From homely beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land reminiscent of the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following the quest to destroy the One Ring mainly through the eyes of the hobbits Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin.Īlthough often called a trilogy, the work was intended by Tolkien to be one volume of a two-volume set along with The Silmarillion. The title refers to the story's main antagonist, the Dark Lord Sauron, who in an earlier age created the One Ring to rule the other Rings of Power given to Men, Dwarves, and Elves, in his campaign to conquer all of Middle-earth.
Written in stages between 19, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some distant time in the past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. The Lord of the Rings is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J.
