The Lord of the Rings the other Rings of Power as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth, following the course of the War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, not only the hobbits Frodo Baggins, Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck and Peregrin "Pippin" Took, but also the hobbits' chief allies and travelling companions: the Men, Aragorn, a Ranger of the North, and Boromir, a Captain of Gondor; Gimli, a Dwarf warrior; Legolas Greenleaf, an Elven
The History of The Lord of the Rings Ring"; and Book VI, "The End of the Third Age". The title "The Return of the Shadow" was a discarded title for Volume I. Three of the titles of the volumes of "The History of The Lord of the Rings" were also used as book titles for the seven-volume edition of "The Lord of the Rings": "The Treason of Isengard" for Book III, "The War of the Ring" for Book V, and "The End of the Third Age" for Book VI. There is an inscription in Fëanorian characters (Tengwar, an alphabet Tolkien devised for the High-Elves) on the title pages