The Lord of the Rings

by J. R. R. Tolkien

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Book 1 Summary

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Overview
In Lord of the Rings, the inhabitants of Middle Earth unite to save themselves from enslavement by the malevolent Sauron. Centuries earlier, Sauron forged a Ring, infusing it with much of his power, to control men, dwarves, and elves through a series of lesser rings. Some men succumbed to his influence, but an alliance of men and elves defeated him, and the Ring was severed from his hand. It should have been destroyed, but a human prince, Isildur, took it instead. Isildur was later killed, and the Ring fell into a river. There, it was eventually found by the hobbit-like Deagol. His friend Sméagol killed Deagol for the Ring. The Ring then passed to Bilbo Baggins, who, unaware of its powers and dangers, takes it back to his home and eventually leaves it to his cousin and heir Frodo Baggins. Once it is understood what the Ring is and that Sauron is trying to reclaim it, it becomes clear that it must be destroyed. However, it can only be destroyed in the same fire in which it was forged, the volcano Orodruin, deep in Sauron's territory. It seems a reckless and hopeless mission, requiring the remaining forces of Middle Earth to fight and serve as a decoy while sending Sauron's ultimate weapon back into the heart of his realm. The sheer unlikelihood of the mission confuses Sauron. The Ring is ultimately destroyed in an act of providential irony, but not without significant loss and a fundamental change to Middle Earth.

The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings is preceded by a prologue, The Hobbit, which introduces the Hobbits, Middle Earth, and Sauron's Ring. Bilbo Baggins, on a superficially unrelated adventure, finds, steals, or wins—actually a bit of all three—a magic ring. His first act while wearing the ring is to spare the life of its previous owner, Gollum, despite the creature's murderous intentions. Bilbo uses the ring throughout the rest of the book to assist his companions, elevating their perception of him from an awkward burden to a statesman, if not quite a hero. Upon returning home, he finds that his reputation will never recover from his adventure, and he does not care.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Book 1
Gandalf the Wizard, a long-time friend of Bilbo and his companion in The Hobbit, begins to suspect that Bilbo's ring is actually Sauron's lost Ring. Bilbo's remarkable longevity and vitality are unusual, even for a hobbit, and the Ring has started to make him uneasy. On Gandalf's advice, Bilbo leaves the Shire, passing the Ring and his entire estate to his cousin and heir, Frodo. Eventually, Gandalf returns and conducts a final test that convinces both him and Frodo that the Ring indeed belongs to Sauron. Sauron, having regained much of his power, is actively searching for his Ring. He dispatches his most fearsome servants, the Ringwraiths, to retrieve it. Frodo, along with his servant Sam and his cousins Merry and Pippin, narrowly escape the Ringwraiths with the aid of Aragorn, the heir of the ancient kings who once fought Sauron. Frodo nearly succumbs to Sauron's influence when he dons the Ring and is wounded by a Ringwraith.

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Book 2 Summary

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