One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
From Sauron's fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.
When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.
The Lord of the Rings is a sweeping epic told in three parts:
The Fellowship of the Ring — Part One
Frodo Baggins knew the Ringwraiths were searching for him — and the Ring of Power he bore that would enable Sauron to destroy all that was good in Middle-earth. Now it was up to Frodo and his faithful servant, Sam, to carry the Ring to where it could be destroyed — in the very center of Sauron's dark kingdom of Mordor.
The Two Towers — Part Two
The Fellowship was scattered. Some were bracing hopelessly for war against the ancient evil of Sauron. Some were contending with the treachery of the wizard Saruman. Only Frodo and Sam were left to take the accursed Ring of Power to be destroyed in Mordor, seat of Sauron's power. Their guide was Gollum, deceitful and lust-filled, slave to the Ring's corruption.
The Return of the King — Part Three
Frodo and Sam struggled deep into Mordor. But the way was impossibly hard, and Frodo was weakening. Meanwhile, the people of Gondor and Rohan prepared to face the full assault of Sauron's forces.
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