The Fellowship of the Ring
Bilbo Baggins celebrates his birthday and leaves the Ring to Frodo, his heir. Gandalf (a wizard) suspects it is a Ring of Power; seventeen years … See more

Background
Although a major work in itself, The Lord of the Rings was only the last movement of a much older set of narratives Tolkien had worked on since 1917 encompassing The Silmarillion, in a process he described as mythopoeia See more

The Lord of the Rings has been adapted into various media, including radio, stage, motion pictures, and videogames.
Radio
The book has been adapted for radio four times. In 1955 and 1956, the BBC broadcast See more

• Carpenter, Humphrey (1977). J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-04-928037-3.
• See more

A dispute with his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, led Tolkien to offer the work to William Collins in 1950. Tolkien intended The Silmarillion (itself largely unrevised at this point) to be … See more

1950s
Early reviews of the work were mixed. The initial review in the Sunday Telegraph described it as … See more

Influence on fantasy
The enormous popularity of Tolkien's work expanded the demand for fantasy. Largely thanks to The Lord of … See more