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145-705: In The Lord of the Rings , Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age is described as having free peoples, namely Men , Hobbits , Elves , and Dwarves in the West, opposed to peoples under the control of the Dark Lord Sauron in the East. Some commentators have seen this as implying a moral geography of Middle-earth. Tolkien scholars have traced many features of Middle-earth to literary sources such as Beowulf ,

290-442: A computer-based unified text. In 2004, for the 50th Anniversary Edition, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull , under supervision from Christopher Tolkien, studied and revised the text to eliminate as many errors and inconsistencies as possible, some of which had been introduced by well-meaning compositors of the first printing in 1954, and never been corrected. The 2005 edition of the book contained further corrections noticed by

435-452: A cover illustration, both of which identified the pair as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. Tolkien was initially opposed to titles being given to each two-book volume, preferring instead the use of book titles: e.g. The Lord of the Rings : Vol. 1, The Ring Sets Out and The Ring Goes South ; Vol. 2, The Treason of Isengard and The Ring Goes East ; Vol. 3, The War of the Ring and The End of

580-633: A cursed blade. Strider fights them off and treats Frodo with the herb athelas . They are joined by the Elf Glorfindel , who rides with Frodo, now deathly ill, towards Rivendell. The Black Riders pursue Frodo into the Ford of Bruinen, where they are swept away by flood waters summoned by Elrond . Frodo recovers in Rivendell under Elrond's care. Gandalf informs Frodo that the Black Riders are

725-399: A film version is inevitably different , and if so the reasons for any changes, and the effectiveness of the result. The Hunt for Gollum , a 2009 film by Chris Bouchard , and the 2009 Born of Hope , written by Paula DiSante and directed by Kate Madison , are fan films based on details in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings . From September 2022, Amazon has been presenting

870-564: A great army against Gondor . Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to warn Denethor of the attack, while Théoden musters the Riders of Rohan to go to Gondor's aid. Minas Tirith is besieged; the Lord of the Nazgûl uses a spell-wound battering ram to destroy the city's gates. Denethor, deceived by Sauron, falls into despair. He burns himself alive on a pyre; Pippin and Gandalf rescue his son Faramir from

1015-589: A guide or wisdom figure, a wise person able to provide useful counsel to the protagonists. It has been noted that just as Elrond prevented his daughter Arwen from marrying until conditions were met, so Tolkien's guardian, Father Francis Xavier Morgan , prevented Tolkien from becoming engaged or marrying until he came of age. Elrond was born in the First Age at the refuge of the Mouths of Sirion in Beleriand ,

1160-692: A guide, to ensure the elements of the story fitted together in time and space. He prepared a variety of types of illustration – maps, calligraphy, drawings, cover designs, even a facsimile painting of the Book of Mazarbul – but only the maps, the inscription on the Ring, and a drawing of the Doors of Durin were included in the first edition. The hardback editions sometimes had cover illustrations by Tolkien, sometimes by other artists. According to The New York Times , Barbara Remington 's cover designs for Ballantine 's paperback editions "achieved mass-cult status in

1305-413: A hard round object to try to kill Gandalf. Pippin picks it up; Gandalf swiftly takes it, but Pippin steals it in the night. It is a palantír , a seeing-stone that Saruman used to speak with Sauron, becoming ensnared. Sauron sees Pippin, but misunderstands the circumstances. Gandalf rides for Minas Tirith , chief city of Gondor , taking Pippin with him. Frodo and Sam struggle through the barren hills of

1450-469: A high-minded belief in the importance of his mission as a literary preservationist, which turns out to be death to literature itself". The critic Richard Jenkyns, writing in The New Republic , criticized the work for a lack of psychological depth. Both the characters and the work itself were, according to Jenkyns, "anemic, and lacking in fibre". The science fiction author David Brin interprets

1595-524: A key figure later in the chapter. Cyril Ritchard voiced Elrond in the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated film adaptation of The Hobbit . In Ralph Bakshi 's 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings , Elrond was voiced by André Morell . When Rankin/Bass attempted to finish the story (left incomplete by Bakshi and his financial backers) with The Return of the King in 1980, actor Paul Frees voiced Elrond, Ritchard having died shortly after voicing

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1740-484: A letter to the poet W. H. Auden , who famously reviewed the final volume in 1956, Tolkien himself made use of the term "trilogy" for the work though he did at other times consider this incorrect, as it was written and conceived as a single book. It is often called a novel; however, Tolkien objected to this term as he viewed it as a heroic romance . The books were published under a profit-sharing arrangement, whereby Tolkien would not receive an advance or royalties until

1885-409: A major work in itself, The Lord of the Rings was only the last movement of a much older set of narratives Tolkien had worked on since 1917 encompassing The Silmarillion , in a process he described as mythopoeia . The Lord of the Rings started as a sequel to Tolkien's work The Hobbit , published in 1937. The popularity of The Hobbit led George Allen & Unwin, the publishers, to request

2030-505: A map, and made the story fit (generally with meticulous care for distances). The other way about lands one in confusions and impossibilities, and in any case it is weary work to compose a map from a story. Writing in Mythlore , Jefferson P. Swycaffer suggested that the political and strategic situations of Gondor and Mordor in the Siege of Gondor were "analogous to Constantinople facing

2175-580: A much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written , with over 150 million copies sold. The title refers to the story's main antagonist , the Dark Lord Sauron , who in an earlier age created the One Ring , allowing him to rule the other Rings of Power given to men , dwarves , and elves , in his campaign to conquer all of Middle-earth. From homely beginnings in

2320-678: A multi-season television series of stories, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . It is set at the beginning of the Second Age , long before the time of The Lord of the Rings , based on materials in the novel's appendices. In early 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that multiple new movies set in Middle-earth are in development, and will be produced along with New Line Cinema and Freemode. In 1990, Recorded Books published an audio version of The Lord of

2465-492: A nominal payment to Tolkien. Authorized editions followed from Ballantine Books and Houghton Mifflin to tremendous commercial success. Tolkien undertook various textual revisions to produce a version of the book that would be published with his consent and establish an unquestioned US copyright. This text became the Second Edition of The Lord of the Rings , published in 1965. The first Ballantine paperback edition

2610-773: A permanent guest some 60 years later. Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforeseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril--to Mordor. We must send the Ring to the Fire. – Elrond J. R. R. Tolkien , The Fellowship of the Ring Elrond headed the Council of Elrond , at which it was decided that the One Ring should be destroyed where it was forged, in Mount Doom in Mordor. He agreed that Frodo Baggins , Bilbo's nephew and heir, should bear

2755-505: A purely rural world with no bearing on modern life in cities; of containing no sign of religion; or of racism. Other commentators responded by noting that there are three powerful women in the book , Galadriel, Éowyn, and Arwen; that life, even in rural Hobbiton, is not idealized; that Christianity is a pervasive theme ; and that Tolkien was sharply anti-racist both in peacetime and during the Second World War, while Middle-earth

2900-524: A rebellion and scours the Shire . Saruman reveals crimes that Wormtongue has done, causing Wormtongue to turn on Saruman and kill him in front of Bag End , Frodo's home. Wormtongue then is killed by hobbit archers. Merry and Pippin are celebrated as heroes. Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts to heal the Shire. Frodo, broken by the quest, leaves a few years later, sailing from the Grey Havens over

3045-417: A secret pass that Gollum knows. They are captured by rangers led by Faramir , Boromir's brother, and brought to the secret fastness of Henneth Annûn . Faramir resists the temptation to seize the Ring and, disobeying orders to arrest strangers, releases them. Gollum guides the hobbits to the pass, but leads them into the lair of the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol . Frodo holds up his gift,

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3190-485: A sequel. Tolkien warned them that he wrote quite slowly, and responded with several stories he had already developed. Having rejected his contemporary drafts for The Silmarillion , putting Roverandom on hold, and accepting Farmer Giles of Ham , Allen & Unwin continued to ask for more stories about hobbits . Persuaded by his publishers, he started "a new Hobbit" in December 1937. After several false starts,

3335-572: A serial for his son Christopher Tolkien , who was sent chapters as they were written while he was serving in South Africa with the Royal Air Force . Tolkien made another major effort in 1946, and showed the manuscript to his publishers in 1947. The story was effectively finished the next year, but Tolkien did not complete the revision of earlier parts of the work until 1949. The original manuscripts, which total 9,250 pages, now reside in

3480-453: A single place in the real world, while other locations have had two or more real-world origins proposed for them. The sources are diverse, spanning classical , medieval , and modern elements . Other elements relate to Old English poetry : several of the customs of Rohan in particular can be traced to Beowulf , on which Tolkien was an expert. Some Middle-earth placenames were based on the sound of places named in literature; thus, Beleriand

3625-611: A surrogate father to him. Aware of his daughter Arwen 's feelings for Aragorn, Elrond would permit their marriage only if Aragorn could unite Arnor and Gondor as High King. In The Hobbit , Elrond gave shelter to Thorin Oakenshield and his company during their quest to retake Erebor from the Dragon Smaug . Elrond befriended the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins , the company's "burglar", and received him as

3770-640: Is Sauron's Dark Tower, Barad-dur . To the south of Gondor and Mordor lie Harad and Khand. To the east of Rhovanion and to the north of Mordor lies the Sea of Rhûn, home to the Easterlings . North of that lie the Iron Hills of Dain 's dwarves ; between those and Mirkwood is Erebor, the Lonely Mountain , once home to Smaug the dragon , and afterwards to Thorin 's dwarves. The large lands to

3915-530: Is a book which will break your heart." Lewis observed that the writing is rich, in that some of the 'good' characters have darker sides, and likewise some of the villains have "good impulses". Despite the mixed reviews and the lack of a paperback until the 1960s, The Lord of the Rings initially sold well in hardback. Judith Shulevitz, writing in The New York Times , criticized the "pedantry" of Tolkien's literary style , saying that he "formulated

4060-759: Is a traitor. The Council decides that the Ring must be destroyed in the fire of Mount Doom in Mordor , where it was forged. Frodo takes this task upon himself. Elrond chooses companions for him: Sam, Merry, and Pippin; Gandalf; the Men Aragorn and Boromir , son of the Steward of Gondor ; the Elf Legolas ; and the Dwarf Gimli , representing the Free Peoples of the West. After a failed attempt to cross

4205-767: Is bordered to the north by the Ered Lithui, the Ash Mountains; to the west by the Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow. Between those two ranges, at Mordor's northwest tip, are the Black Gates of the Morannon . In the angle between the two ranges is the volcanic Plateau of Gorgoroth, with the tall volcano of Orodruin or Mount Doom , where the Dark Lord Sauron forged the One Ring . To the mountain's east

4350-434: Is divided into those who have read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and those who are going to read them." The New York Herald Tribune appeared to predict the books' popularity, writing in its review that they were "destined to outlast our time". W. H. Auden , a former pupil of Tolkien's and an admirer of his writings, regarded The Lord of the Rings as a "masterpiece", further stating that in some cases it outdid

4495-414: Is evidently polycultural. A dispute with his publisher, George Allen & Unwin , led Tolkien to offer the work to William Collins in 1950. Tolkien intended The Silmarillion (itself largely unrevised at this point) to be published along with The Lord of the Rings, but Allen & Unwin were unwilling to do this. After Milton Waldman, his contact at Collins, expressed the belief that The Lord of

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4640-534: Is introduced in The Hobbit , where he plays a supporting role, as he does in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion . Scholars have commented on Elrond's archaic style of speech, noting that this uses genuinely archaic grammar, not just a sprinkling of old words. The effect is to make his speech distinctive, befitting his age and status, while remaining clear, and avoiding quaintness. He has been called

4785-781: Is not the original author, but merely the translator of part of an ancient document, the Red Book of Westmarch . That book is modelled on the real Red Book of Hergest , which similarly presents an older mythology. Various details of the frame story appear in the Prologue, its "Note on Shire Records", and in the Appendices, notably Appendix F. In this frame story, the Red Book is the purported source of Tolkien's other works relating to Middle-earth : The Hobbit , The Silmarillion , and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil . Although

4930-583: Is the bearer of the elven-ring Vilya , the Ring of Air, and master of Rivendell , where he has lived for thousands of years through the Second and Third Ages of Middle-earth. He was the Elf-king Gil-galad 's herald at the end of the Second Age, saw Gil-galad and king Elendil fight the dark lord Sauron for the One Ring , and saw Elendil's son Isildur take it rather than destroy it. He

5075-609: The Journal of Tolkien Research , analysed why Tolkien wrote "Master" Elrond, only once calling him "Lord of Rivendell" and never writing "Lord Elrond", in contrast for instance to "Lady Galadriel", "Lord Celeborn ", and "the Elven-king Gil-galad". She notes that Elrond is certainly important, being "the thread that ties together all three of the great tales of the legendarium: Beren and Lúthien , The Fall of Gondolin , and The Children of Húrin ." She notes too that

5220-464: The Poetic Edda , or the mythical Myrkviðr . They have in addition suggested real-world places such as Venice , Rome , and Constantinople / Byzantium as analogues of places in Middle-earth. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad has created detailed thematic maps for Tolkien's major Middle-earth books, The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings , and The Silmarillion . Tolkien's Middle-earth

5365-740: The Dwarves are described as "masters of stone", as the Rohirrim are "masters of horses" and the Wizard Radagast is a "master of shapes and changes of hue". Applied to Elrond, he is a "master of healing", but more centrally he is the "greatest of lore-masters", a master of ancient wisdom and knowledge. She notes that among the Elves, the lore-masters were the Noldor: indeed that was the meaning of their name. 'Alas, no', said Elrond. 'We cannot use

5510-686: The Dúnedain . When the Grey Company found Aragorn and the Rohirrim during their journey to Gondor, Elrond's son Elrohir told Aragorn, "I bring word to you from my father: The days are short. If thou art in haste, remember the Paths of the Dead ." Aragorn took Elrond's advice, using the Paths of the Dead to reach Gondor in time to come to its aid. Elrond remained in Rivendell until the destruction of both

5655-694: The Elves when the choice of kindreds was given to him. When Beleriand was destroyed at the end of the First Age, Elrond went to Lindon with the household of Gil-galad , the last High King of the Noldor . During the War of the Elves and the dark lord Sauron in the Second Age , the king Gil-galad sent Elrond to the defence of Eregion against the Dark Lord. Sauron destroyed Eregion and surrounded Elrond's army, but

5800-557: The Emyn Muil . They realize they are being tracked; on a moonlit night they capture Gollum, who has followed them from Moria. Frodo makes Gollum swear to serve him, as Ringbearer, and asks him to guide them to Mordor. Gollum leads them across the Dead Marshes . Sam overhears Gollum debating with his alter ego, Sméagol, whether to steal the Ring. The Black Gate of Mordor is too well guarded, so they travel south through Ithilien to

5945-716: The Misty Mountains on Tolkien's maps. In addition, Tolkien's rivers fail to behave like natural rivers, forming regularly-branched streams in drainage basins demarcated by high ground. The Lord of the Rings The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel by the English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien . Set in Middle-earth , the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit , but eventually developed into

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6090-786: The Misty Mountains , the Fellowship risk the path through the Mines of Moria . They learn that Balin and his Dwarves, who had attempted to regain possession of Moria, were killed by Orcs . They are attacked by Orcs and a Balrog , a fire demon. Gandalf confronts the Balrog: both fall into an abyss. The others escape to the Elvish forest of Lothlórien , where the Lady Galadriel tests their loyalty, and gives them magical gifts. She allows Frodo and Sam to look into her vision-giving fountain,

6235-451: The Nazgûl , Men enslaved by Rings of Power to serve Sauron. The Council of Elrond discusses what to do with the Ring. Strider is revealed to be Aragorn, the heir of Isildur who had cut the Ring from Sauron's hand in the Second Age, but claimed it for himself. The Ring was lost when Isildur was killed; it passed to Gollum and then to Bilbo. Gandalf reports that the chief wizard, Saruman ,

6380-473: The Phial of Galadriel , which holds the light of Eärendil 's star: it drives Shelob back. Frodo cuts through a giant web using his sword Sting . Shelob attacks again, and Frodo falls to her venom. Sam picks up Sting and the Phial . He wounds the monster. Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam takes the Ring to continue the quest alone. Orcs take Frodo; Sam overhears them saying that Frodo is still alive. Sauron sends

6525-628: The Straight Road and in ships capable of passing out of the sphere of the earth. Tolkien then equated Arda, consisting of both Middle-earth's planet and the heavenly Aman, with the Solar System , the Sun and Moon being celestial objects in their own right, no longer orbiting the Earth. The extreme west of Middle-earth in the First Age was Beleriand . It and Eriador were separated from much of

6670-484: The literary critic Edmund Wilson wrote a review entitled "Oo, Those Awful Orcs!", calling Tolkien's work "juvenile trash", and saying "Dr. Tolkien has little skill at narrative and no instinct for literary form." Within Tolkien's literary group, The Inklings , the work had a mixed reception. Hugo Dyson complained loudly at its readings, whereas C. S. Lewis had very different feelings, writing, "here are beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron. Here

6815-416: The 1960s, particularly on college campuses" across America. Tolkien drew on a wide array of influences including language, Christianity, mythology and Germanic heroic legend including the Norse Völsunga saga , archaeology , especially at the Temple of Nodens , ancient and modern literature, like Finnish 19th-century epic poetry The Kalevala by Elias Lönnrot , and personal experience. He

6960-409: The 2003 " Big Read " survey conducted in Britain by the BBC, The Lord of the Rings was found to be the "Nation's best-loved book". In similar 2004 polls both Germany and Australia chose The Lord of the Rings as their favourite book. In a 1999 poll of Amazon.com customers, The Lord of the Rings was judged to be their favourite "book of the millennium". In 2019, the BBC News listed The Lord of

7105-464: The Balrog; he too was killed in the fight, but was sent back to Middle-earth. He is now Gandalf the White, replacing Saruman as chief of the wizards. They ride to Edoras , capital of Rohan. Gandalf frees King Théoden from the influence of Saruman's spy Gríma Wormtongue . Théoden musters his army and rides to the fortress of Helm's Deep ; Gandalf departs to seek help from Treebeard. The Ents destroy Isengard , Saruman's stronghold, and flood it, trapping

7250-555: The Eastfarthing, while the once good but corrupted Saruman 's men arrive in the Southfarthing. J. K. Newman compares the adventurous quest to Mordor to "the perpetual temptation felt in the West 'to hold the gorgeous East in fee'" (citing Wordsworth on Venice ), in a tradition which he traces back to Herodotus and to the myth of the Golden Fleece . Tolkien scholars including John Garth have traced many features of Middle-earth to literary sources or real-world places. Some places in Middle-earth can be more or less firmly associated with

7395-476: The Eldar lost their virtue. Then Elrond prepared at last to depart from Middle-earth and follow Celebrían." Elrond and Celebrían were thus finally reunited, but separated forever from their daughter Arwen. The Tolkien scholar Richard C. West writes that there is a familiar trope in stories for a harsh, disapproving father to set difficult and possibly fatal obstacles in the path of his daughter's unwelcome suitors. He gives as example King Thingol 's demand that

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7540-404: The Fantastic in the Arts , describes Elrond as a guide or wisdom figure, a wise person able to provide useful counsel to the protagonists. He is seen in The Hobbit as one with knowledge of the ancient runes and the ability to read moon letters, as well as giving advice on the best route. In The Lord of the Rings , he is seen to have extensive knowledge of the history of Middle-earth, including of

7685-434: The Fellowship. Boromir tries to protect Merry and Pippin from the Orcs, but they kill him and capture the two Hobbits. Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas decide to pursue the Orcs. The Orcs are killed by Riders of Rohan , led by Éomer . The Hobbits escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by the Ent Treebeard . Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn, where they meet Gandalf: he explains that he killed

7830-432: The Free Peoples of Middle-earth against Sauron's armies and give Frodo a chance to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom . Although often called a trilogy, the work was intended by Tolkien to be a single volume in a two-volume set, along with The Silmarillion . For economic reasons, it was first published over the course of a year, from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955, in three volumes rather than one, under

7975-429: The Grey Havens and over the Sea to Valinor in the following year. Elrond was an ally of the North-Kingdom of Arnor. Following its fall, Elrond harboured the Chieftains of the Dúnedain (the descendants of the Kings of Arnor) and the Sceptre of Annúminas, Arnor's symbol of royal authority. When Aragorn 's father Arathorn was killed a few years after Aragorn's birth, Elrond raised Aragorn in his own household and became

8120-531: The J. R. R. Tolkien Collection at Marquette University . Unusually for 20th century novels, the prose narrative is supplemented throughout by over 60 pieces of poetry . These include verse and songs of many genres: for wandering, marching to war , drinking , and having a bath; narrating ancient myths, riddles , prophecies , and magical incantations; and of praise and lament ( elegy ). Some, such as riddles, charms, elegies, and narrating heroic actions are found in Old English poetry . Scholars have stated that

8265-560: The King (2003). All three parts won multiple Academy Awards , including consecutive Best Picture nominations. The final instalment of this trilogy was the second film to break the one-billion-dollar barrier and won a total of 11 Oscars (something only two other films in history, Ben-Hur and Titanic , have accomplished), including Best Picture , Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay . Commentators including Tolkien scholars, literary critics and film critics are divided on how faithfully Jackson adapted Tolkien's work, or whether

8410-419: The King , believing it gave away too much of the storyline, but deferred to his publisher's preference. Tolkien wrote that the title The Two Towers "can be left ambiguous", but considered naming the two as Orthanc and Barad-dûr , Minas Tirith and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol . However, a month later he wrote a note published at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring and later drew

8555-445: The Lord of Mordor, using his own arts, he would set himself on Sauron's throne, and yet another Dark Lord would appear. And that is another reason why the Ring should be destroyed: as long as it is in the world it will be a danger even to the Wise. For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even Sauron was not so. I fear to take the Ring to hide it. I will not take the Ring to wield it.' – Elrond J. R. R. Tolkien , The Fellowship of

8700-438: The Men of the West and the courtship of his daughter. As shown in the flashback scene in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , he forces Aragorn to end his engagement to Arwen so that she can leave to the Undying Lands, although she eventually makes the decision to stay with Aragorn in Middle-Earth. Later, he sends a "surprisingly well-drilled army" to the Battle of Helm's Deep , an act the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes

8845-466: The Mirror of Galadriel. Frodo offers her the Ring: she refuses, knowing that it would master her. Galadriel's husband Celeborn gives the Fellowship boats, cloaks, and waybread. They travel down the River Anduin . At Amon Hen, Boromir tries to take the Ring, but Frodo puts on the Ring and disappears. Frodo chooses to cross the river and go alone to Mordor, but Sam, guessing what he intends, intercepts him. A party of Orcs sent by Saruman and Sauron attack

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8990-411: The Morannon , his army is vastly outnumbered. Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol. They set out across Mordor. When they reach the edge of the Cracks of Doom , Frodo cannot resist the Ring any longer: he claims it for himself and puts it on. Gollum reappears. He bites off Frodo's Ring finger. Celebrating wildly, Gollum loses his footing and falls into the Fire, taking the Ring with him. When

9135-523: The North "barbaric", South "the region of decadence", East "danger" but also the "locale of adventure", West "safety" (and uttermost West "ultimate safety"), North-West "specifically English insularity" where hobbits of the Shire live "in provincial satisfaction". Other scholars such as Walter Scheps and Isabel G. MacCaffrey have noted Middle-earth's "spatial cum moral dimensions", though not identically with Magoun's interpretation. In their view, North and West are generally good, South and East evil. That places

9280-483: The One Ring, and provides wise assistance on planning the necessary action to destroy the Ring. That said, he also shows that he knows the limits of his knowledge, as the capabilities of Hobbits, in his words "the Shire-folk", are outside his experience. Such, Nelson concludes, is the function of a guide, and Elrond fulfils it "admirably" and to the best of his ability, just as in their different ways do Aragorn, Galadriel, Faramir , and Tom Bombadil . Christine Larsen, in

9425-415: The Pelennor Fields has parallels with the Battle of the Catalaunian Fields . The Misty Mountains derive from the Poetic Edda , where the protagonist in the Skírnismál notes that his quest will involve misty mountains peopled with orcs and giants, while the mountains' character was partly inspired by Tolkien's travels in the Swiss Alps in 1911. Mirkwood is based on Myrkviðr , the romantic vision of

9570-536: The Ring Thomas Kullmann, in the Nordic Journal of English Studies , describes Elrond's language as "archaic and stilted", marked out by formal speeches with the tripartite structure of rhetoric : "proposition, argumentation, and conclusion". Elrond, he writes, uses archaic conjunctions like "save" (meaning "except"), and literary phrases like "to wield at will", along with old-fashioned inversions of word order, like "That we now know too well". He notes however that Elrond uses simple short sentences, like "We cannot use

9715-417: The Ring and Sauron in the War of the Ring . He then travelled to Minas Tirith for the marriage of Arwen and Aragorn, now King of the Reunited Kingdom of Arnor and Gondor. Three years later, at the approximate age of 6,520, Elrond left Middle-earth to go over the Sea with Gandalf, Galadriel, Frodo, and Bilbo, never to return . Tolkien said that "after the destruction of the Ruling Ring the Three Rings of

9860-400: The Ring and insist on joining Frodo on his journey. They try to shake off the Black Riders by cutting through the Old Forest . Merry and Pippin are trapped by the malign Old Man Willow , but are rescued by Tom Bombadil . Leaving Tom's house, they are caught by a barrow-wight . Frodo, awakening from the barrow-wight's spell, calls Tom Bombadil, who frees them and gives them ancient swords from

10005-416: The Ring and its powers and thought that would be a better focus for the new work. As the story progressed, he brought in elements from The Silmarillion mythology. Writing was slow, because Tolkien had a full-time academic position, marked exams to bring in a little extra income, and wrote many drafts. Tolkien abandoned The Lord of the Rings during most of 1943 and only restarted it in April 1944, as

10150-403: The Ring during the journey, aided by eight others, reasoning that a company of nine in the service of Middle-earth would counteract the nine Nazgûl , Sauron's most fearsome servants, who sought to help their master conquer it. When Arwen chose mortality in order to be with Aragorn, Elrond reluctantly accepted her decision as the greater good, as she would help to renew the declining lineage of

10295-508: The Ring is destroyed, Sauron loses his power. All he created collapses, the Nazgûl perish, and Aragorn wins the battle of the Morannon. Aragorn is crowned King, and weds Arwen , Elrond's daughter. Théoden is buried; Éomer is crowned King of Rohan. His sister Éowyn is engaged to Faramir, now Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien. Galadriel, Celeborn, and Gandalf say farewell to Treebeard, and to Aragorn. The four hobbits travel home, only to find it has been taken over by Saruman's men. Merry raises

10440-470: The Rings have been made for radio , theatre , and film . It was named Britain's best-loved novel of all time in a 2003 poll by the BBC called The Big Read . Bilbo Baggins celebrates his birthday and leaves the Ring to Frodo , his heir. Gandalf (a wizard ) suspects it is a Ring of Power ; seventeen years later, he confirms it was lost by the Dark Lord Sauron and counsels Frodo to take it away from

10585-568: The Rings was broadcast in the United States and subsequently issued on tape and CD. In 1981, the BBC broadcast The Lord of the Rings , a new dramatization in 26 half-hour instalments. A variety of filmmakers considered adapting Tolkien's book, among them Stanley Kubrick , who thought it unfilmable , Michelangelo Antonioni , Jim Henson , Heinz Edelmann , and John Boorman . A Swedish live action television film, Sagan om ringen ,

10730-598: The Rings is considered one of the greatest fantasy books ever written, and it has helped to create and shape the modern fantasy genre. Since release, it has been reprinted many times and translated into at least 38 languages . Its enduring popularity has led to numerous references in popular culture, the founding of many societies by fans of Tolkien's works , and the publication of many books about Tolkien and his works. It has inspired many derivative works , including paintings, music, films , television, video games , and board games. Award-winning adaptations of The Lord of

10875-404: The Rings itself "urgently wanted cutting", Tolkien eventually demanded that they publish the book in 1952. Collins did not; and so Tolkien wrote to Allen and Unwin, saying, "I would gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff", fearing his work would never see the light of day. For publication, the work was divided into three volumes to minimize any potential financial loss due to

11020-446: The Rings on its list of the 100 most influential novels . The Lord of the Rings has been adapted into various media, including radio, stage, motion pictures, and videogames. The book has been adapted for radio four times. In 1955 and 1956, the BBC broadcast The Lord of the Rings , a 13-part radio adaptation of the story. In the 1960s radio station WBAI produced a short radio adaptation . A 1979 dramatization of The Lord of

11165-583: The Rings was awarded the International Fantasy Award . Despite its numerous detractors, the publication of the Ace Books and Ballantine paperbacks helped The Lord of the Rings become immensely popular in the United States in the 1960s. The book has remained so ever since, ranking as the most popular works of fiction of the twentieth century, judged by all of three different measures: sales, library borrowings, and reader surveys. In

11310-684: The Rings , read by the British actor Rob Inglis . A large-scale musical theatre adaptation, The Lord of the Rings , was first staged in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2006 and opened in London in June 2007; it was a commercial failure. Elrond Elrond Half-elven is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth legendarium . Both of his parents, Eärendil and Elwing , were half-elven , having both Men and Elves as ancestors. He

11455-683: The Rings , with a flashback to Bilbo's encounter with Gollum in The Hobbit . A far more successful adaptation was Peter Jackson 's live action The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , produced by New Line Cinema and released in three instalments as The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of

11600-513: The Ruling Ring. That we now know too well. It belongs to Sauron and was made by him alone, and is altogether evil. Its strength, Boromir, is too great for anyone to wield at will, save only those who have already a great power of their own. But for them it holds an even deadlier peril. The very desire of it corrupts the heart. Consider Saruman. If any of the Wise should wield this Ring to overthrow

11745-473: The Ruling Ring." The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that Tolkien, professionally interested in words and language, reveals character through styles of speech. Elrond is seen to use an archaic but clear style in the Council of Elrond. Shippey states that his use of grammatical inversions is now rare, but still colloquial, as in common phrases like "Down came the rain. Up went the umbrellas." He writes that

11890-414: The Sea to find peace. Extensive appendices outline more details of the history, cultures, genealogies , and languages that Tolkien imagined for the peoples of Middle-earth. In antiquarian style , they provide background details for the narrative, with much detail for Tolkien fans who want to know more about the stories. Tolkien presents The Lord of the Rings within a fictional frame story where he

12035-522: 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 . Aiding the hobbits are the wizard Gandalf , the men Aragorn and Boromir , the elf Legolas , and the dwarf Gimli , who unite as the Company of the Ring in order to rally

12180-599: The Shire and the elves' Grey Havens in the Northwest as certainly good, and Mordor in the Southeast as certainly Evil; Gondor in the Southwest is in their view morally ambivalent, matching the characters of both Boromir and Denethor . They observe further that the Shire's four quadrants or "Farthings" serve as a "microcosm" of the moral geography of Middle-earth as a whole: thus, the evil Black Riders appear first in

12325-462: The Shire. Gandalf leaves, promising to return, but fails to do so. Frodo sets out on foot with his cousin Pippin Took and gardener Sam Gamgee . They are pursued by Black Riders , but meet some Elves , whose singing to Elbereth wards off the Riders. The Hobbits take an evasive shortcut to Bucklebury Ferry, where they meet their friend Merry Brandybuck . Merry and Pippin reveal they know about

12470-560: The Third Age . However, these individual book titles were dropped, and after pressure from his publishers, Tolkien suggested the volume titles: Vol. 1, The Shadow Grows ; Vol. 2, The Ring in the Shadow ; Vol. 3, The War of the Ring or The Return of the King . Because the three-volume binding was so widely distributed, the work is often referred to as the Lord of the Rings "trilogy". In

12615-483: The United Kingdom. In the United States, Houghton Mifflin published The Fellowship of the Ring on 21 October 1954, The Two Towers on 21 April 1955, and The Return of the King on 5 January 1956. The Return of the King was especially delayed as Tolkien revised the ending and prepared appendices (some of which had to be left out because of space constraints). Tolkien did not like the title The Return of

12760-716: The achievement of John Milton 's Paradise Lost . Kenneth F. Slater wrote in Nebula Science Fiction , April 1955, "... if you don't read it, you have missed one of the finest books of its type ever to appear". On the other hand, in 1955, the Scottish poet Edwin Muir attacked The Return of the King , writing that "All the characters are boys masquerading as adult heroes ... and will never come to puberty ... Hardly one of them knows anything about women", causing Tolkien to complain angrily to his publisher. In 1956,

12905-435: The addictive danger of power , and various aspects of Christianity such as the presence of three Christ figures, for prophet, priest, and king , as well as elements like hope and redemptive suffering . There is a common theme throughout the work of language , its sound , and its relationship to peoples and places, along with hints of providence in descriptions of weather and landscape. Out of these, Tolkien stated that

13050-452: The army departed from Imladris to Mordor , led by Elendil and Gil-galad. Sauron killed both of them at the end of the siege of Barad-dûr . Elrond saw Elendil's son Isildur destroy Sauron's physical body and take the One Ring for himself; Elrond and Cirdan urged Isildur to destroy it, but he refused. Elrond served as Gil-galad's herald, and he and Círdan were entrusted with the two Elven Rings that Gil-galad held. Elrond and Círdan were

13195-511: The atlas provides historical, geological , and battle maps, with a detailed commentary and explanation of how Fonstad approached the mapping task from the available evidence. Michael Brisbois, also in Tolkien Studies , describes the atlas as "authorized", while the cartographers Ina Habermann and Nikolaus Kuhn take Fonstad's maps as defining Middle-earth's geography. Stentor Danielson, a Tolkien scholar, notes that Tolkien did not provide

13340-491: The author's original intent. Tolkien's work, after an initially mixed reception by the literary establishment, has been the subject of extensive analysis of its themes , literary devices , and origins. Influences on this earlier work, and on the story of The Lord of the Rings , include philology , mythology, Christianity , earlier fantasy works , and his own experiences in the First World War . The Lord of

13485-498: The books had broken even, after which he would take a large share of the profits. It has ultimately become one of the best-selling novels ever written, with at least 50 million copies sold by 2003 and over 150 million copies sold by 2007. The work was published in the UK by Allen & Unwin until 1990, when the publisher and its assets were acquired by HarperCollins . In the early 1960s Donald A. Wollheim , science fiction editor of

13630-701: The boxshape of Asia Minor "; that "Dol Amroth makes a fine Venice "; that the Rohirrim and their grasslands are comparable to " Hungary of the Magyars , who were weak allies of Byzantine Constantinople"; and that the Corsairs of Umbar resembled the Barbary pirates who served Mehmed the Conqueror . The linguist David Salo writes that Gondor recalls "a kind of decaying Byzantium"; its piratical enemy Umbar like

13775-439: The central theme is death and immortality. To those who supposed that the book was an allegory of events in the 20th century, Tolkien replied in the foreword to the Second Edition that it was not, saying he preferred "history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers." Some commentators have criticized the book for being a story about men for boys, with no significant women; or about

13920-541: The character in the previous film. Carl Hague portrayed Elrond in National Public Radio 's 1979 radio production of The Lord of the Rings . Hugh Dickson portrayed Elrond in BBC Radio 's 1981 serialisation of The Lord of the Rings . In the 1993 Finnish television miniseries Hobitit , Elrond is played by Leif Wager . In the 2006 Toronto musical adaptation of The Lord of the Rings , Elrond

14065-472: The dark forests of the North. Scholars have likened Gondor to Byzantium (medieval Istanbul), while Tolkien connected it to Venice. The Corsairs of Umbar have been linked to the Barbary corsairs of the late Middle Ages. Númenor echoes the mythical Atlantis described by Plato . About the origins of his storytelling and the place of cartography within it, Tolkien stated in a letter: I wisely started with

14210-769: The distant, painful relationship of Denethor , the despairing and ultimately suicidal Steward of Gondor , and his son Faramir . He notes that this was a major theme in Tolkien's legendarium , with father-son pairs like Húrin and Túrin , or the Dark Elf Eöl betrayed by his power-hungry son, Maeglin. Rosebury comments that Elrond's forbidding Arwen to marry has an analogue with Tolkien's own youth, when his guardian Father Francis Morgan took responsibility for Tolkien's moral wellbeing after his mother Mabel 's death, blocking his relationship with Edith Bratt , whom he eventually married. Charles W. Nelson, writing in Journal of

14355-528: The dwarf-king Durin and the elf-king of Lórien, Amroth, attacked Sauron's rearguard. Sauron turned to fight them, and drove them back to Moria . Elrond was able to retreat north to a secluded valley, where he established the refuge of Imladris , later called Rivendell; he lived there through the Second and Third Ages. Near the end of the Second Age, the Last Alliance of Elves and Men was formed, and

14500-484: The east of Rhûn and to the south and east of Harad are not described in the stories, which take place in the north-western part of Middle-earth. The events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings take place in the north-west of the continent of Middle-earth. Both quests begin in the Shire, travel east through the wilds of Eriador to Rivendell and then across the Misty Mountains, involve further travels in

14645-422: The editors and submitted by readers. Yet more corrections were made in the 60th Anniversary Edition in 2014. Several editions, including the 50th Anniversary Edition, print the whole work in one volume, with the result that pagination varies widely over the various editions. From 1988 to 1992 Christopher Tolkien published the surviving drafts of The Lord of the Rings , chronicling and illuminating with commentary

14790-459: The end of the Third Age, much of the northwest of Middle-earth is wild, with traces here and there of ruined cities and fortresses from earlier civilisations among the mountains, rivers, forests, hills, plains and marshes. The major nations that appear in The Lord of the Rings are Rohan and Gondor on the side of the Free Peoples, and Mordor and its allies Harad (Southrons) and Rhûn (Easterlings) on

14935-624: The hero Beren must bring a Silmaril from the iron crown of the Dark Lord Morgoth . But, he writes, Elrond is a caring father with no trace of cruelty. The demand that Arwen "shall not be the bride of any Man less than the King of both Gondor and Arnor" is in his view just "giving his foster son incentive to achieve what it is his hereditary duty to attempt anyway", as well as doing the best for his daughter: "Elrond loves them both". The humanities scholar Brian Rosebury writes that Tolkien contrasts Elrond's paternal love for Arwen with

15080-421: The high cost of type-setting and modest anticipated sales: The Fellowship of the Ring (Books I and II), The Two Towers (Books III and IV), and The Return of the King (Books V and VI plus six appendices). Delays in producing appendices, maps and especially an index led to the volumes being published later than originally hoped – on 29 July 1954, on 11 November 1954 and on 20 October 1955 respectively in

15225-695: The hills of Emyn Muil and the enormous rock statues of the Argonath and flows through the dangerous rapids of Sarn Gebir and over the Falls of Rauros into Gondor. Gondor's border with Rohan is the Ered Nimrais, the White Mountains, which run east–west from the sea to a point near the Anduin; at that point is Gondor's capital city, Minas Tirith . Across the river to the East is the land of Mordor . It

15370-750: The home of Elrond . South from there is the ancient land of Hollin, once the elvish land of Eregion, where the Rings of Power were forged. At the Grey Havens (Mithlond), on the Gulf of Lune, Círdan built the ships in which the Elves departed from Middle-earth to Valinor. The Misty Mountains were thrown up by the Dark Lord Melkor in the First Age to impede Oromë , one of the Valar, who often rode across Middle-earth hunting. The Dwarf -realm of Moria

15515-536: The interplay between English and the invented nomenclature of the English work, and gave several examples along with general guidance. Early reviews of the work were mixed . The initial review in the Sunday Telegraph described it as "among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century". The Sunday Times echoed this sentiment, stating that "the English-speaking world

15660-486: The lands of Rhovanion or Wilderland to the east of those mountains, and return home to the Shire. The cartographer Karen Wynn Fonstad prepared The Atlas of Middle-earth to clarify and map the two journeys – of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit , and of Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings – as well as the events described in The Silmarillion . The editor of Tolkien Studies , David Bratman , notes that

15805-421: The literary establishment disliked The Lord of the Rings , and the work's subtlety, themes, and merits, including the impression of depth that it conveys. The scholar of humanities Brian Rosebury analysed Tolkien's prose style in detail, showing that it was generally quite plain, varying to suit the voices of the different characters, and rising to a heroic register for special moments. In 1957, The Lord of

15950-420: The militarization and industrialization inspired the character of Sauron and his forces. The Orcs represented the worst of it as workers that have been tortured and brutalized by the war and industry. Scholars and critics have identified many themes in the book with its complex interlaced narrative , including a reversed quest , the struggle of good and evil , death and immortality , fate and free will,

16095-485: The northwest lay Lake Evendim, once called Nenuial by the Elves. A remnant of the ancient forest of Eriador survived throughout the Third Age just to the east of the Shire as the Old Forest , the domain of Tom Bombadil . Northeast of there is Bree , the only place where hobbits and Men live in the same villages. Further east from Bree is the hill of Weathertop with the ancient fortress of Amon Sûl, and then Rivendell ,

16240-544: The old rule was that the verb had to come second in the sentence, so if something other than a noun phrase began a sentence, then the noun had to go after the verb. In this way, Shippey writes, Tolkien gives Elrond a consistently archaic style, using not just old words "(the first resort of the amateur medievalist)" but more importantly through grammar. The effect is to make his speech distinctive, suiting his immense age, while remaining clear, and never merely quaint. Importantly, his way of speaking links him with Isildur, who becomes

16385-561: The only ones to stand with Gil-galad when he fell. Elrond married Celebrían, daughter of Celeborn and Galadriel , early in the Third Age . The place and date of Celebrían's birth are not specified. In the version of their history that describes Galadriel and Celeborn as rulers of Eregion in the Second Age , Galadriel and Celebrían left Eregion for Lórinand as Sauron 's influence over Eregion grew. According to one account, Celebrían and her parents later lived for many years in Rivendell ( Imladris ). Celebrían and Elrond had three children:

16530-607: The paperback publisher Ace Books , claimed that The Lord of the Rings was not protected in the United States under American copyright law because Houghton Mifflin, the US hardcover publisher, had neglected to copyright the work in the United States. Then, in 1965, Ace Books proceeded to publish an edition, unauthorized by Tolkien and without paying royalties to him. Tolkien took issue with this and quickly notified his fans of this objection. Grass-roots pressure from these fans became so great that Ace Books withdrew their edition and made

16675-454: The poetry is essential for the fiction to work aesthetically and thematically, as it adds information not given in the prose, and it brings out characters and their backgrounds. The poetry has been judged to be of high technical skill, reflected in Tolkien's prose; for instance, he wrote much of Tom Bombadil 's speech in metre. Tolkien worked on the text using his maps of Middle-earth as

16820-439: The same "elaborate textual history" to contextualise his maps as he did for his writings . Danielson suggests that this has assisted the tendency among Tolkien's fans to treat his maps as "geographical fact". He calls Fonstad's atlas "magisterial", and comments that like Tolkien, Fonstad worked from the assumption that the maps, like the texts, "are objective facts" which the cartographer must fully reconcile. He gives as an instance

16965-709: The same fate. Aragorn, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli, and the Rangers of the North , takes the Paths of the Dead to recruit the Dead Men of Dunharrow, oathbreakers who will have no rest until they fight for the King of Gondor. Aragorn unleashes the Army of the Dead on the Corsairs of Umbar invading southern Gondor. He and men of southern Gondor sail in the Corsairs' ships up the Anduin , reaching Minas Tirith just in time to turn

17110-580: The seagoing Carthage ; the Southrons (of Harad) "Arab-like"; and the Easterlings "suggesting Sarmatians , Huns and Avars ". The geologist Alex Acks, writing on Tor.com , outlines mismatches between Tolkien's maps and the processes of plate tectonics which shape the Earth's continents and mountain ranges . Acks comments that no natural process creates right-angle junctions in mountain ranges, such as are seen around Mordor and at both ends of

17255-408: The side of the Dark Lord. Gondor, once extremely powerful, is by that time much reduced in its reach, and has lost control of Ithilien (bordering Mordor) and South Gondor (bordering Harad). Forgotten by most of the rest of the world is the Shire, a small region in the northwest of Middle-earth inhabited by hobbits amidst the abandoned lands of Eriador. With his "Southrons" from Harad, Tolkien had – in

17400-420: The son of the half-elven mariner Eärendil and Elwing his wife, and a great-grandson of Beren and Lúthien . Not long afterwards, the havens were destroyed by the sons of Fëanor , who captured Elrond and his brother Elros. Their parents feared that they would be killed; instead, they were befriended by Fëanor's sons Maedhros and Maglor. Like his parents but unlike his brother, Elrond chose to be counted among

17545-587: The south of Middle-earth by the Great Gulf. Beleriand was largely destroyed in the cataclysm of the War of Wrath , leaving only a remnant coastal plain, Lindon, just to the west of the Ered Luin (also called Ered Lindon or Blue Mountains). The cataclysm divided Ered Luin and Lindon by the newly created Gulf of Lune; the northern part was Forlindon, the southern Harlindon. In the northwest of Middle-earth, Eriador

17690-626: The southern end of Mirkwood is the Elvish land of Lothlorien . Further south, backing on to the Misty Mountains, lies the forest of Fangorn , home of the tree-giants, the ents . In a valley at the southern end of the Misty Mountains is Isengard , home to the wizard Saruman . Just to the South of both Fangorn and Isengard is the wide grassy land of the Riders of Rohan , who provide cavalry to its southerly neighbour, Gondor . The River Anduin passes

17835-479: The stages of the text's development, in volumes 6–9 of his History of Middle-earth series. The four volumes carry the titles The Return of the Shadow , The Treason of Isengard , The War of the Ring , and Sauron Defeated . The work has been translated, with varying degrees of success, into at least 38, and reportedly at least 70, languages. Tolkien, an expert in philology , examined many of these translations, and made comments on each that reflect both

17980-431: The story of the One Ring emerged. The idea for the first chapter ("A Long-Expected Party") arrived fully formed, although the reasons behind Bilbo's disappearance, the significance of the Ring, and the title The Lord of the Rings did not come until the spring of 1938. Originally, he planned to write a story in which Bilbo had used up all his treasure and was looking for another adventure to gain more; however, he remembered

18125-582: The tide of battle. Théoden's niece Éowyn , who joined the army in disguise, kills the Lord of the Nazgûl with help from Merry; both are wounded. Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron's army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields , but Théoden is killed. Aragorn enters Minas Tirith and heals the sick. He leads an army through Ithilien to the Black Gate to distract Sauron from his true danger. At the Battle of

18270-421: The titles The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers , and The Return of the King ; The Silmarillion appeared only after the author's death. The work is divided internally into six books, two per volume, with several appendices of chronologies, genealogies, and linguistic information. These three volumes were later published as a boxed set in 1957, and even finally as a single volume in 1968, following

18415-675: The translation process and his work. As he was unhappy with some choices made by early translators, such as the Swedish translation by Åke Ohlmarks , Tolkien wrote a " Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings " (1967). Because The Lord of the Rings purports to be a translation of the fictitious Red Book of Westmarch , using the English language to represent the Westron of the "original", Tolkien suggested that translators attempt to capture

18560-463: The twins Elladan and Elrohir, and Arwen Undómiel (Evenstar). On a trip from Rivendell to Lórien, Celebrían was waylaid by Orcs in the Redhorn Pass on Caradhras in the Misty Mountains . She was captured and tormented and received a poisoned wound. She was rescued by her sons and healed by Elrond, but "after fear and torment" she could no longer find joy in Middle-earth , so she passed to

18705-450: The usage was clearly intentional, and that Tolkien was "excruciating[ly]" careful on such matters. She notes that he called Tom Bombadil "Master of wood, water, and hill", but denied that the term implied ownership. Further, "master" is used as a term of respect, as by Barliman Butterbur to the hobbits in Bree. Finally, she writes, mastery implies the skill of an authority or revered artist:

18850-497: The view of John Magoun, writing in the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia – constructed a "fully expressed moral geography", from the hobbits' home in the Northwest, evil in the East, and "imperial sophistication and decadence" in the South. Magoun explains that Gondor is both virtuous, being West, and has problems, being South; Mordor in the Southeast is hellish, while Harad in the extreme South "regresses into hot savagery". Steve Walker similarly speaks of "Tolkien's moral geography", naming

18995-571: The western part of Middle-earth was the subcontinent Beleriand ; it was engulfed by the ocean at the end of the First Age . Ossë , on behalf of the Valar, then raised the island continent of Númenor as a gift to the now homeless Men of Beleriand, thenceforth called Númenóreans . After Eru Ilúvatar destroyed Númenor near the end of the Second Age, he remade Arda as a round world, and the Undying Lands were removed from Arda so that Men could not reach them. The Elves could go there only by

19140-407: The wight's hoard. The Hobbits reach the village of Bree , where they meet Strider , a Ranger . The innkeeper gives Frodo an old letter from Gandalf, which identifies Strider as a friend. Knowing the Black Riders will attempt to seize the Ring, Strider guides the group toward the Elvish sanctuary of Rivendell . At Weathertop , they are attacked by five Black Riders. Their leader wounds Frodo with

19285-571: The wizard in the tower of Orthanc . Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden's aid. He brings an army of Riders of Rohan to Helm's Deep. They defeat the Orcs, who flee into the forest of Huorns and are destroyed. Gandalf, Théoden, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ride to Isengard, where they find Merry and Pippin relaxing amidst the ruins. Gandalf offers Saruman a chance to turn away from evil. When Saruman refuses, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers. Wormtongue throws down

19430-522: The work as holding unquestioning devotion to a traditional hierarchical social structure. In his essay " Epic Pooh ", fantasy author Michael Moorcock critiques the world-view displayed by the book as deeply conservative, in both the " paternalism " of the narrative voice and the power structures in the narrative. Tom Shippey , like Tolkien an English philologist, notes the wide gulf between Tolkien's supporters, both popular and academic, and his literary detractors, and attempts to explain in detail both why

19575-401: The work that she did to make the journey of Thorin's company in The Hobbit consistent with the map, something that Tolkien found himself unable to do. Danielson writes that in addition, Fonstad created "the most comprehensive set" of thematic maps of Middle-earth, presenting geographic data including political boundaries, climate, population density, and the routes of characters and armies. At

19720-488: Was a major influence, and Tolkien undoubtedly made use of some real place-names, such as Bag End, the name of his aunt's home. Tolkien stated, too, that he had been influenced by his childhood experiences of the English countryside of Worcestershire near Sarehole Mill , and its urbanization by the growth of Birmingham , and his personal experience of fighting in the trenches of the First World War . Moreover,

19865-519: Was borrowed from the Broceliand of medieval romance. Tolkien tried out many invented names in search of the right sound , in Beleriand's case including Golodhinand, Noldórinan ("valley of the Noldor "), Geleriand, Bladorinand, Belaurien, Arsiriand, Lassiriand, and Ossiriand (later used as a name for the easternmost part of Beleriand). The Elves have been linked to Celtic mythology. The Battle of

20010-413: Was broadcast in 1971. In 1978, Ralph Bakshi made an animated film version covering The Fellowship of the Ring and part of The Two Towers , to mixed reviews. In 1980, Rankin/Bass released an animated TV special based on the closing chapters of The Return of the King , gaining mixed reviews. In Finland, a live action television miniseries, Hobitit , was broadcast in 1993 based on The Lord of

20155-518: Was built in the First Age beneath the midpoint of the mountain range. The two major passes across the mountains were the High Pass or Pass of Imladris near Rivendell , with a higher and a lower route, and the all-year Redhorn Pass further south near Moria. East of the Misty Mountains, Anduin, the Great River, flows southwards, with the forest of Mirkwood to its east. On its west bank opposite

20300-589: Was inspired primarily by his profession, philology ; his work centred on the study of Old English literature, especially Beowulf , and he acknowledged its importance to his writings . He was a gifted linguist, influenced by Celtic, Finnish, Slavic, and Greek language and mythology. Commentators have attempted to identify literary and topological antecedents for characters, places and events in Tolkien's writings; he acknowledged that he had enjoyed adventure stories by authors such as John Buchan and Rider Haggard . The Arts and Crafts polymath William Morris

20445-532: Was made to fit a 21st century view of political and military expectations. In the 2022 television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power , a younger Elrond is played by Robert Aramayo . Weaving reprised his role as both Elrond and the narrator in video games The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (2006) and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (2009). In

20590-701: Was part of his created world of Arda . It was a flat world surrounded by ocean. It included the Undying Lands of Aman and Eressëa , which were all part of the wider creation, Eä . Aman and Middle-earth were separated from each other by the Great Sea Belegaer , analogous to the Atlantic Ocean . The western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar , and the Elves called the Eldar . Initially,

20735-471: Was portrayed by Victor A. Young. In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy directed by Peter Jackson , Elrond is portrayed by Hugo Weaving . In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Elrond holds Men in lesser regard after witnessing Isildur 's failure to destroy the One Ring. Unlike in the book, he is skeptical of Aragorn both in terms of his ability to lead

20880-458: Was printed in October that year, selling a quarter of a million copies within ten months. On 4 September 1966, the novel debuted on The New York Times ' s Paperback Bestsellers list as number three, and was number one by 4 December, a position it held for eight weeks. Houghton Mifflin editions after 1994 consolidate variant revisions by Tolkien, and corrections supervised by Christopher Tolkien , which resulted, after some initial glitches, in

21025-399: Was the region between the Ered Luin and the Misty Mountains. Early in the Third Age, the northern kingdom of Arnor founded by Elendil occupied a large part of the region. After its collapse, much of Eriador became wild; regions such as Minhiriath, on the coast south of the River Baranduin (Brandywine), were abandoned. A small part of the region was occupied by Hobbits to form the Shire . To

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