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Synopsis of Tolkien's The Return of the King

Detailed synopsis of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Return of the King

The Return of the King (Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings), J.R.R. Tolkien, Boston, 1955, 1973,
Ballantine Books.

The title refers to the return of the rightful heir of the title of king (Aragorn, a.k.a. Strider) to Gondor.

The continuation and culmination of the story of the company of Gandalf, the wizard, and Frodo Baggins, the hobbit, and their mission to unmake the One Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom in the depths of Orodruin, the Fire-mountain, located in Mordor, the land of the Dark Lord, Sauron. Book 5 follows the remaining five. Book 6 follows Frodo and then brings the fellowship back together and returns them to their respective lands.

The fellowship remain separated. Frodo and Sam were making their way to Mount Doom. Pippin and Gandalf rode the horse Shadowfax quickly to Minas Tirith in Gondor to warn the Lord Demethor, Steward of Gondor, of upcoming trouble from Mordor.

Demethor was in despair for he had another of the palantir (the orbs that allow the holder to see the future) and all he saw was ruination for Gondor. He was despondent over the loss of his favorite son Boromir and, when his other son, Faramir, returned victorious he sent him off on a mission that would surely cost him his life. He resented his second son for the loss of his first and he felt Faramir was too much under the influence of Gandalf.

Faramir did return and successfully so but he was on the verge of death. His father had him carried to the crypt (still alive) where he ordered his servants to lay kindling about them both and light it.

Pippin, who had offered himself and been accepted as a sword bearer for the Steward sees there is madness in master and ran off looking for Gandalf. Gandalf returned in time to save the life of Faramir but not that of the Steward.

Meanwhile, Aragorn, had planned to accompany the king of Rohan back to his mountain hideaway and then onward to Gondor but had a change of heart. He looked into the palantir and challenged Sauron. Aragorn, being the rightful king of Gondor, was perhaps the only person who would be able to look into the orb and not be overcome by it.

He, Legolas and Gimli and a small troop of Aragorn's kinsman rode off to Gondor by the direct, non-hidden route. They arrive at the Rohirrim hideaway and rest the night.

In the morning, Eowyn, the king's niece, begs to go along with him. She feels wasted here and wants to fight. He forbids it and tries to convince her she is more needed where she was.

Aragorn and company ride off toward the Path of the Dead. No one who ever attempted to travel the Path of the Dead ever succeeded but Aragorn believes that the legends will admit his entrance, he being the heir to the throne and on a mission to reunite the kingdom. Legend also has it that the dead remain trapped there because long ago they broke a vow to the previous king. If they will now help him, that vow will be rectified. His companions are not as sure but they willingly follow him.

They are allowed passage and they travel to the south of Gondor where enemies are already gathering. Aragorn calls for the dead to fulfill their vow. The enemies scatter before them, fleeing the spirits loosed upon them. He releases them from their vow and they rise up like dust into the air and are gone.

Here in the south, Aragorn gathers those loyal to the king and to Gondor and boards ships on the Great River and heads upstream toward Minas Tirith.

Eomer and Theoden king of Rohan, and Merry the hobbit, and their troops arrive at their mountain hideaway. Eowyn tells them of Aragorn's arrival and departure. They rest the night and make ready to depart for Gondor, via a longer but more certain route. The king tells Merry he must stay behind. He would be too small for the coming battle. He begs but to no avail. As the last rider leaves he bends down and asks if Merry would want to ride, hidden, with him. Merry has never seen this rider but somehow feel he knows him and assents.

At Minas Tirith battle rages. The walls are well fortified but the door has been breached. Gandalf has taken charge in the stead of the Steward. Orcs fall and others come forward to take their place. The enemy has dug a trench round the city and lit some substance placed in it on fire. The sun is blotted out by the smoke and stench. Hope is waning. There has been no word of the Riders of Rohan. The troops within the city have lost their spirit. Then there is a horn sound.

The Riders have arrived but the enemy is overwhelming. Theoden charges. The Rohirrims leap for the joy of the fight. Orcs fall before them. But they are still out-numbered.

And then Theoden falls. He is struck down by a Nazgul, a Ringwraith of Sauron (one of the Black Riders who were now riding flying beasts).

Merry is on the ground now and at his king's side. The Nazgul swoops and lands, the flying beast's claws dig into the side of Theoden's white horse. Merry raises his small hobbit sword in defiance but the Nazgul only laughs.

Then the rider who carried Merry in secret rides up. The Nazgul defies that any man should harm him. "What about a woman," the rider says and removes her helmet. It is Eowyn. She strikes and kills the Nazgul's flying beast but is thrown to the ground.

Merry now strikes the Nazgul in the calf and as he turns to see, Eowyn cuts off his head. The unnatural scream is heard over all of Gondor. Eomer rides up and sees those he loved lying dead, his king and his sister.

Then black sails are seen on the river and troops of the enemy take heart once more. Reinforcements. But the reinforcements are those Aragorn is leading. The rout commences. The battle is over but the war has only begun.

Theoden and Eowyn are carried into Minas Tirith. Then it is discovered that Eowyn is not dead. She and Merry are taken to the Houses of Healing but their wounds do not heal. The evil that was the Nazgul have caused it.

Legend says that the king was also a healer. Aragorn requests herbs and works them over Faramir, Eowyn and Merry. They do their work and the three start to revive.

Gandalf and Aragorn decide that, though they are still greatly out-numbered by the total strength of Sauron's troops, they must attack and soon, to keep the attention of the Dark Lord away from his own land (and the progress of Frodo and Sam toward the Mount of Doom)

They cross the river and head toward the dark gate.

Frodo, who lay in a state that resembled death from the sting of the spider creature, had just been found and locked away by the orcs. Sam put on the Ring and tried to follow but couldn't.

The orcs began arguing among themselves about what to do with Frodo: keep him as Sauron directed, or kill and eat him. Before long, the two groups were killing each other. Sam found Frodo and got him out of there and they were once more on their way to their doom.

On the way, Gollum once again was found to be following them. He no longer feigned friendship. He tried once to take the ring but, while Frodo and Sam were tired, hungry and thirsty, Gollum was more so, literal skin and bones. He retreated into the blackness.

Finally they came to Mount Doom. They found the Crack and Frodo made his way down it to the edge of a precipice. Down there was nothing but molten volcanic lava. He took the ring from the chain around his neck but, as Sam watched, he was taken by the Ring. 'I will keep the Ring,' he heard him say and then Frodo disappeared. Next thing Gollum was on him fighting for his Precious. Gollum's teeth sparkled and he bit and the next thing he was holding the ring with Frodo's finger still inside it.

Joy, elation and lack of sustenance intoxicated him and he lost his balance and down into the Crack of Doom he fell taking with him the One Ring, to be with his Precious forever.

Sam got Frodo outside but as the Ring fell the mountain resounded. The two sat down and waited. They had done their work and the world was safe but all does not always end as one wishes.

Gandalf and Aragorn challenged the black gate and expected to be overwhelmed. They walked into a trap -- a trap they expected. But the unexpected happened.

The sky that had cleared when they drove the orcs from Gondor now blackened again and the Black Tower of Sauron crumbled. Mount Doom belched and the orcs, astonished, took off in all directions.

The forces of Gondor blackened the earth with orc blood but Gandalf looked to the sky. He called the king of the eagles to him. 'You carried me once before. Can you do it again?' The eagle picked him up and, along with several other eagles, flew to Mount Doom. There they found the two hobbits, trapped by lava and smoke.

When Frodo and Sam woke up they were in beds. Gandalf was by their side. Soon all was ready for the return of the king to the city of Minas Tirith.

During their recuperation together in the Houses of Healing, Faramir, son of the Steward of Gondor and now the last Steward, himself, until the king returns, and Eowyn, sister of Eomer, the new king of Rohan fell in love. But Eowyn was torn between Faramir and Aragorn.

When Aragorn returned he called for Faramir to come down and greet him but he did not ask for Eowyn. But Aragorn had never loved Eowyn except that he saw her sorrow and wished to sooth it.

Aragorn was crowned king of Gondor and all rejoiced. Aragorn made Faramir, who was now not needed as Steward, a prince and gave him one of the cities of Gondor. Eowyn accompanied Eomer back to Rohan for a time but when the Rohirrims returned to Gondor for the body of their fallen king Theoden, she married Faramir.

The company of the Ring stayed in Gondor for a season until mid-summer. Then Aragorn's turn arrived. Elrond, the elf king, and his daughter, Arwen arrived in Gondor. Aragorn had met Arwen many years ago and fell in love with her but her father knew that Aragorn must walk through many trials before he could be free to marry. Now was the time. They were married.

Finally it was time for all to return to their homes. The hobbits accompanied Elrond and Gandalf to Rivendell to see Bilbo before returning to their home in the Shire.

Bilbo was now 129 years old, just one year shy of the oldest hobbit. He mostly slept and he obviously hadn't done much work on the red covered history book he was writing. He had filled in the pages concerning his adventures but those of Frodo's were little more than scratches of notes lying about his room.

After staying in Rivendell a while, Gandalf suggested it was time for them to go home. They were needed there. Bilbo gave Frodo his red book and all of his notes.

Gandalf and the four hobbits set off for the Shire but when they came to the turnoff for Tom Bombadil's house, Gandalf said goodbye. They would meet once more he said but his time was over. The third age of the world ended when Sauron was overthrown and the forth, the age of Men, has started. The hobbits now had to take care of themselves. But, he added, he had little doubt about their ability to do that.

When they got to the Shire they found gates and guards. It had been only a year and a half since they had left but things had changed quite a lot. The inns were torn down and so were many of the trees.

They found that Lotho Baggins, a cousin of Frodo's, an unscrupulous cousin, had taken over government of the Shire. He called himself the chief sheriff, or just 'The Chief.' He hired many other sheriffs to do his bidding and there were orc-like men to provide strong-arming if the hobbit sheriffs were not obeyed. Lotho never liked beer so all inns were torn down and in their place were built square sheds where the sheriffs stayed. The crops did well last year but most was taken from the hobbits (reassigned and shared) so that now most were poorly fed.

The Chief had not been seen lately but another thug had recently arrived, one Sharkey. It was assumed that Sharkey was the true boss, anyway and that the Chief was only the Chief while it suited Sharkey.

Merry and Pippin stirred the hobbits up to revolt. Frodo counseled restraint. Never had a hobbit killed another hobbit except by accident and now was no time to do so, even though there were a few that collaborated with the enemy. The revolt lasted only two days. The orc-men were killed or frightened away.

Then off to confront the Chief, who was living in the house that Bilbo had left to Frodo and that Frodo had sold when he left the Shire. When they got there it was empty, though quite dirty and foul smelling.

As Frodo walked out the door, he met an old man. Saruman! A.k.a., Sharkey. While Frodo and the hobbits tarried in Rivendell, Saruman, the wizard whose powers Gandalf had revoked, took a more direct route to the Shire. They had spoiled his house and his plans so he hurried here to spoil the Shire for them when they returned. Gandalf was right. Even though he lost his power as a wizard, he still had devilry in him.

Merry, Pippin and other of the hobbits intended to pounce on him but Frodo stopped them. While there is life, there is still hope for conversion.

But Saruman would not be tortured by Frodo's compassion. As he walked away he drew a knife and thrust it toward Frodo. Frodo's mail shirt protected him and the knife broke. Again the hobbits went to pounce but Frodo restrained them.

As Saruman walked away, Frodo called after his traveling companion, the one called Wormtongue, the evil counsellor of the king of Rohan who had had him under a spell until Gandalf freed him. 'You don't have to go with him. You have done nothing wrong that I know of.'

But Saruman turned and chided. 'Is that right. Who do you think killed Lotho, your Chief, and buried him. You did bury him didn't you?' 'You ordered me to kill him,' Wormtongue responded and Saruman just laughed. Wormtongue pulled his own knife and thrust it into Saruman. The hobbits shot at Wormtongue with arrows but too late to save Saruman. Both were dead.

Work began immediately on rebuilding the Shire.

But what of all the trees. Then Sam remembered the gift the Lady Galadriel of Lothlorien had given him, a small box of dust. He planted trees all about and added one grain of the dust to each. The next spring the trees burst forth and soon appeared to be many years old already.

Sam wanted to marry his childhood sweetheart but was torn because he didn't want to leave Frodo. Frodo solved the dilemma by suggesting they move in with him. That was done to everyone's liking.

But all was not well with Frodo. The wound he had received from the Black Rider had never healed and at times it caused him great distress. The following year Frodo called Sam to him. He showed Sam the book Bilbo had given to him. He showed him the various chapters concerning first Bilbo's adventures and then Frodo's and Sam's adventures. At the end were a few blank chapters left undone.

He asked Sam to accompany him on one last and short journey. He assured him he would be gone no more than a fortnight.

The two were off again. But shortly they encountered four more that they knew very well. Elrond, the elf king, Galadriel the queen of Lothlorien and Gandalf the White, each of who wore one of the three elf Rings. And behind rode Bilbo on his pony, barely awake.

Frodo told Sam they were all Ring-Bearers and so, now that the third age has ended, must also leave. Sam, too, bore the ring for a time but he had many years left here in the Shire. But wouldn't he ride with them a bit?

They arrived at the Grey Havens where a ship awaited them. There Merry and Pippin rode up to greet them. Gandalf had tipped them this time, where at the beginning of their adventures it was Sam who kept them informed on Frodo's doings.

They all embraced and kissed. Then the Ring-Bearers boarded the ship and sailed off into the West where elfin folk found rest.

Frodo had willed all his belongings and property to Sam, and Sam, his wife, Rose, and girl child, Elanor, lived very happily. Sam became mayor of Hobbiton seven times and had thirteen children. And the blank chapters at the back of Bilbo's and Frodo's red book were for him to fill in. This he did and quite happily. Sixty some years later Sam's beloved Rose died. That year, on September 22 (the anniversary of Bilbo's and Frodo's birthdays) Sam gave the red book to his eldest daughter, Elanor. He was never seen again. It is said he rode on to the Grey Havens and from there boarded a ship and passed over the Sea, the last of the Ring-Bearers.

? Lester L. Noll

28-May-2001