The End of the Third Age
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| The End of the Third Age: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part 4 | |
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| Author | J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.) |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Released | September 2000 |
| Format | Paperback |
| Pages | 159 |
| ISBN | 978-0618083565 |
The End of the Third Age is the fourth volume of The History of The Lord of the Rings. It contains an independently published portion of the first section of Sauron Defeated. The sole purpose of its release was to complement The History of the Lord of the Rings.
As the drafts of the Prologue and the Appendices had been published in a separate volume, The Peoples of Middle-earth, they aren't included.
- Cover illustration: Alan Lee
[edit] Chapters
- "The Story of Frodo and Sam in Mordor"
- "The Tower of Kirith Ungol"
- "The Land of Shadow"
- "Mount Doom"
- "The Field of Kormallen"
- "The Steward and the King"
- "Many Partings"
- "Homeward Bound"
- "The Scouring of the Shire"
- "The Grey Havens"
- "The Epilogue"
- Appendix: Drawings of Orthanc and Dunharrow
[edit] From the cover/back
"One marvels anew at the depth, breadth, and persistence of J.R.R. Tolkien's labor. No one sympathetic to his aims, the invention of a secondary universe, will want to miss this chance to be present at the creation." -- Publishers Weekly
"An opportunity, rarely granted readers, to see the creative process at work". -- Hartford Courant
"Christopher Tolkien's notes and commentary are exhaustive, impeccable, and indispensable." -- Mythprint
The End of the Third Age is comprised of the first section of the hardcover volume published as Sauron Defeated, the ninth volume of The History of Middle-earth. It completes Christopher Tolkien's account of the creation of The Lord of the Rings begun in the earlier volumes, The Return of the Shadow, The Treason of Isengard, and The War of the Ring.
The End of the Third Age begins with Sam's rescue of Frodo from the Tower of Kirith Ungol, and giving a very different account of the Scouring of the Shire, this part ends with versions of the hitherto unpublished Epilogue, in which, years after the departure of Bilbo and Frodo from the Grey Havens, Sam attempts to answer his children's questions.
The book is illustrated with changing conceptions of Kirith Ungol and Mount Doom, as well as previously unpublished drawings of Orthanc and Dunharrow.
J.R.R. TOLKIEN (1892-1973) is one of the twentieth century's best-loved writers. His books, which include The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, have been translated into more than thirty languages and have sold many millions of copies worldwide.
CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN, who formerly taught at Oxford University, is J.R.R. Tolkien's son and literary executor. The editor of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, he lives in France.