The Lord of the Rings, published in 1956, is an all-time fantasy classic… legend and myth skillfully combined with adventure and tragedy. The summary that I offer here does not go too much into detail, however it does offer a full coverage of the plot and the secret implications of Tolkien’s writing that you may not even recognize…

The Fellowship of the Ring

BOOK ONE

1. A Long-expected Party
2. The Shadow of the Past
3. Three is Company
4. A Short Cut to Mushrooms
5. A Conspiracy Unmasked
6. The Old Forest
7. In the House of Tom Bombadil
8. Fog on the Barrow-downs
9. At the Sign of the Prancing Pony
10. Strider
11. A Knife in the Dark
12. Flight to the Ford

BOOK TWO

1. Many Meetings
2. The Council of Elrond
3. The Ring Goes South
4. A Journey in the Dark
5. The Bridge of Khazad-Dum
6. Lothlorien
7. The Mirror of Galadriel
8. Farewell to Lorien
9. The Great River
10. The Breaking of the Fellowship

The Two Towers

BOOK THREE

1. The Departure of Boromir
2. The Riders of Rohan
3. The Uruk-hai
4. Treebeard
5. The White Rider
6. The King of the Golden Hall
7. Helm’s Deep
8. Flotsam and Jetsam
9. The Voice of Saruman
10. The Palantir

BOOK FOUR

1. The Taming of Smeagol
2. The Passage of the Marshes
3. The Black Gate Is Closed
4. Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
5. The Window on the West
6. The Forbidden Pool
7. Journey to the Cross-Roads
8. The Stairs of Cirith Ungol
9. Shelob’s Lair
10. The Choices of Master Samwise

The Return of the King

BOOK FIVE

1. Minas Tirith
2. The Passing of the Grey Company
3. The Muster of Rohan
4. The Siege of Gondor
5. The Ride of the Rohirrim
6. The Battle of the Pelennor Fields
7. The Pyre of Denethor
8. The Houses of Healing
9. The Last Debate
10. The Black Gate Opens

BOOK SIX

1. The Tower of Cirith Ungol
2. The Land of Shadow
3. Mount Doom
4. The Field of Cormallen
5. The Steward and the King
6. Many Partings
7. Homeward Bound
8. The Scouring of the Shire
9. The Grey Havens

The book starts with a short introduction telling of the Shire and its inhabitants. In Chapter I you meet Bilbo Baggins, the main character from The Hobbit, who is about to celebrate his 111-th birthday. He lives in a comfy and smug hobbit-hole called Bag-End with Frodo, his nephew. Bilbo still keeps the golden ring that he had found in Moria 60 years age, and uses it to disappear in a nick of time to avoid meeting the Sackville-Bagginses, his mean relatives. Gandalf the Wizard, Bilbo’s long-time friend, joins the party and entertains the children with his fireworks. Suddenly, in the middle of the reveling, Bilbo disappears leaving the other hobbits puzzled and amazed. He leaves the Ring to Frodo (after a serious talk with Gandalf) and makes for Rivendell to spend the rest of his days among the Elves. Frodo lives another 17 happy years with the ring in store in his trunk. After being away for nine years, Gndalf returns to the Shire to warn Frodo of the danger of the ring which in fact turns out to be the One Ring forged by the Dark Lord Sauron. The Ring is the only thing that Sauron lacks to gain his powers and revive the Great Darkness, enslave all of Middleearth and become the Lord of all the lands within it. Frodo is forced to journey with the Ring to Rivendell, as it is no more safe in the Shire. He sets out with three companions: Samwise Gamgee, Peregrine Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck. As they journey across the Shire and Buckland, they realize they are followed by the Black Riders (the Nazgul, the Ulairi), the most terrible servants of the Dark Lord sent from Minas-Morgul to seize the Ring and bring it back to its master. The hobbits manage to get away from the pursuit in the Old Forest, where Merry and Pippin are nearly killed when they are captured by Old Man Willow, a gnarled old tree near the forest path that has a soul of its own. They are then rescued by Tom Bombadil, a man who tends the forest and looks after the living creatures. He lets them stay overnight in his wooden house, where he lives with his Elf-wife Goldberry. The hobbits then find themselves in a dangerous and ominous place called the Barrow-Downs, and ancient burial site of the Kings of Anor. They escape from the evil Barrow-Wight who wants to turn the hobbits into the spirits of the Barrows, and enter Bree – a land east of the Shire where hobbits and men live side by side. They stop at a lodging called The Prancing Pony, where they had arranged to meet with Gandalf the Grey, but he for some unknown reason does not come. There they meet Strider (a.k.a. Aragorn), a ranger of the north, who agrees to guide them along the rest of their way to Rivendell, as he is aware of their secret errand and does not want the Ring seized by the Black Riders. Strider takes them to Weathertop, the site of the ancient guard-tower Amon Sul, where they are cornered by the Nazgul. Strider manages to chase them away, but Frodo suffers a deadly wound of an enchanted blade of the Witch-King of Angmar (the Captain of the Nazgul). He is swiftly taken to Rivendell by Glorfindel, and elf of the House of Elrond, and the Nazgul are washed away by the River Bruinen as they try to pursue the ring into the realm of the Elves.

In the House of Elrond, the elf-lord of Rivendell, Frodo is healed of his wound and he also meets Gandalf who explains why he had not come to meet the hobbits in the Prancing Pony. It turns out that Gandalf had been held captive by Saruman, the former head of the White Council, the wisest of wizards, who was ensnared by Sauron and allied himself with the Dark Tower of Barad-Dur. The effect of Saruman’s treachery was grievous for the Free Peoples of Middleearth, for not only did he refuse to join into the oncoming war on the side of Good, but he bred an army of half-orcs (the Uruk-hai) in the pits of Isengard, and was planning an assault on Rohan, the land to the south of Isengard. Elrond summons the most prominent dwarves, Elves and Men to the Council of Elrond, where the fate of the Ring is to be decided. Frodo becomes the Ringbearer, and he is accompanied by Sam, Merry and Pippin, as well as Aragorn, Boromir, a valiant man of Gondor, Gimli, a dwarf, and Legolas, an elf from Mirkwood. Together, the nine are collectively known as The Fellowship of the Ring. After months of journey through the wild lands east of Rivendell, the company are faced with the need to come down into the endless darkness of Moria, an ancient dwarf-city. Balin and his kin settled in Moria some time ago, and the Fellowship expected a warm welcome in the city of the miners, but what they found was this: the dwarf city had been laid waste by hordes of orcs, and was now deserted. They are pursued by a fiery demon creature called the Balrog, and Gandalf dies (as we think it at the time), but not before he hurls the Balrog into the abyss under the bridge of Khazad-Dum. Bereft of their leader, the Fellowship are at a loss. Then they arrive at Lothlorien, the forest kingdom of Galadriel, a mighty Elvish sorceress. Among the many presents that she gives to her guests, are the Phial of Galadriel and a strange box as a present for Samwise the gardener – the exact use of it is not yet known to us. On leaving Lorien, the travelers go down the Great River, or the Anduin, and that is when the breaking of the Fellowship takes place. Boromir attacks Frodo in his attempt to seize the Ring to strengthen the power of his kingdom. However, he dies valiantly as he defends the hobbits from a host of Uruks from Isengard, while Pippin and Merry are captured by Ugluk the orc-leader. Sam and Frodo set off to Mordor by themselves, and Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli decide to follow the orcs in hope of freeing their comrades.

 Meanwhile, the Riders of Rohan (loyal to Eomer their leader) are in hot pursuit of the Uruks heading to Isengard. When Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli catch up with the orcs, they only find the leaders dead and the bodies piled up in a smoldering heap. Pippin and Merry manage to get away just before the skirmish, and get lost in the forest of Fangorn. There they are found by Treebeard, an Ent, and join in as the Ents plan a revenge on Saruman who had felled many beautiful trees on the Fangorn borders. At the very same time, Aragorn & company go to Edoras, the capital of Rohan, to warn the Rohan ruler, Theoden, of the danger of Saruman, but not before they meet Gandalf, who had survived the duel with the demon and attained Saruman’s status of the head of the White Council. In Edoras, they open Theoden’s eyes on the treachery of his closest advisor, Grima Wormtongue, who is revealed as Saruman’s spy. As soon as Theoden realizes the inevitability of war, he makes the decision to evacuate Edoras and take the rest of his warriors to Helm’s Deep, where they could mount up the most resistance against Saruman’s forces. The collision was enormous. Not only did the wizard breed a merciless and vicious army of half-orcs and Dunlendings, but he also armed them with gunpowder missiles. Although the fortress was nearly ruined in the process, the men manage to scatter the enemy’s army, owing to the help of Gandalf and Eomer, the king’s nephew. Unaware of all of this, Merry and Pippin watch the downfall of Isengard as the Ents destroy the walls in their rage and fill Saruman’s pits and forgeries with floodwater. All of a sudden, they meet Aragorn and his company, who were on the way to Isengard to take care of Saruman. However, they do not remain together long as Merry swears allegiance to Rohan, and Pippin, somewhat later, to Gondor. Saruman is banished from Isengard and he gives his keys away into Treebeard’s keeping. Because of Grima’s ignorance, he loses the Palantir, which comes in Gandalf’s possession.

While this is taking place, Frodo and Samwise continue their journey painstakingly. For good or for bad, they come across Gollum, who had been following them all the way and now wanted to lay his hands on his ‘Precious’. However, he ended up being the hobbits’ guide into Mordor, in fact, he was attached to them, esp. to Frodo in a way. He guides them through the Dead Marshes, where they first encounter the Winged Nazgul. When they come to the Black Gate of Morannon, they realize that they won’t be able to enter Mordor unnoticed – the troops of the Haradrim and the Easterlings are issuing into the Gates. Gollum reveals to them that there is another secret way – the passage of Cirith Ungol, and they head towards it through the land of Ithilien. There they are captured by Faramir, younger brother of Boromir, the captain of Gondor. He blindfolds them and takes them first as prisoners to Henneth Annun – a secret refuge on the border. He wants the Ring first as well, but when he learns that it had led his brother to misery, he releases the hobbits and their companion. Faramir heads for Osgiliath, and Frodo goes to the Stairs of Cirith Ungol – a narrow passage in the mountains sometimes used by Orcs – and not just them. In the caverns beneath there lives Shelob – a huge spider who wants to trap the hobbits and devour them in the darkness. They did not come to her lair by accident – it was Gollum’s fault. He hoped that Shelob would help him get rid of the hobbits and recover the Ring. Sam managed to wound Shelob with his Elvish sword, but not before she’d poisoned him. Thinking his master dead, Sam takes his ring and is ready to leave when a company of orcs comes across Frodo’s body. He follows them in dismay as they carry him up into the Tower of Cirith Ungol. 

Pippin and Gandalf come to the capital of Gondor, but they are not received too warmly. Denethor, the Ruling Steward, does not want Gandalf to counsel him in ruling his own land. The wizard and the hobbit remain in the city, and Pippin swears allegiance to Denethor, who seems to be a wise ruler despite his haughtiness. Minas Tirith is besieged by the host of Mordor and its allies. Madness seized the city from within – Denethor, deceived by Sauron through the Palantir, burns himself on a pyre. Théoden and Aragorn come to the aid of the White City. Aragorn summons the Oathbreakers who had betrayed Gondor long ago and could only have peace if they fought on the King’s side and captures the fleet of the Corsairs of Umbar, Sauron’s allies. Théoden summons the Rohirrim and rides to Minas Tirith. Eowyn, his niece, a courageous young warrior-lady in love with Aragorn, joins their army in the disguise of Dernhelm, one of the Riders. She takes Merry with her, although the hobbit is forbidden to go to war by Théoden. The siege only lasts for a couple of days, but this is a black time for the defenders of the City. Led by the fell Captain of the Nazgul, the enemy forces set fire to the city and break its gates. The Witch-King of Angmar rides into the city, but there is opposed by Gandalf. There would have been a duel between those, but all of a sudden the Rohirrim arrive and attack the Mordor guys. They arrive in the nick of time, but even the joined forces of Gondor and Rohan can’t do much. Théoden falls, and Eowyn fights the Captain of the Nazgul, slaying him in the end – not without Merry’s help. But the enemy forces do not repent, and, led by Gothmog the Lieutenant of Minas Morgul, they renew their assault on the city. Then the black sails appear – and all first think that it is the Corsairs coming to the aid of the orcs – and the City is doomed. But then guess who it is – Aragorn unfolds the standard of Arwen, and the black army is driven away. Eowyn, Merry and Faramir are taken to the Houses of Healing. The Captains decide what to do – and, well aware of their doom, they head right for the Black Gate. They do this to distract as many armies of the Dark Lord from defending Mordor as they can, for they know that their last hope lies within the Dark Land – where the two hobbits are. They are surrounded by Sauron’s hosts, and all the lights seem to go out at this moment, but…

While the White City is on fire, Sam finds his way into the Tower of Cirith Ungol. The two orc leaders, Gorbag and Shagrat, have fallen out and there had been a skirmish among the orcs. Most have been killed in the fight, and the only ones left to guard Frodo are Shagrat himself and Snaga, another orc. Sam manages to find Frodo, barely alive after the questioning, and pushes Snaga down the ladder. Shagrat escapes with Frodo’s mithril mail-shirt, which is later shown to Gandalf and his friends by the emissaries of Mordor at the Black Gate. Frodo and Sam walk on through the Land of Shadow – past the ever-threatening Moon Tower of Minas Morgul and on the road to Barad-dur. There they are captured by orcs, and, wearing orc-mail, they are taken for soldiers of Mordor. The two slip away before they are summoned to the orc military camp, and eventually they get to Mount Doom, where Frodo, instead of casting the Ring into the fire as he was supposed to do, claims it his own. Sauron becomes aware of his presence and sees his intricate contrivances and evil plots shatter. He sends the Nazgul to the Mountain – too late. Gollum attacks Frodo as he puts on the Ring – and bites it off with the hobbit’s finger. Then, dancing on the brink of the abyss, he slips – and thus completes the errand of the hobbits. As this happens, the tall battlements of Barad-dur crumble to pieces, and Mount Doom erupts in flame. Sam and Frodo prepare to die, but they are rescued by the Eagles. Sauron passes away. When the will of his mind is lifted from the hearts of those who were loyal to him, terror and helplessness fill them. Most drop their weapons and do a runner, but the hosts of the Uruks and the Easterling and the Haradrim closed in for the last stand of desperate battle. Thus the Host of the West left the field of Cormallen victorious. Aragorn was subsequently crowned as King Elessar and planted the seedling of the White Tree as the sign of the renewal of Gondor. He married Arwen. Faramir became his steward, and he wed Eowyn of Rohan, who was truly in love with him, mind you, not Aragorn anymore. Eomer became the King of Rohan, and the Halflings were all greatly honored and praised by the Kings and their people. It was now time for a journey home… The hobbits bid their friends a tearful farewell and go back to the Shire. They find their land ravaged by Saruman and his helpers, the Shire-folk oppressed by the orcs. The battle-hardened friends raise the Shire on a rebellion, and Saruman a.k.a. Sharkey is overthrown and subsequently killed. Peace is restored in the Shire, and new trees grow instead of the felled ones – with the help of Sam’s present from Galadriel.                                                                                                                               

Several years go by. Merry and Pippin become hobbits of renown, and Sam is praised by his people as well, although he is not aware of it yet. Frodo, though, lives his life in loneliness and sad thoughts. He is often ill because of his wound from the Morgul-blade, his poisoning by Shelob and Gollum’s teeth. So, following Gandalf’s advice, he goes to the Grey Havens where he sails over the Sea to Valinor with Galadriel, Gandalf and many other Elves.