The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien, later fitted as a trilogy. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier fantasy book The Hobbit and soon developed into a much larger story. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, with much of it being written during World War II. It was originally published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955, and has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into at least 38 different languages, becoming one of the most popular works in twentieth-century literature.
First edition copies of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
The action in The Lord of the Rings is set in what the author conceived to be the lands of the real Earth, inhabited by humanity but placed in a fictional past, before our history but after the fall of his version of Atlantis, which he calls Númenor. Tolkien gave this setting a modern English name, Middle-earth, a rendering of the Old English Middangeard.
Back story
The back story begins thousands of years before the action in the book, with the rise of the eponymous Lord of the Rings, the Dark Lord Sauron, a malevolent incarnated immortal spiritual being who possessed great supernatural powers and who later became the ruler of the dreaded realm of Mordor. At the end of the First Age of Middle-earth, Sauron survived the catastrophic defeat and chaining of his lord, the ultimate Dark Lord, Morgoth Bauglir (who was formerly counted as one of the Vala, the angelic Powers of the world). During the Second Age, Sauron schemed to gain dominion over Middle-earth. In the disguise as "Annatar" or Lord of Gifts, he aided Celebrimbor and other Elven-smiths of Eregion in the forging of magical rings which confer various powers and effects on their wearers. The most important of these were The Nine, the seven an the three (which he did not touch or know of the three.) called the Rings of Power or Great Rings.
However, he then secretly forged a Great Ring of his own, the One Ring, by which he planned to enslave the wearers of the other Rings of Power. This plan failed when the Elves became aware of him and took off their Rings. Sauron then launched a war during which he captured sixteen and distributed them to lords and kings of Dwarves and Men; these Rings were known as the Seven and the Nine respectively. The Dwarf-lords proved too tough to enslave although their natural desire for wealth, especially gold, increased; this brought more conflict between them and other races. The Men who possessed the Nine were slowly corrupted over time and eventually became the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths, Sauron's most feared servants. The Three Sauron failed to capture, and remained in the possession of the Elves (who forged these independently). The war ended as the Men of the island-nation of Númenor, a great nation, helped the besieged Elves, and Sauron's forces retreated from the coasts of Eriador. At this time he still held most of Middle-earth, excluding Imladris (Rivendell) and the Gulf of Lune.
A map of Númenor
Over 1500 years later, word reaches the current Kings of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn, that Sauron has been bearing the title "Lord of all Middle-earth". This provoked Ar-Pharazôn and gave him an opportunity to show the glory and strength of Númenor. He arrived in Middle-earth with such overwhelming force that Sauron's armies flee at the sight of them. Abandoned by his minions, Sauron surrendered to the Númenóreans, and was taken to Númenor as a "prisoner". Sauron then started to poison the minds of the Númenóreans against the Valar. Thus, Sauron set into motion events that brought about Númenor's destruction. He did this by corrupting the King's mind, telling him that the immortality of the Elves was his to take if he set foot upon the lands of Aman, the Blessed Realm, where Valinor, the realm of the Valar, was located. With old age on his mind, Ar-Pharazôn lead an invasion of Aman and Valinor with the greatest host seen since the end of the First Age. However, upon reaching Aman, he and his army were buried by a landslide, and there they would remain until the Final Battle in Tolkien's eschatology. Manwë, the King of Arda, calls upon Eru Ilúvatar (God), who opened a great chasm in the sea, destroying Númenor, and removed the Undying Lands from the mortal world. The destruction of Númenor destroyed Sauron's fair and handsome physical body, but his spirit returned to Mordor and assumes a new form black, burning hot (though he was not on fire), and terrible. Over 100 years later, he launched an attack against the Númenórean exiled (the Faithful, who did not join Ar-Pharazôn's expedition), who managed to escape to Middle-earth. However, the exiles (led by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion) had time to prepare, and, after forming the Last Alliance of Elves and Men with the Elven-king Gil-galad, they marched against Mordor, defeated Sauron on the plain of Dagorlad, and besieged Barad-dûr, at which time Anárion was slain. After seven years of siege, Sauron himself was ultimately forced to engage in single combat with the leaders. Gil-galad and Elendil perished as they combat Sauron, and Elendil's sword, Narsil, broke beneath him. However, Sauron's body was also overcome and slain, and Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand with the hilt-shard of Narsil, and at this Sauron's spirit flees and does not reappear in his terrible form for many centuries. Isildur was advised to destroy the One Ring by the only way it could be by casting it into the volcanic Mount Doom where it was forged but he refused, attracted to its beauty and kept it as compensation for the deaths of his father and brother (weregild).
First edition copies of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings
The action in The Lord of the Rings is set in what the author conceived to be the lands of the real Earth, inhabited by humanity but placed in a fictional past, before our history but after the fall of his version of Atlantis, which he calls Númenor. Tolkien gave this setting a modern English name, Middle-earth, a rendering of the Old English Middangeard.
Back story
The back story begins thousands of years before the action in the book, with the rise of the eponymous Lord of the Rings, the Dark Lord Sauron, a malevolent incarnated immortal spiritual being who possessed great supernatural powers and who later became the ruler of the dreaded realm of Mordor. At the end of the First Age of Middle-earth, Sauron survived the catastrophic defeat and chaining of his lord, the ultimate Dark Lord, Morgoth Bauglir (who was formerly counted as one of the Vala, the angelic Powers of the world). During the Second Age, Sauron schemed to gain dominion over Middle-earth. In the disguise as "Annatar" or Lord of Gifts, he aided Celebrimbor and other Elven-smiths of Eregion in the forging of magical rings which confer various powers and effects on their wearers. The most important of these were The Nine, the seven an the three (which he did not touch or know of the three.) called the Rings of Power or Great Rings.
However, he then secretly forged a Great Ring of his own, the One Ring, by which he planned to enslave the wearers of the other Rings of Power. This plan failed when the Elves became aware of him and took off their Rings. Sauron then launched a war during which he captured sixteen and distributed them to lords and kings of Dwarves and Men; these Rings were known as the Seven and the Nine respectively. The Dwarf-lords proved too tough to enslave although their natural desire for wealth, especially gold, increased; this brought more conflict between them and other races. The Men who possessed the Nine were slowly corrupted over time and eventually became the Nazgûl or Ringwraiths, Sauron's most feared servants. The Three Sauron failed to capture, and remained in the possession of the Elves (who forged these independently). The war ended as the Men of the island-nation of Númenor, a great nation, helped the besieged Elves, and Sauron's forces retreated from the coasts of Eriador. At this time he still held most of Middle-earth, excluding Imladris (Rivendell) and the Gulf of Lune.
A map of Númenor
Over 1500 years later, word reaches the current Kings of Númenor, Ar-Pharazôn, that Sauron has been bearing the title "Lord of all Middle-earth". This provoked Ar-Pharazôn and gave him an opportunity to show the glory and strength of Númenor. He arrived in Middle-earth with such overwhelming force that Sauron's armies flee at the sight of them. Abandoned by his minions, Sauron surrendered to the Númenóreans, and was taken to Númenor as a "prisoner". Sauron then started to poison the minds of the Númenóreans against the Valar. Thus, Sauron set into motion events that brought about Númenor's destruction. He did this by corrupting the King's mind, telling him that the immortality of the Elves was his to take if he set foot upon the lands of Aman, the Blessed Realm, where Valinor, the realm of the Valar, was located. With old age on his mind, Ar-Pharazôn lead an invasion of Aman and Valinor with the greatest host seen since the end of the First Age. However, upon reaching Aman, he and his army were buried by a landslide, and there they would remain until the Final Battle in Tolkien's eschatology. Manwë, the King of Arda, calls upon Eru Ilúvatar (God), who opened a great chasm in the sea, destroying Númenor, and removed the Undying Lands from the mortal world. The destruction of Númenor destroyed Sauron's fair and handsome physical body, but his spirit returned to Mordor and assumes a new form black, burning hot (though he was not on fire), and terrible. Over 100 years later, he launched an attack against the Númenórean exiled (the Faithful, who did not join Ar-Pharazôn's expedition), who managed to escape to Middle-earth. However, the exiles (led by Elendil and his sons Isildur and Anárion) had time to prepare, and, after forming the Last Alliance of Elves and Men with the Elven-king Gil-galad, they marched against Mordor, defeated Sauron on the plain of Dagorlad, and besieged Barad-dûr, at which time Anárion was slain. After seven years of siege, Sauron himself was ultimately forced to engage in single combat with the leaders. Gil-galad and Elendil perished as they combat Sauron, and Elendil's sword, Narsil, broke beneath him. However, Sauron's body was also overcome and slain, and Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand with the hilt-shard of Narsil, and at this Sauron's spirit flees and does not reappear in his terrible form for many centuries. Isildur was advised to destroy the One Ring by the only way it could be by casting it into the volcanic Mount Doom where it was forged but he refused, attracted to its beauty and kept it as compensation for the deaths of his father and brother (weregild).
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