The Lord of the Rings, in Three Volumes: Part I. The Fellowship of the Ring; Part II. The Two Towers; Part III. The Return of the King

Three volume set. The Lord of the Rings, fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien initially published in three parts as The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1955), and The Return of the King (1955). The novel, set in the Third Age of Middle-earth, formed a sequel to Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) and was succeeded by his posthumous The Silmarillion (1977). The Lord of the Rings is the saga of a group of sometimes reluctant heroes who set forth to save their world from consummate evil. Its many worlds and creatures were drawn from Tolkien's extensive knowledge of philology and folklore. At 33, the age of adulthood among hobbits, Frodo Baggins receives a magic Ring of Invisibility from his uncle Bilbo. Frodo, a Christlike figure, learns that the ring has the power to control the entire world and, he discovers, to corrupt its owner. A fellowship of hobbits, elves, dwarfs, and men is formed to destroy the ring by casting it into the volcanic fires of the Crack of Doom, where it was forged. They are opposed on their harrowing mission by the evil Sauron and his Black Riders.