The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the
King is the third and final
book in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R
Tolkien. This book begins with the journey of the fellowship,
minus Frodo and Sam, as they convince the king of Rohan to go to the
aid of Gondor, despite having few men from just having fought a hard
battle. Gondor lights their beacons asking for
help, with a
little help from Gandalf, and Rohan rounds up troops to help in the
losing battle.
However, Strider (whos real name is Aragorn) realizes his destiny as
the king of Gondor, and realizes he has to take a different path.
He, along with Gimli and Legolas, head through the paths of the
dead to
seek the help of the undead there who were punished for breaking a
promise years ago. They can only be summoned by the true king,
and, upon realizing that Aragorn is just that, they help in the
fight. They overtake a fleet of ships of evil men headed to seal
Gondor's fate, and sail on those ships to Gondor's aid.
The battle in Gondor is not going well, and the steward of Gondor,
Denethor, is mostly insane, and quite pessimistic. He sends his
last living son, Faramir, (he was Boromir's father also) into a suicide
mission, and Faramir comes back only barely alive, the rest of his
troops dead. Denethor decides that all is lost, and is deluded
into thinking that his son is dead, so he takes Faramir into the burial
chambers, pours oil over him, and decides to set himself and Faramir on
fire. Pippin and Gandalf get there just in time to save Faramir,
but Denethor will not be convinced, and faces his final doom at the
hands of a fire he set himself.
Meanwhile, with the help of Rohan and Aragorn, the battle at Gondor,
while long and hard, is won by the good guys. They realize,
however, that Frodo will not make it to Mt. Doom to destroy the
Ring with out some sort of distraction, as Sauron's eye will be constantly
on him. So all of the remaining troops decide to head to the gate
of Mordor and give one last fight to save middle earth. Aragorn
announces who he is to Sauron, and his eye is on them instead of Frodo.
During all this, Frodo and Sam continue their adventure inside
Mordor. Sam manages to find where Frodo is being held prisoner,
and rescues him. They disguise themselves as orcs, and begin
crossing Mordor to Mt. Doom, to destroy the ring. We assume
Gollum is dead or gone, as we do not see him for a good while.
After much trouble, as the ring is getting very heavy and burdensome
for Frodo, they make it to the mountain and climb up it. When
they get inside, Frodo decides to put on the ring, as the lust for
power is too great. He disappears, and Sam is helpless.
However, just when we think all is lost, Gollum shows up and still
wants the ring. He attacks Frodo, and eventually bites off his
finger to get the ring. However, just as he does so, he falls off
the edge and into the mountain, and the ring is destroyed.
Peace comes over the land, thanks to the defeat of Sauron, and Aragorn
is crowned the rightful king of Gondor. The four hobbits return
to the shire, only to find it had been taken over by evil as well, and
they clear out all the bad guys and return it to order. All is
going well, and one day the four hobbits journey to the docks to see
off Gandalf and Bilbo and the last of the elves on their journey to
their final resting place in the west. However, just as they are
about to leave, Frodo joins them on the ship, as he knows that he will
never be able to find peace again in Middle Earth.
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