As Frodo falls dangerously under the sway of the ring’s dark magic during the hazardous journey through Mordor, Aragorn and his forces stage a last stand at the Black Gate of Mordor, and Frodo makes a seismic sacrifice to destroy the ring once and for all. The trilogy concludes thrillingly with The Return of the King. (And once you've finished, check out our maps to Dune, Game of Thrones, and The Wheel of Time next.) What kind of Tolkien reader will you be? Time to start reading and find out. Additionally, for anyone looking to do their homework about the Rings of Power lore, I've flagged the books that will enrich your viewing of the series. I grew up in Tolkien’s wide, wild world in the way that other members of my generation grew up in Narnia or Hogwarts these books are an enduring part of my heart and identity, and they can be for you, too.īelow, I’ve charted a choose your own adventure course through the lore, with exit points for the casual reader and bonus material for the newly converted Tolkienite.

Yes, dear reader, you caught me-I’ve been a Tolkienite since age eight, when I got my hands on The Hobbit and it changed my little brain forever. What’s the best path for reading your way through, you ask? It’s a simple question, but one bound to rile up Tolkien fans, who love and study the author’s works with serious devotion. But The Lord of the Rings is just the tip of the iceberg Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium encompasses thousands of years and dozens of other works, meaning that if you dive in, it may be quite a long time before you make it there and back again. You’ll always remember the first time you encountered these moving, masterfully imagined epics about the struggle between good and evil, the delicate balance of death and immortality, and the addictive danger of power. If you haven’t read the series, how I envy you! Newcomers are in for an unforgettable reading experience. Now, with Amazon's Rings of Power closing the curtain on a successful Season One, a whole new generation of fans have discovered Middle-earth. Peter Jackson’s early aughts film adaptations have only compounded the series’ enduring popularity, inviting new fans into Tolkien’s fantastical world by way of Academy Awards, timeless memes, and astounding filmmaking. Tolkien’s sprawling magnum opus popularized the fantasy genre, galvanized a counterculture movement, and snowballed into a global pop culture phenomenon. It’s difficult to imagine a world without The Lord of the Rings.

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