In Return of the King, the final book of J.R.R. Tolkien's three-volume epic, The Lord of the Rings, the courageous hobbit Frodo Baggins completes his heroic quest. This part of the saga opens with furious preparations far the coming attack on Minas Tirith in (Gondor by Sauron's dark forces. With the strategies of the wizard Gandalf and the timely aid of soldiers from Rohan—particularly Eowvn, the woman warrior—rhe remnants of the Fellowship and the soldiers of Gondor arc able to vanquish Sauron's troops and even kill the Lord of the Dark Riders. But another, bloodier battle awaits_ them outside Mordor's Black Gate.

The second section of l}" Return the King focuses on Frodo's journey. Ir begins with the unfortunate ringbearer a prisoner of evil Orcs and the ring in the hands of Frodo's servant, Sam. With Sam's help, Frodo escapes and reaches the heart of realm—the fiery Mount Doom, where he disposes of the ring once and for all. Chaos ensues, but Sauron is at last overthrown. Frodo and Sam are heralded as heroes; it seems their odyssey has finally ended and that they have only to return to their simple and idvllic lives in the Shire. But much has changed in the year they've been gone, and Frodo finds—in the final pages of the trilogv—that restoring peace to his home and heart may prove his most difficult test of all. As C. S. Lewis wrote of the trilogy after the final volume was published in England in 1955, "This book is too original and too opulent for any final judgment on a first read- ing. But we know at once that it has done things to us. We arc not quite the same.'
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