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each morning to hear what happens next. Welcome

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to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

2:00

Benjamin Boster. Today's

2:03

episode is from a Wikipedia article

2:05

titled, The Lord of the Rings. The

2:09

Lord of the Rings is an epic

2:11

high-fantasy novel by the English author and

2:14

scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Said

2:17

in Middle Earth, the story

2:19

began as a sequel to Tolkien's

2:21

1937 children's book, The Hobbit, but

2:24

eventually developed into a much larger work.

2:28

Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of

2:34

the Rings is one of the best-selling

2:36

books ever written, with over 150 million copies

2:39

sold. The

2:42

title refers to the story's main

2:44

antagonist, Sauron, the dark

2:46

Lord who, in an earlier age, created

2:49

the one ring to rule the other

2:51

rings of power given to men, dwarves,

2:53

and elves, and is campaigned

2:55

to conquer all of Middle Earth. From

2:59

homely beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit

3:02

land reminiscent of the English

3:05

countryside, the story ranges across

3:07

Middle Earth, following

3:09

the quest to destroy the one ring, seen

3:12

mainly through the eyes of the hobbits Frodo,

3:15

Sam, Merry, and Pippin. Aedene

3:19

Frodo are the wizard Gandalf, the

3:21

men Aragorn and Boromir, the

3:23

elf Legolas, and the dwarf Gimli,

3:27

who unite in order to rally the free

3:29

peoples of Middle Earth against

3:31

Sauron's armies and

3:33

give Frodo a chance to destroy the one ring and

3:35

the fire of Mount Doom. Although

3:39

often mistakenly called a

3:41

trilogy, the work was intended by

3:44

Tolkien to be one volume and a two

3:46

volume set, along with the

3:48

Silmarillion. For economic

3:50

reasons, The Lord of the Rings was first

3:52

published over the course of a year, from

3:55

the 29th of July 1954 to 20th of October. 1955

4:01

and three volumes rather than one, under

4:04

the titles The Fellowship of the Ring,

4:06

The Two Towers, and

4:08

The Return of the King. The

4:10

Silmarillion appeared only after the author's

4:12

death. The work

4:15

is divided internally into six books,

4:17

two per volume, with

4:19

several appendices of background material.

4:23

These three volumes were later published as

4:25

a box said and even finally

4:27

as a single volume, following

4:29

the author's original intent. Tolkien's

4:33

work after an initially mixed

4:35

reception by the literary establishment

4:38

has been the subject of extensive

4:40

analysis of its themes, literary devices,

4:43

and origins. Influences

4:46

on this earlier work and on

4:48

the story of The Lord of

4:50

the Rings include philology, mythology, Christianity,

4:54

clear fantasy works, and

4:56

his own experiences in the

4:58

First World War. The Lord of

5:00

the Rings is considered one of the greatest fantasy

5:02

books ever written, and it

5:04

has helped to create and shape the modern

5:06

fantasy genre. Since

5:08

release, it has been reprinted many times

5:11

and translated into at least thirty-eight languages.

5:14

Its enduring popularity has led

5:16

to numerous references and popular

5:19

culture, the founding of many

5:21

societies by fans of Tolkien's works,

5:24

and the publication of many books about

5:26

Tolkien and his works. It

5:29

has inspired many derivative works, including

5:32

paintings, music, films, television,

5:35

video games and board games. Award-winning

5:39

adaptations of The Lord of the Rings

5:41

has been made for radio, theater, and

5:43

film. It was

5:45

named Britain's best-loved novel of all time in

5:47

a 2003 poll by

5:50

the BBC called The Big Read. generates

6:00

his birthday, and leaves the ring

6:02

to Frodo his heir. Gandalf,

6:04

a wizard, suspects it is a ring of

6:06

power. Seventeen years later,

6:09

he confirms it was lost by the Dark

6:11

Lord Sauron and counsels Frodo to take it

6:13

away from the Shire. Gandalf

6:16

leaves, promising to return, but

6:19

fails to do so. Frodo

6:21

sets out on foot with his cousin

6:23

Pip and Tooke and gardener Sam Gamgee.

6:26

They are pursued by Black Riders, but

6:28

meet some elves, whose

6:30

singing to Elbruth hoards off the riders.

6:34

The hobbits take an evasive shortcut

6:36

to Buckleberry Ferry, where they

6:38

meet their friend Merry Brandybuck. Merry

6:41

and Pip and reveal they know

6:43

about the ring and insist on

6:46

joining Frodo on his journey. They

6:48

try to shake off the Black Riders by

6:50

cutting through the old forest. Merry

6:52

and Pip and are trapped by the malign

6:55

Old Panwillow, but are rescued

6:57

by Tom Bombadil. Leaving

6:59

Tom's house, they are caught by a barrow-white.

7:02

Frodo, awakening from the barrow-white spell,

7:05

calls Tom Bombadil, who

7:07

frees them and gives them ancient swords from

7:09

the white sword. The

7:12

hobbits reach the village of Bree where

7:14

they meet Strider, a ranger. The

7:17

innkeeper gives Frodo an old letter

7:19

from Gandalf, which identifies Strider

7:22

as a friend. Knowing

7:25

the Black Riders will attempt to seize the

7:27

ring, Strider guides the group

7:29

toward the elvish sanctuary of Rivendell.

7:33

At Weathertop, they are attacked by five

7:35

Black Riders. Their leader

7:37

wounds Frodo with a cursed blade. Strider

7:41

fights them off and treats Frodo with

7:43

the herb Atholus. They

7:45

are joined by the elf Glorfindel, who rides

7:48

with Frodo, now deathly ill

7:50

towards Rivendell. The

7:52

Black Rider pursues Frodo into the Ford

7:54

of Brunin, where they are swept away

7:57

by floodwaters summoned by Elrond. Frodo

8:00

recovers in Rivendell under Elrond's care.

8:04

Gandalf informs Frodo that the Black Riders

8:06

are the Nazgul, men

8:08

enslaved by rings of power to serve

8:10

Sauron. The Council

8:12

of Elrond discusses what to do with the ring.

8:15

Strider is revealed to be Aragorn,

8:18

the heir of Isildur, who

8:20

had cut the ring from Sauron's hand in the

8:22

Second Age but claimed it for himself. The

8:25

ring was lost when Isildur was killed. It

8:28

passed to Gollum and then to Bilbo. Gandalf

8:32

reports that the chief wizard Sauron is

8:34

a traitor. The Council

8:36

decides that the ring must be destroyed in

8:38

the fire of Mount Doom and Mordor where

8:40

it was forged. Frodo

8:43

takes this task upon himself. Elrond

8:46

chooses companions for him, Sam,

8:49

Merry, and Pippin. Gandalf,

8:52

the men Aragorn and Boromir, son of

8:54

the Steward of Gondor, the

8:56

Elf Legolas, and the Dwarf

8:58

Gimli, representing the Free Peoples

9:00

of the West. After

9:03

a failed attempt to cross the Misty Mountains,

9:06

the fellowship risks a path through the Mines

9:08

of Moria. They learn

9:10

that Balon and his dwarves were killed by

9:12

orcs. They are attacked

9:14

by orcs and Balrog, a fire

9:17

demon. Gandalf confronts the

9:19

Balrog, both all into an

9:21

abyss. The others escape

9:23

to the Elvish Forest of the Lorian where

9:26

the Lady Galadriel tests their loyalty

9:29

and gives them magical gifts. She

9:32

allows Frodo and Sam to look into

9:34

her vision-giving fountain, the Mirror of Galadriel.

9:37

Frodo offers her the ring. She

9:39

refuses, knowing that it would master her. Galadriel's

9:42

husband, Celeborn, gives the fellowship

9:45

boats, cloaks, and wheybread. They

9:47

travel down the river Anduin. At

9:50

Amunhen, Boromir tries to take the

9:52

ring, but Frodo puts

9:54

on the ring and disappears. Frodo

9:57

chooses to cross the river and go alone.

10:00

to Mordor, but Sam, guessing

10:02

what he intends, intercepts him. The

10:07

Two Towers A

10:09

party of orcs sent by Sauron and

10:11

Sauron attack the Fellowship. Boromir

10:14

tries to protect Merion Pippin from the

10:16

orcs, but they kill him

10:18

and capture the two hobbits. Aragorn,

10:21

Gimli, and Legolas decide to pursue

10:23

the orcs. The

10:25

orcs are killed by riders of

10:27

Rohan led by Aomir. The hobbits

10:30

escape into Fangorn Forest where

10:32

they are befriended by the Ent Treebeard.

10:36

Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas track the

10:38

hobbits to Fangorn where they meet

10:40

Gandalf. He explains that he

10:42

killed the Balrog. He too was

10:44

killed in the fight, but was sent

10:46

back to Middle-earth. He

10:48

is now Gandalf the White, replacing

10:50

Sauron as Chief of the Wizards. They

10:54

ride to Edoras, capital of Rohan.

10:57

Gandalf frees King Theoden from

11:00

the influence of Sauron's spy,

11:02

Trimma Wormtongue. Theoden

11:04

musters his army and rides to the

11:06

fortress of Helm's Deep. Gandalf

11:09

departs to seek help from Treebeard.

11:12

The Ents destroy Isengard, Sauron's stronghold,

11:15

and flood it, trapping

11:17

the wizard in the tower of Orthag. Gandalf

11:20

convinces Treebeard to send an army

11:22

of Hurans to Theoden's aid. He

11:25

brings an army of riders of Rohan to Helm's

11:27

Deep. They defeat the orcs

11:29

who flee into the forest of Hurans

11:31

and are destroyed. Gandalf,

11:34

Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas, and

11:36

Gimli ride to Isengard

11:39

where they find Merry and Pippin

11:42

relaxing among Sarunas. Gandalf

11:45

offers Sauron a chance to turn away from

11:47

evil. When Sauron refuses,

11:50

Gandalf strips him of his rank and most

11:52

of his powers. Wormtongue

11:54

throws down a hard round object

11:56

to try to kill Gandalf. picks

12:00

it up. Gandalf swiftly takes

12:02

it, but Pippin steals it in

12:04

the night. It is a

12:06

palantheor, a seeing stone that Sauron used

12:08

to speak with Sauron, becoming

12:10

ensnared. Sauron

12:13

sees Pippin, but misunderstands the

12:15

circumstances. Gandalf rides

12:17

for Minas Tirith, chief city

12:19

of Gondor, taking Pippin with him.

12:23

Frodo and Sam struggle through the barren

12:26

hills of the Emon Mule. They

12:28

realize they are being tracked. On

12:31

a moonlit night, they capture Gollum, who

12:33

has followed them from Moria. Frodo

12:36

makes Gollum swear to serve him

12:38

as ring-bearer and asks him to

12:40

guide them to Mordor. Gollum

12:42

leads them across the dead marshes. Sam

12:46

overhears Gollum debating with his

12:48

alter-eco Smeagol whether to

12:50

steal the ring. The

12:52

black gate of Mordor is too well guarded, so they

12:55

travel south through Athylian to a

12:57

secret pass at Gollum knows. They

12:59

are captured by rangers led by

13:01

Faramir, Boromir's brother, and

13:04

brought to the secret fastness of Heneth

13:06

Anun. Faramir

13:08

resists the temptation to seize the ring

13:11

and disobeying orders to arrest strangers

13:13

releases them. Gollum

13:16

guides the hobbits to the pass, but

13:19

leads them into the lair of the great

13:21

spider Shelob in the tunnels of

13:23

Sirth Ungal. Frodo

13:26

holds up his gift, the file

13:28

of Galadriel, which holds

13:30

the light of Arundel's star. It

13:33

drives Shelob back. Frodo

13:35

cuts through a giant web using his

13:38

sword Sting. Shelob

13:40

attacks again and Frodo falls to her

13:42

venom. Sam picks

13:44

up Sting and the file. He

13:47

wounds the monster, leaving Frodo

13:49

to be dead. Sam takes the ring to

13:51

continue the quest alone. Orcs

13:54

take Frodo. Sam overhears them,

13:56

saying that Frodo is still alive. The

14:01

Return of the King Sauron

14:04

sends a great army against Gondor.

14:07

Gandalf arrives at Minas Tirith to warn

14:09

Denethor of the attack, while

14:11

Phaoden musters the riders of Rohan to

14:13

go to Gondor's aid. Minas

14:16

Tirith is besieged. The

14:19

Lord of the Nazgul uses a spell-wound

14:21

battering ram to destroy the city's raids.

14:24

Denethor, deceived by Sauron, falls

14:26

into despair. He burns himself alive

14:28

on a pyre. Pippin

14:31

and Gandalf rescue his son, Faramir, from

14:33

the same fate. Aragorn,

14:35

accompanied by Legolas, Gimli, and the

14:38

Rangers of North, takes

14:40

the paths of the dead to recruit the

14:42

dead men of Dunharrow, those

14:44

breakers who will have no rest until they

14:46

fight for the King of Gondor. Aragorn

14:49

unleashes the army of the dead on

14:52

the Corsairs of Umbar, invading

14:54

the southern Gondor. He

14:56

and men of southern Gondor sail

14:58

on the Corsairs' ships up the Anduin,

15:01

reaching Minas Tirith just in

15:03

time to turn the tide of the battle. Phaoden's

15:07

niece Eowyn, who joined the

15:09

army in disguise, kills

15:11

the Lord of the Nazgul with help from

15:14

Merry. Both are wounded. Gondor

15:17

and Rohan defeat Sauron's army in the

15:20

battle of the Pelennor Fields, but

15:22

Phaoden is killed. Aragorn

15:25

enters Minas Tirith and heals the sick.

15:28

He leads an army through a cillion to the

15:30

Black Gate to distract Sauron from his true danger.

15:32

At the Battle of

15:35

Morannan, his army is vastly outnumbered.

15:39

Sam rescues Frodo from the Tower of

15:41

Sirith Ungol. They set

15:43

out across Mordor. When they

15:45

reach the edge of the cracks of doom, Frodo

15:48

cannot resist the ring any

15:50

longer. He claims it for himself and puts

15:52

it on. Gollum

15:55

reappears. He bites off Frodo's

15:57

ring finger, celebrating wildly.

15:59

Gollum loses his footing and

16:02

falls into the fire, taking the ring with

16:04

him. When the

16:06

ring is destroyed, Sauron loses his

16:08

power. All

16:10

he created collapses, and

16:12

Nazgul perish, and Aragorn

16:14

wins the battle of Morannen. Aragorn

16:18

is Crown King and weds Arwen, Elrond's

16:21

daughter. Theoden

16:24

is buried, Aomer is Crown King of

16:26

Rohan. His sister, Aowan,

16:28

is engaged to Faramir, now

16:30

Steward of Gondor and Prince of Aethilien.

16:34

Galadriel, Celeborn, and Gandalf say

16:36

farewell to Treebeard and to Aragorn.

16:39

The four hobbits travel home, only

16:42

to find it has been taken over by Sauron's

16:44

men. Merry raises

16:46

the rebellion and scours the Shire. Worm-tongue

16:49

turns on Sauron and kills him in

16:51

front of Bag End, Frodo's home. He

16:55

is killed by Hobbit archers. Merry

16:57

and Pippin are celebrated as heroes. Sam

17:01

marries Rosy Codden and uses his gifts to

17:03

heal the Shire. Frodo,

17:05

broken by the quest, leaves

17:07

a few years later sailing for the Grey

17:10

Havens over the sea to find peace. Extensive

17:15

appendices outline more details of

17:17

the history, cultures, genealogies, and

17:20

languages that Tolkien imagined for the

17:22

peoples of Middle-earth. In

17:25

antiquarian style, they provide background

17:27

details for the narrative, with

17:30

much detail for Tolkien fans who want to

17:32

know more about the stories. Tolkien

17:38

presents the Lord of the Rings with a

17:40

fictional frame story, where he is

17:42

not the original author but merely the

17:44

translator of part of an ancient document,

17:47

the Red Book of Westmarch. That

17:50

book is modeled on the real Red Book of Herjest,

17:53

which similarly presents an older

17:55

mythology. Various

17:57

details of the frame story appear in the prologue.

18:01

its note on Shire Records

18:03

and in the appendices, notably Appendix

18:06

F. In

18:08

this framed story, the Red Book is

18:10

the purported source of Tolkien's other works

18:13

relating to Middle-earth, The Hobbit,

18:15

The Similrillion, and The Adventures

18:17

of Tom Bombadil. Although

18:21

a major work in itself, The

18:23

Lord of the Rings was only the last

18:25

movement of a much older set of narratives

18:27

Tolkien had worked on since

18:29

1917, encompassing

18:32

The Similrillion in a process he

18:34

described as Mesopoeia. The

18:36

Lord of the Rings started as a sequel

18:38

to Tolkien's work The Hobbit, published in The

18:42

popularity of The Hobbit had led George,

18:45

Alan, and Unwin, the publishers,

18:47

to request a sequel. Tolkien

18:50

warned them that he wrote quite slowly and

18:52

responded with several stories he had already developed.

18:56

Having rejected his contemporary drafts for

18:58

The Similrillion, putting Rovrundum

19:00

on hold and accepting farmer giles

19:03

of ham, Alan and

19:05

Unwin continued to ask for more stories about

19:07

hobbits. Persuaded

19:10

by his publishers, he started a new

19:12

Hobbit in December 1937. After

19:16

several false starts, the story of the One

19:18

Ring emerged. The idea

19:20

for the first chapter, a long-expected party,

19:23

arrived fully formed, although

19:25

the reasons behind Bilbo's disappearance, the

19:28

significance of the ring, and

19:30

the title The Lord of the Rings did not come until

19:32

the spring of 1938. Originally,

19:35

he planned to write a story in

19:37

which Bilbo had used up all his

19:39

treasure and was looking for another adventure to

19:42

gain more. However, he

19:44

remembered the ring and its powers and

19:46

thought that would be a better focus for the new

19:48

work. As

19:51

the story progressed, he brought in elements

19:53

from the Silmarillion mythology. Writing

19:56

was slow because Tolkien had a

19:58

full-time academic position. Marked

20:01

exams to bring in a little extra income

20:03

and wrote many drafts. Tolkien

20:06

abandoned the Lord of the Rings during most of 1943 and only

20:09

restarted it in April 1944

20:14

as a serial for his son Christopher Tolkien,

20:17

who would send chapters as they were written while

20:19

he was serving in South Africa with the Royal

20:21

Air Force. Tolkien

20:24

made another major effort in 1946 and

20:27

showed the manuscript to his publishers in 1947. The

20:31

story was effectively finished the next year,

20:34

but Tolkien did not complete the revision of earlier parts

20:36

of the work until 1949. The

20:40

original manuscripts, which total 9,250 pages, now reside in

20:42

the J.R.R. Tolkien collection at

20:47

Marquette University. Especially

20:52

for 20th century novels, the prose narrative

20:54

is supplemented throughout by over 60 pieces

20:56

of poetry. These include

20:58

verse and songs of many genres, for

21:01

wandering, marching to war, drinking,

21:04

and having a bath, narrating

21:06

ancient myths, riddles, prophecies,

21:09

and magical incantations, and

21:12

of praise and lament, elegy. Some

21:15

such as riddles, charms, elegies,

21:17

and narrating heroic actions are

21:20

found in old English poetry. Scholars

21:24

have stated that the poetry is essential for

21:26

the fiction to work aesthetically and thematically

21:29

as it adds information not given in the

21:32

prose, and it brings

21:34

out characters in their backgrounds. The

21:37

poetry has been judged to be of high technical

21:39

skill reflected in Tolkien's prose.

21:42

For instance, he wrote much of

21:45

Tom Bombadil's speech in Meter. Tolkien

21:50

worked on the text using his maps of Middle-earth

21:52

as a guide to ensure the

21:54

elements of the story fitted together in time

21:56

and space. He

21:58

prepared a variety of time and space. types of

22:01

illustration—maps, calligraphy, drawings,

22:03

cover designs, even

22:05

a facsimile painting of the book of Mazarbal.

22:08

But only the maps, the inscription on the

22:10

ring, the drawings on the

22:12

doors of Durin were included in the

22:15

first edition. The

22:17

hardback editions sometimes had cover

22:19

illustrations by Tolkien, sometimes

22:21

by other artists. According

22:24

to the New York Times, Barbara

22:26

Remington's cover designs for Ballantyne's

22:28

paperback editions achieved

22:31

mass cult status in the 1960s,

22:34

particularly on college campuses across

22:36

America. Tolkien

22:39

drew on a wide array

22:41

of influences including language, Christianity,

22:43

mythology and Germanic heroic legend,

22:46

including the Norse Volsanga saga,

22:49

archaeology, especially at the Temple

22:51

of Noden's ancient and

22:53

modern literature like Finnish

22:55

19th-century epic poetry, the

22:57

Kalavala by Elias Lundratt,

23:00

and personal experience. He

23:02

was inspired primarily by his

23:05

profession philology, his

23:07

work centered on the study of

23:09

Old English literature, especially Beowulf, and

23:12

he acknowledged its importance to his writings. He

23:15

was a gifted linguist influenced by

23:17

Celtic, Finnish, Slavic and Greek language

23:19

and mythology. Commentators

23:22

have attempted to identify literary

23:24

and topological antecedents for characters,

23:27

places, and events in

23:29

Tolkien's writings. He acknowledged that

23:31

he had enjoyed adventure stories by authors

23:33

such as John Buchan and Ryder Haggard.

23:36

The arts and crafts polymath William Morris

23:39

was a major influence, and

23:41

Tolkien undoubtedly made use of some real

23:43

place names such as Bag End,

23:45

the name of his aunt's home. Tolkien

23:49

stated too that he had been influenced

23:51

by his childhood experiences of the English

23:53

countryside of Worcestershire near Sarahol

23:55

Mill and its urbanization by

23:57

the growth of Birmingham. and

24:00

his personal experience of fighting in the trenches of

24:02

the First World War. Moreover,

24:06

the militarization and industrialization inspired

24:08

the character of Sauron and

24:10

his forces. The orcs

24:12

represented the worst of it as workers that

24:14

have been tortured and brutalized by the war

24:16

and industry. Scholars

24:20

and critics have identified many themes in

24:22

the book with its complex interlaced narrative,

24:26

including a reversed quest, the

24:28

struggle of good and evil, death

24:30

and immortality, fate and free will,

24:33

the addictive danger of power, and

24:35

various aspects of Christianity, such

24:38

as the presence of three Christ-figures for

24:41

prophet, priest, and king, as

24:43

well as elements like hope and redemptive

24:45

suffering. There

24:48

is a common theme throughout the work

24:50

of language, its sound, and

24:52

its relationship to peoples and places, along

24:55

with hints of providence and descriptions

24:57

of weather and landscape. Out

25:01

of these, Tolkien stated that the

25:03

central theme is death and immortality.

25:05

To those whose supposed that the book

25:07

was an allegory of events in the twentieth

25:10

century, Tolkien replied in the

25:12

foreword to the second edition that it was

25:14

not, saying he preferred,

25:16

history, true or vain, with

25:19

its varied applicability to the thought and experience

25:21

of readers. Some

25:23

commentators have criticized the book for being

25:25

a story about men for boys, with

25:28

no significant women, or

25:31

about a purely rural world with no

25:33

bearing on modern life and cities, of

25:37

containing no sign of religion or

25:39

of racism. Other

25:42

commentators responded by noting that there are

25:44

three powerful women in the book, collateral,

25:47

aowan, and arwen, that

25:50

life, even in rural hobbitan, is

25:52

not idealized, that

25:55

Christianity is a pervasive theme, and

25:58

that Tolkien was sharply anti-racist, both

26:00

in peacetime and during the Second World War,

26:03

while Middle-earth is evidently polycultural.

26:09

A dispute with his publisher, George

26:11

Allen & Unwin, led Tolkien to

26:13

offer the work to William Collins

26:15

in 1950. Tolkien

26:17

intended the Silmarillion, itself largely

26:19

un-revised at this point, to

26:22

be published along with The Lord of the Rings, but

26:25

Allen & Unwin were unwilling to do this. After

26:28

Milton Waldman, his contact at Collins, expressed

26:31

the belief that The Lord of the

26:33

Rings itself urgently wanted

26:35

cutting, Tolkien eventually

26:37

demanded that they publish the book in

26:39

1952. Collins

26:42

did not, and so Tolkien wrote to

26:44

Allen & Unwin saying, I would

26:46

gladly consider the publication of any part

26:48

of the stuff, fearing his

26:51

work would never see the light of day. For

26:55

publication, the work was divided into

26:57

three volumes to minimize any potential

26:59

financial loss due to the

27:02

high cost of typesetting and modest

27:04

anticipated sales, The

27:06

Fellowship of the Ring, Books 1 and 2,

27:09

The Two Towers, Books 3 and 4,

27:12

and The Return of the King, Books 5 and 6,

27:15

plus six appendices. Delays

27:18

in producing dependencies, maps, and

27:21

especially an index led

27:23

to the volumes being published later than

27:25

originally hoped, on the 29th of July 1954,

27:27

on 11th of November 1954, and on the 20th of

27:33

October 1955, respectively in the

27:35

United Kingdom. In

27:38

the United States, Houghton Milton published The Fellowship of the

27:40

Ring on the 21st of October 1954, The Two Towers

27:42

on the 21st

27:45

of April 1955, and The Return of the King on the 5th

27:47

of January 1956. The Return of

27:54

the King was especially delayed as Tolkien

27:56

revised the ending and prepared appendices, some

27:59

of which were not. which had to be left

28:01

out because of space constraints. Tolkien

28:04

did not like the title The Return of the

28:06

King, believing it gave away

28:08

too much of the storyline, but

28:11

deferred to his publisher's preference.

28:14

Tolkien wrote that the title The Two

28:16

Towers can be left ambiguous but

28:18

considered naming the two as

28:21

Orthank and Baradur, Ministeris and

28:23

Baradur, or Orthank and the

28:25

Tower of Sirith Ungol. However,

28:28

a month later he wrote a note published at

28:30

the end of The Fellowship of the Ring and

28:33

later drew a cover illustration, both

28:35

of which identified the pair as Minas

28:37

Morgul and Orthank. Tolkien

28:41

was initially opposed to titles being given

28:43

to each two big volume, preferring

28:45

instead the use of book titles,

28:48

e.g. The Lord of the Rings. Volume

28:51

1, The Ring Sets Out and The Ring

28:53

Goes South. Volume 2, The

28:55

Treason of Isengard and The Ring Goes

28:58

East. Volume 3,

29:00

The War of the Ring and The End of the Third Age.

29:03

However, these individual book titles were dropped

29:06

and after pressure from his publishers, Tolkien

29:10

suggested the volume titles. Volume

29:12

1, The Shadow Grows. Volume

29:14

2, The Ring and The Shadow. Volume

29:17

3, The War of the Ring

29:19

or The Return of the King. Because

29:24

the three-volume binding was so

29:26

widely distributed, the work is

29:28

often referred to as The Lord of

29:30

the Rings trilogy. In a letter to

29:32

the poet W. H. Auden, who

29:34

famously reviewed the final volume in 1956, Tolkien

29:38

himself made use of the term trilogy

29:40

for the work, though

29:42

he did at other times consider this

29:45

incorrect, as it was written

29:47

and conceived as a single book. It

29:49

is often called a novel, however

29:52

Tolkien objected to this term as he viewed

29:54

it as a heroic romance. The

29:58

books were published under a profitable sharing

30:00

arrangement whereby Tolkien would not

30:02

receive in advance or royalties

30:05

until the books had broken even, after

30:08

which he would take a large share of the profits.

30:11

It has ultimately become one of the best-selling

30:13

novels ever written, with at least

30:15

50 million copies sold by 2003 and

30:19

over 150 million copies sold by

30:21

2007. The work

30:23

was published in the UK by Allen

30:25

and Unwin until 1990, when

30:27

the publisher and its assets were

30:30

acquired by HarperCollins. In

30:35

the early 1960s, Donald A.

30:37

Walheim, science fiction editor of

30:39

the paperback publisher Ace Books,

30:42

claimed that The Lord of the Rings was

30:44

not protected in the United States under American

30:46

copyright law because Houghton

30:48

Mifflin, the U.S. hardcover publisher,

30:51

had neglected to copyright the work in the

30:53

United States. Then

30:55

in 1965, Ace Books proceeded

30:57

to publish an edition, unauthorized

31:00

by Tolkien, and without

31:02

paying royalties to him. Tolkien

31:05

took issue with this and quickly notified

31:07

his fans of this objection. Grassroots

31:10

pressure from these fans became so

31:12

great that Ace Books withdrew

31:15

their edition and made a

31:17

nominal payment to Tolkien. Authorized

31:20

editions followed from Valentine books and Houghton Mifflin, to

31:24

tremendous commercial success. Tolkien

31:27

undertook various textual revisions to produce a

31:30

version of the book that would be published with his

31:33

consent and establish an unquestioned U.S.

31:36

copyright. This text

31:38

became the second edition of The Lord of the Rings,

31:40

published in 1965. The first Valentine paperback edition was printed

31:42

in October that year,

31:45

selling a quarter of a million copies within 10 months. On the 4th

31:47

of September 1966, the

31:52

novel debuted on the New York Times' paperback bestsellers

31:54

list as number three. and

32:00

was number one by the 4th of December, a position

32:03

it held for eight weeks. Huffton

32:08

Mifflin editions after 1994 consolidate

32:10

variant revisions by Tolkien and

32:13

corrections supervised by Christopher Tolkien,

32:16

which resulted after some initial glitches

32:19

in a computer-based unified text. In

32:23

2004 for the 50th anniversary

32:25

edition, Wayne G.

32:27

Hammond and Christina Skoll, under

32:30

supervision from Christopher Tolkien, studied

32:32

and revised the text to eliminate

32:34

as many errors and inconsistencies as

32:36

possible, some of which

32:39

had been introduced by well-meaning compositors of the first

32:41

printing in 1954 and never been corrected. The

32:46

2005 edition of the book contained further

32:49

corrections noticed by the editors and submitted

32:51

by readers. Yet more

32:53

corrections were made in the 60th anniversary edition

32:55

in 2014. Several

32:59

editions, including the 50th anniversary edition,

33:01

print the whole work in one volume, with

33:04

the result that pagination varies widely

33:06

over the various editions. From

33:12

1988 to 1992, Christopher Tolkien published the

33:14

surviving drafts of The Lord of the

33:16

Rings, chronicling and illuminating

33:18

with commentary the stages of the

33:21

text's development in volume

33:23

6 to 9 of his History of Middle-earth

33:25

series. The four volumes

33:27

carry the titles The Return of

33:29

the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard,

33:32

The War of the Ring, and Sauron

33:34

Defeated. The

33:37

work has been translated with varying degrees of

33:40

success into at least 38 and reportedly at

33:43

least 70 languages. Tolkien,

33:47

an expert in philology, examined many of

33:49

these translations and made

33:51

comments on each that reflect both the

33:53

translation process and his work. As

33:56

he was unhappy with some choices made

33:59

by early translators, such as the Swedish

34:01

translation by Oka Ulmarks, Tolkien

34:04

wrote A Guide to the Names in

34:06

the Lord of the Rings, 1967. Because

34:09

The Lord of the Rings purports to

34:12

be a translation of the fictitious Red

34:14

Book of Westmarch, using

34:16

the English language to represent the western

34:18

of the original, Tolkien

34:20

suggested that translators attempt to capture

34:22

the interplay between English and the

34:25

invented nomenclature of the English work,

34:28

and gave several examples along with

34:30

general guidance. Early

34:34

reviews of the work were mixed. The

34:36

initial review of the Sunday Telegraph

34:38

described it as among the greatest

34:40

works of imaginative fiction of the

34:43

20th century. The Sunday Times echoed

34:45

this sentiment, stating that the

34:47

English-speaking world is divided into those who have read

34:49

The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, and

34:52

those who are going to read them. The

34:55

New York Herald Tribune appeared to predict

34:57

the book's popularity, writing in

34:59

its review that they were destined to outlast

35:01

our time. W. H.

35:04

Auden, a former pupil of Tolkien's and admirer

35:06

of his writings, regarded The

35:09

Lord of the Rings as a masterpiece, further

35:11

stating that in some cases it

35:14

outdid the achievement of John Milton's Paradise

35:16

Lost. Kenneth

35:19

F. Slater wrote in Nebula Science Fiction

35:21

April 1955, if

35:24

you don't read it, you have missed one of the finest books of

35:26

its type ever to appear. On

35:30

the other hand, in 1955, the Scottish poet Edwin Muir attacked

35:32

the return of the king, writing

35:36

that all the characters are boys masquerading as adult heroes,

35:40

and will never come to puberty. Hardly one of

35:42

them knows anything about women, causing

35:45

Tolkien to complain angrily to his publisher. In 1956, the literary

35:47

critic Edmund Wilson wrote a

35:49

review entitled, Oh,

35:55

Those Awful Orcs, Calling Tolkien's

35:57

Work Juvenile Trash, and Saying

35:59

That saying Dr. Tolkien has little skill

36:01

at narrative and no instinct

36:04

for literary form. Within

36:07

Tolkien's literary group, the Inklings, the work

36:09

had a mixed perception. Hugo

36:11

Dyson complained loudly at its readings, whereas

36:14

C. S. Lewis had very different feelings

36:16

writing, Here are beauties

36:18

which pierce like swords or burn like

36:21

cold iron. Here is a

36:23

book which will break your heart. Lewis

36:25

observed that the writing is rich and

36:28

that some of the good characters have darker

36:30

sides and likewise some of

36:32

the villains have good impulses. Despite

36:35

the mixed reviews and a lack of a paperback

36:37

until the 1960s, The Lord of the

36:40

Rings initially sold well in hardback. In

36:45

1957, The Lord of the Rings was

36:47

awarded the International Fantasy Award. Despite

36:50

its numerous detractors, the publication of

36:53

the Ace Books and Ballantyne Paperbacks

36:56

helped The Lord of the Rings become immensely popular

36:58

in the United States in the 1960s. The book

37:02

has remained so ever since, ranking

37:04

as the most popular works of fiction of the

37:06

20th century,

37:08

judged by all of three different measures, sales,

37:12

library borrowings, and

37:14

reader surveys. In

37:16

the 2003 Big Read survey conducted

37:18

in Britain by the BBC, The

37:21

Lord of the Rings was found to be the nation's

37:23

best-loved book. In similar

37:25

2004 polls, both Germany and

37:27

Australia chose The Lord of the Rings as

37:30

their favorite book. In

37:32

a 1999 poll of amazon.com

37:34

customers, The Lord of the Rings was

37:36

judged to be their favorite book of the millennium. In

37:40

2019, the BBC News listed

37:42

The Lord of the Rings on its list of the 100

37:44

most influential novels. The

37:49

Lord of the Rings has been adapted

37:51

into various media, including radio, stage, motion

37:54

pictures, and video games. The

38:00

or four times. In. Nineteen Fifty

38:02

Five. And Nineteen Fifty Six. The.

38:04

Bbc broadcast The Lord of the

38:06

Rings a thirteen per radio adaptation

38:08

of the story. In

38:11

the nineteen sixties, radio station W

38:13

B I. Produced. A short

38:15

radio adaptation. And.

38:17

Nineteen Seventy Nine dramatization of The Lord

38:19

Of The Rings was broadcast in the

38:22

United States. And subsequently

38:24

issued on tape and Cd. In.

38:27

Nineteen Eighty One, The Bbc broadcast To

38:29

Load Of The Rings. A new

38:31

drama disease and and twenty six have

38:33

our instalments. Motion.

38:37

Pictures. A

38:39

variety of filmmakers considered adapting told

38:41

teens book. Among them,

38:43

Stanley Kubrick's Who Sided

38:45

Unfilmable. Michelangelo. Antonioni,

38:48

Jim Henson. Ions.

38:50

Edelman. And. John Boorman. A

38:53

Swedish live action television film Saga and

38:55

on Ring and. Was. Broadcast

38:58

and Nineteen Seventy One. And

39:01

Nineteen Seventy eight, Ralph Box. He

39:03

made an animated film version. Covering.

39:05

The Fellowship of The Ring, and Part of

39:07

The Two Towers to mixed reviews. And

39:10

Nineteen Eighty. Rankin Bass released an animated

39:12

Tv special based on the closing chapters

39:15

of The Return of The King. King.

39:18

Mixed reviews. In

39:20

Finland a live action television mini

39:22

series of it. It. Was.

39:25

Broadcast in Nineteen Ninety Three.

39:27

Based. On The Lord of the Rings. Was.

39:30

A flashback to build Those Encounter with Gollum

39:32

and The Hobbit. A.

39:35

Far more successful adaptation was Peter Jackson's

39:37

live action The Lord of the Rings

39:39

film trilogy. Produced. By

39:42

New Line Cinema. And released

39:44

in three installments has. The.

39:46

Lord of The Rings, The Fellowship of The Ring, Two

39:48

Thousand and One. The Lord Of

39:50

The Rings, The Two Towers Two thousand and Two.

39:53

And The Lord of the Rings, The Return of The

39:55

King. Two Thousand and Three. All.

39:57

three parts when multiple academy awards

40:00

including consecutive Best Picture nominations.

40:03

The final installment of this trilogy was the

40:05

second film to break the $1 billion barrier

40:09

and won a total of 11 Oscars, something

40:12

only two other films in history, Ben

40:14

Hur and Titanic, have accomplished, including

40:17

Best Picture, Best Director, and

40:20

Best Adapted Screenplay. Commentators,

40:23

including Tolkien scholars, literary critics,

40:25

and film critics, are

40:28

divided on how faithfully Jackson adapted

40:30

Tolkien's work or whether

40:32

a film version is inevitably different, and

40:35

if so, the reasons for any changes and

40:37

the effectiveness of the result. The

40:41

Hunt for Gollum, a 2009 film

40:43

by Chris Bouchard, and the

40:45

2009 Born of Hope, written by Paula De

40:48

Sante, and directed by Kate

40:50

Madison, are fan films based on

40:52

details and the appendices of The Lord of

40:54

the Rings. From

40:57

September 2022, Amazon has been presenting

41:00

a multi-season television series of stories,

41:03

The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power. It

41:06

is set at the beginning of the Second Age, long

41:09

before the time of The Lord of the Rings, based

41:11

on materials in the novel's appendices. In

41:15

early 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery announced

41:18

that multiple new movies set in

41:20

Middle Earth are in development,

41:23

and will be produced along with New Line

41:25

Cinema and Free Mode. Audiobooks

41:31

In 1990, recorded books published an audio

41:33

version of The Lord of the Rings,

41:36

read by the British actor, Rob Inglis.

41:40

A large-scale musical theatre adaptation, The Lord

41:42

of the Rings, was

41:44

first staged in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in

41:46

2006, and

41:48

opened in London in June 2007. It

41:52

was a commercial failure. In

41:55

2013, the artist Phil Dragash recorded the

41:57

whole of the book, using

41:59

the song, score from Peter Jackson's movies.

42:03

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Andy Serkis read

42:05

the entire book of The Hobbit online

42:07

to raise money for charity. He

42:10

then recorded the work again as an audiobook.

42:13

The cover art was done by Alan Lee. In

42:15

2021, Serkis recorded the Lord

42:19

of the Rings novels.