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The Return of the Shadow is the first volume of the The History of The Lord of the Rings and the sixth volume of The History of Middle-earth. It is a history of the creation of The Lord of the Rings, a fascinating study of Tolkien's great masterpiece, from its inception to the end of the first volume, The Fellowship of the Ring.
In The Return of the Shadow (the abandoned title of the first volume of The Lord of the Rings) Christopher Tolkien describes, with full citation of the earliest notes, outline plans, and narrative drafts, the intricate evolution of The Fellowship of the Ring and the gradual emergence of the conceptions that transformed what J.R.R. Tolkien for long believed would be a far shorter book, 'a sequel to The Hobbit'.
The enlargement of Bilbo's 'magic ring' into the supremely potent and dangerous Ruling Ring of the Dark Lord is traced and the precise moment is seen when, in an astonishing and unforeseen leap in the earliest narrative, a Black Rider first rode into the Shire, his significance still unknown.
The character of the hobbit called Trotter (afterwards Strider or Aragorn) is developed while his indentity remains an absolute puzzle, and the suspicion only very slowly becomes certainty that he must after all be a Man. The hobbits, Frodo's companions, undergo intricate permutations of name and personality, and other major figures appear in strange modes: a sinister Treebeard, in league with the Enemy, a ferocious and malevolent Farmer Maggot.
The story in this book ends at the point where J.R.R. Tolkien halted in the story for a long time, as the Company of the Ring, still lacking Legolas and Gimli, stood before the tomb of Balin in the Mines of Moria. The Return of the Shadow is illustrated with reproductions of the first maps and notable pages from the earliest manuscripts.
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Previews available in: English
Subjects
English Fantasy fiction, Middle Earth (Imaginary place), History and criticism, Lord of the rings, Fantasy fiction, English, Criticism, Textual, Textual Criticism, British and irish fiction (fictional works by one author), Fiction, fantasy, general, Fiction, English literature, history and criticism, 20th century, Tolkien, j, r. r. (john ronald ruel), 1892-1973, Fantasy fiction, history and criticism, English literature, Middle earth (imaginary place), fictionPeople
J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)Places
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Return of the Shadow: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part One
2021, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
in English
0358616336 9780358616337
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Return of the Shadow
September 2000, Tandem Library
Unknown Binding
in English
1417716789 9781417716784
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04
The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 6)
September 2000, Houghton Mifflin
in English
061808357X 9780618083572
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07
The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 6)
October 10, 1994, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Paperback
- New Ed edition
0261102249 9780261102248
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08
The return of the shadow: the history of the Lord of the Rings
1993, UnwinHyman
in English
0261102036 9780261102033
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09
The return of the shadow: the history of The Lord of the rings, part one
1990, Unwin Paperbacks
in English
004440669X 9780044406693
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10
The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 6)
January 5, 1989, Houghton Mifflin
in English
0395498635 9780395498637
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11
The return of the shadow: the history of The lord of the rings, part one
1988, Unwin Hyman
in English
0044401620 9780044401629
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12
The return of the shadow: the history of The lord of the rings, part one
1988, Houghton Mifflin
in English
0395498635 9780395498637
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aaaa
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13
The return of the shadow: the history of the lord of the rings
1988, Unwin Hyman
in English
0044401620 9780044401629
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14
The Return of the Shadow
Publish date unknown, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
hardcover
0007365306 9780007365302
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Includes index.
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