Lord of the Rings | The Lord of the Rings

At a glance:

Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
First Published: 1954
Type of Work: Novel
Type of Plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
Time of Work: The Third Age, an undefined time in the remote past
Setting: Middle-earth, a feudal world populated by men, dwarves, wizards, and other fantastic beings
Genres: Long fiction, Fantasy
Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Blizzards, Traveling or travelers, Folkloric or magical people, Magic or magicians, Supernatural, Leadership, Other worlds, Friendship, War, Good and evil, Adventure, Heroes or heroism, Dwarfs, Quest, Elves, Rings, Talisman or magical object
Locales: Middle-earth (mythic)

The Lord of the Rings, the seminal work of modern fantasy, was first published in sections only as a concession to its length; the division of the work into the three volumes familiar to most readers bears no relation to the development of the story. J. R. R. Tolkien himself divided the work into six numbered but untitled books, two of which appear in each volume. Although The Lord of the Rings was begun as a sequel to Tolkien’s popular 1938 children’s book The Hobbit, it so dwarfs the earlier volume in both seriousness and scope as to have...

Lord of the Rings | The Lord of the Rings

At a glance:

The Plot

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