Ringwraiths disintegrate, and the war ends.

Aragorn is crowned king of Gondor and marries Arwen, the daughter of Elrond. Saruman escapes his captivity in Orthanc and enslaves the Shire. The returning Hobbits overthrow him in The Battle of Bywater. Sam helps to restore order, and using his gifts from Galadriel he beautifies the land. Sam marries Rosie Cotton. Frodo remains wounded in body and spirit and, accompanied by Bilbo and Gandalf, sails west over the Sea to the Undying Lands, where he can find peace. Sam, Merry, and Pippin return home where Sam eventually becomes Mayor and is bestowed the role of Counsellor of the North-kingdom by Aragorn. After Rosie’s death Sam himself leaves behind the Red Book of Westmarch with his daughter and crosses over the sea, the last of the Ring bearers.

Characters
* Bilbo Baggins, the titular protagonist, a respectable, conservative hobbit. While travelling, Bilbo often refers to the contents of his larder at home and wishes he had more food. Until he finds the magic ring, he takes on tasks set out for him only reluctantly. Bilbo’s manner is informal and his speech colloquial and modern. The story follows an arc of Bilbo’s growing capability, independence of action and sense of community.
* Gandalf, an itinerant wizard who introduces Bilbo to a company of thirteen dwarves, later disappearing and re-appearing at key points in the story. While Gandalf is wise, his knowledge is limited, and he is out to serve his own purposes while only incidentally assisting the dwarves.
* Thorin Oakenshield, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to a dwarven kingdom under the Lonely Mountain. Thorin’s leadership is inept, often relying on Gandalf or Bilbo to get him out of trouble, but he proves himself a mighty warrior.
* Smaug, a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarven kingdom of Thorin’s grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure. In many ways the Smaug episode reflects and references the dragon of Beowulf, and Tolkien uses the episode to put into practice some of the ground-breaking literary theories he had developed about the Anglo-Saxon poem and its portrayal of the dragon as having bestial intelligence rather than being of purely symbolic value.[7] Smaug the dragon and his golden hoard may be seen as a symbol of the traditional relationship between evil and metallurgy as collated in the depiction of Pandæmonium with its “Belched fire and rolling smoke” in Milton’s Paradise Lost.[8] Of all the characters, Smaug’s speech is the most modern, using idioms such as “Don’t let your imagination run away with you!”

The plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of the company; two types of elves, both puckish and more serious warrior types; men (humans); trolls with “cockney” accents; cave-dwelling goblins; forest-dwelling giant spiders who can speak; immense and heroic eagles who also speak; evil wolves who are allied with the goblins; Elrond the sage; Gollum, a mysterious creature inhabiting an underground lake; Beorn, a man who can assume bear form; and Bard the Bowman, a heroic archer of Lake-town.
image and info source: wikipedia