The Return of the King was especially delayed as Tolkien revised the ending and prepared appendices (some of which had to be left out because of space constraints). Tolkien did not like the title The Return of the King, believing it gave away too much of the storyline, but deferred to his publisher's preference. [52] Tolkien wrote that the title The Two Towers "can be left ambiguous", [T 12] but considered naming the two as Orthanc and Barad-dûr, Minas Tirith and Barad-dûr, or Orthanc and the Tower of Cirith Ungol. [T 13] However, a month later he wrote a note published at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring and later drew a cover illustration, both of which identified the pair as Minas Morgul and Orthanc. [53] [54] For publication, the work was divided into three volumes to minimize any potential financial loss due to the high cost of type-setting and modest anticipated sales: The Fellowship of the Ring (Books I and II), The Two Towers (Books III and IV), and The Return of the King (Books V and VI plus six appendices). [49] Delays in producing appendices, maps and especially an index led to the volumes being published later than originally hoped – on 29 July 1954, on 11 November 1954 and on 20 October 1955 respectively in the United Kingdom. [50] In the United States, Houghton Mifflin published The Fellowship of the Ring on 21 October 1954, The Two Towers on 21 April 1955, and The Return of the King on 5 January 1956. [51] a b Kullmann, Thomas (2013). "Poetic Insertions in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings". Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate. 23 (2): 283–309. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018 . Retrieved 15 May 2020. This new boxed set offers readers a new opportunity to discover Tolkien’s remarkable world of Middle-earth and to follow the complete story of Bilbo Baggins and the Hobbits’ part in the epic quest for the Ring. The books were published under a profit-sharing arrangement, whereby Tolkien would not receive an advance or royalties until the books had broken even, after which he would take a large share of the profits. [58] It has ultimately become one of the best-selling novels ever written, with 50 million copies sold by 2003 [59] and over 150 million copies sold by 2007. [2] The work was published in the UK by Allen & Unwin until 1990, when the publisher and its assets were acquired by HarperCollins. [60] [61] Editions and revisions [ edit ]

O'Hehir, Andrew (4 June 2001). "The book of the century". Salon. Archived from the original on 13 February 2006 . Retrieved 12 March 2006. Auden, W. H. (22 January 1956). "At the End of the Quest, Victory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011 . Retrieved 4 December 2010. Zimmer, Paul Edwin (1993). "Another Opinion of 'The Verse of J. R. R. Tolkien' ". Mythlore. 19 (2). Article 2.

Hobbies

Tolkien's own cover design for The Two Towers". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 . Retrieved 22 January 2020.

a b At least 38 languages are listed at the FAQ. This number is a very conservative estimate; some 56 translations are listed at translations of The Lord of the Rings, and 57 languages are listed at Elrond's Library. Walker, Steve (2009). The Power of Tolkien's Prose: Middle-Earth's Magical Style. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p.1. ISBN 978-0-230-61992-0. Shippey, Tom (2005) [1982]. The Road to Middle-earth (Thirded.). HarperCollins. pp.129–133, 245–247. ISBN 978-0-261-10275-0. a b Reynolds, Pat. "The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text" (PDF). The Tolkien Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016 . Retrieved 24 October 2015. The Lord of the Rings Der Herr der Ringe Symphony No. 1 Sinfonie Nr. 1". Rundel . Retrieved 2 August 2020.Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – Soundscape by Phil Dragash". archive.org. 2013 . Retrieved 11 March 2022. The Hobbit follows Thorin and Company — Bilbo, Gandalf, and 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield — as they set off to reclaim the dwarves’ ancestral home beneath Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. Along the way, we’re introduced to Gollum and discover how Bilbo came into possession of the One Ring. The adventure culminates in the Battle of Five Armies, which lent its name to the final Hobbit film. 2. The Fellowship of the Ring

Because Dungeons & Dragons has gone on to influence many popular games, especially role-playing video games, the influence of The Lord of the Rings extends to many of them, with titles such as Dragon Quest, [134] [135] EverQuest, the Warcraft series, and The Elder Scrolls series of games [136] as well as video games set in Middle-earth itself. Bratman, David (2013) [2007]. "Parodies". In Drout, Michael D. C. (ed.). The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp.503–504. ISBN 978-0-415-86511-1.Handwerk, Brian (1 March 2004). " Lord of the Rings Inspired by an Ancient Epic". National Geographic News. National Geographic Society. pp.1–2. Archived from the original on 16 March 2006 . Retrieved 4 October 2006. In 1990, Recorded Books published an audio version of The Lord of the Rings, [121] read by the British actor Rob Inglis. A large-scale musical theatre adaptation, The Lord of the Rings, was first staged in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 2006 and opened in London in June 2007; it was a commercial failure. [122] The Gamasutra Quantum Leap Awards: Role-Playing Games". Honorable Mention: Dragon Warrior. Gamasutra. 6 October 2006. Archived from the original on 13 March 2011 . Retrieved 28 March 2011. Burns, Marjorie (2005). Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth. University of Toronto Press. pp.13–29 and passim. ISBN 978-0-8020-3806-7.