Published in 1954-55, Tolkien's timeless masterpiece The Lord of the Rings - comprised of The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King -- stands as one of the greatest works of imaginative fiction ever written. Set in a mythic pre-history, The Lord of the Rings tells the saga of a desperate battle against encroaching evil - a perilous quest to save humanity which falls upon the shoulders of a young hobbit, Frodo Baggins, who has inherited a seemingly innocent magic ring from his elderly cousin Bilbo. However Frodo soon learns that the ring's original maker, the Dark Lord Sauron, is desperately seeking it - for it is a ring of great evil which will enable Sauron to enslave the people of this land known as Middle Earth. A hurriedly assembled fellowship of wizard, elf, dwarf and men accompany Frodo and his friends on a harrowing mission across Middle Earth in an attempt to destroy the ring by casting it into the volcanic fires in the Crack of Doom. Against them rages the monstrous power of Sauron, whose sinister emissaries ruthlessly pursue Frodo and his companions, while the omnipotent power of the ring attempts to corrupt the fellowship from within.