The Hobbit

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a fantasy novel by English author J.R.R. Tolkien. It was published on September 21, 1937, to wide critical acclaim, nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children’s literature.

    The Hobbit is set in a time “between the Dawn of Faerie and the Dominion of Men,” and follows the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by Smaug the dragon. Bilbo’s journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into more sinister territory. The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature or type of creature of Tolkien’s geography. Bilbo gains new levels of maturity, competence, and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey, and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and sense. The story reaches its climax in "The Battle of the Five Armies," where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.

The Return of the King

The Return of the King is the third and final volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, following The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. The story begins in the kingdom of Gondor, soon to be attacked by the Dark Lord Sauron.

    Tolkien conceived of The Lord of the Rings as a single volume comprising six “books” plus extensive appendices. The original publisher split the work into three volumes, publishing the fifth and sixth books with the appendices into the final volume with the title The Return of the King. Tolkien felt the chosen title revealed too much of the story and indicated he preferred The War of the Ring as a title.

    The proposed title for Book V was The War of the Ring; Book VI was to be The End of the Third Age. These titles were used in the Millennium edition.

   The Return of the King was in the end published as the third and final volume of The Lord of the Rings on October 20, 1955, in the United Kingdom.

The Two Towers

The Two Towers is the second volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s high fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. It is preceded by The Fellowship of the Ring and followed by The Return of the King.

     The Lord of the Rings is composed of six “books,” aside from an introduction, a prologue and six appendices. The novel was originally published as three separate volumes due to post-World War II paper shortages and size and price considerations. The Two Towers covers Books III and IV.

     Tolkien wrote, “The Two Towers gets as near as possible to finding a title to cover the widely divergent Books III and IV; and can be left ambiguous.” At this stage he planned to title the individual books. The proposed title for Book III was The Treason of Isengard; Book IV was titled The Journey of the Ringbearers or The Ring Goes East. The titles The Treason of Isengard and The Ring Goes East were used in the Millennium edition.

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J.R.R. Tolkien. It is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. It takes place in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. It was originally published on July 29, 1954 in the United Kingdom. The volume consists of a prologue titled “Concerning Hobbits, and Other Matters” followed by Book I and Book II.