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Plot
The Fellowship of the Ring
Prologue
The prologue explains that the work is "largely concerned with hobbits", telling of their origins in a migration from the east, their habits such as smoking "pipe-weed", and of how their homeland the Shire is organised.
It explains how the narrative follows on from The Hobbit, in which the hobbit Bilbo Baggins finds the One Ring, which had been in the possession of Gollum.
Book One
Gandalf proves that Frodo's Ring is the One Ring by throwing it into Frodo's fireplace, revealing the hidden text of the Rhyme of the Rings.
Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday and leaves the Shire suddenly, leaving the Ring to Frodo Baggins, his cousin and heir.
Neither hobbit is aware of the Ring's origin, but the wizard Gandalf suspects it is a Ring of Power.
Seventeen years later, Gandalf tells Frodo that he has confirmed that the Ring is the one lost by the Dark Lord Sauron long ago and counsels him to take it away from the Shire.
Gandalf leaves, promising to return by Frodo's birthday and accompany him on his journey, but fails to do so.
Frodo sets out on foot, offering a cover story of moving to Crickhollow, accompanied by his gardener Sam Gamgee, and his cousin Pippin Took.
They are pursued by mysterious Black Riders, but meet a passing group of Elves led by Gildor Inglorion, whose chants to Elbereth ward off the Riders.
The hobbits spend the night with them, then take an evasive short cut the next day, and arrive at the farm of Farmer Maggot, who takes them to Bucklebury Ferry, where they meet their friend Merry Brandybuck.
When they reach the house at Crickhollow, Merry and Pippin reveal they know about the Ring and insist on travelling with Frodo and Sam.
They decide to try to shake off the Black Riders by cutting through the Old Forest.
Merry and Pippin are trapped by Old Man Willow, an ancient tree who controls much of the forest, but are rescued by Tom Bombadil.
Leaving the refuge of Tom's house, they get lost in a fog and are caught by a barrow-wight in a barrow on the downs, but Frodo, awakening from the barrow-wight's spell, calls Bombadil, who frees them, and equips them with ancient swords from the barrow-wight's hoard.
The hobbits reach the village of Bree, where they encounter a Ranger named Strider.
The innkeeper gives Frodo a letter from Gandalf written three months before which identifies Strider as a friend.
Strider leads the hobbits through the wilderness toward the Elven sanctuary of Rivendell.
On the hill of Weathertop, they are again attacked by five of the nine Black Riders, whom Strider identifies as the Nazgûl, men of ancient times enslaved by lesser Rings of Power to serve Sauron.
The Lord of the Nazgûl wounds Frodo with a cursed blade.
After fighting off the Nazgûl, Strider treats Frodo with the herb athelas, and leads the hobbits towards Rivendell, but Frodo falls more and more deathly ill.
The Nazgûl nearly capture Frodo at the Ford of Bruinen, but Strider and the Elf-lord Glorfindel drive the Nazgûl into the water, where flood waters summoned by Elrond, master of Rivendell, rise up and overwhelm them.
Book Two
Frodo recovers in Rivendell under Elrond's care.
The Council of Elrond discusses the history of Sauron and the Ring.
Strider is revealed to be Aragorn, the heir of Isildur.
Isildur had cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand in the battle ending the Second Age, but refused to destroy it, claiming it for himself.
The Ring had been lost when Isildur was killed, finally ending up in Bilbo's possession, after his meeting with Gollum, described in The Hobbit.
Gandalf reports that the chief wizard, Saruman, has betrayed them and is now working to become a power in his own right.
Gandalf was captured by Saruman, but escaped, explaining why he had failed to return to meet Frodo as he had promised.
The Council decides that the Ring must be destroyed, but that can only be done by sending it to the fire of Mount Doom in Mordor, where it was forged.
Frodo takes this task upon himself.
Elrond, with the advice of Gandalf, chooses companions for him.
The Fellowship of the Ring consists of nine walkers to oppose the nine Black Riders: Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, Gandalf, Gimli the Dwarf, Legolas the Elf, and Boromir, son of Denethor, the Steward of Gondor.
After a failed attempt to cross the Misty Mountains over the Redhorn Pass, the Fellowship take the perilous path through the Mines of Moria.
They learn that Balin, one of the Dwarves who accompanied Bilbo in The Hobbit, and his colony of Dwarves were killed by Orcs.
After surviving an attack, they are pursued by Orcs and a Balrog, an ancient fire demon from a prior Age, created by Sauron's old master, Morgoth.
Gandalf confronts the Balrog, and both of them fall into the abyss.
The others escape and find refuge in the timeless Elven forest of Lothlórien, where they are counselled by the Lady Galadriel.
Before they leave, Galadriel tests their loyalty, and gives them individual, magical, gifts to help them on their quest.
She allows Frodo and Sam to look into her fountain, the Mirror of Galadriel, to see visions of the past, the present, and perhaps the future, and she refuses to take the Ring, knowing that it would master her.
Galadriel's husband Celeborn gives the Fellowship boats, elven cloaks, and waybread, and they travel down the River Anduin to the hill of Amon Hen.
There, Boromir tries to take the Ring from Frodo, but immediately regrets it after Frodo puts on the Ring and disappears.
Frodo chooses to go alone to Mordor, but Sam, guessing what he intends, intercepts him as he tries to take a boat across the river, and goes with him.
The Two Towers
Book Three
A party of large Orcs, Uruk-hai, sent by Saruman, and other Orcs sent by Sauron and led by Grishnákh, attack the Fellowship.
Boromir tries to protect Merry and Pippin from the Orcs, but they kill him and capture the two hobbits.
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas decide to pursue the Orcs taking Merry and Pippin to Saruman.
In the kingdom of Rohan, the Orcs are killed by Riders of Rohan, led by Éomer.
Merry and Pippin escape into Fangorn Forest, where they are befriended by Treebeard, the oldest of the tree-like Ents.
Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas track the hobbits to Fangorn.
There they unexpectedly meet Gandalf.
Gandalf explains that he killed the Balrog.
He was also killed in the fight, but was sent back to Middle-earth to complete his mission.
He is clothed in white and is now Gandalf the White, for he has taken Saruman's place as the chief of the wizards.
Gandalf assures his friends that Merry and Pippin are safe.
Together they ride to Edoras, capital of Rohan.
Gandalf frees Théoden, King of Rohan, from the influence of Saruman's spy Gríma Wormtongue.
Théoden musters his fighting strength and rides with his men to the ancient fortress of Helm's Deep, while Gandalf departs to seek help from Treebeard.
Meanwhile, the Ents, roused by Merry and Pippin from their peaceful ways, attack and destroy Isengard, Saruman's stronghold, and flood it, trapping the wizard in the tower of Orthanc.
Gandalf convinces Treebeard to send an army of Huorns to Théoden's aid.
He brings an army of Rohirrim to Helm's Deep, and they defeat the Orcs, who flee into the forest of Huorns, never to be seen again.
Gandalf, Theoden, Legolas, and Gimli ride to Isengard, and are surprised to find Merry and Pippin relaxing amidst the ruins.
Gandalf offers Saruman a chance to turn away from evil.
When Saruman refuses to listen, Gandalf strips him of his rank and most of his powers.
After Saruman leaves, Wormtongue throws down a hard round object to try to kill Gandalf.
Pippin picks it up; Gandalf swiftly takes it, but Pippin steals it in the night.
It is revealed to be a palantír, a seeing-stone that Saruman used to speak with Sauron, and that Sauron used to ensnare him.
Pippin is seen by Sauron, but Sauron misunderstands the circumstances.
Gandalf immediately rides for Minas Tirith, chief city of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.
Book Four
Frodo and Sam, heading for Mordor, struggle through the barren hills and cliffs of the Emyn Muil.
They become aware they are being watched and tracked; on a moonlit night they capture Gollum, who has followed them from Moria.
Frodo makes Gollum swear to serve him, as Ringbearer, and asks him to guide them to Mordor.
Gollum leads them across the Dead Marshes.
Sam overhears Gollum debating with his alter ego, Sméagol, whether to break his promise and steal the Ring.
They find that the Black Gate of Mordor is too well guarded, so instead they travel south through the land of Ithilien to a secret pass that Gollum knows.
On the way, they are captured by rangers led by Faramir, Boromir's brother, and brought to the secret fastness of Henneth Annûn.
Faramir resists the temptation to seize the Ring and, disobeying standing orders to arrest strangers found in Ithilien, releases them.
Gollum – who is torn between his loyalty to Frodo and his desire for the Ring – guides the hobbits to the pass, but leads them into the lair of the great spider Shelob in the tunnels of Cirith Ungol.
Frodo holds up the gift given to him in Lothlorien: the Phial of Galadriel, which holds the light of Eärendil's star.
The light drives Shelob back.
Frodo cuts through a giant web using his sword Sting.
Shelob attacks again, and Frodo falls to her venom.
Sam picks up Sting and the Phial.
He seriously wounds and drives off the monster.
Believing Frodo to be dead, Sam takes the Ring to continue the quest alone.
Orcs find Frodo; Sam overhears them and learns that Frodo is still alive.
The Return of the King
Book Five
Sauron sends a great army against Gondor.
Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to warn Denethor of the attack, while Théoden musters the Rohirrim to ride to Gondor's aid.
Minas Tirith is besieged; the Lord of the Nazgûl uses a battering ram and the power of his Ring to destroy the city's gates.
Denethor, deceived by Sauron, falls into despair.
He burns himself alive on a pyre; Pippin and Gandalf rescue his son Faramir from the same fate.
Aragorn, accompanied by Legolas, Gimli, and the Rangers of the North, takes the Paths of the Dead to recruit the Dead Men of Dunharrow, oathbreakers who are bound by an ancient curse which denies them rest until they fulfil their oath to fight for the King of Gondor.
Aragorn unleashes the Army of the Dead on the Corsairs of Umbar invading southern Gondor.
With that threat eliminated, Aragorn uses the Corsairs' ships to transport the men of southern Gondor up the Anduin, reaching Minas Tirith just in time to turn the tide of battle.
Théoden's niece Éowyn, who joined the army in disguise, kills the Lord of the Nazgûl with help from Merry; both are wounded.
Together, Gondor and Rohan defeat Sauron's army in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, though at great cost; Théoden is among the dead.
Aragorn enters Minas Tirith and heals Faramir, Eowyn, and Merry.
He leads an army of men from Gondor and Rohan, marching through Ithilien to the Black Gate to distract Sauron from his true danger.
At the Battle of the Morannon, his army is vastly outnumbered.
Book Six
Meanwhile, Sam rescues Frodo from the tower of Cirith Ungol.
They set out across Mordor.
When they reach the edge of the Cracks of Doom, Frodo cannot resist the Ring any longer.
He claims it for himself and puts it on.
Gollum suddenly reappears.
He struggles with Frodo and bites off Frodo's finger with the Ring still on it.
Celebrating wildly, Gollum loses his footing and falls into the Fire, taking the Ring with him.
When the Ring is destroyed, Sauron loses his power forever.
All he created collapses, the Nazgûl perish, and his armies are thrown into such disarray that Aragorn's forces emerge victorious.
Aragorn is crowned King of Arnor and Gondor, and weds Arwen, daughter of Elrond.
Théoden is buried and Éomer is crowned King of Rohan.
His sister Éowyn is engaged to marry Faramir, now Steward of Gondor and Prince of Ithilien.
Galadriel, Celeborn, and Gandalf meet and say farewell to Treebeard, and to Aragorn.
The four hobbits make their way back to the Shire, only to find that it has been taken over by men directed by "Sharkey" (whom they later discover to be Saruman).
The hobbits, led by Merry, raise a rebellion and scour the Shire of Sharkey's evil.
Gríma Wormtongue turns on Saruman and kills him in front of Bag End, Frodo's home.
He is killed in turn by hobbit archers.
Merry and Pippin are celebrated as heroes.
Sam marries Rosie Cotton and uses his gifts from Galadriel to help heal the Shire.
But Frodo is still wounded in body and spirit, having borne the Ring for so long.
A few years later, in the company of Bilbo and Gandalf, Frodo sails from the Grey Havens west over the Sea to the Undying Lands to find peace.
