The Lord of the Rings
Sixty years after Bilbo Baggins found a small gold ring in Gollum's cave, the wizard Gandalf returns to the Shire with a terrible discovery: Bilbo's ring is the One Ring forged in secret by Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom, and the Dark Lord is searching for it again. Frodo Baggins, Bilbo's heir, is given the burden of carrying the Ring out of the Shire and across Middle-earth to the only fire that can unmake it. He is joined by the wizard, by his loyal gardener Sam, by his cousins Merry and Pippin, by the ranger Aragorn, by Boromir of Gondor, by Legolas the elf, and by Gimli son of Gloin. Across three volumes published from 1954 to 1955, J.R.R. Tolkien's epic moves from the Shire's hedge-lanes to the ruin of Mordor, weaving together languages, mythologies, songs, and decades of invented history into the foundational work of modern fantasy.
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What you might want to know about The Lord of the Rings
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
When the wizard Gandalf identifies Bilbo Baggins's old gold ring as the One Ring of Sauron, his nephew Frodo agrees to leave the Shire with it. A company forms at Rivendell to take the ring south to be unmade in the fires of Mordor, then breaks apart at the falls of the Anduin.
Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings as a single novel, which his publisher split into three volumes for printing in 1954 and 1955: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. Tolkien preferred to think of it as one book in six parts.
Tolkien's prose is rich, with songs, poems, and detailed landscapes. The Shire chapters and Tom Bombadil section move slowly. Most readers find the pace easier as the journey unfolds. The appendices reward but are optional.
Reading The Hobbit first is helpful but not required. The Hobbit introduces Bilbo and the discovery of the Ring, providing background for The Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rings reintroduces what you need, so you can start with either.
Peter Jackson's 2001 to 2003 trilogy is one of the most faithful fantasy adaptations of a long novel ever made, though it cuts characters such as Tom Bombadil and the Scouring of the Shire. Most fans consider the films an extraordinary translation despite the omissions.
The Lord of the Rings was written by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in 1954 by AST.
The Lord of the Rings is 1193 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Lord of the Rings takes most readers 18 to 26 hours to finish.
The Lord of the Rings is a standalone novel by J.R.R. Tolkien, not part of a series.
The Lord of the Rings is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
