Lord of the Rings Books In Order

Publication Order of The Lord of the Rings Books

The Lord of the Rings is one of the greatest fantasy novel of all times from English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It started basically as the sequel to a children’s story The Hobbit, 1937. This was written in parts during the time of world war II. You can easily imagine how good this novel is as this is the second best selling novel ever and has sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

The story starts with the main antagonist of the story Lord Sauron who created a ring with the power to rule the world by ruling over all other rings of different powers. Starting from a beautiful place Shire, land of Hobbits, the story ranges till northwest middle earth with the help and involvement of interesting characters like Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins, Sam, Meriadoc, Pippin, Boromir, Gimli, Legolas, and the great magician Gandalf, etc

Characters:

Bilbo: Frodo’s uncle, who possessed the ring first of all. Bilbo is a happy go lucky and playful hobbit who lived his whole life in Shire. He never realised that his ring is the source of a great power, however is greatly influenced by it and has started turning as a maniac as he grows old.

Frodo: The main protagonist of the series. He is the ring bearer. A young hobbit chosen to keep the ring to return to Mordor. He is always found weak in front of the strong temptation offered by the ring to its bearer. When it comes about dropping the ring into the mount Doom, he denies to do so and steps back to keep the ring. We feel pity for him as in many scenes he has failed to emerge as a true hero. Although the ring is destroyed in the end, we can not give him the credit anyhow.

Gandalf: A great wizard who keeps the whole trilogy running. Gandalf was the first to know the powers and dangers of the ring and kept Bilbo and Frodo away from the unseen. Gandalf also exhibits some remarkable courage and wisdom. His battle with Saruman in Moria are among the best parts of the novel. He also turned into a white wizard from the grey and shocks everyone. He is usually playful but also concerned about the future of the middle earth.

Sam: He is the best friend of Frodo. He takes care of Frodo through out the story and helps him in carrying the ring. He is the best example of a loyal fellow. He is a pure soul and always immune to the call of the ring. While Frodo keeps suffering from the greed for the ring, Sam is the one who supports him and keeps him standing against the brutal journey.

Aragorn: He is the rightful king for Gondor. He keeps his identity a secret from the starting and lives like a ranger. He emerges out as a pure heart supporting the noble cause of destroying the ring to save the middle earth. He does not have any desire to keep the ring and to use its power to regain his throne. He also gives the story a romantic angle with his love story with the elf princess Arwen. In the end of the novel he is declared as the king of the Gondor.

Gollum: Here comes the most entertaining character of the series. A wretched swamp crazy to get the ring back. Before he found the ring, he was a innocent hobbit named Smeagle, but affected with the evil of the ring he turned out as a disgusting, skinny, creepy creature ‘Gollum’. He can be the example of what Frodo would be if he had kept the ring for long. The only motto he has is to have the ring back by hook or by crook. He can kill or destroy anyone for his purpose. Gollum leads Frodo and Sam to Mordor, however he is suspected to be the wrong fellow till the end. He constantly keeps an eye for every opportunity to steal the ring from Frodo. He is the ring’s real victim and we would not tell you if he gets the ring back or not in the end.

Saruman: A wizard who was on the Sauron’s side. He is an old friend of Gandalf, however later in the greed of the power and under Sauron’s fear, he joins the dark army. He also tried to stop Gandalf from helping the fellowship of the ring. Through his powers he creates endless number of Uruk-nai (monsters) to cover the middle earth with their terror.

Legolas: A young elf who was the part of the fellowship of the ring. He has some remarkable skills with his bow and arrows. Quite loyal and smart character who serves the purpose of the fellowship till the end.

Film Series: The amazing trilogy The Lord of the Rings turned out to be a series of films later on. The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), The Return of the King (2003) is the series based on the novel. All these movies are among the biggest grossers on the box office, worldwide. The latest parts of the series are The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: The desolation of Smaug (2013) based on the story of Bilbo Baggins. For your information The Return of the King got 11 Oscars out of 11 nominations the year it was released.

About the Author: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was an English writer, poet and a university professor. He is best known for the classics The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion. He also served in the Oxford university from 1945 to 1959. In year 2008, The Times ranked him sixth in the list of “The 50best English Writers since 1945”. In the year 2009 Forbes ranked him the 5th top earning writer.

So what are you waiting for..!! It would be great start for some new Tolkien’s fans or readers interested in the beautiful journey to the middle earth. It might prove itself to be great teacher giving you many lessons one by one through different characters. You will find yourself amazed with the extra ordinary writing style and a complete fantasy to hop on.