Return of the King

Tolkien conceived "The Lord of the Rings" as a single work, consisting of six "books", as well as - extensive applications. The original publisher broke the novel into three volumes, publishing the fifth and sixth books, along with attachments called The Return of the King. Tolkien felt that such a title reveals “too much sense of history” and indicated that he would prefer to call the book “War of the Ring” ^[1] .

The proposed title for Book V was “War of the Ring” , and Book VI was “The End of the Third Age” ^[2] . These headers were subsequently used in the original Millennium Edition ^[3] .

The Return of the King was finally published as the third and last part of The Lord of the Rings on October 20, 1955.

Book V: War of the Rings

Gandalf and Pippin arrive in Minas Tirith , the capital of Gondor , carrying Denethor , the Steward of Gondor, news of the inevitable destructive storming of his city, which is preparing Sauron , the Dark Lord of Mordor . Here Pippin enters the service of the Vicar (as payment of his debt to Boromir , the slain son of Denethor and his preferred heir). Dressed in the form of a Citadel Guardian, Pippin watches the war flare up, while Denethor engulfs insanity, and Mordor’s troops are moving closer to Minas Tirith. Faramir , the younger brother of Boromir, returns from his march with the pitiful remnants of the detachment assigned to him and soon receives an order to continue the hopeless defense of Osgiliath from the hordes of orcs . Osgiliath soon fell, and the dangerously wounded Faramir is brought back to Denethor. With the seeming loss of the state and the son, who is close to death, Denethor orders to build a funeral pyre to end his life with the dying Faramir. Minas Tirith is completely surrounded and besieged by the armies of Mordor.

At this time, in Rohan, Theoden and his army of the Rohirrim come to their senses after the battle of Helm Dad , in which they defended Rohan from Saruman's troops and paid a considerable price for it. Aragorn , winning single combat with Sauron with the help of Isengard's palantir , performs the journey in order to find the forgotten army of ghost-oath-criminals who dwell on the Paths of the Dead, in the piedmont palaces, where they fled from the world after their betrayal many years ago. With the help of Legolas and Gimli , as well as a group of trackers from Arnor from the north (Gray Squad), he goes on a journey to find the army of the Dead and draw him to his side. With the departure of Aragorn with a seemingly impossible task, King Theoden is gathering Rohan's troops to come to the aid of Gondor. Merry , burning with the desire to go to war with his overlord-king, receives a decisive refusal several times from Theoden. In the end, a warrior Dornhelm, one of the Rohirrim, takes Merry on his horse, and he secretly follows along with the rest of Rohan’s army to the south.

The armies of Mordor, led by the terrifying King of the sorcerer Angmar, successfully break the gates of Minas Tirith, but, in turn, do not withstand the pressure of the arrived horsemen of Rohan. The “black fleet under black sails” also enters the battle. The forces of Mordor cheer at first, seeing him, but then they are horrified, seeing the banner of the King over the ships. Aragorn was able to use his oath-breakers to defeat the Umbar pirates, and the people of Gondor, who were once slaves on ships, coupled with Pelargir's militia, are sailing back to participate in the battle with the troops of Mordor. In the ensuing Battle of the Pellenor Fields , the Ghost King fell at the hands of Dernhelm, who actually turns out to be Eowyn , the niece of King Theoden, with the help of Merry. Thus the siege was broken, but at great cost: many warriors of Gondor and Rohan fell, among them King Theoden. Denethor and Faramir ascend to the funeral pyre, but Gandalf and Pippin manage to save Faramir, later healed by Aragorn. Aragorn also heals Merry and Eowyn affected by the Phantom King during a duel with him.

Knowing that Sauron’s re-creation of his army for a new attack is only a matter of time, Gandalf and Aragorn decide to lure the troops of Mordor by attacking the Black Gate, distracting them so that Frodo and Sam get a chance to reach Mount Doom and destroy the All-Power Ring inaccessible to Oka Sauron . The battle begins, the body of the troll killed by Pippin falls on him, and Pippin loses consciousness at the very moment when giant eagles arrive.

Book VI: The Return of the King

Sam, now carrying the One-Ring instead of Frodo, saves his master from torture and death at the hands of the orcs in the fortress on the Kirit Ungol pass. Both Hobbits advance in the dreary desert lands of Mordor when they are intercepted by a squad of orcs, but the Hobbits manage to escape (they also have to wear armor). Gandalf's plan to distract Sauron from the Ring is successful: Mordor is almost empty, all the remaining orcs are called to defend the country from the attack of the army of the West. Frodo and Sam, after a tedious and dangerous journey, eventually reach the Fatal Gap in the crater of Orodruin. At that moment, when Frodo is ready to throw the Ring into Orodruin's fire, he surrenders to the power of the Ring and refuses to destroy it. It was then that Gollum , who secretly followed the hobbits, rushes at Frodo and bites off his finger with the Ring. Gollum rejoices in the return of his treasure, but loses his balance and falls into boiling lava, taking the Ring with him. The ring is destroyed, Middle-earth is delivered from the power of Sauron. Frodo and Sam are rescued by the giant eagles that took them from Orodruin. With the fall of Sauron, his army at the Gates panics and flee. Sauron appeared for a moment in the form of a gigantic shadow trying to reach the armies of the people, but his strength dried up, and the shadow carried away by the wind. People who fought under the command of Sauron and who surrendered to captivity receive forgiveness and permission to return to their lands in peace.

Aragorn ascends the throne of Gondor, his coronation takes place at the walls of Minas Tirith; during the festival, all four Hobbits receive the greatest honors for their services to the War of the Ring. The healed Faramir is raised to princely dignity and takes possession of Ithilien , King Elessar confirms his authority as the Steward of Gondor, after which Faramir marries Princess Eowyn. Aragorn himself marries Arwen , daughter of Elrond of Rivendell . After a series of goodbyes, the Hobbits return home to discover the Shire in ruins, and its inhabitants the oppressed Lotto Sackville-Baggins (usually called the “Leader” or the “Boss”), which in reality is controlled by a shadow figure known as “ Sharku '”. Sharkey completely controls the Shire, using the people and half-orcs of Isengard who came over to his side, and began to cut down forests for the sake of building industrial enterprises that had not existed in Shire before, and for firewood. Merry, Pippin, Frodo and Sam make a plan to correct the situation. They lead the hobbit rebellion and defeat the Battle of Bywater , thus freeing the Shire. At the very threshold of the Bag End, they meet Sharkey, who turns out to be the fallen magician Saruman , and his servant Grim . Despite the assassination attempt, Frodo does not allow to kill him and sends him into exile. Even being defeated, Saruman insults Grima, who in return cuts his master's throat. After that, Grima, who is trying to escape, is killed by Hobbit archers.

Over time, the Shire is restored. Many trees felled by the bandits of Saruman are re-planted, the destroyed buildings are rebuilt, and peace comes to the country. Sam marries Rosie Cotton, in which he was in love for a long time. Merry and Pippin lead Backland and Tukboro to even greater prosperity. Frodo, however, cannot defeat the pain of his wounds (both literally and figuratively) from the dagger of the Witch-king, the poison of Shelob and the finger bitten off by Gollum. As a result, he departs to the Undying Lands in the West with Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins and many elves , thus ending the Third Age . Sam, Merry and Pippin are returning home. Frodo's heir to all property, Sam, meets his wife Rosie and daughter Elanor on the threshold of the house and utters the last sentence of the book: "Well, here I am at home."

• Frodo Baggins - Chief Ring Keeper
• Samweiss Gamgee is his servant
• Peregrin Tuk and Meriadok Brandybuck - relatives of Frodo, warriors of Gondor and Rohan
• Gandalf White - member of the White Council, mag Istari
• Gimli , son of Gloin - the dwarf from Erebor
• Legolas , son of Thranduil - elven prince of Mirkwood
• Aragorn , son of Arathorn, heir to Isildur and the royal throne of Arnor and Gondor

Heroes are listed as they appear and evolve the events described in the book.

• Denethor , lord and vicar of Gondor, father of Boromir and Faramir
• Beregond, warrior of Gondor
• Theoden , King of Rohan
• Eomer , Theoden's nephew
• Eowyn , Theoden's niece
• Faramir , the son of Denethor, and the younger brother of Boromir, the commander of Osgiliath
• Imrahil , the commander of Gondor
• Witch-king , leader of the nine Koltsenostsev
• Sauron's voice, Sauron 's herald and Barad-dur's vicar
• Gollum , a creature that was once a hobbit, but fell under the power of the Ring, the companion of Frodo and Samworth
• Sauron , the Dark Lord and the enemy of all free peoples of Middle-earth
• Elrond , Lord of Rivendell
• Arwen , daughter of Elrond
• Celeborn , Lord of Lorien
• Galadriel , mistress of Lorien
• Tree , guardian of the forest Fangorn
• Bilbo Baggins , the hobbit who found the One Ring, Uncle Frodo
• Barliman Butterbur , Innkeeper from the Highlands, the owner of "Prancing Pony"
• Rosie Cotton, Sam Gaigee's wife
• Hamfast Gamgee , Sam's father and gardener Bilbo
• Saruman , mag Istari, sided darkness
• Grima Cerveust , minister of Saruman

• The Return of the King , a television feature animated film (1980)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King , third part of Peter Jackson trilogy (2003)
• The musical " Lord of the Rings " (2006—2007)

• The Lord of the Rings History