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=The Lord of the Rings=

JRR Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3rd 1892. His father's name was Arthur Reuel Tolkien and his mother's name was Mabel. Early on in his life tokien was bit by a tarantula which is shown in his books. His family was going to take a lengthy vacation to England, while they were there Arthur Tolkien died of rheumatic fever. Due to his father's death the family moved in with Mabel's parents in Birmingham because they had no source of income. Tolkien was an avid student, by the age of four he could read and he learned how to write soon afterwards. He also learned alot about botany from his mother. When Tolkien was twelve his mother died of a form of diabetes. The guardianship of John was transfered to Fr. Francis Xavier Morgan after his mother's death. Francis helped to strengthen John's Catholic beliefs. Tolkien fell in love with Edith Mary Bratt, however his guardian said that she was a distraction and that he was not alowed to talk to her until he was 21. Tolkien followed the command and on the evening of his 21st birthday he wraote her a letter asking her hand in marriage. He soon found out that Edith was already engaged to another man. However she gave back the ring and ended up betrothed to Tolkien. Tolkien entered the army as a signals officer during World War I. Many of his dearest friends died during the war however when he was later asked if his works were meant to parallel the war he would say that his works were not an alegory. He ended up getting trench fever from lice. while he was still recovering srom this he started to write part of what would become the Silmarillion. After he returned from the war tolkien got a job working on the entymologies of words that started with W and were of Germanic origin. In 1924 he became a professor at Leeds. He finished the lord of the rings in 1948 and he had it published in three volumes from 1954-1955. On November 29, 1971 Edith died, tolkien had the name luthien engraved on her gravestone. Later on September 2, 1973 Tolkien died and was buried in the same grave, he also has the name Beren engraved on the stone.

=A Brief Summary=

The Fellowship of the Ring
The book starts out with a large birthday party for Bilbo Baggins' who is a hobbit. A hobbit is similar to a human except that they are rather shorter and they have big feet covered in wooly hair. As Bilbo is giving his speech for his and Frodo's birthday he put on a magical ring and turns invisible. Bilbo soon moves to Rivendell where the elves live. Frodo, his nephew, inherits all of Bilbo's possessions including the magical golden ring. After testing it the wizard Gandalf figures out that it is the one ring of the enemy Sauron. He instructs Frodo to hide it and to not use it. Later on he tells Frodo to take the ring and bring it to Rivendell and that he will meet up with him beforehand. Gandalf ndoes not show up so Frodo sets out on his quest along with his friends Sam Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, and Peregrin Took. They try a shortcut through the old forest, but they are attacked by the trees. soon enough Tom Bombadil comes along and rescues them from the trees. Tom brings them to his house and they are refreshed. Soon after they set out from Tom's house they run into gof and are attacked by a Barrow wight in one of the Barrows of the fallen kingdom. Tom again comes and rescues them from this plight by singing a song of power. Once the hobbits reach the inn called The Prancing Pony they had a few beers. Frodo starts dancing but falls and acidentily slips his ring on. He goes invisible, but soon takes off the ring. A man known as Strider soon offers his help to the hobbits. Under his guidance they hide for the night instead off sleeping in their rooms. The next day they find that the some of the Nine Nazgul had attacked their room. The next day they set out but are attacked some days later by the Nazgul. Frodo is stabbed by the witchking. Strider wards the Nazgul away and the company sets off for the ford to rivendell. Haldir the elf finds them and gives frodo his horse so he can go ahead of them. Frodo crosses the river and then the river has a magically induced torrent that pummels the Nazgul. The company arrives at rivendell and after a few days they hold a council with Elrond and many others. They learn that Frodo's ring is the ring of Sauron and that if he gets it he will crush all the free people of Middle Earth. Also they learn that the only way to destroy it is to go to the heart of Mordor and throw the ring into Orodruin. the small company joins up with the dwarf Gimli son of Gloin, the elf Legolas son of Thranduil, the man Borimir son of Denethor, and they also reunite with Gandalf who had missed them because of a fight with another wizard who used to be on there side. The fellowship of nine sets out south to Mordor. At first they try to go over mount Caradhras but they are bested by an unatural blizzard. Their next plan is to go under the mountain through the orc filled mines of Moria. They guess the password to the door and enter. After many days they are attacked by many goblins and Frodo is stabbed but the blade was turned by his mithril chainmaille. The fellowship runs from the goblins who are yelling fire. They arrive at the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, which is a thin stone bridge arcing over an almost bottomless pit. Gandalf turns around and sees why the goblins were yelling fire. The fellowship is being chased by a Balrog. Balrogs are fallen maia (demi gods). After everyone else is across the bridge Gandalf stands there and tells the Balrog that he cannot pass, he slams down his staff which bursts asunder and then the bridge collapses in front of him. The Balrog falls, but as he falls he wraps his fiery whip around Gandalfs legs and drags him with him. the rest of the fellowship runs and soon escapes. They come under the eaves of Lothlorien before the day ends and meet up with some elves who lead them to Galadriel. They all recieve gifts from her and after a month they set out. Frodo recieved a glass phial full of starlight. Sam recieved a seed of a mallorn tree and some dust that will make plants grow immensly fast and beautiful. After the fellowship leaves in boats provided by the elves they find themselves under an attack by orcs and larger Uruk-hai. Frodo and Sam leave early on their own. Boromir is slain while protecting Merry and Pippin. Merry and Pippin are captured by the orcs who have orders to take all halflings alive. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas find Boromir, but do not have time to see what happened to the hobbits.

The Two Towers
Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli Put Boromir's body in a boat and float him off a waterfall. They set off on the trail off the Uruk-Hai because they suspect them of having taken Merry and Pippin. On the way they meet some riders from Rohan led by Eomer. They tell of their plight and the riders state that they saw the orcs and that they killed all but did not see and hobbits. Aragorn and the other get some horses from the riders and then go to the battle site to look for signs of their friends. Aragorn using his superior tracking skills finds a trail that the hobbits left on the grass. They follow it into Fangorn forest where they run into a wizard but because of a bright light they can not look directly at him. He tells them that the hobbits are alive. He extingiushes the light and they realize that it is Gandalf who was sent back to finish what he has started. Meanwhile Merry and Pippin had escaped the orcs and ran into an ent named Fangorn or Treebeard. Ents are the sheperds of trees. The two hobbits are brought to an Entmoot, or a meeting of ents, and there it was decided that the ents would go to war against Saruman the evil wizard. Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf, and Gimli head to Edoras to talk with king Theoden. They arrive there and help kick out the kings advisor, Grima wormtongue, because he was under the influence of Saruman. They talk the king into bringing his people to Helm's Deep so that he can defend it against the oncoming onslaught from Isengard. Gandalf leaves them for a while and then the army of Isengard comes. The defenders are hard put to defend themselves, but then suddenly Gandalf returns leading an army of exiled riders. Also an enchanted forest appeared that many orcs were driven into. Shortly later were killed by the trees. Gandalf leads his friends along with a few of the uninjured soldiers to Isengard. They show up and find Merry and Pippin sitting on the ruins of the wall. The hobbits explain that the ents came and shreded the walls like tree roots working thusands of times faster. Then they tell them that the ents redirected water into Isengard so that it filled all the secret tunnels. Gandalf led them up to the tower of Orthanc so that he could speak with Saruman. He gave Saruman a chance to be free but saruman said no. Saruman then tried to use his magically inhaced voice to try to convince others to his side. Gandalf at last spoke a word of power and it shattered Saruman's staff. From Above Grima threw down a sphere at them. Gandalf took it for safekeeping. However, later Pippin took the orb from Gandalf as he slept, he looked into it and then he was in extreme pain because the stone was communicating with Sauron. Gandalf woke up and pried the stone from his hands. He explained what he was now sure of, that this was one of the lost Palantiri. A Palantir was a stone from the ancient Numenorean people, the stones could see far and communicate with other stones. This stone was used by Saruman to communicate with Sauron. Frodo ran into a creature named Gollum. Gollum used to have the ring, and it had corrupted him into a loathsome creature. He had lost the ring to Bilbo a while ago. Gollum knew the paths and Frodo made a deal with him so that he would lead Frodo to Mordor. Eventually Gollum bring them to the main gate and they find that it is not only closed but also guarded by thousands of orcs. Gollum now tells them of another path that he knows of and they start out for that path. They are caught by a group of men from Minas Tirith. The men wait and then ambush an army on its way to add to Mordor's forces. The men then bring the hobbits to their hideout behind a waterfall. Frodo tells Faramir of his mission, and Faramir agrees to let him go. The hobbits led by Gollum head to the path Gollum had described. It is a long winding stair that is right in front of Minas Morgul, the tower of the Nazgul. Gollum frames Sam and Frodo tells him to leave. Frodo then follows Gollum to the top where he finds a tunnel. He goes in and Gollum abandons him. Frodo is soon stung by Shelob the giant spider. Sam overcome with grief returns and saves Frodo by blinding the spider with Frodo's starglass and then stabbing it with the magical sword Sting. Sadly though he sees no kigns of life in Frodo so he takes the ring and starts out to try to finish the quest himself. Once he was a ways away he heard orcs talking around Frodo. They said that he was just stung with a paralyzing venom, and they take Frodo to the Tower of Cirith Ungol.

The Return of the King
Gandalf and Pippin rode ahead to Minas Tirith. Pippin felt bad that the king's son died to try to save his life, and so he pledged his services to the king. Meanwhile Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas go to the paths of the dead to recruit the dead army that had pledged to help Elendil in the first battle with Sauron, however they nevercame to help him. The oath holds them still and will not let them die peacefully. Aragorn is the heir of Elendil and holds them to fulfill their oaths. Merry is made a swordthain of Rohan and is there while Rohan musters its aremed forces. He is told that he needs to stay behind because he is to small to fight, and he that would just be a burden to any of the kings riders. But as the army leaves Merry is picked up by a warrior who brings Merry with him on his horse. Gondor is now under siege. the armies of Mordor bring fell machines to bring about the bane of them but they hold true. A huge battering ram in the likeness of a wolf is brought upon the almost impregnable gate. It swings and as it does the king of the ringwraiths says a word of power to try to destroy the gate. After a few swing the gate explodes inward with force. But Gandalf is not there because he is up higher in the seven layered city trying to keep Denethor from burning himself and his son to death. Gandalf saves the son but Denethor burns to death in the crypt of the kings. On the field of battle Theoden is attack by the king of the Nazgul and then the unknown warrior that carried Merry challenges the ringwraith. They battle untill the ringwraith has the warrior on the ground with a broken shield arm., and then Merry dives at him and stabs him in the leg. The ringwraith is now distracted and the warrior rips off his helmet and reveals that he is in fact Eowyn the niece of the king Theoden. She stabs the ringwraith in the face and thus the pofecy was fulfilled that by no man the witchking will die. The gathering warriors bring Eowyn and Merry to the houses of healing in the upper levels of the city. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas had gathered the army of the dead and had captured a fleet of corsairs from Umbar. These ships were supposed to bring aid to the orcs but instead it brought an army of foes that anihilated their forces. Aragorn found his way to the houses of healing and looked at Farimir and concluded that his ailment was the black breath. He then asked the healers if they had any Athelas, and after a short arguement he was brought some. He healed many of the deadly curse and this brought another prophecy to an end, that the hands of the king are the hands of a healer. The gondorian army then set out to try to avert Saurons attention from Frodo. They attacked Mordor's black gate directly. Sam had to get to the tower that frodo was in, but luck was on his side. When he got to the tower he found that the orcs had a fight with each other and so they were all dead. He got to the top of the tower and brought Frodo out with him. They dress like orcs and walk through Mordor untill they get to mount doom. On their way up they are attacked by Gollum. Sam fights him off but he lets him live. Frodo makes it up to the mouth but then he finds he can't get himself to throw the ring into the fire, and he insted puts it on and goes invisible. Then the sneaky creature Gollum jumps to where Frodo was and grabs him. Gollum finds Frodo's hand and bites off the finger with the ring. As Gollum is dancing about he loses his footing and he falls into the fire. The ring is destroyed. The entire army off all free people of middle earth watches as the tower of Barad dur tumbles. All the enemies arescattered because they know that their leader has been undone. Gandalf then rides on one of the giant eagles of Manwe, they spot Frodo and Sam and they pisk the hobbits up. The army returns to Gondor and Aragorn marries Arwen the daughter of Elrond. The hobbits walk home but not in a hurry. It takes them many days. When they get there they find it overrun with ruffians. they have a battle with them and win back the land that they love. Sam plants his Mallorn seed and uses the dust on all of the shire. From then on this period was known for having the best crops, the best ale, and the best pipeweed. Eventually Frodo, along with Bilbo, Gandalf, and some elves taks a boat across the ocean to Valinor where the elves live forever undying.

Literary Elements
This book is written in limited third person. The scenes jump between the characters frequently so the reader needs to think before reading each chapter. The book is set in Middle Earth and it follows a trail from the Shire in the north west, to Mordor in the south east. This book is one of the first and greatest of all high fantasy novels.

Why I Liked This Book
I like this book because of it's many descriptive passages. it also causes such an array of emotions that as you read it you feel everything that is happening in the book is about to walk out from the pages and take you along for the ride. some other books lead you on but the lord of the rings is the kind of book that i doesn't just lead you on but it actually grabs you and forces you to go to places you never knew could have existed.

What Makes this Book Outstanding
This book is outstanding because it has so many characters that are all described very well. Some of the characters become like a family that you want to protect but you can't because they are from a book. Another thing that makes this book so great is that ithas so many uses that it can be used for in analagies. One of the best things that sets this book apart from others is its ability to leave no unexplained areas. An example of this is if one wanted to know what kind of language the elves spoke, then you can look in one of Tolkien's other works and learn one of the elvish languages.

More on The Lord of the Rings
http://councilofelrond.com/index.php http://www.entmoot.com/ [|www.Arwen-Aragorn.co.uk] http://www.figwitlives.net/ (this is just on the movies) http://www.much-ado.net/tig/tig.php?p=rules (this is a hilarious site if you have seen the commentaries in the movies)