“One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them;
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.”

Mordor—a nightmarish region of Middle-earth, the impenetrable fortress of the Dark Lord Sauron. Here lies Mount Doom, the volcano within which ‘The One Ring’ was forged—an evil magical object that grants its bearer immense power and the ability to enslave minds. For a long time, the ring was Sauron’s most prized possession, which he used to assert his dominion over all. But during the Second Age, King Isildur, flagbearer of the forces of good, managed to remove it off him. This greatly diminished Sauron’s life force; however, the defeat was not permanent. In the Third Age, the Dark Lord has risen once more. His all seeing ‘Eye’ continuously searches for the lost ring, which, if reclaimed, would make him invincible.

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John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892—2 September 1973), the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was a writer, artist and a linguist, apart from being a major scholar of the English language, who specialised in Old and Middle English. From a young age, Tolkien had a deep interest in storybooks, enjoying fairy tales by George MacDonald and Andrew Lang and the swashbuckling adventure novels by H Rider Haggard. After graduating from college, he enlisted in the British Army and served in World War I. At the end of the Great War, he returned to academia and took up a position as a professor of English language and literature at Oxford University.

In the 1930s, Tolkien began writing fantasy for children. His maiden venture, The Hobbit, was published in 1937. It had all the ingredients of a successful adventure: a thrilling quest in a magical land, hair-raising battles with goblins, and a search for treasure in a dangerous dragon’s lair. The Hobbit proved highly popular, encouraging Tolkien to start working on a sequel. Initially, the sequel was also intended to be a juvenile book, but as the story’s scope and depth grew, Tolkien had to alter his approach. After nearly twelve years of relentless effort, he completed the expansive The Lord of the Rings oeuvre. Published in three volumes (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King) between July 1954 and October 1955, it received huge acclaim. In 1957, Tolkien’s endeavour was honoured with the International Fantasy Award.

Thanks to three blockbuster Hollywood movies, the story of The Lord of the Rings is now fairly well known. It all starts with Frodo Baggins, a hobbit from Shire, who inherits from his uncle Bilbo a ring that renders its wearer invisible. Though Frodo does not fully grasp the true nature of the ring, wizard Gandalf the Grey immediately recognises it as the infamous ‘One Ring’. Gandalf also realises that Sauron’s minions, the dreaded Ringwraiths, will incessantly pursue Frodo to reclaim the ring and, in the process, turn the Shire into a wasteland. Following Gandalf’s advice, Frodo takes the cursed ring to the elven realm of Rivendell. He is accompanied by three fellow hobbits—Samwise, Merry and Pippin. Aragorn, the last living descendant of the king who had vanquished Sauron, helps Frodo and the others to reach Rivendell. There, representatives from the free lands of the West hold a council meeting. It is decided that the ring must be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Frodo volunteers to undertake this perilous mission, and a fellowship is formed to aid him in his quest. Boromir, the prince of Gondor, dwarf warrior Gimli, and elven prince Legolas pledge their allegiance to the cause.

The fellowship faces numerous challenges, having to contend with the treacherous wizard Saruman and battle the terrifying Orcs and Uruk-hai. Boromir dies heroically trying to protect Frodo from harm. Gandalf sacrifices himself in a battle against the fire demon Balrog (and later returns from the afterlife more powerful than before). Along the way, the fellowship is disbanded. Merry and Pippin are rescued from the enemy by the tree-like Ents. Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas awaken the ghostly soldiers of Dunharrow. Frodo and Sam are deceived by the mad but crafty Gollum and captured by the monstrous spider Shelob. But ultimately, overcoming all odds, Frodo reaches Mordor, while the others engage in a desperate struggle against Sauron’s army at Minas Tirith.

The key element of ‘high fantasy’ is worldbuilding, a domain in which Tolkien excelled. His Middle-earth is a unique creation, an intricately crafted imaginary world that easily outshines L. Frank Baum’s Oz and J.M. Barrie’s Neverland. The same can be said for his mythmaking. As a devoted scholar of philology, history and ancient lore, Tolkien infused his work with the essence of Christian religion and Teutonic mythology while also incorporating salient features of Anglo-Saxon literature. Thus, his antagonist Sauron has traits of both the Norse god of mischief and Christianity’s fallen angel; his hero Frodo wholly embodies the sacrificial spirit of the biblical Christ; and the daring deeds of his dwarves and elves echo the familiar flavour of the Old English epic Beowulf.

Successful fantasy always draws its materials from the real world. The Lord of the Rings is no exception. Having witnessed the immense devastation of World War I, Tolkien had no difficulty crafting the bleak, barren Mordor after Europe’s war-ravaged landscapes. Saruman’s unnatural act of creating the Uruk-hai by cross-breeding orcs with humans readily calls to mind the inhumane eugenic experiments of the Nazis. Some critics even posit that the Shire, Rivendell, the Misty Mountains, and the Mines of Moria symbolise natural wealth and the abundance of flora and fauna, while the destructive power of the ‘One Ring’ represents a symbol of soulless technology, corrupting society with its lust for power and leading to human civilisation’s ruin. The conflict between hobbits, dwarves, elves, and Sauron reflects the age-old struggle between nature and science—a view put forward by the legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov himself.

Tolkien employed a tried and tested narrative framework while penning The Lord of the Rings, known as ‘monomyth’—depiction of the protagonist’s journey from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Frodo, the central character, begins as a simple, inexperienced hobbit who has to step out of his familiar world to tackle an unexpected problem. On this journey, he finds a mentor and several like-minded companions. Although Frodo falters at the final moment, momentarily confounded by the ring’s enchantment, he is ultimately a hero chosen by fate, deserving of redemption rather than downfall. Thus, in the end, the ring is destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom, and Sauron’s existence is erased. Peace and happiness descend upon Middle-earth.

Tolkien—the undisputed founding father of high fantasy—did not just establish the genre but also played a crucial role as a guide for contemporary and future writers. Authors such as C. S. Lewis and Terry Brooks diligently followed in his footsteps and produced masterpieces of their own. Even the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin (author of the Earthsea series) and J.K. Rowling (of Harry Potter fame) have acknowledged their debts to the maestro. 2 September 2024, marks Tolkien’s 51st death anniversary, yet the relevance of his literary work is far from diminished. He is immortal in the annals of world literature, and The Lord of the Rings continues to shine brightly in the hearts of readers all around the globe.

The writer is an engineer at Steel Authority of India Limited—IISCO Steel Plant. He has also edited nine genre-fiction anthologies.