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The Lord of the Rings
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Description edit
Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivalled magic and otherworldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike. Well over 100 million copies of its many editions have been sold around the... read more
Books in This Collection
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The Fellowship of the Ring
Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien (Author)The dark, fearsome Ringwraiths were searching for a hobbit. Frodo Baggins knew they were seeking him and the Ring he bore--the Ring of Power that would enable evil Sauron to destroy all that was good in Middle-earth. Now it was up to Frodo and...
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The Two Towers
Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien (Author)The Fellowship was scattered. Some were bracing hopelessly for war against the ancient evil of Sauron. Some were contending with the treachery of the wizard Saruman. Only Frodo and Sam were left to take the accursed Ring of Power to be...
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The Return of the King
Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien (Editor)While the evil might of the Dark Lord Sauron swarmed out to conquer all Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam struggled deep into Mordor, seat of Sauron's power. To defeat the Dark Lord, the accursed Ring of Power had to be destroyed in the fires of...
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
The novel begins with the departure of Bilbo Baggins, the hero of The Hobbit, from the Shire as he leaves his home for the last time to visit old friends. In his wake, his nephew and heir, Frodo, discovers that the ring he has inherited is the One Ring, forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, thought... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters edit
- Frodo Baggins: Hobbit; Son of Drogo; Bilbo Baggins' nephew and heir; the Ringbearer.
- Samwise Gamgee (aka Sam): Hobbit; Son of Hamfast; Frodo Baggins' gardener.
- Meriadoc Brandybuck: Hobbit; Frodo Baggins' kinsman. Best friend of Pippin, and the "responsible one" of that pair. Usaually goes by the name "Merry"
- Peregrin Took: Hobbit; Frodo Baggins' kinsman. He is best friends with Merry, and is known for being irresponible. Goes by the name of "Pippin"
- Gandalf: Wizard who aids the Fellowship; the Enemy of Sauron. Called "the Grey". Also known as Mithrandir, Olorin, Incanus, Tharkun, Lathspell, the Grey Pilgrim, the Grey Wanderer, the White Rider, Greyhame and Stormcrow.
- Aragorn: Man, also known as Elessar, Longshanks, Estel, Strider, Wingfoot, the Dunadan, and Thorongil; A Ranger of Eriador. One of the Nine Companions in the Fellowship. Very good at tracking and knows many things about nature. Loves Arwen
- Legolas Greenleaf: Elf; son of Thranduil, the Elven king of Mirkwood. One of the Nine Companions of the Fellowship. He is skilled with a bow and arrow.
- Gimli: Dwarf; son of Glóin (one of the thirteen dwarves who were Bilbo's companions in "The Hobbit"). He is one of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring that set off from Rivendell. He often uses an ax.
- Boromir: Man; son of Denethor, the steward of Gondor. One of the Nine Companions in the Fellowship. Carries a horn.
- Bilbo Baggins: Hobbit who retrieved the One Ring from Gollum's cave. It is this ring that is later inherited by Frodo, his nephew. One of the first hobbits to go on an adventure in many years, and the first in the Baggins family.
- Gollum (aka Sméagol): A pitiful and malicious creature. He used to be a hobbit like creature called Smeagol. Smeagol murdered his own cousin in a fight over the Ring. He didn't know its powers until it possessed him.
- Tom Bombadil: A Mentor for the Company after they have set off for Rivendell.
- Elrond Halfelven: Halfelven; keeper of Rivendell, the Last Homely House. Arwen's father. Son-in-law of Galadriel.
- Saruman: Wizard who betrays his order and sides with Sauron. Called "the White".
- Sauron: The Dark Lord of Mordor; original owner and forger of the One Ring.
- Galadriel: Elven woman, Lady of Lothlórien. She is amazingly powerful. She even has the ability to speak through peoples minds. Last of the high Noldor who dwelt in the Undying Lands.
- Arwen Evenstar: Elven woman; called the Evenstar of her people and fairest living elf. The daughter of the Lord of Rivendell; Elrond Half-even. In love with Aragorn.
- Éomer: Man; nephew of Théoden King of Rohan. Brother of Eowyn.
- Éowyn: Niece of Theoden and sister of Eomer. All of Rohan loves her. Falls in love with Aragorn
- Théoden: Man; son of Thengel. Uncle to Éomer and Éowyn. King of Rohan.
- Gríma Wormtongue: Man of Rohan; counsler to Theoden of Rohan. Called Wormtongue by all the lies he has told.
- Treebeard (aka Fangorn): Ent; The Eldest; the lord of the Fangorn forest.
- Faramir: Man; son of Denethor, brother of Boromir. Captain of the Rangers of Ithilien.
- Denethor: Man; Steward of Gondor, son of Ecthelion II. Father of Boromir and Faramir.
- Celeborn: Elf; Lord of Lothlórien; husband of Galadriel.
- Prince Imrahil: Man; Prince of Dol Amroth. Fought with Armies of the West at Pelennor Fields.
- Ioreth: Wise-woman of Gondor; served at the Houses of Healing.
- Farmer Maggot: Hobbit; a shrewd farmer of Bamfurlong. Is convinced that Frodo and his friends are nothing but trouble, especially when they are making a vegetable run.
- Beregond: Man of Gondor. A guard of the citadel of Minas Tirith.
- Goldberry: Called the 'River's daughter'; enigmatic wife of Tom Bombadil.
- Haldir: Elf; a captain of Lothlórien. Marchwarden.
- Hama: Man of Rohan; Guardsman of Edoras.
- Barliman Butterbur: Man of Bree; Innkeeper of the Prancing Pony. Jovial and absent-minded.
- Gildor Inglorion: Noldor elf, who passed through the Shire on his way to the Havens.
- Glorfindel: Elf of Rivendell, mighty among the Noldor.
- Ghan-buri-Ghan: or Ghân. Tribal chief of the Drúedain, also known as Wild Men or Wood-woses.
- Elladan: One of the sons of Elrond. Part of the Grey Company.
- Elrohir: One of the sons of Elrond. Part of the Grey Company.
- Mouth of Sauron: Man; Lieutenant of Barad-dûr, the Dark Tower in Mordor. He had forgotten his name.
- Fredegar Bolger (aka Fatty): Fredegar was one of the small group of Hobbits who knew that Frodo had the Ring. Instead of travelling with the four, he stayed back to pretend that Frodo still lived in Crickhollow
- Shelob: One of the ancient great spiders who lives near the pass of Cirth Ungol.
Quotes edit
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“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky / Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone / Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die / One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne / In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them / One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them / In the land of Mordor, where the Shadows lie.”
The Ring Verse -
“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”
Gandalf -
“Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
Elrond -
“The Road goes ever on and on / Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, / And I must follow, if I can / Pursuing it with eager feet, / Until it joins some larger way / Where many paths and errands meet. / And whither then? I cannot say.”
Bilbo Baggins -
“All that is gold does not glitter, / Not all those who wander are lost; / The old that is strong does not wither, / Deep roots are not reached by frost. / From the ashes a fire shall be woken, / A light from the shadows shall spring; / Renewed shall be blade that was broken: The crownless again shall be king.”
Bilbo Baggins -
“But she, born in the body of a maid, had a spirit and courage at least the match of yours... who knows what she spoke to the darkness, alone, in the bitter watches of the night, when all her life seemed shrinking, and the walls of her bower closing in about her, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?”
Gandalf -
“But do you remember Gandalf’s words: Even Gollum may have something yet to do? But for him, Sam... the Quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end. So let us forgive him..! I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.”
Frodo Baggins -
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
Haldir -
“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”
Galadriel -
“Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.”
Gildor Inglorion -
“He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.”
Gandalf -
“It was Sam's first view of a battle of Men against Men... He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.”
Narrator -
“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”
Gimli -
“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
Faramir -
“Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the Sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”
Gandalf -
“The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known.”
Ioreth -
“And it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”
Frodo Baggins -
“Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear; nor are they one thing among Elves and Dwarves and another among Men.”
Aragorn -
“Don't adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story.”
Bilbo Baggins -
“So passed the sword of the Barrow-downs... But glad would he have been to know its fate who wrought it slowly long ago in the North-kingdom when the Dúnedain were young, and chief among their foes was the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not though mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound so bitter, cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to his will.”
Narrator -
“It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.”
Gandalf -
“Out of dark, out of doubt, to the day's rising I rode, singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. To hope's end I rode, and to heart's breaking: Now for wrath, now for ruin, and a red nightfall!”
Éomer -
“But it is not your own Shire. Others dwelt here before Hobbits came; and others will dwell here again when Hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out.”
Gildor Inglorion -
“<I fear> a cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
Eowyn -
“'It is ever so with things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise.' 'Yet seldom do they fail of their seed. And that will lie in the dust and rot to spring up again in times and places unlooked for. The deeds of Men will outlast us, Gimli.'”
Legolas & Gimli -
“Long we have tended our beasts and our fields, built our houses, wrought our tools, or ridden away to help in the wars of Minas Tirith. And that we called the life of Men, the way of the world. We cared little for what lay beyond the borders of our land. Songs we have that tell of these things, but we are forgetting them, teaching them only to children, as a careless custom. And now the songs have come down among us out of strange places, and walk visible under the Sun.”
Théoden -
“The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day!”
Aragorn -
“I would not snare even an orc with a falsehood.”
Faramir -
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Gandalf -
“You cannot be always torn in two. You will have to be one and whole, for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be, and to do.”
Frodo Baggins -
“Oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know.”
Celeborn -
“Gibbets and Crows! Dotard! What is the house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll around on the floor with their dogs!”
Saruman -
“I would cut off your head, beard and all, Master Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground.”
Eomer -
“Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace... But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund's daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you if you touch him.”
Éowyn -
“Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the Houses of Lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured and thy shriveled mind be left naked to the lidless Eye.”
The Witch King -
“Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”
Gandalf
Setting & Locations edit
Middle-earth
- Middle-earth: The mortal lands of the Earth. A translation of Old English Middangeard or Norse Midgaard.
- The Shire: The land of the Hobbits, in the Northwest of Middle-earth
- Hobbiton: A Hobbit town in the Shire.
- Bag End: The Hobbit hole of Mr. Bilbo Baggins, in Hobbiton.
- Crickhollow: A village in the eastern reaches of the Shire, close to the Old Forest.
- Old Forest: A forest directly to the east of the Shire.
- Bree: A village to the east of the Shire and the Old Forest, where Men and Hobbits live and work together.
- The Prancing Pony: An inn in Bree, owned by Barliman Butterbur.
- Weathertop: The hilltop ruins of an old fortress of Men.
- Rivendell: The hidden house of Elrond in a valley near the Misty Mountains.
- Misty Mountains: Mountain range which splits eastern and western Middle-earth; inhabited by Orcs and Wargs.
- Moria: Khazad-dûm or "Mansion of the Dwarves"; the Dwarrowdelf. Underground realm beneath Misty Mountains.
- Lothlórien: or Lórien. The hidden woodland realm of Galadriel and Celeborn, east of the Misty Mountains.
- River Anduin: The Great River, flowing from north to south to the east of the Misty Mountains.
- Rohan: The wide, grassy lands of the Rohirrim, the Horse-lords.
- Fangorn Forest: The forest directly to the south of the Misty Mountains, on the edge of the plains of Rohan.
- Edoras: The chief city of Rohan and the seat of the kings.
- Helm's Deep: A deep, narrow valley and the caverns behind it, used as a refuge by the Rohirrim.
- Paths of the Dead: A path beneath the White Mountains.
- Gondor: The southern kingdom of Men, facing and guarding against Mordor.
- Minas Tirith: The Tower of Guard, a seven-tiered city facing Minas Morgul and guarding against it.
- Pelennor Fields: The fields surrounding Minas Tirith.
- Houses of Healing: A sanctuary in Minas Tirith where healers try to aid the wounded and dying.
- Dead Marshes: The site of an ancient battle, now covered with marshes.
- Ithilien: The narrow lands of Gondor between the River Anduin and Mordor.
- Minas Morgul: The Tower of Sorcery, once a Gondorian city, but taken over by the Nazgûl.
- Mordor: The kingdom of Sauron, guarded on three sides by mountain ranges and by a huge desert on the fourth. A dark and vast wasteland where little grows.
- Gorgoroth: or "Plain of Gorgoroth". Volcanic plateau. The wasted desert uplands of northwestern Mordor.
- The Morannon: The Black Gate of Mordor; the main entrance into the mountain-encircled realm.
- Cirith Ungol: A high pass over the western mountains of Mordor.
- Mount Doom: Orodruin, the volcano housing the Cracks of Doom (Sammath Naur), where the Ring was forged.
- Barad-dûr: The Dark Tower. Shadow-shrouded stronghold of Sauron, in the midst of Mordor.
- The Dark Tower: aka Barad-dûr, or Lugbûrz. Sauron's fortress, the tallest building in Middle-Earth.
- The Grey Havens: Mithlond, the havens of Círdan the Shipwright in northwestern Middle-earth beyond the Shire; kept as an escape for any Elves who wished to depart Middle-earth for the Blessed Lands.
- Isengard: A stronghold surrounded by a ringed wall, guarding the tower of Orthanc. Built by the Numénoreans, but most recently resided in by Saruman.
- Orthanc: The tower of Isengard; Saruman's stronghold.
- Númenor: A sunken island, once home to the Edain who aided the Elves in the First Age. It was destroyed in the Second Age by the Valar when its pride became too great. Its survivors founded kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.
- Pelargir: Ancient port of Gondor, built by the Númenoreans.
- Drúedain Forest: Home of the Wild Men or Wood-woses (Drúedain), an ancient people.
- Umbar: Ancient port city of the Númenoreans in the south, now allied to Sauron.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in The Lord of the Rings. (standard series)
This is book 11 of 145 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 104 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 103 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 58 of 99 in Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 35 of 93 in Newsweek's Top 100 Books: The Meta-List. (authoritative list)
This is book 4 of 98 in Modern Library's 100 Best Novels: Reader's List. (authoritative list)
This is book 1 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This book is in TIME Magazine Top 100 English-Language Novels. (community list)
This is book 1 of 97 in Waterstone's Top 100 Books of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This is book 2 of 95 in Telegraph Top 100 Books, 2008. (authoritative list)
This is book 100 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)
This is book 665 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
This is book 23 of 213 in Best English-Language Fiction of the 20th Century. (authoritative list)
This book is in Significant Speculative Fiction (Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror). (community list)
This book is in Best Books of All Time. (community list)
This book is in Middle-Earth. (universe)
This is book 1 of 1 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 100 Novels, 2003. (community list)
This is book 105 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- J. R. R. Tolkien (Author)
Other Contributors:
- Wolfgang Krege (Translator)
- Società Tolkeniana Italiana (Translator)
- Vicky Alliata di Villafranca (Translator)
- Quirino Principe (Adapter)
- Francesco Bisaro (Illustrator)
- Maxfield Parrish (Cover Artist)
- Alan Lee (Illustrator)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co
Country: United States
Publication Date: 1965
ISBN: 0618517650
Page Count: 1184
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co
Country: United States
Publication Date: 1965
ISBN: 0618517650
Page Count: 1184
Awards edit
- International Fantasy Award (1957: Fiction)
- Prometheus Hall of Fame Award (2009)
- 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (Featured)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PR6039.O32 L6 2002
- Dewey: 823.912
Notes for Parents edit
Reading Level: Adults<This is an edit of another member's comments, who described The Lord of the Rings as YA fiction.> Unlike his earlier book, which was based in part on stories Tolkien had made to entertain his son ('The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'), The Lord of the Rings was never meant to be a book for children-- and the "Young Adult" category didn't exist. Until the last decade of so,there were only two categories; authors wrote books, or they wrote children's books. Nowadays, the 'YA' designation is attached to books with protagonists in their late teens / early twenties, and in which the author hasn't described sexual activity in graphic detail. As The Lord of the Rings has no sex and minimal graphic violence, and further, as Frodo and his companions appear to be youthful (although hobbit ages don't match up with ours), it is easy to see why some may classify the book as "YA".That does the 'trilogy' (actually a misnomer) a real disservice. At the time this book was written, no author was including descriptions of sex in fiction--the morality of the era was different, and what we now think of as normal would have been considered pornographic. No legitimate publisher would have touched such a book, and if one had, the few people who would have been willing to read it wouldn't admit it. At the time The Lord of the Rings was written, authors weren't writing fiction to be read by people of a particular age bracket. They were writing it to be read, and by anyone whose reading ability was sufficient, whether ten years old or seventy. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings can be read quite happily at either end of that spectrum-- I first plowed my was through it on my own when I was eight or so, back in 1968, and have probably re-read it more than times a dozen and a half since.
Subjects edit
- Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Epic
- Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Authors, A-Z › ( T ) › Tolkien, J.R.R.
- Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Series › Tolkien's Middle Earth
- Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Fairies & Elves
- Books › Science Fiction & Fantasy › Fantasy › Magic & Wizards
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