The Hobbit

1937

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who lives a quiet, comfortable life in his hole at Bag End, with no desire for adventure. That changes when the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield arrive at his door and recruit him as their burglar for a quest to reclaim the dwarves' ancestral home under the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. What follows is a journey across Middle-earth - through troll-haunted forests, goblin tunnels beneath the Misty Mountains, the wood-elves' halls of Mirkwood, and the desolation surrounding the dragon's lair. Along the way, Bilbo discovers a mysterious ring that makes its wearer invisible, an apparently minor find that will prove to be the most consequential discovery in the history of Middle-earth. The Hobbit is Tolkien's first published work set in his legendarium and serves as the natural entry point to his world.

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Lord of the Rings

1954

In the Shire, a quiet corner of Middle-earth where hobbits live comfortable and unadventurous lives, young Frodo Baggins inherits a plain gold ring from his elderly cousin Bilbo. When the wizard Gandalf reveals it to be the One Ring - forged by the Dark Lord Sauron to dominate all of Middle-earth - Frodo must leave everything he knows and carry it to the only place it can be destroyed: the fires of Mount Doom in the heart of Mordor. He is joined by eight companions - hobbits, men, an elf, a dwarf, and a wizard - who form the Fellowship of the Ring. The first volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, a journey from the familiar comforts of home into a world of ancient beauty and mounting peril.

The Two Towers

The Lord of the Rings

1954

The Fellowship is broken. Scattered across Middle-earth, its members face separate trials as the War of the Ring gathers pace. In the west, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursue the orcs who have taken their companions, a chase that leads them into the kingdom of Rohan - where an ailing king sits under the shadow of a treacherous advisor, and a wizard's fortress rises in the nearby mountains. In the east, Frodo and Sam press on toward Mordor with a new guide: the creature Gollum, who once bore the Ring himself and wants it back. The second volume of The Lord of the Rings, split between two storylines that move in parallel toward the same looming confrontation.

The Return of the King

The Lord of the Rings

1955

The final confrontation with Sauron is at hand. As the great city of Minas Tirith braces for a siege that could end the age of Men, the scattered members of the Fellowship play their parts in a war whose outcome rests not on armies but on two hobbits making their way through the desolation of Mordor. Frodo struggles under the Ring's growing weight, Aragorn must claim the kingship he has long avoided, and the free peoples of Middle-earth make their last stand against a darkness that cannot be defeated by force of arms. The final volume of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, bringing the great story to its conclusion.

The Silmarillion

1977

The Silmarillion is the history of Middle-earth from its creation to the end of the First Age - tens of thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It tells of the creation of the world by Ilúvatar and the Ainur, the awakening of the Elves, the making of the Silmarils - three jewels of incomparable beauty crafted by the greatest of the Elves, Fëanor - and the catastrophic wars fought to recover them from the dark lord Morgoth. The narrative spans the rise and fall of entire civilisations, the heroic stands of Elves and Men against overwhelming evil, and the great love stories and tragedies that define Tolkien's mythology. Published posthumously by Christopher Tolkien, The Silmarillion is denser and more mythological in style than The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, reading more like a chronicle or scripture than a novel. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the deep history behind Middle-earth.

Unfinished Tales

1980

Further tales that expand The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. This collection ranges from the time of The Silmarillion to the end of the War of the Ring in The Lord of the Rings. Its many treasures include Gandalf's lively account of how he came to send the Dwarves to the celebrated party at Bag-End, the emergence of the sea-god Ulmo before Tuor, the only story of Númenor before its fall, and all that is known of the Five Wizards. The collection has been edited by Christopher Tolkien, who provides a commentary placing each of the Tales in the context of his father's work.

The Children of Húrin

2007

The ‘Great Tale’ of The Children of Húrin, set during the legendary time before The Lord of the Rings. Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwells in the vast fortress of Angband in the North; and within the shadow of the fear of Angband, and the war waged by Morgoth against the Elves, the fates of Turin and his sister Nienor will be tragically entwined. Their brief and passionate lives are dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bears them as the children of Hurin, the man who dared to defy him to his face. Against them Morgoth sends his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulates the fates of Turin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, in an attempt to fulfil the curse of Morgoth.

Beren and Lúthien

2017

The epic tale of Beren and Lúthien became an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of Tolkien's First Age of the World. Always key to the story is the fate that shadowed their love: Beren was a mortal man, Lúthien an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, imposed on Beren an impossible task before he might wed Lúthien: to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, of a Silmaril. Painstakingly restored from Tolkien's manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, Beren and Lúthien reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, along with the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien's Middle-earth. Christopher Tolkien tells the story in his father's own words by giving its original form as well as prose and verse passages from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed.

The Fall of Gondolin

2018

The hidden Elven city of Gondolin is the last great stronghold against Morgoth, the Dark Lord of the First Age. Built in secret and protected by encircling mountains, Gondolin has remained hidden for centuries - but Morgoth seeks it ceaselessly, knowing that its fall would break the last resistance to his domination of Middle-earth. Into this story comes Tuor, a man guided by the sea-god Ulmo on a perilous journey to the hidden city, where he finds love, purpose, and a role in events that will shape the future of Middle-earth. One of the three Great Tales of the Elder Days alongside Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, presented by Christopher Tolkien from his father's manuscripts in the same evolving-narrative format as its companion volumes.