Isengard has been reclaimed, but the war does not end with the defeat of Saruman. With haste, the forces of Mordor march
to Minas Tirith and so Gandalf rides forth to Gondor to have a word with the Lord Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Yet even if Rohan and Gondor fight together, their numbers are much less than those of Mordor.
Aragorn decides takes the path that was laid out for him: The Paths of the Dead, and there call to him those who have made an oath to Isildur. For Aragorn, son of Arathorn, is the heir of Isildur. Isildur has destroyed
Sauron from years past, but claimed the Ring for himself and hence, he was destroyed. Aragorn is the one of whom the legend speaks:
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
While the men of the West gather all their forces for the war against Sauron, the Dark Lord, Frodo and Sam are laboring with their own war: extreme weariness, not less for Frodo as he bears the Ring. When he gets closer to Mount Doom, he feels the Ring getting heavier, clouding his sight and his mind. They escaped from the deadly Shelob, and under the guise of orc-gears, walked out into the open into the fires of Mount Doom. Fortunately for them, the eye of the Dark Lord is turned towards the West, where the men prepare for war.
The battle begins on the Pelennor Fields, where valiant men and king perish. But with the arrival of Aragorn from the Paths of the Dead, hope is brought back and the forces of Mordor are defeated. From where they are, Frodo and Sam sense a change in the wind, and this likewise brings hope to them. With renewed spirits, they race to Mount Doom.
Yet Gandalf and Aragorn know that victory for Middle-Earth means the utter destruction of Sauron; and to achieve that, they must march to the East and battle with him head-on. Gathering those willing and able, they went to the East where Sauron patiently waits for them. Unknown to them all, Frodo and Sam have entered the fires of Mount Doom and the Ring only has to be cast into the fires and the Quest will be successful; Middle-Earth shall have peace like it has never known. But the will of the Ring is strong, and it has taken over Frodo...
Thisis escapist fiction at its very best. J.R.R. Tolkien, without much effort, transports his reader into Middle-Earth, with characters he will come to believe have indeed roamed the planet where he lives. This is fantasy unmatched and unparalleled. While the period may have been set in the year 1400's, the plot of industrialism and destruction of the earth finds itself very much relevant to the present period. There need not be any real Dark Lord or Sauron for the Earth to crumble; within ourselves, there are dark lords and Saurons. We do not value the Earth as much as we should. Dark as he has painted the earth to be and evil as he has portrayed the antagonists, the author gives us hope in lands like Rivendell and Lothlorien; in people like Gandalf and Aragorn. We just have to will ourselves to fight for the preservation of everything that is beautiful and noble.