The Lord of the Rings saga is made up of three books. However, these were not on everyone's lips until the film adaptations that launched it to success were made, despite the fact that the story was already written a long, long time ago.
Today almost everyone knows the Lord of the Rings movies, but if you ask him about the saga of the lord of the rings In book, about those things that don't appear in the movies, or those strange script twists that they gave them, I don't know what to answer you. And, in the books, there were many things that did not appear in the film, as well as many aspects that changed and were not like in the original story. Therefore, today we want to talk directly to you about the books, their creator and what other novels are related to them.
Who wrote the Lord of the Rings saga
What many writers want is to hear about their creations, and not about them. For this reason, some use a pseudonym, or simply do not want to appear in interviews or book signings to maintain their anonymity and let the book take the lead.
Why do we tell you this? Well, if you listen to The Lord of the Rings, you know perfectly well that it is a book that also became a movie (and a television series). But if you listen to JRR Tolkien instead, you may not link the author's name to the books he wrote.
JRR Tolkien or, his real name, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, was a writer born in South Africa (in his time it was Bloemfontein), of German and English roots. He settled in England after living his first three years in Africa. His father died suddenly, when he was trying to complete his business in Africa to reunite with the family, which left his wife and the two children they had without income. For this reason, they ended up living with their mother's family.
It was the mother who took care of the children's education, and Tolkien was one of the most diligent. He loved botany as well as going into a forest that was close to where they lived. But he was not bad at learning languages either, learning Latin at the age of four (at that age he already knew how to read and write).
At just 14 years old, Tolkien loses his mother and a priest, Father Francis Xavier Morgan, takes care of him and his brother. Their family did not want to know anything about them because they had converted to Catholicism. It was with this priest that he learned Spanish and art, especially painting.
BA from Exeter College, obtained an honors degree in English. Although he stopped studying to join the British Army in WWI. Due to illness, he was transferred to England where he was convalescing. It was at this time that he began to write "The Book of Lost Tales" (by that name it will not sound familiar, but if we call you The Silmarillion then surely it will).
But really the most famous book he is known for was written much later, in 1925, when he returned to Oxford as a professor at Pembroke College. He had time to write The Hobbit and the first two Lord of the Rings books.
The first one he published with an editorial was The Hobbit, hoping it would appeal to children. The problem is that adults also read it, it was such a success that they asked for a sequel.
This was not published until 1965, this being the first edition of The Lord of the Rings, and undergoing several more editions to this day (where new documents were included, as in the second edition, where, in the first part (The community of the ring), a Note on the archives of the Shire).
How many books make up the Lord of the Rings saga
The simple answer in relation to the books that make up the Lord of the Rings saga is three. However, if we look a bit at the history of these books, and especially at the different editions that were created, we can speak of a complete book with the three parts differentiated from each other; but also of the divisions that the books themselves had.
And is that The Lord of the Rings saga, as you have seen, was written by the author in three books. But, each of those books was divided into several.
- The Fellowship of the Ring. It is the first book and it was divided into three parts: a prologue and two different parts: The ring is on its way and The ring goes to the South.
- The two Towers. Tolkien's second book on the Lord of the Rings saga. This book is also subdivided into two parts, being The Betrayal of Isengard and The Ring Goes East the ones that the author chose for them.
- The return of the King. The last of the Lord of the Rings books and, as happened before, it was also divided into two parts, The War of the Ring and The End of the Third Age. However, those titles were removed. In addition, it has an epilogue where Sam tells the story to his children.
The pre-LOTR book
Although the Lord of the Rings saga is already an achievement in itself, it was influenced by a book JRR Tolkien wrote earlier. We talk about The Hobbit.
For those who wonder, the Hobbit is a complete book, without parts, despite the fact that the film adaptation itself may make you think otherwise. It tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, Frodo's uncle, and how in his adventure he found Gollum. And, with him, the Ring that ended up stealing it and keeping it for himself.
We can say that this book gives many explanations for certain events in history. Hence, it is recommended to read it before to have a better situation of the entire universe that the author created.
The book after The Lord of the Rings (which is before)
Finally, we do not want to leave us another of the books of the Lord of the Rings saga that you should know. And it is that, although it is said that it should be read after the previous ones, in reality what is told in these pages happened much earlier. JRR Tolkien wanted to endow his own universe with a complete history, full of antiquity and legends. And that's what he created.
The Silmarillion, as the book was titled, holds many tales, tales and stories of characters closely related to those of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. But from an older period, referring to those comments that some protagonists made about wars or times past.
Why should it be read after The Lord of the Rings? Well, because it is so complete and overwhelming, that if you do not have a base first, it is difficult to read and more difficult to understand.