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.

Synopsis

Book Five: The War of the Ring

The Return of the King, being the third and final part of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy — The Lord of the Rings — came out on October 20, 1955. The story begins as Gandalf delivers news to the steward of Gondor that war is imminent. Gandalf brings Pippin with him, who enters the service of the steward. Aragorn, by his courage and leadership, proves himself a worthy ruler of men. He is destined to find a lost army of men now dead yet entrapped in a curse set forth long ago by their own disobedience, in a place known as the Paths of the Dead. The remnants of the Fellowship lead the forces of Gondor and Rohan in defence of Gondor's capital city, Minas Tirith, resulting in the cataclysmic Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Those characters that manage to survive the battle are led by Aragorn on an assuredly suicidal feint-attack against the Black Gates of Mordor, partly to distract Sauron from defending his other borders so that Frodo and Sam can gain a clear passage into Mordor. Aragorn's company now surrounds the Black Gates of the Morannon, exchanging idle words with the Mouth of Sauron.

Book Six: The End of the Third Age

In the meanwhile, the brave and loyal Sam Gamgee (who for a short time has himself become the Ring-bearer) enables the long-suffering Frodo Baggins to navigate the barren wasteland of Mordor. For part of the way they are captured by a company of orcs and must pretend to be orcs before they are able to escape. The company, tired and half-alive, finally reach the Crack of Doom, where the One Ring is destroyed along with Gollum, freeing Middle-earth from Sauron's power forever. This happens when Frodo at the last moment decides to keep the ring rather than destroy it, and is attacked by Gollum who bites off Frodo's finger to take the ring, trips, and falls into the lava while still holding the ring. Frodo and Sam are rescued by the giant eagles who Gandalf rides to Mount Doom, from the black gates of Morannon. After Sauron is defeated, his armies at the black gates flee, and the men of Gondor and Rohan are victorious in the battle.

Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor at Minas Tirith. After a series of goodbyes, the Hobbits return home, only to find the Shire under the control of "Sharkey" who they find out is Saruman, diminished in power but not in malevolence. Merry and Pippin, now experienced warriors of Rohan and Gondor respectively, take the lead in setting things right again, and lead an uprising of hobbits against Saruman, freeing the Shire. Time passes. The Shire heals, but Frodo does not. Eventually Frodo departs for the Undying Lands to find healing, along with Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf and the elves. Sam, Merry and Pippin watch them depart and return home in silence. Sam is greeted by his wife Rose and his daughter Elanor. The last line of the book Sam says to Rose; "Well, I'm back".

Chapters

The Return of the King is divided into two books — book five and book six. Book Five follows Aragorn and Gandalf up to the opening of the Black Gate. Book Six begins with Frodo and Sam's journey, and details the rest of the story.

Book Five

I - Minas Tirith - Gandalf with Pippin arrive in Minas Tirith; they talk with Denethor; Pippin enters the service of the steward.
II - The Passing of the Grey Company - Follows Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli as they pass through the paths of the dead between Rohan and Gondor.
III - The Muster of Rohan - Rohan prepares for war; Merry heads off for Minas Tirith, on a horse with a rider who calls himself Dernhelm.
IV - The Siege of Gondor - Back to Gandalf and Pippin, and the preparations of the city of Minas Tirith for the attack by the armies of Mordor; Minas Tirith is besieged; chapter ends with the gate of Minas Tirith broken, and the army of Rohan finally arriving.
V - The Ride of the Rohirrim - The Rohirrim pass through the Drúadan Forest with the aid of the wild men who live there, that are led by Ghân-buri-Ghân; the army arrives in Minas Tirith. (as seen from their point of view)
VI - The Battle of the Pelennor Fields - Armies of Rohan, Gondor fight the armies of Mordor, Rhûn and Harad as described in Battle of the Pelennor Fields; Merry and Éowyn help to kill the chief of the Nazgúl.
VII - The Pyre of Denethor - Denethor goes mad and tries to burn Faramir alive; he is saved by Gandalf; Denethor then sets fire to himself. They discover that Denethor has been using a palantír.
VIII - The Houses of Healing - Merry, Faramir, Éowyn and many others are injured and placed in the houses of healing; Aragorn uses kingsfoil to help treat the injured.
IX - The Last Debate - Gimli and Legolas meet Merry and Pippin again; the Captains of the West hold a counsel on their next action; they decide to send 7000 men against Mordor to march on the Black Gate.
X - The Black Gate Opens - The army, with Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas and Pippin (but not Merry) marches to the Black Gate. The Mouth of Sauron comes out to discuss terms, and presents tokens which were owned by Sam and Frodo; he then departs and the army of Mordor attacks them.

Book Six

I - The Tower of Cirith Ungol - Sam goes to find Frodo in the orc tower.
II - The Land of Shadow - Sam and Frodo make their way into Mordor; they are captured by an orc company
III - Mount Doom - Frodo and Sam reach Mount Doom; the final battle for the ring between Gollum and Frodo.
IV - The Field of Cormallen - The story returns to the Field of Cormallen, continuing from Book Five, chapter X; the eagles arrive; Captains of the West are victorious; Frodo and Sam are rescued by Gandalf; all the company meets again in Ithilien
V - The Steward and the King - chapter begins in Minas Tirith at the Houses of Healing after the armies departed for the Black Gate; Éowyn taken to see Faramir, Merry is also in Minas Tirith; later they see the arrival of the armies with Aragorn, Gandalf and the four hobbits; Gandalf crowns Aragorn King of Gondor; Aragorn makes Faramir prince of Ithilien and keeps the office of steward; Gandalf takes Aragorn to Mount Mindolluin to survey the lands of his kingdom. On midsummers eve Elrond, Galadriel, Arwen and the elves arrive in the city from the north; wedding of Aragorn and Arwen.
VI - Many Partings - The company rides north to Rohan, then Isengard, where Gimli and Legolas head north through Fangorn, Aragorn returns to his kingdom, the rest of the company heads north where they meet Saruman and Wormtongue who were just released from Isengard; Galadriel and the Lórien elves leave over the pass of Caradhras; the hobbits and Gandalf then arrive in Rivendell.
VII - Homeward Bound - The hobbits and Gandalf travel to Bree where they stay at the Prancing Pony, and are told by Butterbur that there has been trouble in Bree while they have been away.
VIII - The Scouring of the Shire - The hobbits arrive in the Shire to find it taken over by 'the Chief' or 'Sharkey' at Bag End; Battle of Bywater; the hobbits find Saruman and Wormtongue at Bag End; Wormtongue kills Saruman, and is then killed himself by hobbit archers.
IX - The Grey Havens - cleaning up of the Shire; several years pass; Sam and Frodo meet the elves and Bilbo travelling west through the Shire, they travel to the Grey Havens where they meet Gandalf, and Merry and Pippin arrive; Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf and the elves set sail to the west; Sam returns to Rose and their daughter Elanor at Bag End.

Title

Tolkien conceived of The Lord of the Rings as a single volume comprising six sections he called "books" and extensive appendices. The original publisher made the decision to split the work into three parts, publishing the fifth and sixth books and the appendices under the title The Return of the King, in reference to Aragorn's assumption of the throne. Tolkien indicated he would have preferred The War of the Ring as a title, as it gave away less of the story.

Structure

The structure of The Return of the King mirrors somewhat that of The Two Towers in that the first section recounts the various adventures of several characters including a massive battle, and the second section resumes the quest of the Ring-bearers.

Book V: The War of the Ring

Book VI: The End of the Third Age

Appendices

A Annals of the Kings and Rulers

I The Númenórean Kings

II The House of Eorl

III Durin's Folk

B The Tale of Years (Chronology of the Westlands)

C Family Trees (Hobbits)

D Calendars

E Writing and Spelling

I Pronunciation of Words and Names

II Writing

I The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age

II On Translation

Indices

I Songs and Verses

II Persons, Beasts and Monsters

III Places

IV Things

Similarity with C.S. Lewis

There is some similarity with C.S. Lewis's science fiction book Perelandra. Both it and The Return of the King reach their climax with a titanic struggle in an underground chamber in whose floor there is a deep rift leading to a volcanic fire. In both books, the struggle ends with a character being cast into the fire and consumed, and an entire world is thereby redeemed from a great evil.

Since the two books were written at nearly the same time, and since Lewis and Tolkien were close friends who were in the habit of reading the manuscripts of their books to each other and to other fellow-members of the Inklings, it can be assumed that the similarity between the two books is not accidental.

Adaptations

The Return of the King, 1980 animated feature made for television, featuring the voices of Orson Bean and John Huston.
The Return of the King (film), 2003 theatrical film directed by Peter Jackson.

External links

1955 novels | The Lord of the Rings

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