The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)
“A retired Oxford professor invented an entire world, two complete languages, and a mythology older than Greek — and then buried it all inside the most beloved adventure story of the twentieth century.”
Short Summary
In the Third Age of Middle-earth, a hobbit named Frodo Baggins inherits the One Ring — a weapon of absolute power forged by the Dark Lord Sauron — and must carry it across a world of war and ruin to the volcanic mountain where it was made, the only place it can be destroyed. Nine companions set out with him. The Fellowship fractures. Frodo and his gardener Samwise Gamgee continue alone, guided by the treacherous creature Gollum. Meanwhile, kingdoms fall, ancient kings return, and the War of the Ring consumes the whole of Middle-earth. The Ring is destroyed, but nothing ends cleanly: Frodo is wounded beyond healing and departs into the West.
Detailed Summary
The Lord of the Rings opens in the Shire, a rural, insular land of farming hobbits in the northwest of Middle-earth. Sixty years before the story begins, Bilbo Baggins acquired a magic ring during an adventure and left it to his nephew Frodo. The wizard Gandalf, growing suspicious, investigates and ...